Carrot cultivation and care in the open field. Growing Carrots: Secrets and Tips

Carrots are grown in almost every garden, but they do not always succeed - instead of a beauty, a meager stunted spectacle with a finger grows.

And I want it to grow large, beautiful, as they sell on the market.

Family: Umbrella or celery.

Cycle: a biennial plant, in the first year of life it forms a dense rosette of leaves and a root crop, and in the second - a seed bush and seeds proper.

Root crop: depending on the variety, round, cylindrical or conical shape. Yellow, orange, pink, red and black-purple.

Crop rotation: Carrots are returned to their original place no earlier than after 5 years. The best predecessors are cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, early potatoes, under which organic matter was added several years ago.

The best yields of carrots are obtained on peat-marsh, floodplain, sandy and light loamy soils with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction.

Carrots grow poorly on heavy clayey areas and in the shade. The place allotted for growing carrots is certainly clean from weeds, especially perennials - wheatgrass, sow thistle, milkweed, which greatly inhibit seedlings.

Carrot cultivation: sowing dates and seeding

There is no exact landing date. Seeds are laid even in cold soil, then the carrots will be large and strong. As the snow melts, you can plant it, year after year it doesn’t have to. This may be the end of March or the 1st or 2nd decade of April.

Carrot seeds germinate well at +3 degrees and above. Optimum temperature for development + 18 gr ... + 22 gr.

For more friendly and early shoots of carrots, the seeds are soaked in water or a solution of trace elements or growth regulators (epin, oxyhumate, hydrohumate) until completely swollen.

After soaking, the seeds are slightly dried and mixed with sand to make it easier to scatter during planting.

Before direct sowing, the beds are leveled with a rake, grooves are made, shed warm water or a pink solution of potassium permanganate. Carrot seeds are deepened by 1 - 3 cm, sprinkled with sifted soil mixed with peat and slightly compact the soil with the palm of your hand or back side rake.

It is good to plant onions or garlic near carrots. They scare away the carrot fly, the main pest, from it, and the carrot, in response, the onion fly.

Also, seeds can be planted in early June and autumn (late October - early November) before the soil freezes. Landing before winter is done without pre-soaking.

thinning

For the first time, carrots are thinned out with 1 - 2 true leaves, again after 20 - 30 days, leaving 2.5 - 3 cm between plants. It is advisable to thin out only on cloudy days or after rain or watering.

To top part the root crop has not turned green, they are spudded without falling asleep growth points.

top dressing

On soils with a low nitrogen content (pale carrots, poorly developed), the plant is fertilized 1-2 times per season with an infusion of fermented bird droppings(1:20) or manure (1:10). Nitrogen fertilizers are applied no later than the first decade of July, potash fertilizers without chlorine - in early August.

Carrots are responsive to watering, especially during seed germination and early growth. During the formation of root crops, it is watered regularly, but moderately, so as not to spread.

Carrot cultivation - preventive measures

For the prevention of aphids, carrot flies, psyllids, carrot beds are sprayed every 3 days with an infusion of marigolds or needles, and after loosening and weeding, the rows are sprinkled with ash, celandine or pharmaceutical chamomile powder.

white rot

When pests appear, carrots are treated according to the instructions with biological products. For example, lepidocide, Bitoxibacillin and others.

But from diseases caused by pathogenic fungi (alternaria) - Phytocid, Trichodermin, Mikosan - V.

• Carrots are rich in flavonoids, enzymes, vitamins D, C, B, E, nicotinic acid, phosphorus, iron, selenium, potassium, and magnesium.

• It is useful for vision, skin, mucous membranes, it is often used in diets, with myocardial infarction, cholelithiasis and urolithiasis.

• Fresh gruel or carrot juice can treat frostbite, burns, festering wounds, ulcers, cuts.

• Carrots contain a lot of keratin, it is converted into vitamin A in a living organism thanks to fats. Therefore, carrots should be seized, for example vegetable oil or sour cream.

Varieties

Alenka - early ripe variety, root crops up to 12 cm long, orange color, excellent taste.

Moscow Winter - mid-season high yielding variety suitable for winter sowing. Root crops up to 18 cm long, red-orange in color with a high content of carotene.

Vita Longa - late-ripening variety, root crops do not crack, suitable for juice production. Conical root crops 20 - 30 cm long with a high content of keratin and sugar.

Our article will help you to harvest a rich harvest of large crispy carrots. Following the tips below, you will learn how to choose the right varieties for growing in open ground.

We have collected all the information necessary for summer residents and gardeners. We recommend that you read the tips for preparing seeds and beds, as well as find out the features of sowing carrots and caring for them.

Growing carrots outdoors

Important when planting seeds correct term sowing, because the yield of root crops depends on it. It should also be borne in mind that the ripening of varieties occurs in different ways and the timing of harvest depends on this.

To obtain early products, the so-called "beam", winter or spring crops are carried out. It is better to give preference to early spring crops, since the seeds can freeze in the harsh winter.

This vegetable is grown in a seedless way. But it is better to sow seeds after stable warm weather is established. In spring, sowing is carried out in late April or early May, but it can also be sown in the first decade of June. For the winter, it is sown in late October or early November. So that the crops are not too thick, a teaspoon of seeds should be mixed with a glass of sand.

Carrot varieties

There are many varieties and hybrids of carrots. Some varieties are sown for the winter, others in the spring, they differ in yield and storage time.

Figure 1. Early varieties: 1 - Amsterdam, 2 - Parisian Carotel, 3 - Parmex, 4 - Dragon, 5 - Finhor

Early varieties are characterized by rapid germination, but the roots do not have a pronounced sweet taste and are not intended for long-term storage. Popular early varieties include (Figure 1):

1. Amsterdam: high yielding variety. The roots are bright orange, blunt-tipped and do not crack when grown.
2. Carotel Parisian: orange short and rounded.
3. Parmex - root crops of bright orange color, spherical and medium in size.
4. Dragon - an unusual early variety with bright orange flesh and purple skin.
5. Finhor - the first crop is harvested within 2.5 months after planting. Root crops are large, contain a lot of carotene and are highly resistant to diseases.

Mid-season varietiesripen by the beginning of autumn and can be stored for several months(picture 2):

1. Nantes- fruits of a cylindrical form which can be stored up to the middle of winter.
2. Vitamin - differs in rather large fruits with high content carotene.
3. Moscow winter - roots are elongated, with a blunt tip, resistant to disease and can be stored for a long time.
4. Red giant- high-yielding variety with fruits bright color that can be stored long time.

Figure 2. Mid-season varieties: 1 - Nantes, 2 - Vitamin, 3 - Moscow winter, 4 - Red giant

Late-ripening varieties are intended for long-term storage and consumption in winter fresh or cooked. The most popular varieties are (Figure 3):

1. Vita Longa- fruits of an elongated shape with a high content of sugar and cartoin. They do not crack during cultivation and can be stored until a new harvest.
2. yellowstone- an unusual yellow spindle-shaped carrot with a sharp tip.
3. autumn queen- high-yielding and disease-resistant variety. Can be sown both in spring and in winter.
4. Shantane- roots are short and thick, bright orange in color, quite large. They can be stored all winter, until a new crop is obtained.

Figure 3 Late varieties: 1 - Vita Longa, 2 - Yellowstone, 3 - Queen of Autumn, 4 - Shantane

Experienced gardeners advise sowing several varieties at once with different harvest times.

Fresh seeds are chosen for sowing to ensure high plant germination. The first shoots appear about 3-4 weeks after sowing. Seeds of culture need preliminary preparation, which is carried out immediately before sowing, in order to speed up the germination process.

Ways seedbed preparation seeds(picture 4):

• Soak: fabric bags with seeds are dipped in warm water (+30ᵒС) for a day, changing it every 4 hours. A solution is also used for soaking wood ash with water. After that, the seeds are rinsed with clean water.
• hardening: For good result soaking is combined with hardening. To do this, wet bags with seeds are kept in the refrigerator for 2-5 days.
• Heat treatment: sacks of seeds are dipped into hot water(+50ᵒС) for 20 minutes, then cold for 2 minutes.

Figure 4. Preparing seeds for sowing

Also, the seeds can be folded into cloth bags and buried in the soil for 10-12 days to harden them and speed up germination. In addition, they can be mixed with peat and transferred to a warm place for germination.

When to plant carrots

In the spring, furrows are made on the prepared bed at a distance of 20 cm from each other, watered, sprinkled with ash and seeds are sown. Depending on the time of planting, seeds are also prepared: in spring they should be swollen, and the sowing depth should not exceed 4 cm. From above, the bed is covered with earth, mulch and covered with a film (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Selecting a plot for planting carrots

For winter sowing, dry seeds are used, which are immersed in the ground by only 2 cm. In addition, the garden bed can be sprinkled with snow to increase productivity.

Landing: site selection, soil preparation and fertilization

For growing carrots, you need to choose well-lit areas where the sun shines throughout the day. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the order in which crops are grown in a particular area. It is impossible to plant a crop on the same bed every year, since a violation of crop rotation will lead to a decrease in yield. Also, it is not planted after parsley, dill, parsnip and celery. But cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage and potatoes are considered good predecessors (Figure 6).

This crop has a number of specific growing features. She loves light very much and cannot stand shading. Drought tolerant and frost tolerant at the same time.

Figure 6. The order of sowing carrots

For cultivation, choose fertile soils with good drainage. However, it is not recommended to grow a crop for more than 3 years in one place.

Note: It is better to sow radishes along the edges of the beds. After germination, the rows will be more clearly marked, and it will be easier to loosen the plants.

It is useful to plant onions near the beds, as its smell drives away pests. Watering should be plentiful until the first shoots, then reduce watering to twice a week. After the formation of the first leaf, the seedlings must be thinned out.

To obtain a good harvest, it is necessary to loosen the row-spacings, especially after watering and rains, regularly destroy weeds, carry out top dressing and fight diseases and pests.

Extra and weak plants are pulled out, and strong ones are lightly sprinkled with earth. During cultivation, thinning is carried out several times (Figure 7):

• The first with the appearance of several leaves, when the height of the plants reaches 7 cm;
• The second time, when the diameter of the fruit reaches one and a half centimeters. At the same time, the distance between plants should be 3-6 cm, depending on the variety (for early and late, respectively).

Figure 7. Watering, fertilizing and loosening carrots

Water the bed regularly, about once a week. Before watering, the soil must be loosened. Excess moisture leads to a delay in the growth of the root crop and increased growth of the tops. With a sharp transition from dryness to high humidity roots crack. If there is a delay in watering, then resume it gradually. Last watering carried out no later than three weeks before harvesting.

Note: For irrigation use water heated throughout the day in barrels or other containers. Watering is better in the evening.

After drop a large number rainfall on heavy soils, a crust forms, which prevents the germination of weak plants, and also impairs gas exchange and increases the evaporation of moisture. To destroy it, the soil is treated with a flat cutter or a homemade ripper. It is impossible to be late with loosening, since the first shoots develop slowly and the weeds overtake them in growth. Loosening is carried out carefully between rows, best of all in sunny weather.

Plants are fed in the phase of 3-4 leaves. Fertilizers are applied at a distance of 10 cm from the rows in moist soil. During the first feeding, nitrogen fertilizers are applied, the second time - potash and phosphorus. Weak plants are fed with solutions of slurry, bird droppings or mineral fertilizers. Top dressings from infusion of wood ash and vegetable compost are also considered effective.

The author of the video will tell you how to properly care for carrots at all stages of cultivation.

Pest and disease control

The most common diseases of carrots are fungi. They infect leaves, cause rotting of root crops and change their taste. Major illnesses include (Figure 8):

• Phomosis (dry rot)

Ripe root crops are affected, but the first signs can be seen even on the stems. Oblong gray-brown spots appear on petioles and leaves. Dark cavities form on the root crops.

The fungus quickly spreads to other root crops during winter storage, so the crop should be regularly sorted out and stored at a temperature not higher than +10 degrees. To combat the fungus, the tops are destroyed after harvesting and potassium phosphate fertilizers are applied.

• white rot

The fungus enters the soil along with manure. The development of the fungus is facilitated by the presence of weeds, dense planting and improper storage.

The fungus begins to appear during storage, the roots gradually become soft. Fluffy mycelium appears on damaged areas white color with drops of moisture. You can prevent the disease by spraying the stems with products containing copper and potash top dressing. The cellar must be disinfected before storing vegetables.

• brown spot

A fungus that affects all parts of the plant. On young shoots, dark stripes appear at the base of the stem. This can lead to the death of the plant at the beginning of the growing season. With the defeat of adult cultures, yellow areas appear on the leaves, which gradually darken. The affected areas of the lower part of the stem dry out, the plant dies. You can prevent the disease by spraying with a decoction of horsetail, nettle or celandine.

• powdery mildew

White coating, from a distance resembling a fly. Plants of the first year and seed plants are most often affected, as well as specimens with water deficiency and growing on infertile soils. The affected areas become rough and brittle. For the fight using various complex fungicides.

Figure 8. Diseases of carrots: 1 - phomosis, 2 - white rot, 3 - brown spot, 4 - powdery mildew

In addition, pests can destroy the crop, such as (Figure 9):

1. carrot fly - at the end of May, they lay eggs in the ground next to the plant, and the larvae begin to eat the root crop and leaves, which leads to the death of the plant. Flies are especially attracted to exposed semi-ripe root crops. A spoiled root crop should not be consumed. To protect the crop from flies, you need to thin out seedlings and remove weeds in time, as well as treat plants with insecticides several times a season. You can also mix ash, tobacco powder and slaked lime and sprinkle rows for prevention.
2. Ploshka - multiplies on the leaves and feeds on the juices of the stems, which is why the ground part dies. To protect plants from insects, young shoots are recommended to be covered with a non-woven fabric. Do not plant seeds next to coniferous trees. To scare away psyllids, infusions of tobacco dust and orange peels are used.
3. Winter Owl - a gray-brown butterfly that infects stems and root crops. To combat caterpillars, spraying with infusions of chamomile, yarrow, burdock is carried out.
4. naked slugs gnaw holes in ripe root crops, leaving a shiny mark. Reproduction is facilitated by wet weather.

Figure 9. Pests of carrots: 1 - carrot fly, 2 - psyllid, 3 - winter scoop, 4 - naked slugs

Collection and storage

It is important to determine when to dig up carrots, because they must be in the soil for at least 80 days. If you dig it out earlier, it will not have time to absorb all the useful substances. If overexposed, the root crops will gain excess moisture, begin to crack and deteriorate.

Figure 10. Collection and storage of root crops

Early varieties can be dug up in the second half of summer. collection time mid-season varieties can be identified by yellowing tops. Late varieties are dug in late September - early October.

After harvesting the root crops, they need to be dried. Smaller ones can be kept in the garden. They dig a hole, pour clean sand to the bottom and lay carrots without tops, pouring sand. They fall asleep with earth and throw leaves on top.

In storage, carrots are kept open plastic bags, boxes or boxes, sprinkling with moistened sand (Figure 10).

Carrots are in second place after potatoes in the popularity rating of root crops grown in our dachas. And the most demanding root crop in terms of growing conditions and care, although this is not obvious. Especially novice gardeners, complain that carrots have not been born, or small, crooked, “hairy”, cracked, bitter, with black dots, rots and molds during storage. A lot of trouble can happen to carrots in the process of its growth. To avoid them, you must strictly observe the agricultural technology of carrots.

The best conditions for carrots

This is an open field plant. There is no need to grow carrots with seedlings in our latitudes. The first of the specific conditions for carrots is soil.

Soil for carrots

It must be loose. Most often in our gardens heavy soil.

And carrots need:

• loam or sandstone;
• increased fertility;
• well aerated;
• with additional baking powder (sand);
• with acidity as close to neutral as possible (pH 6-7);
• moisture-intensive;
• does not form a soil crust.

It is desirable to observe these conditions not separately, but all at once. They are all important, but the most important, perhaps, is the looseness of the soil. Oxygen must be supplied to the root crop, otherwise it will have poor taste and suffer from fungal diseases.

Important! When sowing seeds in insufficiently loose and moisture-intensive soil, their germination capacity is greatly reduced.

Predecessors suitable and not very

The second important factor. A plant cannot be grown in one place even two years in a row. Carrots are not suitable for monoculture, since already in the second year of cultivation in the old place it begins to be affected by aphids, nematodes, Alternaria and especially carrot flies.

The place of cultivation of the root crop must be changed annually. Return to the old - not earlier than the fourth year.

Carrot predecessors

fit	Absolutely not suitable
Cabbage	Carrot
Luke	Caraway
tomatoes	Parsley
Legumes	Dill
cucumbers	Parsnip

Seeding process

The timing of sowing carrot seeds in open soil depends on several factors. They are:

• weather;
• varietal features;
• cultivation purpose.

Before sowing, the seeds must be prepared, and the soil must be processed and filled with fertilizers.

Soil preparation

Before sowing the root crop in the garden, it is necessary to add nutrients. For carrots, the presence of humus or compost is mandatory during the period of germination and the beginning of development. Per square meter of ridge, the norm of humus or vegetable compost is 5 liters.

Plus, nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are also applied to organics. Digging of the soil on the floor of a bayonet of a shovel is carried out two weeks before sowing.

If your soil is heavy loam, add sand as a baking powder, and also sawdust and ash. Root crops will be sweet, juicy, even and well stored.

Important! Fresh manure cannot be applied under carrots (even if sowing is carried out before winter). The introduction of unripened organics will necessarily lead to branching of the root crops and a significant deterioration in taste. It is also not necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizers more than the norm, otherwise the tissues of the root crop will coarsen, the juiciness will decrease, but an excess of nitrates will appear.

On the eve of sowing, the land on the ridge is loosened, leveled, watered. Grooves are made in the ground two centimeters deep, with a distance of 15 cm between them.

Seed preparation

One of the ways to sow carrots is winter sowing. In this case, the seeds are not processed in any way and are not prepared. Sown dry.

During the winter in the ground, they go through the process of vernalization, and in the spring they start growing very early. Since the seeds germinate already at + 8 ° C, ready-made root crops winter sowing can be obtained two weeks earlier than those sown in spring. But such carrot roots are not suitable for long-term storage.

Advice! In spring, early carrots are sown in early April, late - from mid-April to early May. The earlier you sow carrots, the more moisture stored in the soil since winter will go to the seeds.

Carrots germinate for a long time - some varieties may need up to 25 days. This process is designed to speed up the preparation of seeds, as well as to disinfect them in order to protect them from future diseases.

Methods for preparing carrot seeds

Way	Description
	First, the seeds are placed in a jar of saline water solution (2 tablespoons / 1 liter). Those that come up should not be sown - these are pacifiers that do not contain an embryo. The settled seeds are taken out of the water, washed and lowered, wrapped in a cloth, in hot (+60 ° C) clean water for a quarter of an hour. Rinse again with cool water. Dry during the day and sown.
	This method is the easiest. Solutions do not need to be prepared, long soaking is also not required. After placing the seeds in a bag, put it in the refrigerator or bury it in the soil in early spring. Before sowing, the seeds are removed, washed, dried and sown.
	This method is suitable for own seeds as a disease prevention. The seeds in the bag are lowered into a glass of warm water (+40 ° C stable temperature, to which 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide is added. The solution can be prepared from manganese (lightly pink). The seeds are in peroxide for a day, in potassium permanganate - 2 hours Then washing, drying and seeding.
	This method of processing increases the yield of carrots, and also accelerates the ripening of root crops. Only 20 g of ash is needed per liter of water. She insists for two days. Then it is filtered and soaked for 4 hours. Processing is carried out the day before sowing.

Seeding and shoots

You can use the "grandmother's" method and simply germinate the seeds in a damp gauze and saucer until persistent five-millimeter roots appear.

The seeds that have been prepared are sown densely in the grooves prepared in the garden, covered with light soil. From above, the soil is compacted with a board or hands.

The optimum temperature for carrot sprouts is + 15 ... + 18 ° C. Prepared seeds germinate within 10-12 days.

Carrot care

Care activities include weeding, loosening, breaking through, watering, pest control and top dressing. All are required, none can be ignored.

Carrots are a long day plant, so they need plenty of sun to thrive. Growing this root crop in the shade and even in partial shade is another mistake that is not made. experienced gardeners complaining about crop failure.

breakthrough

Or thinning is a mandatory procedure. It is carried out twice. The first time a root vegetable produces two true leaves. Between shoots there is a distance of 2.5-3 cm.

A month later, when the young carrots have grown to a state of 1.5 cm in diameter, a second breakthrough is made. This time, a distance of 6 cm is left between the plants, and the torn roots can be used for food.

Video - Thinning carrot beds

Important! Do not leave uprooted plants or tops in the garden, even for a short time. The smell of carrots will attract the carrot fly, which will then destroy all plantings.

Carrots need to be constantly rid of weeds, loosened and plowed up so that the head of the root crop does not become green and bitter. Loosening is carried out after each rain or watering to destroy the soil crust, which blocks access to oxygen for root crops.

Watering

Watering is carried out often (in the heat - every other day), but the doses of moisture are small. Maximum amount moisture required carrots:

• after sowing until germination (make sure that the soil does not dry out);
• during the formation of the root crop;
• during its period of rapid growth.

It is better to water carrots in the evening, at sunset. It has been proven that in dry years, timely watering increases the yield and improves the quality of root crops.

Watering stops 20 days before the expected harvest completely, otherwise the roots will crack.

Pest control

There are many preventive methods prevent damage to carrots by pests and diseases.

1. Timely tillage.
2. Compliance with the rotation of cultures.
3. Destruction of residues and tops after harvesting.
4. seed disinfection.
5. Planting nearby partner plants (for example, onion phytoncides repel carrot flies).

If the prevention did not bring the desired result, and the carrots were still damaged, the crops need to be processed.

From carrot flies and aphids, root crops are treated with Lepidocide and Bitoxibacillin. These are biological products. Processing is carried out twice - immediately after the detection of pests on the leaves of the plant and after two weeks.

Timely use of "medicines" will protect carrots from pests. Just do not carry out processing immediately before harvesting. After it, you must wait at least 20 days.

top dressing

During the growing season, the root crop is fed twice. You can use both mineral fertilizers and organics.

Application mineral dressings carried out according to the following scheme.

1 top dressing - at the age of 21 days (three weeks after sprouting). Ingredients: water, balanced azophoska, potassium sulfate. Proportions: 1 l / 1 tbsp / 1 tbsp.

2 feeding - a month after the first.

Important! organic fertilizers For this root vegetable, you need to use it with caution. It is better to make them in solution.

Bird droppings are diluted 1/10 in water, settled, diluted with water again 1/10, poured into the grooves.

The mullein is diluted with water 1/20, infused, watering is carried out in the grooves, which always follows the main watering.

If you want to get sweet carrots, 20 days before harvesting the root crops, the tops should be sprayed with a solution of humates (1 g per 10 liters of water) plus nitrogen fertilization twice the proportion. After such a procedure, the beneficial substances from the tops “leave” into the root crop, and the carrots turn out to be juicy and sweet.

Video - How to feed carrots

Video - Care for sown carrots

Almost all summer residents plant carrots. This is understandable, because the root crop occupies one of the important places in any kitchen. And there is nothing complicated in planting carrots. Spread the seeds in the garden and wait for the harvest. However, everything is not so simple. This article will tell you about some secrets of growing and caring for carrots in the open field, about what needs to be done before sowing, and also how to deal with uninvited guests.

1. What should be considered when planting carrots in open ground with seeds.
2. Soil preparation.
3. Planting carrot seeds in open ground.
4. Care for carrots in the open field and proper watering carrot garden.
5. Fight against diseases and pests.

What to consider when planting carrots in open ground with seeds

Carrots, familiar to all of us from childhood, are not so easy to grow, they are quite capricious. To really get bountiful harvest, and the crop was preserved without loss, some serious points must be taken into account:

• a bed with carrots should be located in the sunniest place, in shady places carrots will grow weakly and will not give a full-fledged vegetable;
• to get sweet carrots on the table, you need to plant it in soil that is not oversaturated with acids;
• excessive watering leads to the fact that carrots begin to grow vigorously, but coarsen and become more of a fodder than a dining room;
• this vegetable especially loves loose soil, otherwise, it will have a curved shape;
• carrots do not like fresh manure, it bends from it, the root is deformed, which leads to an ugly shape of the fruit;
• if the carrot is not watered for a long time, it loses its juiciness and sweetness;
• when, after a long dry period, abundant and frequent watering, root crops crack;
• without thinning, frail fruits grow that are not capable of long-term storage;
• rough thinning can lead to the fact that the neighboring (remaining) roots are deformed, several ugly fruits grow from one carrot.

If you take into account these factors, carrots will delight you with even and tasty fruits that can be stored until the next harvest. But before you plant the seeds, you need to prepare the soil. Read: !

Soil preparation

A good owner begins to prepare beds for carrots from autumn days. Carrot beds should be made where cereals, cucumbers, beets, cabbage or corn used to grow. For full harvest Only very well loosened soil will do. If the soil is light, not compacted, then you can simply walk with a rake or, better, with a flat cutter. In other cases, you should seriously engage in loosening, otherwise you will have to harvest a crooked, small carrot.

To achieve a bed with light and lush soil, the earth is mixed with compost, peat or sand. You can add manure, but it should be well rotted. Carrots do not like fresh manure and will respond to its introduction with thick and dense tops, fruits with a thick skin, unpleasant taste, small and ugly forms.

Since this vegetable does not tolerate acidic soils, it is worth adding, dolomite flour or lime. It would be wise to add various fertilizers straight from autumn. In the spring, such a bed should be carefully loosened again and only after that the seeds should be sown.

Planting carrot seeds in open ground

Some summer residents plant seeds simply in the ground, however, it is much better to put carrot seeds to soak for 3-4 days, and then dry them a little. This will identify non-germinating seeds and significantly speed up the germination process. Experienced gardeners themselves know how to plant carrots with seeds in the open field. But, since the seeds are very small and it is difficult to plant them, gardeners have come up with some ways to ensure that small seeds lie flat and do not fall all in one place.

Planting carrots in open ground with seeds is as follows:

• most often the seeds are mixed with sand, they do not stick together and fall more evenly in rows;
• per roll toilet paper each seed is glued with a paste at the right distance, in the spring such tapes are simply added dropwise to the garden;
• jelly is prepared from potato starch, seeds are placed in it and poured through the spout of the kettle into prepared rows;
• if the carrot seeds are coated, they are simply sown in the grooves.

In any case, the seeds are planted at a distance of 3–5 cm from each other in rows, and a distance of 15–20 cm should be maintained between the rows (grooves) themselves.

So that the weeds do not crush the tender shoots, and the moisture does not erode and a crust does not appear on the soil, the crops are covered with a film. Shoots appear at a temperature of 18 degrees in two weeks. Moreover, young shoots are not afraid of short-term frosts, but after a long cold, the plant stops growing roots and gives out flowering.

Carrot care in the open field and proper watering of the carrot garden

Growing carrots and caring for them in the open field requires a certain systematic approach. This is especially true for irrigation. It is very important to know how to water carrots in the open field. Indeed, with a lack of watering, young roots may not reach the water, and the seedlings will die, and overflow threatens to turn tasty and juicy carrots into livestock feed. Watering should be plentiful, but not often. When does the carrot form already long roots, some gardeners stop watering it altogether. In this case, the roots rush straight down, forming straight and long roots.

Frequent, shallow watering promotes hair growth in carrots and the fact that the fruit grows crooked. But weaning the plant from watering is also risky. If the carrots are on water starvation for a long time, and then suddenly a rainy period comes, all the fruits will crack. Watering carrots in open ground should not be frequent, but systematic. Already from the moment of the first shoots, carrots can be fed, she will gratefully accept this.

In addition to watering, thinning is necessary. Small seeds, when planted, sometimes fall so close to each other that they do not allow the fruits to fully develop. If thinning is neglected, carrots will grow thin, frail, which will quickly rot during storage, and it will not be suitable for the table.

Carrot care in the open field contains another very milestone- loosening. As described above, carrots without this procedure grow crooked, small and ugly. Very often, loosening is combined with weeding or thinning. Weeding is also needed so that strong weeds do not obscure the sprouts.

Disease and pest control

One of the pests of the vegetable is the carrot fly. In order to get rid of it, it is better to arrange the beds in a windy place in advance, the fly does not like winds. It is very advisable to plant carrots next to onions. And so that she does not even look at the carrot bed, it is better to sprinkle the bed with hot pepper, gold or tobacco dust, and do it with mowed grass or straw.

From the rot of carrots, timely thinning and loosening helps. Another pest is the mole. To combat this bully, stores offer a number of means. On proper care Carrots in the open field will take a lot of time and effort, however, a luxurious harvest is worth it.

Before buying carrot seeds, you need to decide how the carrots will be used. If the root crop is planned to be consumed 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 decade of April.
• Mid-season carrots in the first decade of May.
• Late-ripening carrots are sown from mid to late June. Do not be afraid that the carrot does not have enough time to ripen. At proper cultivation root crops will have time to ripen before October and gain sweetness.

You can plant carrots in different dates. Winter sowing will provide the table with delicious crispy carrots for the whole summer. Regular sowing in May or June will help prepare carrots for the winter.

Pre-sowing preparation of seeds

Carrots do not sprout immediately, unlike radishes. What is it connected with? Everyone noticed that carrot seeds smell strongly. This smell is given essential oils impregnating the seed coat. Before planting carrots, you need to wash off the essential oils. To do this, carrot seeds are poured into a cloth bag or into an old sock, tied and placed in a glass. They are filled with water at a temperature of 45-50 0 C and kept until it cools down completely. The water, dyed light orange, is drained and the seeds are poured again. The washed seeds are laid out on a dry towel to dry to a loose state. Now our seed material is ready for sowing.

Before planting carrot seeds, they can be stuck on paper strip. A toothpick is dipped in glue, seeds are caught with it and glued to paper after 1.5 cm.

How to plant carrots in an ordinary way

Before planting carrots, you need to prepare the ground. Since autumn, for each sq. m contribute 2 kg of rotted humus, half a matchbox of potassium salt and a full Matchbox superphosphate. Doesn't like carrots

• manured soil;
• lime;
• ash;
• excess nitrogen;

Carrots like to lie down on hard, compacted soil. In order for the seedlings to be friendly, it is necessary to sow the seeds at the same depth. To do this, the earth is loosened with a flat cutter and the board is laid with an edge, forming grooves. Each groove is shed with water and the carrots are planted. The easiest way is with granular seeds. The granules are laid out after 5 cm. Before planting carrots in granules, the beds are abundantly spilled with water so that the granular shell is soaked.

And if you have the most ordinary small seeds? The seed is mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:5 or a special planter is used. When sowing, try not to thicken the plantings. At the first thinning, 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 earth, compost or biohumus. The crops are not watered from above, otherwise a crust will form, making it difficult for the germination of juveniles.

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 very well. The sprouts quickly break through it. Germination of seeds increases almost 2 times.

Tip: practice alternating rows of carrots with planting onions every 15 cm. Onions will scare away the fly with their smell.

Planting carrots in a wide row. Sowing seeds in a wide-row way has proven itself well. Grooves 15 cm wide are prepared. On the sides, a row of onions is planted to scare away the carrot fly. To form a row, a board is placed on the loosened soil and pressed down. A kind of rut 4 cm deep should form.

Dry or washed seeds are sown in spilled rows. They are mixed with sand or planted with a special planter. The carrots are covered with dry earth with a layer of 1 cm. The remaining track 3 cm deep will be filled with mulch or earth as the roots grow. In the light, that part of the carrot that peeps out of the ground turns green, but we do not need it.

How to plant carrots with sprouted 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 during sowing.

Before planting carrots with germinated seeds, the rows are watered in advance and regularly moistened from a watering can until sprouts appear.

How to plant carrots before winter

Many gardeners are hesitant to risk carrot seeds, fearing that they will germinate ahead of time or freeze. If you sow carrots before winter correctly, then all summer you can get fresh vitamins on the table. There is only one minus - carrots from winter sowing are not suitable for storage. You will have to eat it whole in the summer or freeze it for the winter.

The land must be prepared by mid-October. The place is chosen 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 with a depth of 4 cm. It is advisable to cover the grooves with a film and press boards around the perimeter to rainwater did not wash out 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. Seeds are covered with peat, humus or dry sifted soil prepared in advance.

Do not wash and moisten the seeds, otherwise they will die. Also, you can not sow seeds in moist soil - carrot seeds will germinate and seedlings will die.

Now you know how to properly plant carrots. Choose the way you like and get down to business.