A root vegetable that is a source of carotene, our orange miracle, is always present on our table. This is one of our most beloved and important vegetables.
No other vegetable can replace it, because it contains many substances beneficial to our body: a large number of vitamins, essential oils, phospholipids, sterols, mineral salts, microelements.
And even the middle of the root vegetable, which many gardeners dislike, contains apigenin, a substance that has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the heart. Finely grated carrots can heal burns and purulent wounds.
In Rus', carrot juice was used to treat inflammation of the nasopharynx, heart disease and liver disease. Carrot juice also relieves fatigue and spring vitamin deficiency well, if you drink half a glass of it 3 times a day.
And almost everyone knows that it is very useful for people with vision problems.
Carrots are widely used in cooking, both raw and in the preparation of a wide variety of dishes, as well as for juice.
A little history
According to pundits, carrots were first grown in Afghanistan, where the largest number of carrot species still grow. Initially, carrots were grown not for their roots, but for their aromatic leaves and seeds.
The first mention of eating carrot root is found in ancient sources in the 1st century. AD
Archaeological research suggests that carrots were grown much earlier - almost 2 thousand years BC.
Modern carrots were brought to Europe in the 10th-13th centuries, and they appeared here during the times of Kievan Rus.
At first, yellow and white root vegetables were grown, and only at the beginning of the 18th century did mentions of orange carrots appear.
And legends also say that in the Middle Ages, carrots were considered a delicacy for gnomes and they exchanged this root vegetable for gold bars...
Carrot requirements
Carrots are quite a demanding crop, especially when it comes to soil. She likes to grow in fertile, light, loose, permeable and weed-free soil.
The best site for planting carrots will be the one where manure was applied 1-2 years ago, since carrots react very poorly to fresh manure. In this case, many ugly, branchy root vegetables with very poor taste grow.
Also, non-standard carrots can grow under the following conditions:
if you apply fertilizers containing chlorine, the root crops will bend or branch;
if you deoxidize the soil on the eve of planting, the carrots become multi-tailed;
if there are any disturbances in the soil, for example, pebbles, organic residues, etc.;
if there is excess moisture in the soil, the root crop becomes hairy or cracks, the tops grow excessively;
if you apply and feed unnecessarily nitrogen fertilizers, the carrots begin to branch;
if we thin out the seedlings incorrectly;
if there is not enough moisture during the growth of carrots, the carrots, trying to take the moisture it lacks from the soil, release lateral roots, which has a bad effect on its taste and appearance(the pulp becomes coarse, the root crop is short and “horned”).
Based on this, preparing the soil for planting carrots must be approached with all responsibility.
Firstly , it is better to prepare it in the fall: dig it up thoroughly; if it is necessary to deoxidize the soil, then add lime or dolomite flour for digging; You can also add phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. In general, it is best to add all kinds of additives to the soil for carrots, taking into account the type of soil on your site.
If you have peaty soil, then it would be good to add river sand, humus and clay soil to it.
If the soil is clayey - river sand, peat, humus, and if it is fertile black soil We add only sand in the spring.
Secondly , in the spring, the area for carrots, prepared in the fall, must be loosened quite deeply, after adding complex mineral fertilizer; try to select all the pebbles so that nothing interferes with the growth of the plant.
One more an important condition Good illumination of crops is essential for carrot growth. Shading has a very negative effect on plant growth, especially in the initial stages.
If our plantings are dense and there are a lot of weeds, then the carrots stretch out, the formation of root crops slows down and a lot of small root crops are formed (the so-called under-growing).
Carrots are a relatively cold-resistant and drought-resistant plant. Its seedlings can withstand frosts down to minus 2 O C, and already mature plants and up to minus 4 O WITH.
But for those root crops that have survived frost, the shelf life is still reduced.
Carrot seeds germinate at temperatures above 3 O C, and the optimal temperature for its growth is about 18-25 O C. If the temperature rises above 25 O Plant growth slows down.
When choosing a site for planting carrots, it is also advisable to take into account the fact that the best predecessors for them are plants such as tomatoes, legumes, cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers, and green crops.
Carrot sowing dates
There are several dates for sowing carrot seeds and they depend on when and for what purposes we want to get the crop.
So, for example, to get early harvest carrots should be sown from mid-April to early May ( early spring sowing). Carrots sown during these periods can be harvested in bunches from the end of June to the end of July, and from August we already receive a real root crop for summer consumption.
The next sowing period is from mid-May to early June ( summer sowing). This is the main time for sowing carrots, which we will store for winter storage.
If we want to get young carrots in the fall, then we can sow short-fruited varieties in mid-July.
A winter sowing seeds (from October 20 to November 15) can provide us with an even earlier harvest. But not every site is suitable for these purposes. For pre-winter sowing, you need to choose such a place on our summer cottage, in which the snow melts earlier in the spring and the soil should be light, sandy loam, so that the crops do not float in the spring.
When sowing seeds before winter, they are only disinfected and then dried. In the spring they will gain moisture, swell and germinate naturally. It is not recommended to germinate the seeds, as the sprouts will freeze. Using these sowing dates, we will be able to have fresh carrots from summer to spring next year.
In addition, when sowing late carrots before the 20th of June, plant development does not coincide with the greatest activity of the carrot fly (in May), which makes it possible to grow higher-quality root crops.
How to sow carrot seeds
Essential oils contained in carrot seeds in large quantities prevent rapid access of moisture to the embryo and delay germination. Therefore, before sowing it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing preparation seeds: disinfection, soaking, germination.
You can read about how, and also correctly, in previously published articles.
Then we dry the treated seeds and sow them. With this treatment, seedlings appear much earlier (after 6-10 days), while if sowing is done with dry seeds and in insufficiently moist soil, the emergence of seedlings can take up to 40 days.
It is best to grow carrots in garden beds. Before sowing, we thoroughly loosen the prepared beds to a depth of 10-15 cm, then level the surface and make narrow grooves up to 5 cm and about 2 cm deep. It is not worth making the grooves deeper, as this can significantly slow down the germination of carrots. We make grooves at a distance of 25-30 cm.
In order for us to have friendly and uniform shoots, the seeds must be planted to the same depth.
And also experienced summer residents It is advised to sow carrot seeds so that they are soft on top and hard on the bottom.
To do this, we level the bottom of the grooves and compact them with timber specially prepared for this purpose.
After this, we spill the grooves with water and sow the seeds into the moistened soil, trying to keep the distance between them 1.5-2 cm.
It is quite difficult to sow small carrot seeds at such a distance. I would like to recommend several sowing methods that can make this process easier:
Mix small seeds with sand: mix 1 tablespoon of seeds with 1 glass of sand, then divide the resulting mixture into 3 parts and use each part for 1 m2 of beds.
Mix carrot seeds with seeds of beacon plants (lettuce, radishes). They emerge much earlier and thus show us where the carrot seedlings are located. This gives us the opportunity to carry out the first weeding of the carrot bed, without fear of damaging the plants, much earlier than usual.
Liquid sowing of carrots is also very convenient, in which the sprouted seeds are mixed with a liquid paste made from potato starch. Then they are carefully “poured” into the grooves from the teapot.
Then we cover the seeds with loose sifted soil or a mixture of peat and sand, or clean peat with light compaction to ensure more best contact seeds with soil and moisture influx.
It is not worth watering the ground after sowing, as the seeds may move to deeper layers of the soil and will take a long time to germinate, or may even not germinate at all. To prevent the soil from drying out, the top of the bed can be covered with plastic wrap.
In addition, under the film the earth will warm up much faster. The film will need to be removed after shoots appear.
How to care for carrots
Carrots need our constant attention. Caring for it means periodically loosening the soil, timely watering, fertilizing if necessary, regular weeding and pest and disease control. The most crucial moment when growing carrots is the germination of seeds and the emergence of seedlings.
At this moment, a soil crust may form, which must be carefully destroyed (preferably after watering), as it prevents the timely emergence of seedlings. To prevent the formation of soil crust, crops can be mulched with peat.
After the first shoots appear, you can begin the first loosening. We act very carefully, trying not to damage the delicate sprouts.
The best time for loosening is immediately after rain, and if it rains for a long time no, then we first water the carrots, and only then proceed to loosening.
When the carrots have 1-2 true leaves, we thin out the crops, leaving a distance of 3-4 cm between plants. We do the second thinning 2-3 weeks after the first and after that the distance between plants should be 4-5 cm.
With a smaller distance, the root crops will not reach normal sizes, especially late-ripening varieties.
To avoid the formation of ugly root crops, crop thinning must be done correctly.
First, the bed is watered and only after that the excess plants are pulled out. Moreover, we pull upward, and not to the side, without loosening it, otherwise the main root of the abandoned carrot may break off and the side roots will begin to grow, forming a “horned” root crop.
Thinning is best done in the evening, as the carrot smell that appears when plants are damaged can attract pests. It is advisable to take rejected plants away from the garden bed and cover them with soil or compost to muffle the smell.
Let me remind you once again that weeding and thinning must be carried out after rains or watering, and immediately after these operations the bed must be watered again.
In this case, the soil around the abandoned plants must be slightly compressed, and the holes in the ground must be filled up.
An operation such as hilling is also important, because during growth top part root vegetables are exposed and turn green in the light, forming solanine, which, during storage, penetrates into the carrots and gives them bitterness.
Hilling up root crops is also best done on cloudy days or in the evening, so as not to attract carrot flies.
How much water do you need
Watering for carrots has great importance, since this plant does not like either excess moisture or dryness.
Carrots have one feature - late harvest formation. Its growing season lasts approximately 4 to 5 months.
And the growth of root crops begins only after the end of leaf growth, in last quarter growing season.
Therefore, during the growth period, plants are very demanding of soil moisture, and in the end they do not tolerate its excess well and, if abundant watering is carried out, the root crops may crack.
In warm and sunny weather, when moisture from the soil quickly evaporates, carrots are watered 3 times a week.
Do not over-water young plants; approximately 4 liters of water per 1 m2 will be enough for them. As the root crops grow, we gradually increase the amount of water.
In the middle of the growing season, carrots can be watered once a week, using 8 to 10 liters of water per 1 m2.
What to feed?
If we have well fertilized the soil for planting carrots since the fall, then it is possible to grow a good crop of root vegetables without fertilizing.
But it’s still better to do 2-3 more feedings during the entire growing season.
First It is advisable to fertilize a month after germination (1 tablespoon of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water), second- 2 weeks after the first. At the beginning of August, carrots can also be fed with a solution of potassium fertilizer - this third feeding Root vegetables will become sweeter and also ripen earlier.
And it is best to add ash infusion to the water in the second half of the growing season when watering carrots (1 liter of infusion per 10 liters of water), since ash is the best potash fertilizer, which is remarkably absorbed by all plants.
In addition, ash protects plants from many diseases and pests. You can even simply sprinkle the carrot beds with wood ash once a week before watering.
It's still very good to have foliar feeding carrots with boric acid solution (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water). It will be enough to carry out such fertilizing twice: during active growth the underground part of the carrots (the first half of July) and when the carrots begin to ripen (the first half of August).
When and how to harvest carrots
Harvesting carrots can be done in several stages.
Firstly, as soon as the root crops grow, you can begin to pull them out selectively for food. This makes the remaining plants in the beds freer and they receive more nutrition, moisture and begin to grow faster.
And late varieties of carrots intended for winter storage, we harvest from the second half of September to the first half of October, before frost sets in.
There is no need to rush into harvesting, because root crops grow rapidly in the second half of September. But at the same time, you can’t be late, since carrots that are frozen are poorly stored and die.
Carrots can be pulled out by the tops if your soil is light. On denser soil, this will be quite difficult to do and you won’t be able to do it without the help of a shovel. Shake off excess soil with your hands.
After pulling out the root crops, we sort them: we leave whole and healthy ones for winter storage, we put aside damaged ones for quick processing, and it’s best to throw away small and diseased ones.
Then, for those root crops that we are going to store for storage, we cut off the tops right up to the head.
If you liked the grown carrot variety and want to get your own seeds of this variety, then select the best root crops (seeds) and leave about 2-3 cm of tops.
Then we dry the carrots processed in this way under a canopy (not in the sun) and put them in storage.
How to store carrots
We store carrots in the basement (cellar) in wooden or plastic boxes. We put it in boxes in layers, sprinkling wet sand and try to arrange the root vegetables so that they do not touch each other.
It is also good to use moss instead of sand.
I would like to recommend another way to store carrots - “glazing” with clay. This is done like this: dilute the clay with water to the consistency of thick sour cream, dip the root vegetables in this “glaze” and place them on a wire rack so that the excess liquid dries off and the coating dries.
In such a shell, our carrots almost do not lose moisture and remain fresh until spring. But of course, the storage temperature should be about 0 0 C and the storage should be dry.
If for some reason the previous methods of storing carrots are not suitable for you, then you can also sprinkle the root vegetables thickly with crushed chalk, thereby reducing the likelihood of putrefactive processes.
And if you add additional root vegetables onion skins, then they will be stored even better.
In this article, dear friends, I only touched on the issue growing carrots, well, I plan to talk about all their diversity and about the diseases and pests that plague carrots in the following articles.
See you soon, dear friends!
Many people try to grow an excellent crop of root crops on their plot year after year, but every time planting carrots is disappointing. Problems such as slow and unfriendly seed germination, deformed and tasteless root vegetables are often attributed to low-quality seeds. But that's not the point at all. The technology for growing carrots has some secrets that allow you to speed up germination, avoid thinning and grow beautiful vegetables.
Preparing seeds for planting
Carrot seeds contain a large amount of essential oils. This is a kind of protection and prevents moisture from penetrating through the shell into the seed for a long time. When sowing unprepared seeds in a garden bed, this process takes about 20 days, and only on condition that the soil is constantly moist. You have to water the beds every day, because if the seeds dry out, they will no longer be able to sprout.
Germination can be accelerated if pre-treatment is carried out before planting (several days before sowing). To remove essential oil from seed shells, they need to be washed warm water. The seeds are poured into a small cotton bag and soaked in warm water. The water is changed every 3-4 hours, and the procedure itself lasts 2-3 days.
If the root crops on the site are often affected by diseases and pests, then after washing the bag can be placed in a special solution of sodium or potassium humate. Prepare a solution at the rate of 1 teaspoon of humate per 1 liter of water. The water should be warm, about 30°C, and soak for a day. Instead of a humate solution, you can use a wood ash solution. To do this, dilute 1 tablespoon of fertilizer in 1 liter of warm water and filter.
You can reduce the risk of disease in carrots if you harden them in the refrigerator after soaking. The bag of seeds is washed in running water, squeeze out and place in the refrigerator for 5 days. It is necessary to ensure that it does not dry out. Then the seeds are slightly dried on a dry cloth so that they become flowable, and sowing begins.
Testing seeds for germination and pre-germination
Before planting carrots in the country, you need to check the seeds for germination. This is done 1-2 months before planting. The seeds are soaked for 2-3 days in warm water and sown in a small box with soil. Germination is determined by how many seeds sprouted from the sown ones. Seed material that shows germination of about 80% is considered good. If less than 50% of the seeds have sprouted, then it is better to replace them so as not to waste time sowing new ones and not miss the deadline. If it is not possible to replace the seed, then you should sow thicker than usual, and then, if necessary, thin out.
To be sure it will rise required amount carrots, and speed up the emergence of seedlings, the seeds can be germinated. After the soaking and hardening procedure, the seeds should be spread in a thin layer on a damp cloth and covered with the same cloth on top. Make sure that the moisture does not evaporate; if necessary, spray with water from a spray bottle. After a few days, the seeds will swell, and a little later tiny sprouts will appear. The fabric on top can be covered cling film, but you will have to ventilate to prevent mold from appearing.
Germinated seeds sprout quickly after sowing; after 5-7 days the first leaves appear.
You can prepare seeds for planting without first soaking and germination. This old way: a bag of seeds is placed in a damp damp earth. This is done 10-14 days before sowing.
- Dry seeds are placed in a cotton or linen bag.
- In an area in the shade, they dig a hole with a spade bayonet.
- Place a bag of seeds at the bottom and bury it.
- After the required period, they dig up, dry and sow.
Growing carrots in this way allows you to see shoots within 5 days.
Carrot planting dates
The planting date for carrots is determined depending on the region. In the central zone of Russia, sowing can be carried out after April 20 and until the beginning of May. In cold regions (in the Urals, Leningrad region) planting is carried out later - after May 10. Such timing is optimal for sowing carrots using the usual method, when dry seeds are sown in the ground.
If the seeds are prepared in advance, then planting can be done later, in the summer. The deadline is June, until the 15th. The same applies to late varieties that are planned to be stored for winter. If late varieties are planted early and kept in the soil until the end of September, then additional roots will begin to grow on the root crops, and this will reduce the shelf life.
Many people practice planting carrots in late autumn, but what date to sow depends on the weather. The main conditions for autumn planting:
- the bed and furrows on it must be prepared in advance;
- Separately prepare containers with soil that will be used to fill the furrows, and place them in a warm place so that the ground does not freeze;
- sow dry seeds, there is no need to water the plantings;
- covered with soil prepared in advance.
When to plant carrots, in spring or autumn, everyone chooses for themselves. But practice shows that when autumn plantings The safety of seeds in the soil and their germination are affected by weather conditions, and planting carrots in the spring is more effective than in the fall. The harvest in both cases ripens at the same time.
The bed for root vegetables should be prepared in the fall. All roots, chips and stones are carefully selected from the soil. If a carrot root encounters an obstacle on its growth path, it begins to bend.
Carrots do not like manure and lime. It would be correct to add rotted organic matter to the garden bed in the fall, and in the spring, when digging again, add mineral fertilizers. For good growth, root crops need potassium and phosphorus. If introduced in the fall organic fertilizers, then in the spring there is no need to add nitrogen. With a large amount of nitrogen, carrots grow a lot of tops to the detriment of the root crop. There is no need to fertilize carrots again during the summer.
Carrots should be sown in furrows, which are made at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other. The depth of the furrow is determined depending on the type of soil. On clay soils optimal depth– 1.5 cm, on light, sandy soils – 2.5-3 cm. The bottom of the furrow should be compacted with a plank and, if the soil is dry, shed with warm water.
To protect against pests, the bed can be sprinkled with salt before sowing.
You should not sow seeds densely: thinning may damage the roots of seedlings growing nearby. If thinning cannot be avoided, it is better to do it in the first week after the sprouts appear. Young shoots recover more easily.
Care before sprouts appear involves watering, but it must be done carefully. When watered with a strong stream, the seeds are drawn deep into the ground, which is why they may not sprout.
The bed can be covered with thin agrofibre white and water it over it from a watering can with a fine strainer. This will prevent the seeds from going deep and will increase the soil temperature, which will have a positive effect on germination.
To protect against pests, you can plant between carrots. Other root vegetables cannot be grown in the same bed as carrots.
How to avoid thinning
If the carrot is planted in the usual way, then after it has risen, thinning will have to be carried out. You can avoid this procedure if:
- before sowing, mix seeds with sand in a ratio of 1:5;
- glue the seeds onto a tape made of quickly decomposing paper;
- plant carrots in cardboard egg boxes.
Growing on tape is only suitable if the seeds are not pre-germinated. To do this, cut strips 3 cm wide from thick toilet paper and prepare a flour paste: 1 tablespoon of flour is diluted with water to a paste and poured into hot water standing on low heat. The mixture is brought to a boil and turned off. When it cools down, you can add 1 gram of boric acid to prevent carrot diseases.
The paste is applied to the strips with a brush and the seeds are laid out in 2 pieces at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other. The strips are laid on the bed after the paste has dried. If they all sprout, then the extra ones will have to be removed. It is better to cut them with scissors so as not to damage the root of the neighboring plant.
Another planting method uses egg cartons. They are laid out tightly in the garden bed and watered abundantly. Humus is poured into each cell. The seeds are laid out in 2 pieces and covered with earth. After germination, excess shoots are removed.
There is no need to cut out the bottom of the cells. When exposed to moisture, it quickly decomposes and allows the roots to grow freely. At first, the boxes will serve as mulch and reduce the need for weeding.
Conclusion
If it is not possible to constantly be on the site and water the beds with planted carrots in anticipation of germination, it is better to prepare the seeds and germinate them. This will speed up the time of emergence of sprouts and increase the germination of seeds several times.
To avoid injury to the roots during thinning, you can use one of the methods suggested above. This will allow you to get smooth, large root crops without flaws or deformation.
Factors affecting rapid germination
Carrots are not a demanding crop, however, there are factors that can affect germination.
The most significant are:
- Time for sowing seeds.
- Sowing depth.
- Seeding rates.
- Quality of seed material.
- Pre-treatment of seeds.
- Soil condition.
- Weather.
On average, the period for the appearance of the first shoots when the soil is sufficiently warmed up (8 degrees) is about two weeks. Germination time directly depends on temperature, so most often the seeds of this plant are planted from the second half of April to mid-May. Other sowing dates are also allowed, however, the lower the temperature, the longer you will have to wait for the first shoots. In cool weather, the germination process can take up to 3-4 weeks.
The period of emergence of seedlings can be significantly reduced; some methods used by experienced gardeners can reduce this period by almost half - to 7–10 days. By choosing a good location for the future garden bed, preparing the soil and treating the seeds, you can help the plants take root faster and form large, even fruits.
How to sow to get quick shoots
Treat the seeds
Compared to other popular vegetable crops, carrot seeds have low germination. Usually 60–80% of seeds germinate total number. This parameter also depends on the freshness of the seed - seeds that have been harvested for no more than 2 years have the highest germination rate.
It is best to use seed from last year's harvest, this will increase the chances of getting the maximum number of plants in the garden.
Methods by which you can prepare seeds for planting in open ground:
- Stimulating solutions.
- Disinfection.
- Hardening.
- Germination of seeds in aerated water.
- Use of plant growth stimulants.
Simple means that can help speed up the growth of crops are available to any vegetable grower:
- Immerse in hot water for 30–40 minutes. The water temperature should be between 45 and 55 degrees.
- Steam treatment. When exposed to steam for several hours, the growth rate of seeds is accelerated by a third.
- . You can speed up germination by removing the essential oils contained in the seed coat. Alcohol will help eliminate protective film, the exposure time of this method is 10–15 minutes.
If you used the vodka soaking method, do not forget to rinse them well under running water.
Choose the right planting time
You can sow seeds in open ground three times per season - in spring, summer and autumn (before winter).
- will be more resistant to diseases and pests, and will also allow for an early harvest.
- Early spring good time for planting root crops in soil prepared in the fall. These root vegetables are perfect for consumption throughout the season.
- If the goal is to grow carrots suitable for long-term storage, it is better to plant them in late spring or summer.
Most common spring planting. This method is most popular among gardeners.
When choosing planting dates, focus primarily on soil and air temperatures. The soil should have time to warm up, and the air temperature should not fall below 8 degrees Celsius.
Usually, optimal time falls between April 20 and May 5. In summer it is best to plant at the end of June, and in winter - at the beginning of November, a week before frost.
Preparing the beds
Carrots prefer loose, sandy loam soils that contain large amounts of humus. In heavy clay soils, the plant develops more slowly and has lower yields. It is also important to take into account what exactly grew in the garden bed before the carrots. The best predecessors for these root vegetables are potatoes, cucumbers and onions.
The soil for the garden bed is prepared in the spring. They dig it up and apply organic fertilizers. Humus is best suited for these purposes. If the soil is acidic, add ash or chalk.
A week before planting, the prepared bed is loosened, leveled with a rake and mineral fertilizers - urea and superphosphates - are applied.
Microclimate
Carrots are a cold-resistant plant; their growth begins already at + 5 degrees. However, at this temperature, growth is slow, seed germination takes up to 4 weeks. With an increase in temperature to +20 degrees, growth accelerates significantly, and the time for emergence of seedlings is reduced to 8–10 days. Optimal temperature for the formation of root crops is 22-25 degrees.
For normal growth, carrots need constant moisture. Soil moisture for best development plants should be 70–80%. With a lack of moisture, the fruits become woody and may acquire a bitter taste. With excess moisture, carrots grow from the inside and crack.
In addition to temperature and humidity, crop lighting plays a huge role. Carrots are a long-day plant, so the formation of a bountiful harvest is only possible with good lighting.
Competent planting scheme
When sowing, stripes 1–2 centimeters deep are formed in the garden bed. The depth of the furrows depends on the density of the soil - the denser the soil, the shallower the planting depth. The distance between such furrows should be about 15 cm.
Organizing proper care
Care
You can speed up the germination process after sowing as follows:
- Cover the bed with a layer polyethylene film. This will retain the heat and moisture necessary for the seeds.
- Water the crops with warm water every 2-3 days.
- Loosen the soil regularly; it is much easier for seeds to break through light, air-saturated soil.
Thus, to speed up the growth of carrots and get bountiful harvest, it is necessary to implement a set of measures. Pre-sowing seed treatment, proper soil preparation and quality care following the crops will help you get tasty and beautiful root crops.
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Sofya GusevaRoot vegetables, Vegetable garden
Let's talk about carrots today. Planting carrots in spring, what could be easier, you say. Maybe so, but not everyone grows well.
Why? Let's take a closer look at the intricacies of planting and caring for carrots in the spring. To get good shoots and a rich harvest.
How to plant carrots in spring
Choosing a variety
Let's start with selecting a variety of carrots. I'm sure everyone has their own favorites. I want to look at some varieties.
- « Incomparable“- these carrots store well and are delicious. The roots are long and rich in carotene. It germinates well." Nantes 4" - juicy and delicious carrots. Suitable for dense soil. The length of the root crops is 15 cm with a blunt tip. You can sow before winter.” Losinoostrovskaya 13"- delicate taste, juicy. Recommended for baby and baby food. Mid-season carrots, well stored." Shantane 2461» - best variety for winter storage. Large “roots” are suitable for any purpose, good both fresh and cooked.
These are the most famous and common varieties of carrots. Also take into account the ripening time. Plant early varieties for food in summer, and middle and late varieties for storage.
Place for carrots
She loves sunny open spaces. The shade is not for carrots. Grows well after tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, peas, and potatoes.
Does not like to grow after parsley and sorrel.
Sowing time
I don’t recommend planting carrots very early in the spring; they will lie in cold soil and may take a long time to sprout. The weather should settle down, preferably +15°C during the day, and the soil should warm up to +7-8°C. Usually this is April - early May in the middle zone and in the Urals.
It could be mid-May, what will the weather be like? In the southern regions, sowing dates come earlier. Folk signs say: “Aspen and violets have bloomed - it’s time to sow carrots.”
Land preparation
Carrots love loose, light, fertile soil. For spring sowing It’s better to prepare the beds in the fall, and loosen them in the spring and that’s it. Humus and ash are added to the soil when digging. Fresh manure cannot be used.
Carrots are very sensitive to nitrogen fertilizers and quickly accumulates nitrates. The result will be harm, not benefit, from such a harvest. In addition, root crops grow gnarled, and the smell of manure attracts pests.
Seed preparation
Dry seeds should not be planted. You need to soak them in water or dig them into the ground to swell. There is a whole article about accelerating seed germination in detail.
It describes in detail how to increase the germination of “slow-witted seeds” such as carrots, parsley and others.
Sowing carrots
When the time comes, we make furrows in the ridges, water them and sow the seeds. There is no need to sow too thickly; thinning may damage neighboring roots. It is good to maintain a distance of one or two cm.
To do this, the seeds can be glued to thin paper in advance. Ordinary paper is ideal here. toilet paper, and the glue should be made of starch. Since we cannot soak such seeds before planting, be sure to water the furrows well.
Then we cover the crops with humus and water again. For quick emergence of friendly shoots, it is fashionable to cover the bed with covering material, film or old things to retain moisture. After the emergence of shoots, the film and things are removed, and the covering material can be left to reduce watering, especially in dry spring. Also, radishes or lettuce are sown in rows of carrots so that the rows are immediately visible.
Seedling care
The main thing in spring is loosening and thinning carrots. There is no need to postpone this procedure. If you wait until you can eat carrots, the entire harvest will deteriorate.
Carrots grow more slowly. Literally half a month after germination, pull the carrots for the first time, leave 4 cm between the carrots. Later again until the distance increases to 8 cm, for large varieties up to 15 cm.
Pests
Root crops damaged by carrot fly The most important one is the carrot fly. She lays eggs in the ground near young carrots in the spring, and her larvae gnaw tunnels in root crops. The second time the new generation lays eggs is in August.
Carrots then grow poorly, become coarse, tasteless, and are poorly stored. Plantings can be protected. Carry out thinning in the evening and immediately remove the tops from the garden bed so as not to attract carrot flies. You can also do mixed plantings with onions.
At the same time, they protect each other. Onion fly does not tolerate the smell of carrots, carrots - the smell of onions. Loosening is also a preventive measure against carrot flies; they die in dry soil. Joint planting of onions and carrots If you haven’t managed to protect yourself, you can sprinkle the soil between the rows with ash and tobacco or ground red pepper.
Pests don't like its smell. But it will be expensive for large beds. You can mulch the plantings immediately after germination, gradually adding cover as the carrots grow.
There are many recipes for plant protection in the article about folk methods plant protection.
- Take your time - wait until the soil warms up a little. Do not sow dry seeds in dry soil! Cover the bed to improve germination. Do not delay thinning, the sooner the better. Use protective measures from carrot fly. Make onion beds nearby, do not leave the tops after thinning near the bed. Mulch and loosening will help to grow good harvest.
I think you know all the secrets to successfully planting and growing carrots in the spring. You can read how to plant carrots before winter.
This method gives an early harvest already in June! As already mentioned, growing this root vegetable is easy, but if you know the subtleties of how to plant carrots in the garden, you can achieve best results. To grow a good harvest of carrots, they need to be sown in loose and sufficiently nutritious soil.
Do not apply fresh manure before planting this root crop. Carrots cannot withstand the acid found in fresh manure. It grows well and produces good yields on light loamy and sandy loam soils and peat bogs.
On clayey and waterlogged soils, carrots are not comfortable, and if the moisture stagnates for a long time, the root crops can begin to rot. However, with a lack of moisture, the root crop grows rough and wooden. Normally moist soil is optimal for growing carrots.
Plantings should be watered moderately and regularly. In warm, sunny weather, young plants are watered 1-2 times a week.
Sow carrot seeds.
- dig the soil with a shovel to a bayonet depth; break large clods of earth and loosen the soil with a rake; draw grooves with a stick, 3 - 4 cm deep and pour plenty of water on them.
Carrot seeds are small, and if you pour a lot of seeds into a furrow, they will sprout thickly and will have to be thinned out. If you pour few seeds, the seeds will not sprout or seedlings will be rare - this is the main difficulty in growing carrots, so we came up with such planting methods as:
- in granules, mixed, on a ribbon.
Then sprinkle soil on top and pat the plantings, and again water the crops generously. You have to wait quite a long time for carrots to sprout, just like all plants of the umbrella family.
This usually happens after good rain Apparently, the seed needs to be saturated with moisture in order for it to grow. Although in the literature they write that at a temperature of +8°C, carrot shoots appear in 25–30 days). To speed up germination, cover the top of the bed with lutrasil.
Plant carrot seeds in granules.
It is more convenient to sow carrots in granules and subsequently you will not need to thin out the crops if you immediately place the seeds at a distance of 5 cm from each other. From my own experience I will say that planting carrots in granules is much more convenient. You can immediately set the distance between the seeds, and there is no need to weed and thin out the seedlings later.
Kurdyumov recommends leaving a distance of 5 m between carrots and planting them in a zig-zag pattern. Before planting carrots in granules, I read his books and planted them according to his recommendations. I am very pleased with the results. Optimal carrot planting scheme:
- the distance between grooves is 15 - 20 cm; the distance between seeds is 5 cm.
There is a little trick to planting carrots in granules - you need to water the garden bed generously BEFORE and AFTER planting so that the water soaks the shell and the carrots germinate faster. The method of planting carrots in granules is very convenient.
Later, you don’t need to spend a lot of time weeding the carrot bed. Carrots immediately grow at a certain distance from each other.
Before planting carrots in granules, you need to understand that carrots are umbelliferous plants, which means they take a long time to sprout, about 2 weeks. In order for the seeds to germinate, they must swell and become saturated with water, so they need to be watered, a lot. And if the carrot seed is in a granule, then you need to water it even more so that the shell dissolves and the water reaches the seed. to the contents of the article ^
Mixed planting method with river sand.
Mixed planting method: mix carrot and radish seeds in one bowl, add a little river sand and sow a furrow. Radishes sprout and ripen much earlier than carrots and are gradually eaten, but for carrots there is more space in the row and there is NO need to thin them out!!! Radishes can be replaced with any quickly sprouting and ripening plant.
Spinach or lettuce work well. The idea of mixed beds is not new, but it gives good results. Beans and carrots will get along well in the same bed.
Plant the beans side by side in the center of the bed, and the carrots on the sides. You can get several harvests in the same bed if you correctly plan the planting according to the ripening period of the plants. So that one plant replaces another and the garden bed is not empty. Let me remind you that carrots need to be planted near onions to fight pests. But carrots do not like being in the vicinity of related plants, such as umbelliferae.
Planting carrots on tape.
This method of sowing is very convenient - the carrot seeds are located on the tape at a certain distance from each other and you will not need to calculate at what distance to place the seed in the soil. Planting carrots on a tape is very simple - place a tape with seeds in the prepared groove and roll it along its entire length. Then sprinkle with earth and compact the plantings (you can pat the top of the furrow sprinkled with earth with a board) and water, paper tape decomposes by itself.
How to plant carrots without thinning: choose the planting method either on tape or in granules according to the 5 x 5 cm pattern. To the contents of the article ^
When to plant carrots.
Carrots are a cold-resistant plant with a long growing season, so you can start planting them from the end of April. You can also sow varieties at several planting times and with different ripening times. For example, you can plant carrots:
- in late April - early May, to get an early harvest and for storage, in May, June, July to get early carrots, like pencils for eating, when early plantings ripen for storage, and you can plant carrots before winter, this The cold-resistant plant survives the winter well if planted correctly in the fall.
How to plant carrots so that they sprout quickly?
- Add compost to the bed, it will make it warm; Water the bed generously before and after sowing; Cover with covering material or polyethylene; Water regularly;
Which carrots to sow?
There are proven varieties and hybrids of carrots with guaranteed germination and delicious sweet fruits. These are hybrids: Viburnum, Canada, Chinese beauty, Kirina; varieties: Pharaoh, Peasant, Naniko, Mo.
- medium ripening - Baltimore, Supermuscat; late - Giant Ross, Malika.
What variety of carrots to plant in the country - it is best to plant vitamin carrots, they are tasty, the fruits are long with a rounded tip, the yield is good.
Hello, dear guests of the site! Today I will share my experience on the topic how to plant carrots and how to care for it. Basically, all root vegetables, with the exception of radishes, are biennial plants. These include plants such as carrots, beets, celery, radishes, parsley, turnips, rutabaga, etc. Carrots are a cold-resistant plant.
Its seeds germinate rather slowly in dry and cold weather - only on days 14-16. I live in the Middle Volga region and the zoned varieties that I grow are: Nantskaya 4, NIISHCHH336, Shantane 2461. When digging up a plot for carrots in the autumn, I usually I don’t apply fresh organic fertilizers, since this, according to experience, reduces the yield of a good commercial harvest, so in the fall I add 20–30 grams of superphosphate, 10–15 grams of ammonium nitrate and about 10 grams of potassium chloride to the soil per day. square meter beds. To make seedlings appear faster, I soak the seeds in clean water for 2 hours at a temperature of 20 - 25 degrees. After that, I scatter the seeds on a damp cloth and cover the top with a damp cloth as well.
I keep the seeds at room temperature and occasionally gently mix them. Sometimes I soak the fabric to prevent it from drying out. So I keep the seeds until they are completely swollen and some of the seeds begin to peck.
After that I harden the seeds. To do this, I keep them at a temperature of +2 +3 degrees (under the freezer) for 10 days. Before sowing, I dry the seeds until they begin to crumble and do not stick together.
Then I mix them with sand (1 part seeds - 5 parts sand) for even distribution when sowing. So, the seeds are ready for sowing. Let's move on to the main topic - how to plant carrots and move on to our beds. I cut grooves in the prepared bed with a hoe handle at a distance of about 30 centimeters from each other and water them with water from a large mug.
Then I sow seeds in the furrows, trying to adhere to the norm of 4-5 grams per 10 square meters of beds. Then I sprinkle the seeds with loose soil, making the seeding depth approximately 2 centimeters. I don't recommend it any deeper.
I press the soil above the seeds a little so that it becomes compacted. After the shoots emerge, the row spacing can be loosened a little and lightly mulched with humus. During subsequent loosening, I increase the depth of cultivation between rows to 7-10 centimeters. When our carrots have grown and the first true leaf has formed, I carry out the first thinning of the sowing.
The second is when 4–5 leaves are formed. I make the final distance between plants equal to 4 - 5 centimeters. Approximately on the tenth - fifteenth day after germination, I fertilize the carrots with mineral fertilizers (5 grams of ammonium nitrate, 5 grams of potassium chloride, 10 grams of superphosphate per 1 square meter of beds).
A month after the first such feeding, I carry out the second with the same composition. After each watering, I loosen the rows and always mulch them to retain moisture in the soil. I spend about 5 or 6 waterings per season, maintaining soil moisture.
About a month before harvesting, I stop watering completely. I usually harvest the crop in September and put it in storage. And now I invite you to see how the famous gardener and gardener Galina Kizima sows carrots: I told you about how to plant carrots and take care of her, drawing on your experience. If you have any tips and suggestions, please write them in the comments.
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When to plant carrots
Planting carrots
Before purchasing carrot seeds, you need to decide how the carrots will be used. If you plan to eat the root crop in the summer, then it is better to buy seeds early varieties. If carrots are needed for winter consumption, then it is more profitable to purchase seeds of late varieties. The timing of sowing carrots directly depends on the timing of ripening.
- Early carrots are sown before winter and in the third ten days of April. Mid-ripening carrots are sown in the first ten days of May. Late-ripening carrots are sown from mid to late June. Do not be afraid that the carrots will not have enough time to ripen. If grown correctly, root vegetables will have time to ripen before October and gain sweetness.
You can plant carrots at different times. Pre-winter sowing will provide the table with delicious crispy carrots throughout the summer. Regular sowing in May or June will help prepare carrots for the winter.
Pre-sowing seed preparation
Planting carrots without problems
Carrots do not sprout immediately, unlike radishes. What is this connected with? Everyone has noticed that carrot seeds have a strong smell.
This smell comes from essential oils that permeate the seed coat. Before planting carrots, you need to wash off the essential oils. To do this, carrot seeds are poured into a fabric bag or an old sock, tied and placed in a glass.
They are filled with water at a temperature of 45-50 0C and kept until it cools completely. The water, colored light orange, is drained and the seeds are poured again. The washed seeds are laid out on a dry towel to dry until free-flowing.
Now our seed material is ready for sowing. Before planting carrots with seeds, they can be glued to a paper strip. A toothpick is immersed in glue, the seeds are caught with it and glued to the paper after 1.5 cm.
How to plant carrots in a row
Planting carrots in spring
Before planting carrots, you need to prepare the ground. From autumn on every quarter. m, add 2 kg of rotted humus, half a matchbox of potassium salt and a full matchbox of superphosphate. Doesn't like carrots:
- manured soil; ash; excess nitrogen;
Carrots like to lay down on hard, compacted soil. In order for the seedlings to grow smoothly, the seeds must be sown at the same depth. To do this, loosen the ground with a flat cutter and lay the board edgewise, forming grooves.
Water each furrow and begin planting carrots. The easiest way is with granulated seeds. The granules are laid out every 5 cm.
Before planting carrots with granules, the beds are spilled with plenty of water so that the granulated shell gets wet. What if you have the most ordinary small seeds? Seed material is mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:5 or a special planter is used.
When sowing, try not to thicken the plantings. During the first thinning, by pulling out a weak sprout, we damage the tender roots of neighboring carrots. The sown seeds are sprinkled on top with a centimeter layer of dry soil, compost or vermicompost.
The crops are not watered from above, otherwise a crust will form, making it difficult for the young to germinate. The seeds can be covered with coconut substrate. The briquette is placed in a bucket and filled with water until it swells. Coconut substrate is very light and holds moisture well.
Sprouts quickly make their way through it. Seed germination almost doubles. Tip: practice alternating carrot rows with onion plantings every 15 cm.
The onion's scent will repel flies. Planting carrots using the wide-row method. Sowing seeds using the wide-row method has worked well. Furrows 15 cm wide are prepared. A row of onions is planted on the sides to repel carrot flies.
To form a row, place a board on the loosened soil and press down. A kind of rut 4 cm deep should form. Dry or washed seeds are sown in the spilled rows. They are mixed with sand or planted with a special planter. The carrots are covered with dry soil with a layer of 1 cm.
The remaining 3 cm deep rut will be filled with mulch or soil as the root crops grow. In the light, the part of the carrot that looks out of the ground turns green, but we don’t need that. How to plant carrots with germinated seeds?
To speed up the emergence of seedlings, carrot seeds are not only soaked in water, but also germinated. They are poured into a sock, soaked in a glass of water and laid out on a damp cloth. Gauze cannot be used - the emerging roots become entangled in its fibers and break off when sowing. Before planting carrots with sprouted seeds, the rows are watered in advance and regularly moistened with a watering can until shoots appear.
How to plant carrots before winter
Not the easiest way to plant carrots
Many gardeners are hesitant to risk carrot seeds, fearing that they will germinate prematurely or freeze. If you sow carrots correctly before winter, you can get fresh vitamins on the table all summer long.
There is only one minus - carrots from winter sowing are not suitable for storage. You will have to eat it all in the summer or freeze it for the winter. The land must be prepared before mid-October. The location is chosen to be horizontal, without slopes, so that the seeds are not washed away by spring floods.
The soil is plowed, fertilizers are applied and rows are cut to a depth of 4 cm. It is advisable to cover the furrows with film and press them around the perimeter with boards so that rainwater did not wash away the seed. In mid-November, when the ground is already frozen, dry carrot seeds mixed with radish or lettuce seeds are sown.
These crops will sprout earlier and mark the location of the carrot rows. The seeds are covered with peat, humus or dry sifted soil prepared in advance. The seeds cannot be washed or moistened, otherwise they will die.
Also, you should not sow seeds in wet soil - the carrot seeds will germinate and the seedlings will die. Now you know how to plant carrots correctly. Choose a method you like and get down to business.
Carrots do not require special care, but the growing rules must be followed. It is a drought-resistant crop that tolerates frost and long-term cold snaps well. How to grow carrots? The secrets, like other vegetables, lie in proper agricultural technology.
It requires more care compared to other crops. Let's take a closer look at how to grow carrots in the country or garden plot with your own hands.
Soil preparation
You need to choose a bright place before growing carrots. The secrets are that with a lack of sunlight due to a falling shadow or uneven surface root crops lose sugar content and weight.
Before you can grow a good crop of carrots, you need to choose light and level soil. It should be sandy loam, light loam, with good drainage. In dense loam, the fruits grow small, and during storage they are quickly affected by rot. Carrots should not be planted on acidic soils. It requires a neutral or slightly acidic environment.
Before you grow good carrots, necessary
The bed is prepared in the fall so that it becomes established. It is made loose. To do this, add sawdust, humus, peat or sand. Chalk, lime, dolomite, and ash are used for liming. Manure should not be used for growing carrots, since the resulting root crops are not very attractive and do not store well. Humus should be added to poor soil - a bucket per square meter. If groundwater close, the bed is made high.
The arable layer is well formed with the help of green manure roots - plants that create a good soil structure. They are sown in the garden bed in the fall in order to plant carrots in this place in the spring. Worms and microorganisms also create good soil structure.
Carrot beds should be constantly changed. The predecessors should be garlic, onions, cabbage, potatoes. How to grow large carrots if you have to grow the same crop in one place? The addition of wood ash twice a year in the amount of 0.2 kg/m2 followed by digging will help here.
In the spring, a week before planting, the bed is leveled, loosened, treated with a 0.3% vitriol solution, watered with warm water, and then covered with polyethylene film. During this time, it will retain moisture and warm up well in the sun.
How to prepare seeds for sowing
The germination rate of carrot seeds is low - 55-75%. In this regard, the seeds should be taken fresh. In addition, carrots do not germinate uniformly. After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots should appear. Seeds take a long time to germinate due to the presence of essential oils on their surface, which slow down the penetration of moisture.
Before growing, you need to prepare for sowing. Let's look at several ways to pre-germinate them.
Soak
The seeds are poured into fabric bags and kept in warm water for a day. The water must be changed every four hours. You can make a nutrient solution from it by adding wood ash(30 g/l). Afterwards, the seeds must be washed.
The method will be more effective if additional hardening is performed. Seeds in moist bags are placed in the refrigerator for 2-5 days.
Soaking with nutrient solution
Use a weak solution of potassium permanganate with the addition of ½ teaspoon of fertilizer per liter of water or a mixture of nitrophoska and boric acid (1/3 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon per liter of water, respectively). The seeds are scattered on gauze folded several times, and also covered with it on top and filled with solution for a day. The liquid level should be just above the fabric. Then they are washed with water and put in the refrigerator for three to four days.
If the weather does not allow planting seeds, they are left on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, keeping them moist at all times. In this case, you need to make sure that they do not grow more than 0.5 cm.
Heat treatment
Heat treatment of seeds consists of their sequential immersion in hot and cold water. They are poured into a bag and rinsed at a temperature of 50 degrees, and then dipped in a humate solution and kept warm for two days. As a result, the germination of not only carrots, but also parsley and dill is accelerated.
Bubbling
Bubbling speeds up the seed preparation process. An air or oxygen supply hose with an emery stone filter at the end is connected to the bottom of a non-metallic container with water. A net with seeds is placed on top.
During the bubbling process, the water is saturated with air. At home, a small amount is enough for this. aquarium compressor. The bubbling time for carrot seeds is 17-24 hours. Afterwards, the material is removed to the middle shelf of the refrigerator, where it is stored for 3-5 days. Before sowing, the seeds are dried for 12 hours so that they become free-flowing and sown.
Burying seeds in the soil
Dry seeds are placed in fabric bags and buried in the ground with a shovel to the depth of one bayonet, where they should remain for at least 10-12 days. Then they are taken out and sown in a garden bed. After such treatment, seedlings should appear within five days.
Another method is to mix the seeds with moist peat and keep them in a warm place for at least one week. During this period, they manage to germinate, after which they are sown. Before planting in the ground, the seeds are dried for 20-25 minutes on parchment or cloth at room temperature.
How to grow carrots. Secrets of sowing and care
Before planting work seeds that are most suitable for a particular region are selected and purchased. You can also get them yourself. Before growing carrot seeds, you should find a good and large root crop, and then plant it in the spring. It will ripen by autumn.
Carrots take about three months to grow. To get a harvest in September, planting should be done no later than May. Sowing dates range from the end of April to the first ten days of June. Planting before May 5 is considered optimal.
Before winter, carrots are planted when the soil becomes cold enough. This could be from late October to early November. The timing of sowing and harvesting depends on the variety and region. Northern varieties should not be planted in the south as they will grow slowly. If you grow southern varieties in the middle zone, they produce abundant tops, but root crops do not develop. Some varieties bred abroad are poorly stored.
Should be done on time, otherwise beneficial features and the shelf life of root crops may deteriorate.
Small carrot seeds should be spread evenly in the furrow. Therefore, they are mixed with sand or peat and sown in a garden bed.
So that neighboring rows do not interfere with its growth? To ensure sufficient illumination, it is better to make the beds narrow - no more than four rows of carrots.
Sides are made along the edge to prevent water from flowing down. The distance between the rows should be 15 cm, and for late varieties - 20 cm. The bed is watered with water and sprinkled with ash. The seeds are placed in the grooves at a distance of about 2.5 cm.
When planting in spring and summer, the swollen seeds are planted shallowly - 3-4 cm. They should be sprinkled with very light soil, which is chernozem mixed with peat, sand or humus. Then it is done over the garden bed ventilation gap from the film at a distance of about 12-15 cm.
The first shoots appear in warm weather within a week. If the temperature is below 12 degrees, the time is doubled. If there are empty spaces, additional sowing is done.
For many gardeners, the question of how to grow early carrots is problematic. It's actually not difficult. In autumn, carrots of early varieties are sown to a depth of 2 cm, and then sprinkled with mulch to a height of 3-4 cm. In this case, the soil temperature should be below +5 degrees. When there is little snow in winter, the beds are additionally covered with it to a height of up to 50 cm. With this method of planting, the harvest is harvested 2-3 weeks earlier than usual.
Plant thinning
How to grow a good harvest of carrots if they have sprouted perfectly? To do this, you need to carefully thin out the seedlings after the third leaf appears.
All this is not as simple as it seems at first glance. To ensure that the plants are removed well, the bed should be watered and the soil should be carefully loosened. In addition, the operation should be performed during the day so as not to attract the pest - the carrot fly, which flies in the evening.
The shoots should be removed with tweezers, leaving a distance of at least 2 cm. The smallest shoots should be removed. The tops are thrown away from the garden bed. Under no circumstances should you leave it nearby so as not to attract pests. A good deterrent is onion arrows, which are chopped and scattered on the garden bed. You can cover the crops with special material. The earth around the plants is slightly crushed. After 20 days, thinning is repeated. In this case, leave a distance of 6 cm between the carrots.
The row spacing needs to be loosened and weeded (at least once a week) so that a sufficient amount of oxygen reaches the roots. After thinning the row spacing, you should mulch with compost or sawdust soaked for several weeks in a 2-3% urea solution.
How to grow large carrots? Here you need the correct dosage of fertilizers. They cannot be entered immediately large quantities. Carrot beds begin to be fertilized with mineral water when 5-6 leaves appear. The frequency of feeding is 2-4 weeks. This crop especially does not like excess nitrogen.
As it grows, the top part of the root emerges from the ground and turns green. This is not harmful, but the taste is worse. How to grow sweet carrots so they don't lose their taste qualities? When root crops emerge from the ground, they are hilled up, raking up soil about 50 mm high on them.
Watering carrot beds
Poor germination of carrots is primarily due to drying out of the soil. Until she rose upper layer The beds must be constantly moist. Sometimes the soil should be watered even several times a day. Granulated seeds are especially difficult to germinate. Immediately after sowing, protect the bed with film so that the top layer does not dry out.
Until the roots appear, watering is done every 3-4 days, 3-4 buckets per 1 m2. At the same time, they independently grow in depth and find moisture. Therefore, watering is carried out once a week, 1-2 buckets per m2, and from the end of August - once every 1.5-2 weeks, 8-10 liters per square. The beds are kept without watering for two weeks before harvesting.
Rough root vegetables are an indication that they lacked moisture. When there is an excess of it, the fruits grow small. Sudden changes from drying out to excess moisture are also harmful, leading to cracking of the carrots and subsequent poor preservation.
Carrots are not afraid of cold weather, but at temperatures below 8 degrees, the starch in root vegetables turns into sugar, and the shelf life of root vegetables worsens. In the middle zone, the harvest is harvested at the end of September in dry weather.
Collected for 1.5-2 hours, and then the tops are cut off. The harvest is sorted, straight carrots are placed in a ventilated box in a dark and cool place. This could be a cellar or basement.
Conclusion
You will never be able to harvest a good harvest if you do not know how to grow carrots. The secrets of agricultural technology lie in proper preparation soil, proper planting and care. As a result, in the fall you will get large and even root crops.
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