Drainage

Harvest garden carrots from a to z. Growing carrots in open ground: rules and recommendations

It is very difficult to find at least one summer resident who has not grown such a popular and useful root crop as carrots on his plot. This vegetable widely used in cooking on a par with potatoes and onions, it is unpretentious in care and resistant to low temperatures. However, in order to get bountiful harvest orange root, some basic rules for planting and care are required, as well as some basic nuances that affect the production of a quality crop.

So, before you start planting and growing carrots, you first need to figure out what factors lead to a decrease in yield.

Poor soil composition can have a bad effect on the quality and abundance of the future crop. Carrots planted in clay soil or dense soil will never grow well. Also, you should not expect a quality harvest if the seedlings are planted in soil with a high content of stones, rhizomes, gravel or acid. If these conditions are ignored when choosing soil, carrots will not grow well, they will have a very unpleasant taste and will be disproportionate in shape.
When choosing a landing, the place should not be in the shade, since the lack of stable illumination by the sun's rays will lead to inhibition of the growth of root crops.
Improper feeding and planting can also adversely affect the quality and quantity of the crop.
It is necessary to water the carrots very carefully, since the excessive presence of moisture in the soil can cause the opposite effect - despite the fact that the seedlings will grow rapidly, the fruits from an excess of liquid will begin to become very coarse and lose their taste qualities, as a result, root crops will become unsuitable for consumption.
Excessively dry soil is also not suitable for carrots, as prolonged drought can deprive root crops of juiciness and taste.
Frequent change always leads to cracking of carrots. temperature conditions, often this happens with a sharp change in heat with prolonged rains and cooling.
In order for carrots to grow well, they need to be thinned out. But, if this process is carried out carelessly, this can lead to damage to the roots of the root crop and the death of root crops.
An excess of nitrogen fertilizers, fertilizing with a high content of trace elements, manure can also adversely affect the future harvest. It should be remembered that carrots love the measure in everything.

Carrot is quite supportive of other plantings near it and tolerates the soil well, on which vegetables were planted last year. It is especially good to plant root crops on the soil in which cabbage, onions, tomatoes or garlic previously grew.

Thus, it is possible to plant a root crop in mixed plantings without fear that the crop will be sparse.

However, besides this, the root also has incompatible crops, next to which or after which it is not recommended to plant carrots in the soil: horseradish, dill, apple, anise, beets and celery.

Before you grow carrots, you must first deal with the choice of suitable soil for sowing seeds. From this stage in the future will depend on the productivity of the crop.

prepare the soil necessary in advance, in the fall. To do this, at the end of September, the earth is thoroughly dug up and all foreign objects are removed from the soil: old roots, stones, sticks, etc. This approach will help to get a quality crop next year without any deformations.
In the process of digging the earth, it is recommended leave big chunks. This approach will help delay the penetration of moisture deep into the soil and contribute to the freezing of harmful insects.
For planting seeds, you should choose a place well-lit by the sun's rays. As mentioned above, if carrots are planted in a shady place, this will lead to a loss of sugar content and taste of the root crop.
The best soil for carrots is sandy and slightly clayey soil. If this is not possible, then you can choose slightly acidic soil. Moreover, you can neutralize the acid yourself, by sprinkling the soil with chalk or ordinary lime. If the soil is heavy, then it can be softened by using sawdust, peat or sand.
Experts don't recommend use manure to fertilize the soil, since it leads to the fact that the crop is deformed, and the root crops are very poorly stored.
If the soil is not rich in useful substances and microelements, it is recommended to flavor it with humus in the fall. And to create a normal soil structure, it is recommended to create an arable layer by planting green manure roots in autumn.
Already in the spring, before planting seeds, it is recommended to level the soil with a rake. Also, 1-2 weeks before planting, the soil should be fertilized with a 0.3% solution of vitriol. After that, two weeks before the direct planting of seeds, it is necessary to water the soil well with water and cover it with a film to create a greenhouse effect and warm the soil a little.

The quality of carrots and the amount of harvest depends on many factors. However, the fundamental success is the competent choice and proper preparation of seeds.

There are several basic seed planting technologies, each of which is effective and reliable in its own way.

After the seeds are planted in the ground, they must be lightly sprinkled with loose earth and fertilize the soil. For this, peat, previously mixed with the ground, is most suitable.

Since the carrot grows for a very long time - about three months, planting seeds is best in May. In this case, the first harvest can be obtained already in early to mid-September. The most suitable time for planting seeds is considered to be before the fifth of May.

For a great harvest with large, sweet and crunchy carrots, the root crop needs to be systematically looked after. This process includes several required steps.

The first sprouts, seeds can give at a temperature of three degrees Celsius. But insofar as carrots belong to those varieties of root crops that tolerates light frost well(up to minus four degrees), and dies at minus eight, you should monitor the maintenance of the desired temperature regime.

Systematic watering- this is an integral part of the care of growing carrots. With insufficient moisture, the root crop may die. Therefore, watering seedlings should be at least three times a week - half a bucket of water is enough for square meter soil. As soon as the seeds germinate well and the root system is strengthened, it should be watered no more than once a week - a sufficient amount of water per square meter is no more than 20 liters. Watering should be stopped a couple of weeks before harvest.

After landing, first after 10 days, and then after 20 days, it will be necessary transplant seedlings to thin out the beds. This must be done if the sprouted sprouts are very close to each other. If thinning is not done, it will not be possible to grow large root crops, as they will interfere with each other and fully develop. In the first case (after 10 days), the distance between the sprouts should be at least three centimeters, and in the second (after 20 days) - at least five centimeters. It is recommended to do thinning in the morning, and at the end of the procedure, you should water the soil where the seedlings were planted and the area where they remained to grow.

The necessary procedure is systematic weeding of the soil where carrots are planted. Weed grass with strong roots prevents the normal growth and development of root crops, so weeds must be constantly fought, at least once every ten days.

In order for the tops to germinate normally, it is required periodically loosen the soil. Since the presence of a thick crust of the earth leads to poor germination of seedlings.

A beautiful and tasty carrot can only appear if it periodically feed. Therefore, an important stage of care is the introduction of useful components into the composition of the soil. For these purposes, chicken droppings, ash, mullein or humus, previously diluted in water, are perfect. It is necessary to feed the plant at least twice in one season. The first time is best done three to four weeks after the first shoots appear, and the second time only after a few months. Frequent top dressing of carrots can lead to the opposite effect, so a measure is needed in this matter.

Of course, to get a good harvest, it is required carry out pest control. The most common pest for carrots is the carrot fly. Well, in order to prevent its occurrence, it should be after planting the seeds - approximately at the beginning of May, sprinkle with ash, tobacco ash or hot pepper between the ridges. You can also prevent the development of various diseases. To do this, you need to plant carrots in the beds where cabbage or onions used to grow. You should also change the location of the beds in a timely manner, and do it better every year.

To grow a decent crop, you must adhere to the following rules:

As you can see, there are no special tricks and difficulties in the process of growing carrots. This variety of root crop is unpretentious in care and does not require increased attention. The main thing is to water, fertilize in time and prevent pests from infecting carrots.

It requires more care than 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

It is required to choose a bright place before growing carrots. The secrets lie in the fact that with a lack of sunlight due to a falling shadow or uneven surface of the beds, root crops lose their sugar content and mass.

Before growing good harvest carrots, it is necessary to choose light and even soil. It should be sandy, light loamy, with good drainage. In dense loam, the fruits grow small; 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 growing good carrot, necessary

The bed is prepared in the fall so that it settles down. It is made loose. To do this, add sawdust, humus, peat or sand. Chalk, lime, dolomite, ash are used for liming. Manure for growing carrots should not be used, because it turns out not very beautiful and poorly stored root crops. Humus should be applied to poor soil - a bucket per square meter. If ground water 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 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. Predecessors should be garlic, onions, cabbage, potatoes. How to grow large carrots if you have to grow the same crop in one place? The introduction of wood ash twice a year in the amount of 0.2 kg / m 2 will help here, followed by digging.

In the spring, a week before planting, the bed is leveled, loosened, treated with a 0.3% solution of vitriol, watered with warm water, and then covered with a polyethylene film. During this time, it will retain moisture and warm up well in the sun.

How to prepare seeds for sowing

Germination of carrot seeds is small - 55-75%. In this regard, the seeds should be taken fresh. In addition, carrots do not differ in uniform germination. After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots should appear. Seeds germinate for a long time due to the presence of essential oils on their surface, which slow down the penetration of moisture.

Before growing, it is necessary to prepare for sowing. Consider several ways to pre-germinate them.

Soak

Seeds are poured into cloth bags and kept overnight in warm water. Water must be changed every four hours. It can be made into a nutrient solution by adding wood ash (30 g/l). After the seeds must be washed.

The method will be more effective if additional hardening is performed. Seeds in wet 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). Seeds are scattered on gauze folded several times, and also covered with it from above and poured with a solution for a day. The liquid level should be just above the tissue. 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 all the time. In this case, you need to ensure that they do not germinate more than 0.5 cm.

Heat treatment

Heat treatment of seeds consists in their successive 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 solution of humate 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 brought to the bottom of a non-metallic container with water. A mesh with seeds is placed on top.

During the bubbling process, the water is saturated with air. At home, a small aquarium compressor is enough for this. Bubbling time for carrot seeds is 17-24 hours. After 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 cloth bags and buried in the ground with a shovel to a depth of one bayonet, where they should be at least 10-12 days. Then they are taken out and sown in the garden. After similar processing shoots should appear in five days.

Another way is to mix the seeds with moist peat and keep them in a warm place for at least one week. During this period, they have time 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, seeds are selected and purchased that are most suitable for a particular region. 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. By autumn it will be ripe.

Carrots grow for about three months. To get a harvest in September, planting should be done no later than May. Sowing dates cover the period from the end of April to the first decade of June. Landing before May 5 is considered optimal.

Before winter, carrots are planted when the soil becomes cold enough. It can be from the end of October to the beginning of November. Sowing and harvesting times vary by 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 lane, they give abundant tops, while root crops do not develop. Some varieties bred abroad are poorly stored.

Should be done on time otherwise beneficial features and the keeping quality of root crops may deteriorate.

Small carrot seeds should be evenly spread in the groove. Therefore, they are mixed with sand or peat and sown in a garden bed.

So that neighboring rows do not interfere with her growth? To ensure sufficient illumination, it is better to make the beds narrow - no more than four rows of carrots.

Along the edge, bumpers are made to prevent water from running off. 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. Seeds are placed in grooves at a distance of about 2.5 cm.

During spring-summer plantings, swollen seeds are planted shallowly - by 3-4 cm. They should be sprinkled with very light soil, which is used as black soil mixed with peat, sand or humus. Then, a ventilation gap is made from the film above the bed at a distance of about 12-15 cm.

The first shoots in warm weather appear in a week. If the temperature is below 12 degrees, the time is doubled. If there are empty places, additional sowing is done.

For many gardeners, the question of how to grow early carrots is problematic. Actually, it's easy. 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. At the same time, the soil temperature should be below +5 degrees. When there is little snow in winter, the beds are additionally covered with them to a height of up to 50 cm. With this method of planting, the crop is harvested earlier than usual by 2-3 weeks.

Plant thinning

How to grow a good crop of carrots if it has risen well? To do this, you need to do a thorough thinning of seedlings after the appearance of the third leaf.

All this is not as simple as it seems at first glance. In order for the plants to be well removed, the bed should be watered and the soil carefully loosened. In addition, the operation should be performed during the day so as not to attract a pest - a carrot fly flying in the evening.

Sprouts should be removed with tweezers, leaving a distance of at least 2 cm. The smallest shoots are removed. The tops are thrown away from the beds. In no case should you leave it nearby, so as not to attract pests. A good deterrent is onion arrows, which are crushed and scattered in the garden. You can cover the crops with special material. The earth around the plants is slightly crushed. After 20 days, thinning is repeated. At the same time, a distance of 6 cm is left between the carrots.

The aisles need to be loosened and weeded (at least once a week) so that a sufficient amount of oxygen enters the roots. After thinning the aisle, mulch with compost or sawdust soaked for several weeks in a 2-3% urea solution.

How to grow large carrots? Here you need the right dosage of fertilizers. They cannot be entered directly into large quantities. Carrot beds begin to fertilize with mineral water when 5-6 sheets appear. The frequency of feeding is 2-4 weeks. This culture especially does not like excess nitrogen.

In the process of growth, the upper part of the root crop comes out of the ground and turns green. It does no harm, but the taste gets worse. How to grow sweet carrots so that they do not lose their taste? When root crops appear from the ground, they are spudded, raking the ground on them with a height of about 50 mm.

Watering carrot beds

Poor germination of carrots is associated primarily with the drying of the soil. Until she has risen, the top layer of the bed should be constantly wet. Sometimes the earth should be watered even several times a day. Granular seeds germinate especially hard. Immediately after sowing, the bed is protected with a film so that the top layer does not dry out.

Until the roots appear, watering is done after 3-4 days, 3-4 buckets per 1 m 2. At the same time, they independently grow in depth and find moisture. Therefore, watering is done once a week, 1-2 buckets per m 2, and from the end of August - 1 time in 1.5-2 weeks, 8-10 liters per square. The beds are kept for two weeks without watering until harvest.

Rough root crops are an indicator that they lacked moisture. With its excess, the fruits grow small. Sharp changes from drying to excess moisture are also harmful, leading to cracking of the carrot and subsequent poor preservation.

Carrots are not afraid of cold weather, but at temperatures below 8 degrees, starch in root crops turns into sugar, and the keeping quality of root crops deteriorates. In the middle lane, the crop is harvested at the end of September in dry weather.

Collected within 1.5-2 hours, and then cut off the tops. The crop is sorted, flat carrots are placed in a ventilated box in a dark and cool place. It could be a cellar or basement.

Conclusion

You will never be able to reap a good harvest if you do not know how to grow carrots. The secrets of agricultural technology lie in the proper preparation of the soil, proper planting and care. As a result, in the fall you will get large and even root crops.

Carrots are the most popular vegetable among consumers. It can be purchased at stores all year round. But the root crop will bring great benefits if it is grown independently on suburban area. This can be done subject to certain rules for growing carrots.

Almost any crop needs to be fertilized before planting in the spring, and this can be done in the spring after planting in the country, or fertilized later directly into the hole. We will talk about how to properly care for carrots, how much and what kind of fertilizer to apply, about the little tricks of manure and humus, how to carry out frequent watering and how to love the plant we will tell in the article.

Terms of sowing carrots in open ground

Before sowing seeds in open ground, the gardener must decide why he grows carrots and when he wants to get a crop. Sowing dates:

early spring sowing April 15 to May 15. Throughout June, you can already collect carrots in a bunch, and with the advent of August, enjoy sweet root crops.
summer sowing from May 15 to June 10. Harvesting will take place at the end of September, these carrots are laid in the cellar for winter storage.
Podzimny sowing from October 20 to November 15 allows you to use a young root crop before the main harvest. The main thing is to choose the right place for the beds - it should be on a hill so that the spring snowmelt does not drown the seeds.

If you sow at all possible times, then fresh vegetables will be on the table all year round.

During winter sowing, the formation of root crops occurs at a time when the carrot fly is just beginning its life activity. She is not yet able to harm the crop in the garden, the vegetables will be better.

With winter planting, the carrot crop will be of better quality

Choosing a place for a garden bed

It's no secret that carrots are an unpretentious root crop, but to get a rich harvest, you still need to create comfortable conditions. When choosing a place for beds, the gardener should consider:

This vegetable crop is growing very well. in a bright area;
fertile loamy-sandy soil with 4% humus and neutral acidity 6-7 pH;
previously, potatoes, tomatoes, corn and legumes were grown at the place of sowing;
do not use beds for growing, where spicy herbs grew before (dill, parsley, fennel, etc.);
it is forbidden plant a vegetable in the same area 2 consecutive years.

Large root crops of the correct form grow on peat soils, which were formed after the drying of the marshes. And on clay soil, carrots will take on an ugly shape due to strong growth resistance.

Before freezing, a plot for vegetables is necessary dig, remove roots and stones. But do not drive the shovel too deep into the ground and destroy the fertile layer. Dig should be to a depth of about 0.3 meters. With the onset of spring, level and loosen the surface deeply.

On peat soils, carrots will be large and regular in shape.

How to plant seeds for good seedlings

Gardeners practice a variety of methods for planting carrots, all of which have their advantages and disadvantages:

Sowing seeds considered the most fast way. The gardener simply scatters the dry seed into the prepared beds. At the same time, seed consumption cannot be called economical, and seedlings will be too thick and uneven.
Dragee- these are seeds placed in a nutrient shell, seedlings are friendly and strong. Their sowing is point distribution in small holes. The cost of pelleted seeds is higher, but you don’t have to spend time on thinning.
Pre germinated seeds give rapid growth. But in the absence of rain, you will have to water ahead of time, the sprouts are too weak and unable to cope with the pressure of the earth.
Roll method implies gluing small seeds on long strips of paper. To plant, you only need to spread the strips in the garden, dig in with earth and water well and fertilize. Shoots will appear evenly, but a little later.
Liquid paste cook out potato starch, cool to room temperature and mix with mineral fertilizers. Pour the seeds into the resulting liquid and mix quickly. Pour the paste evenly into the grooves. With this method, you do not have to thin out the landings.

Regardless of the chosen method of planting, it is better to sow the seeds less often, so that further thinning is not carried out.

You can cover with foil for 2-3 weeks before the appearance of the first shoots. Thus, weeds will not interfere with the growth of plants, and a crust will not form on the soil, preventing the penetration of moisture to the roots.

If dry is selected for sowing planting material, additional preparation is required. You can disinfect by soaking the seeds in water heated to 40 degrees. But it's better to keep them in a solution of potassium permanganate- 1 g of substance per 100 ml of liquid. The procedure time should not exceed 20 minutes, after the seeds must be washed well clean water and dry.

Some gardeners already at the stage of seed preparation use specialized plant growth stimulants. But to obtain an environmentally friendly crop, this is not recommended.

Carrot care tips after planting

Carrot belongs to tight growing and slow growing vegetable crops. Do not think that after sowing it, you can forget about the beds until the harvest.

In order for the root crops to turn out strong and large and correspond to the varietal quality, they should be looked after.

Fertilizers, dressings and folk remedies

To get a good harvest, proper feeding of carrots is necessary.

The gardener will harvest an average crop in terms of quality and quantity if he confines himself to fertilizing during the autumn digging of the site.

The plant needs top dressing during the entire growing season.

So, first time feed the vegetable a month after the inputs. At 10 l. water dissolve 1 tbsp. l. nitrophoska is a classic mineral fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The same solution is used in the second feeding after 2 weeks and in the third- at the beginning of August.

The best potash fertilizer is folk remedy How tincture of ash. To prepare it, it is necessary to pour 150 g of dry ash into a bucket of water in parts. Stir the mixture until the ashes are completely dissolved. At 10 l. dilute 1 liter of water. tinctures and this liquid to feed and water the roots of carrots or beets during the second half of the growing season.

The best potash fertilizer is ash tincture

How to water during growing season

When growing roots special meaning the irrigation system plays. Indeed, with insufficient soil moisture, the young roots of the plant will die, and overflowing the beds will lead to the fact that only livestock can eat the crop.

Therefore, immediately after sowing, the period begins proper watering beds:

The method used to stimulate inputs is sprinkling(300-400 m3/ha), and after - several doses drip irrigation(20-30 m3/ha).
After the appearance of the entrances, depending on the weather conditions, watering is carried out every 2-3 days a small amount of water.
During the formation of root crops, the soil moisture regime changes - the frequency decreases, the volume of water increases.
The active growth of vegetables is accompanied by rare watering (1 time in 7-10 days), but moisture should penetrate into the ground to a depth of 10-15 cm.
Watering a month before harvest do not exercise even in the absence of rain. Excess moisture during this period will worsen the taste and keeping quality of vegetables.

Before digging up root crops, it is desirable to moisten the soil a little. In this way, the process is facilitated and the harvest improves the ability to keep fresh.

Correct weeding

One of the most disliked things gardeners do is weeding beds. But you can’t do without this tedious task, otherwise you can lose the entire crop due to the “attack” of weeds.

At the initial stage, when the plants have not yet sprouted, a plot with crops is recommended lay in several layers with newspapers, and cover with foil on top. With this method, the soil warms up well and moisture is retained in it, but weeds cannot actively grow. After 2 weeks, the innovative shelter should be removed and wait for the emergence of seedlings.

After 10-15 days, the plant appears first true leaf- This is a signal to start weeding. The procedure must be done very carefully so as not to capture cultural sprouts along with weeds.

When the 2nd leaf is formed, weeding combined with thinning if the sowing was carried out chaotically and the plantings were thickened. There should be a distance of 2-3 cm between plants. In this case, it is important to pull the sprouts up, and not to the side, otherwise the root of the neighboring vegetable will be damaged.

Weeding and thinning is essential throughout the growing season

It is most convenient to thin out with the help of a female eyebrow plucking device - tweezers. It captures even the thinnest sprouts without harming the rest of the plants.

During the entire period of growth between the beds and plants, weeds must be weeded and the soil loosened. A month after the first thinning, repeat the procedure so that there is a distance of 4-5 cm between the root crops, but already pulled vegetables can be eaten.

It takes a lot of effort and time to grow carrots, but a rich and high-quality crop healthy vegetable cover all inconveniences. The main thing is to follow the basic rules of planting and caring for plants. And then a tasty and crispy vegetable will be in the daily diet of the whole family, it will give all its nutrients and trace elements.

Carrots do not require special care, but the rules of cultivation must be followed. It is a drought-resistant crop, tolerates frosts and prolonged cold snaps. How to grow carrots? The secrets, like those of other vegetables, lie in the correct agricultural technology.
It requires more care than other crops. Let's take a closer look at how to grow carrots in a country house or garden plot with your own hands.

Soil preparation

Before you grow a good crop of carrots, you need to choose a light and even soil. It should be sandy, light loamy, with good drainage. In dense loam, the fruits grow small; 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, you need to prepare the soil. The bed is prepared in the fall so that it settles down. It is made loose. To do this, add sawdust, humus, peat or sand. Chalk, lime, dolomite, ash are used for liming. Manure for growing carrots should not be used, because it turns out not very beautiful and poorly stored root crops. Humus should be applied to poor soil - a bucket per square meter. If groundwater is close, the bed is made high.

How to prepare seeds for sowing

Before growing good carrots, the seeds must be prepared for sowing. Consider several ways to pre-germinate them.

Soak

The method will be more effective if additional hardening is performed. Seeds in wet bags are placed in the refrigerator for 2-5 days.

Soaking with nutrient solution

Heat treatment

bubbling

Burying seeds in the soil

Dry seeds are placed in cloth bags and buried in the ground with a shovel to a depth of one bayonet, where they should be at least 10-12 days. Then they are taken out and sown in the garden. After such treatment, seedlings should appear in five days.

How to grow carrots. Secrets of sowing and care

Harvesting should be done on time, otherwise the useful properties and keeping quality of root crops may deteriorate.

Small carrot seeds should be evenly spread in the groove. Therefore, they are mixed with sand or peat and sown in a garden bed.

How to grow carrots correctly so that neighboring rows do not interfere with it? To ensure sufficient illumination, it is better to make the beds narrow - no more than four rows of carrots.
Along the edge, bumpers are made to prevent water from running off. 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. Seeds are placed in grooves at a distance of about 2.5 cm.

The first shoots in warm weather appear in a week. If the temperature is below 12 degrees, the time is doubled. If there are empty places, additional sowing is done.

Plant thinning

How to grow a good crop of carrots if it has risen well? To do this, you need to do a thorough thinning of seedlings after the appearance of the third leaf. All this is not as simple as it seems at first glance. In order for the plants to be well removed, the bed should be watered and the soil carefully loosened. In addition, the operation should be performed during the day so as not to attract a pest - a carrot fly flying in the evening.

How to grow large carrots? Here you need the right dosage of fertilizers. They cannot be applied in large quantities at once. Carrot beds begin to fertilize with mineral water when 5-6 sheets appear. The frequency of feeding is 2-4 weeks. This culture especially does not like excess nitrogen.

Watering carrot beds

Until the roots appear, watering is done after 3-4 days, 3-4 buckets per 1 m2. At the same time, they independently grow in depth and find moisture. Therefore, watering is done 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 for two weeks without watering until harvest.

The collected carrots are dried for 1.5-2 hours, and then the tops are cut off. The crop is sorted, flat carrots are placed in a ventilated box in a dark and cool place. It could be a cellar or basement.

Conclusion

Carrots are a popular and favorite vegetable crop in every summer cottage. Rich in trace elements, carotene, vitamins, substances that increase immunity and help cure many ailments. Carrots are one of the main crops in baby foods. And it is very sad when the labors spent on growing it end up with crooked ugly squiggles of dubious taste, because in the case of carrots, the external corresponds to the internal content. How to grow carrots that are even, large, tasty, high in useful substances? We'll figure out.

How to get large carrots?
How to improve the taste of the root crop?
Watering carrots
Rules for thinning carrots
Carrot varieties

Conditions for a good harvest of carrots

Carrots are a frost-resistant crop that can be sown before winter and at several times from early spring. IN southern regions it is sown in warm winter (February) windows and an early harvest of a delicious vegetable is obtained. Carrots are not afraid of frost.

To grow a decent crop, you need to pay attention to:

biological characteristics of carrots,
compliance with the requirements of growing technology,
structure and fertility of the soil, its preparation for sowing,
soil acidity,
features of moisture supply.

The main causes of small-fruited carrots

Carrots do not tolerate swampy lowland areas, closely spaced fruit and forest tree crops. It will not be smooth and graceful, and even more so when grown in the shade, under the canopy of the garden.
The culture needs a deep loose nutrient soil, air and water permeable. The presence of small gravel, pebbles, rhizomes and other inclusions in the soil causes distortion and crushing of the carrot root.
The root crop needs bright lighting. Beds with carrots are arranged so that each plant receives sufficient lighting. Tall crops (tomatoes, eggplants) should not shade the tops of carrots. Carrots are best located south of tall neighbors.
Carrots will not bear fruit in acidic soils. Therefore, a year before sowing a crop on a selected bed, the soil is deoxidized by introducing humus, chalk, lime, dolomite flour. The soil under carrots should be neutral with zero acidity within pH = 6-7.
Ugly, branchy, bursting carrot roots and small root crops are obtained with poor-quality soil preparation, spring pre-sowing deoxidation of the soil, the use of fertilizers containing chlorine, with an excess of nitrogen fertilizers, thickened crops.
The value of carrots is determined by the amount of nutrients that are formed in the root crop as a result of metabolic processes with the timely receipt of moisture and nutrients. Therefore, the lack of moisture and nutrition at the beginning and their excess at the end of the growing season of carrots will change not only the external forms and characteristics, but also significantly reduce the taste.

How to get large carrots?

Selection of a plot for sowing carrots and predecessors

The site should be leveled, without a slope, evenly lit. Good predecessors and neighbors are zucchini and other pumpkin, legumes, turnip onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants. Celery, parsley, dill, other umbrellas are unwanted neighbors and predecessors. In the cultural turnover, carrots return to their original place in the 4th–5th year.

Healthy tops of carrots. © Bill Heavey

Soil preparation for sowing carrots

The soil for sowing carrots has been prepared since autumn. After harvesting the previous crop, the tops are taken out of the site, provoked by irrigation to receive an autumn wave of weed shoots. If the site is unfavorable, they clean it of stones, rhizomes, dig a shovel onto a bayonet. Scatter a mixture or complex fertilizers that do not contain chloride forms. Fertilizers are embedded in the soil while crushing coarse clods of earth and leveling the surface of the site with a rake.

Important! It is impossible to simultaneously make deoxidizers (dolomite flour or lime) and fertilizers. These two methods of preparation are spaced apart in time. You can apply deoxidizers in the fall (if necessary), and fertilizers in the spring, 2-3 weeks before sowing.

In the spring, a bed for carrots is once again deeply dug up, especially if the soils are heavy clay and loamy in composition. To fluff them, you can add perlite or vermiculite, sand to the root layer.

Fertilizing carrots

From mineral fertilizers during the main soil preparation, nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers are applied at the rate of 50-60 and 40-50 g/sq. m. on soils of medium fertility. You can make nitrophos, ammophos at a dose of 60-80 g / sq. m. or a fertilizer vegetable mixture in the same dose. Fertilizers can be applied for digging or during the final preparation of the site (for looting).

On highly fertile soils, 1/2-1/3 of the above-mentioned doses of fertilizers are applied under carrots, sometimes they only manage to add ash - a glass per square meter. m. and subsequent top dressing during the growing season. On infertile soils, the main dose of fertilizers is not increased, but enhanced feeding is used in the first half of the carrot growing season.

Sowing dates for carrots

Carrots are frost-resistant crops. Seedlings can withstand temperatures as low as -2°C. Developed plants do not die during short-term frost down to -4°C. Using these properties, some gardeners sow the crop as soon as the soil warms up to + 3 ... + 4 ° С. But for such early crops, as well as for winter crops, you need to choose early ripe varieties of carrots. Yes, and shoots are obtained on the 20th - 30th day.

The best for sowing carrots is still considered to be warming up 10-15 cm of the soil layer to + 8 ... + 10 ° С. Shoots at the same time appear on the 12th - 15th day. If the initial period of development of carrots is held at low temperatures, the plants will bloom in the first year, and the root crop will be rough and tasteless. Optimum temperatures fluctuate within +17…+24°С. With an increase of more than + 25 ° C, the metabolic processes in the root slow down, the carrot root becomes fibrous. It is necessary to reduce the temperature of the soil by watering and mulching, and the air - by fine spraying (foggy irrigation).

Thinning carrots. © Terese How to increase the taste of a root crop?

With a properly prepared site, the taste qualities of carrot roots depend on the availability of basic nutrients during the growing season (and their proper ratio), microelements, moisture, standing density and varieties.

Top dressing carrots

Carrots do not tolerate overfeeding and react to it with a decrease in the quality of root crops, especially with an excess of nitrogen fats. The flesh of the root crop becomes tasteless. But carrots need a good supply of potassium, which contributes to the accumulation of sugars in root crops, increases the shelf life and overall yield. Of potash fertilizers, it is better to use kalimag. It is chlorine free.

During the warm period, carrots are fed 2-3 times, sometimes on depleted soils - 4 times.

First dressing of carrots

3 weeks after the shoots of carrots - a solution of kalimag and urea (15 g / 10 l of water). 20 g of superphosphate can be added to the solution. With sufficient filling of the soil with fertilizers in the autumn-spring preparation, the first top dressing can be carried out later, in the phase of 5-6 leaves.

The second dressing of carrots

After 2-3 weeks, the second top dressing is performed by adding Kemira-universal (50-60 g / sq. M), nitrophoska, Rost-2, solute in the same dose.

The third dressing of carrots

The next top dressing is carried out after 2-3 weeks (in the phase of root growth) with ash (on moist soil) at the rate of 20 g / sq. m or a mixture of trace elements. The growth phase of the root crop falls on the end of June-July.

In order for the fruits to be sweet with tender pulp between 2 and 3 top dressing, a foliar solution of boric acid (2 g / 10 l of water) is effective. Potassium is very important in the composition of the elements, which contributes to the delivery of nutrients to root crops. Therefore, 3 top dressing can be carried out with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers at the rate of 30 and 40 g / sq. m.

Fourth dressing of carrots

On depleted soils, if required, the 4th top dressing is also carried out, which falls on the phase of root ripening. It is most often carried out in order to enlarge the fruit. Usually it is carried out in early to mid-September (depending on the ripening period of the variety). This top dressing can be carried out with the same fats and doses as the third, or in another combination, but excluding nitrogen fertilizers.

Dense planting of carrots. © Dorling Kindersley Watering carrots

Small, bitter, woody fruits of carrots are obtained with a lack of moisture, especially during the period from sowing to germination, and in the phase of intensive growth of root crops. Before germination, the topsoil is kept constantly moist. Watering during this period is best done in the evening, mulching the aisles with fine mulch no higher than 2-3 cm. With fluctuations in the humidity regime and excessively abundant watering, carrots can form a large root crop, but it will be tasteless and replete with cracks.

After germination, the culture is watered weekly until the root crops grow, and then they switch to watering 2-3 times a month, but increase the watering rate. After each watering, mulching carrots is a must. It prevents the formation of a crust and reduces the temperature of the topsoil. Stop watering 2 weeks before harvest.

Rules for thinning carrots

Aligned carrot roots grow with the correct 2-3-fold thinning. The first thinning is carried out after the appearance of the 3rd sheet. Before thinning, the aisles are loosened and watered. Sprouts are removed by plucking or tweezers, but do not pull out so as not to disturb root system the remaining plants.

Waste is removed away from the garden, so as not to attract a carrot fly. To scare it away after thinning in the aisles, you can scatter onion arrows or cover the plants. After 2.5-3.0 weeks, the crops are thinned out again, increasing the distance between plants from 2 to 6 cm.

The 3rd thinning is actually the sampling of the first crop. Carrots are demanding air regime soil. Once every 7-10 days, the aisles of the carrots are loosened, turning the mulch.

Carrot varieties

To grow sweet carrots, you need to select a zoned variety with a certain root quality. Breeders offer a wide range of seeds of early, medium and late maturation with a high content of sugars, characterized by a dessert taste, long term storage and other qualities.

For growing in the country, you can recommend universal varieties: Shantane, Nantes-4, Karotelka. sustainable unpretentious varieties. Nantes-4 can be used for winter crops. For all regions of Russia, the Moscow Winter A-545 variety is suitable. The early ripe variety Polar cranberry forms a crop in 2 months and is recommended for cultivation in northern latitudes due to its qualities.

In families with small children, varieties are indispensable: Vitamin-6, Viking and Sugar gourmet, Children's sweetness, which are distinguished by a high content of carotene and sugar. Sugar gourmet is one of the sweetest varieties of carrots. Children's sweets are perfectly stored until the next harvest. If necessary, in the annual catalog of varieties and hybrids, you can choose a root crop with the desired quality.

Growing carrots in the country, at first glance, is not at all a difficult task, but experienced gardeners know that this is not always the case. Today I will share the secrets of growing carrots and how to grow large and sweet root crops.

Like other cultures, this underground beauty has a number of specific requirements. So, carrots are very demanding on light and cannot stand even a slight shading. Compared to other root vegetables, it is more drought tolerant. But at the same time, carrots are a cold-resistant crop. It remains viable even with a prolonged cold snap and easily tolerates frosts.

The quality of root crops directly depends on the type of soil. Therefore, for carrots, fertile, light-textured soils with a deep "arable layer" and good drainage are chosen. The most suitable soils are sandy and light loamy types with a slightly acidic or close to neutral environment.

By the way, do you know why "arable layer" is in quotation marks? Yes, because in eco-farming this layer is formed not under the influence of deep plowing or digging, but with the help of green manure roots, weeds and cultivated plants, worms, and microorganisms. The eco-farmer's assistants structure the soil so carefully that no plow with a shovel can compare with them.

Well, this is a small digression, and now I continue on how to grow carrots.

Carrots, unlike other vegetable crops, are unpretentious to the previous owners of the garden. However, the best precursors to carrots are cucumber, zucchini, tomato, cabbage, potatoes, garlic, onions, all legumes.

In the same place, carrots should be grown no more than 3 years.

VERY IMPORTANT! This article provides information about growing carrots in a relatively traditional way (only mineral fertilizers are replaced by organic ones). But in the article “Choosing carrot neighbors for a good harvest. We grow carrot seeds ”a video is given where it is very well told about how to grow excellent root crops using the most natural organic farming. In addition, you will also learn about growing onions, celery and radishes. So I advise you to watch that video after reading this article.

Soil preparation
A bed for growing carrots has been prepared since autumn. To do this, stones are selected from the soil that will interfere with the growth of root crops. Compost or humus (10 liters per 1 m2) is added to poor soils, chalk to acidic soils, peat, river sand and sawdust to heavy soils. You can cover the bed with mulch or sow green manure.

In the spring, 7-10 days before sowing, with the help of a rake, break up lumps (if any) and level the surface of the ridge. Then it is shed with water (+30 ... + 40 ° C) and covered with a film that will protect the soil from drying out and allow it to warm up well.

Preparing carrot seeds for sowing

Well, preparing a bed is only half the battle. Seed preparation is also important.

The peculiarity of carrot seeds is that they have low germination (only 55-75%) and lose it rather quickly. Therefore, it is better to take fresh seeds for sowing. When using 2-4 year old seeds, check the seeds for germination.

Shoots of carrots appear long and unfriendly, about 15-20 days after sowing. This is due to the presence of essential oils in the seeds, which prevent the penetration of moisture, as a result of which the processes of swelling and germination of seeds slow down. Seeds germinate after essential oils will be washed off the shell. If the spring is dry, then the germination of carrots may be delayed. Therefore, carrot seeds need preliminary preparation, which is carried out immediately before sowing.

Methods of pre-sowing preparation of seeds:

Soak
Fabric bags with seeds are dipped for a day in warm water (+30°C), changing it every 4 hours.

For soaking, you can use a nutrient solution of wood ash in water (1 tablespoon per 1 liter). After soaking, the seeds are rinsed in clean water.

Good results are obtained by combining soaking with hardening. To do this, wet bags with seeds are kept in the refrigerator for 2-5 days.

Heat treatment of carrot seeds
Seed bags are placed in hot water(+50°C) for 20 minutes, and then cold for 2 minutes.

bubbling
How bubbling is carried out has already been described in an article on growing seedlings of cucumbers.

Digging into the soil
Fabric bags with dry seeds are buried for 10-12 days in cold soil on a spade bayonet. Seeds treated in this way germinate in 4-5 days.

You can also mix carrot seeds with wet peat. The mixture is placed in heat for a week until the seeds germinate, and then sown as usual.

After using one of the listed methods, the seeds are slightly dried at room temperature (20-25 minutes) to make it easier to sow and sown in the ground.

Sowing carrots

Growing carrots is carried out in a seedless way. The dates for sowing carrots in open ground are as follows:

in spring: end of April - beginning of May and the first ten days of June;
for the winter: the second half of October - the beginning of November and the beginning of December (on frozen ground).

Carrot seeds are small and difficult to sow. A little trick will help to avoid thickening of crops. To do this, mix 1 teaspoon of carrot seeds (without a slide) with 1 glass of sand and sow an area of 10 m2.

For carrots, it is better to use narrow beds, on which no more than 4 grooves are usually made.

If you plan to grow only one carrot in the garden, then the sowing technology will be as follows. In the spring, before sowing, grooves are cut on the prepared ridge at a distance of 15 cm (for early and medium varieties) and 20 cm (for late ones). Furrows spill water (in colder regions hot water(+45 ... + 50 ° С)), powdered with ash and seeds are sown in them in increments of 1 cm.

Seed condition and sowing depth depend on the time of year. for spring and summer crops swollen seeds are used, which are sown to a depth of 3-4 cm. The grooves are sprinkled with soil, and on top with mulch (peat or humus). After sowing, the bed is covered with a film (it is placed on bricks) at a level of 5 cm from the surface of the ridge.

When sowing carrots before winter, dry seeds of early varieties are used, which are sown to a depth of 1-2 cm. The thickness of the mulch layer is 3-4 cm.

Sowing for the winter is carried out when the soil temperature drops below + 5 ° C. In winters with little snow, ridges with winter crops of carrots are additionally covered with snow (if you manage to organize a layer of snow of 40-50 cm, it’s good). Such crops give a harvest 2 weeks earlier.

Care when growing carrots

Carrot care is organized taking into account the following requirements:

Temperature regime
Carrot seeds germinate at a temperature of +3…+5°C. Temperature +20…+22°C ensures normal growth and formation of root crops and is considered optimal for carrots.

Young plants withstand frosts down to -3…-4°C, dying at temperatures below -6°C for a long period. The leaves of mature plants freeze at -8°C.

Watering
The frequency and volume of watering depends on the age of the plants and weather conditions. Usually carrots are watered once a week:

at the beginning of the growing season, plants are watered at the rate of 3 liters of water per 1 m2;
after the second thinning increase the volume to 10 liters per 1 m2;
during the period of growth of root crops - 20 liters per 1 m2.

1.5-2 months before harvesting root crops, watering is carried out once every 1.5-2 weeks at the rate of 10 liters per 1 m2, and 2-3 weeks before harvesting, watering is completely stopped.

When growing this crop, it is very important to monitor soil moisture, avoiding excess and lack of moisture. Even for a short time, carrots cannot tolerate excessive moisture, which causes rotting of root crops. With a prolonged drought, carrot roots do not develop, which leads to a decrease in yield.

On the other hand, you can do almost without watering carrots. When exactly? Watch the video:

(you may have already seen the same video in the article about storing carrots, but I decided to give it here too).

Weeding
Carrot sprouts develop slowly and are quickly covered with weeds. So that weeds do not inhibit the growth and development of young plants, they must be removed. The first weeding is carried out after about 10-12 days, when the first true leaf appears in the plants. The second - after 8-10 days, when the next true leaf appears.

Weeding is carried out after watering or rain and is combined with thinning seedlings and loosening the soil.

top dressing
3-4 weeks after seed germination and the appearance of the first shoots, the first top dressing is carried out with an aqueous solution of mullein, chicken manure, ash or humus (1:10). If necessary, during the period of plant growth and the formation of root crops, top dressing is repeated. If you have been using organic farming for several years and a good layer of humus has formed on the beds, then you can do without top dressing.

Thickened crops of carrots are thinned out twice: 10-12 and 18-22 days after germination. After the first thinning, the distance between adjacent plants should be 2-3 cm, after the second - 4-5 cm. Thinning is recommended in the morning. After thinning, the bed is watered. It is also useful to treat the soil with ground red pepper (hot, hot or bitter). This will muffle the smell of the carrots and protect the plants from the carrot fly. Another way to protect against a carrot fly can be provided by a combined landing with an onion, but that's another story, which I'll talk about in the next article.

And do not neglect mulching, as it will save you time and effort.

How to grow a good crop of carrots
To get good carrots, it is necessary to strictly observe the agricultural technology of this crop.

The quality of root crops during cultivation is influenced by many factors. For example:

with a lack of light, carrots form small root crops;
dense, stony and heavy clay soils do not allow root crops to develop normally. Root crops have ugly shapes and a rough taste;
carrots grown in acidic soils have no sweetness;
excessive moisture and sparse crops lead to the growth of root crops, they become deformed and coarsen, which reduces their quality. Therefore, do not chase large carrots;
with prolonged drought, carrots become coarse and less juicy;
if prolonged drought is replaced by prolonged rains, mass cracking and deformation of root crops is observed;
damage to the roots during thinning, as well as the introduction of fresh manure into the soil, causes branching and curvature of root crops.

Growing carrots shouldn't be too difficult for you. At least I talked about many factors that can somehow affect the cultivation of carrots and the quality of its root crops. Given this information, you are more likely to grow a good crop.

I wish you large and sweet root crops!

I advise, dear readers, not to miss the publication of new materials on this blog.

Best Regards Gardensha

Even experienced gardeners have incidents with carrots - either they didn’t sprout, or they disfigured them badly, or even the root crops turned out to be ugly and tasteless. Growing carrots is a delicate matter and, despite its apparent simplicity, is replete with many nuances. With this vegetable, a negative result can be evidence of both a lack of care and excessive diligence. We propose to consider what mistakes in the cultivation of crops are made most often and how to avoid them.

Carrots are delicate!

Site selection and garden preparation

Climatic conditions Middle lane Russia are ideal for growing carrots in open ground- it turns out dense, juicy, sweet. For crops, an open area of \u200b\u200bthe garden is chosen so that a lot of sun falls on it - in the shade, the plants stretch out, grow with large tops and small root crops. The earth needs loose, sandy loam is better, with a neutral reaction of the soil solution. Considering that ideal conditions are rare in nature, you can make a fruitful bed yourself. Clay soils are loosened and enriched - humus, compost, peat, leafy soil, river sand are added to them.

When deciding where to grow carrots, advanced gardeners create special organic beds, with an airy structure, very light. The soil is dug up before winter, acidity is reduced by liming, mineral fertilizers are applied: nitrogen (20–30 g / m²), superphosphate (40–50 g / m²), potassium salt (40–50 g / m²). With organic matter, you need to be more careful, because root crops cannot stand fresh manure. They are suitable for areas fertilized a year earlier - after cucumber, zucchini, potatoes, cabbage. Typical mistakes:

Digging is carried out in the spring. This violates the structure, reduces the natural moisture content of the soil. Seeds, being at a depth of 2–3 cm, do not receive capillary moisture and significantly lose their germination capacity.
They add a lot of nitrogen. Carrots overfed with nitrogen contain a lot of nitrates, taste worse, and are poorly stored.

It is important! No matter how hard you try, but on acidic soil (pH below 6-6.5) you will not be able to grow sweet carrots. An acidic environment prevents the absorption of valuable trace elements, including phosphorus and potassium. Given the characteristics of the culture, liming the soil can only be carried out in winter - before the autumn digging.

seed requirements

Efficient carrot cultivation technologies are unthinkable without high-quality seed material. When choosing a variety or hybrid, pay attention to the ripening time, soil requirements, moisture, correlate this with the conditions of your region. Coated seeds do not need additional preparation, but they have a feature - watering the soil before and after sowing. It is necessary that the multi-layered shell be able to get wet, without this the seed will not receive the necessary nutrition and water, respectively, will not germinate. Encrusted and primed seeds are sown dry. But the usual ones need to be prepared for sowing - pre-soak, disinfect, stimulate with growth regulators. There are many procedures, their main function is to accelerate the emergence of seedlings.

Typical mistakes:

Sowing with dry untreated seeds. They sprout for a long time, and if they have sown in the cold ground, they can sprout.
Dried seeds do not germinate. There is not enough moisture to dissolve the granule.

The subtleties of sowing

The secrets of growing carrots at this stage are in the correct determination of the timing and sowing technology. To get an early harvest for summer consumption, carrots are sown as soon as the soil is shaken and warmed up to 6–8⁰ C. With winter sowing, the ripening time can be accelerated by 1–2 weeks. In order to get high-quality and long-term root crops for laying for the winter, the sowing dates are shifted by about 1–1.5 months - by the first decade of June.

Sow carrots shallowly (1.5–2 cm), placing them in rows, 12–15 cm ribbons or wide ridges. The bottom of the seed furrow must be compacted, moistened, and only after that the seeds are laid out. From above they are covered with a dry substrate - earth from the garden, humus, mulch from rotted organic matter. Sowing methods for growing carrots recommend sparse or precise. They require extra cost and patience, but they will pay off handsomely at harvest time and save you time on thinning.

Typical mistakes:

The furrows were cut, but not compacted, not watered. The seeds lay unevenly, rolled under clods of earth, did not receive the necessary moisture - seedlings are uneven, unfriendly. The tip of the root died from drying out - a forked root crop will grow.

From seeding to seedlings

The main thing in growing carrots from sowing to shoots is to save moisture. Beginning gardeners, seeing that seedlings do not appear, resort to watering. A crust forms on top of the soil, then it becomes covered with cracks, through which water evaporates intensively. How to deal with it? Firstly, if the principle of “dry on wet” is observed during sowing, then the top layer will reliably retain moisture. Secondly, when a crust appears, surface loosening is carried out with a rake. To make rows of carrots appear earlier, mix radishes, lettuce, spinach with seeds - they will act as beacons.

Typical mistakes:

Watering until shoots. The achene does not have enough strength to break through the formed crust - shoots are weak, uneven, delayed.

plant care

The technology of growing carrots at the care stage includes such mandatory activities as weeding, loosening, thinning, watering and fertilizing. The thinning procedure is excluded if sparse or precision sowing was used. In this case, if there is a need, the density is adjusted during weeding.

thinning

The first thinning is carried out with the formation of 2-3 leaves. Weaker shoots are removed, leaving an interval of 2 cm between the remaining ones. The carrots are broken for the second time when the root crop grows up to 1.2–1.5 cm in diameter, leaving the plants after 4–6 cm. How to grow large and even carrots depends , including from the secrets of thinning.

You need to pull out the excess carefully, without damaging the growing seedling nearby. A damaged root crop starts a new root at the site of injury, that is, it bifurcates.
If you like large carrots, leave the plants less frequently. To get aligned root crops, they must sit shoulder to shoulder in the ground.
Carry out any weeding on soft soil - after rain or watering.

Note! During thinning, a spicy aroma rises above the bed, attracting carrot flies. To protect plantings from the pest, remove weeding waste in a timely manner, work early in the morning or in the evening.

Typical mistakes:

Thickened crop. Instead of high-quality root crops, you will get “mouse tails”.
Sparse sowing. Non-standard products, large specimens can produce side shoots, growths.

Watering

How to water carrots is the most controversial issue in crop cultivation technology. Supporters of traditional farming recommend doing this infrequently - 4-5 times per season, but plentifully. Water should wet the soil by 40 centimeters, which is 50-60 l / m². The first watering is carried out immediately after the shoots, then - approximately every 15-20 days. In natural farming, watering is not welcome. Seedlings need abundant moisture until 5-6 true leaves appear. After the first thinning, the beds are mulched with a layer of 5-7 cm and not watered at all or extremely rarely - in the case of a dry summer. There is an explanation for this - the roots of carrots (not to be confused with the root crop!) Reach 2–2.5 m and can provide themselves with the necessary moisture.

In any case, watering must be stopped completely at least a month before harvesting.

Note! How to grow large carrots, if there is no way without watering, but there is no water? Plant late-ripening varieties. In autumn it will rain, dew will fall, fogs will fall and the root crop will have time to catch up.

Typical mistakes:

Frequent but shallow watering. The root crop, in order to receive moisture and nutrition from the upper layers of the soil, begins to grow lateral roots. As a result, "hairy" carrots grow.
Uneven hydration. If after a long period of drought, give abundant watering, there is a high probability of longitudinal cracking of root crops.

top dressing

Root feeding of carrots is necessary if the full rate of fertilizer was not applied before sowing. They are effective in combination with watering. They are timed to coincide with the end of the breakthrough, that is, 2-3 times per season. We need balanced fertilizers for root crops, such as Agricola, Bona Forte, Fertika (universal).

Typical mistakes:

Lack of fertilizer. In depleted soil, the roots will be small, from a lack of potassium, the pulp becomes dense and hard, without phosphorus, it will not pick up sweetness.

Cleaning

The answer to the question of how to grow sweet carrots often depends on the nuances of harvesting. It is impossible to dig out early, because in the last month of the growing season, the vegetable is intensively gaining sugar. But it is even more dangerous to overexpose carrots in the garden. A root crop that has sat in the ground begins to grow young roots, becomes hard, and begins to taste bitter. To avoid such mistakes, when sowing, pay attention to the growing season of the variety and stick to them.

Typical mistakes:

Early planting varieties with a short growing season. If the ripening dates came by the end of August, and the root crops were removed a month later, you will get woody, hairy from the roots and tasteless carrots.

Covered ground technologies

Being a plant with a long daylight hours, carrots are not the most popular indoor crop. Nevertheless, growing carrots in a greenhouse allows you to get additional crops of a vitamin vegetable out of season.

What nuances should be remembered?

Early ripe varieties with a short growing season are suitable for sowing in greenhouse conditions, for example, Minicor (88–90 days), Saturno F1 (50–55), Amsterdam (80–85).
If you sow carrots in February-March, the roots will ripen by May. The second time is planted no earlier than August and the vitamin harvest is taken during December-January.
Until mid-February, while daylight hours last less than 10 hours, additional lighting with fluorescent lamps must be used.

Otherwise, care is not much different from open ground technologies. Although you should not count on high yields in a greenhouse, young vegetables with tender, crispy flesh diversify your table and eliminate the need for long-term storage.

Carrots in high beds:

Mankind actively began to introduce vegetable crops into agriculture more than four thousand years ago. Already at that time, many peoples were tremblingly engaged in growing carrots and eating them. Until the 19th century, the cultivation of this vegetable was dominated by the yellow type of carrot. But already in the middle of the nineteenth century, the great French breeder Wilmolec Leveque de André, through his experiments and observations, was able to give the root crop of this plant a bright orange appearance and juicy saturation with a rich complex of vitamins. On this moment breeding science knows many types of carrots: dark purple, red, yellow, white color And different shapes. But in order to figure out how to get a rich harvest and save a healing storehouse of minerals, you should have theoretical knowledge on how to grow carrots properly and the right way. Thus, after reading this article, growing carrots in the country and in other conditions will not be difficult for you.

Proper planting of carrots

The technology for growing carrots will differ depending on the planting season, the varieties you have, the climate zone and other conditions.

There are several options for planting this crop: before winter - in the cold season and planting the seeds of this vegetable in the spring. So, what conditions for growing carrots must be met in order for gardeners to become owners of a good and large crop?

For the cultivation of carrots in open ground, you first need to prepare the seeds for planting. Therefore, 9-11 days before sowing, it is necessary to tie the rudiments in a rag. After these measures, the seeds should be buried in moist soil to a depth of one bayonet of a shovel and stored there for a couple of days. It is recommended to carry out these actions, since during this period of 3-5 days essential oils will evaporate from the seeds, which prevent them from germinating well.

At the end of this period, nodules with seeds are dug out of the soil. The sprouts will become swollen and large. The next step is to pour the seeds into any convenient container and cover them with starch. Now they will show up well on dark and wet soil, and will also stop sticking to your fingers.

The right choice of variety

When asked how to grow large carrots in any time period, you should carefully consider the variety of seeds on the market. Each type has its own time period.

Around the twentieth of April, gardeners who want to get the so-called "bunch carrots" should start dispersing early ripe seeds. Connoisseurs of the early harvest of carrots will like the varieties: Orange Muscats, Royal Chanson, Puchkovaya, Vesta F1.

In the period from April 25 to May 25, gardeners need to start planting mid-season types of carrots. At this point in time, such hybrid mid-season juicy varieties are popular: Altair F1, Nelly F1 and Nectar F1.

Sowing seeds intended for consumption in winter period, produced in mid-November. Late-ripening varieties of carrots are especially beneficial and efficient for storage. They confidently withstand low temperatures, have a long shelf life and in its process accumulate a large amount of a useful and sweet substance - carotene. We list some of the best late varieties - these are the "Red Giant", "Chantane", "Queen of Autumn".

Regarding the choice of varieties when planting in different regions, we note that late-ripening varieties are best suited for Siberia and other cold climatic zones. Early ripe and mid-ripening varieties feel quite comfortable in all other temperate natural conditions, therefore, subject to the rules on the place of landing, time and proper care, you will get high quality and ripe carrots.

Landing site and soil quality

Based on the place where the carrot grows, your final result depends on its care. So what kind of soil do carrots like? Its bushes develop well on fertile and loose lands. According to their composition, medium loamy soils or sandy loam soils optimally correspond to them. Such land will provide the carrots with high aeration. The culture prefers neutral soil, the optimal phosphorus index for it is in the range of 6-7.

The landing site should not have a lot of weeds in its vicinity. An excellent option for carrots is to place them in areas with enough light. Growing in the shade will drastically affect the quality of your crop and reduce its quantity. Excellent predecessors of this root crop will be: potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers.

Organic manure fertilizers are not applied to the ground for the future growth of carrots. Soil preparation consists of the following light actions:

The bed is dug up from autumn to a depth of 10-15 centimeters and left until spring. Lumps of earth in this case should not be broken.
In advance of the direct planting of carrots, the garden bed should be prepared 2-3 days before sowing. Based on the composition and fertility of the soil, natural fertilizers and minerals are applied in the spring. Each 1 m² of land is treated with five kilograms of coarse sand. The addition of organic trace elements will also not hurt. In particular, one teaspoon of sodium nitrate, a tablespoon of crushed superphosphate and potassium chloride are perfect.
Further, after enriching the land with all this food, the bed is dug up to a depth of 20-25 centimeters.
Then its surface layer is subjected to development, compaction and leveling.

Before planting carrots, you should dig grooves under it and moisten them with moisture. Proper embedment depth is considered in the range of 2-3 centimeters. With other characteristics, the seeds will not germinate at all if the pits are too deep. Between adjacent plants, the distance should not be less than 15 centimeters, the gap between seeds is recommended to be 2 centimeters.

After these, your soil is ready for planting and for bringing a rich harvest.

Watering

In order for the fruits of your root crops not to be small, and the pulp not to be dry and bitter, you should carefully and carefully approach the watering of your seedlings.

Immediately after sowing and before the appearance of the first shoots, watering is carried out 2-3 times a week with a norm of 10 liters of water per 1 m². It is necessary to water evenly and moderately. It is impossible to fill in young seedlings so that the water stands in the garden.

When watering, they mainly use a watering can, but if you have large plantings, you can use other irrigation methods, for example, from a hose. If it’s hot and cold outside, then your carrots will noticeably feel a lack of water. Watering in this case should be carried out 3-5 times a week. It is necessary to cultivate the site so that the earth does not have time to dry out, and your crop is preserved intact and safe.

The best time to water is in the early morning. Evening irrigation will also not harm the plants, but only if the night is warm.

The temperature of the water should also be approached with care. In hot weather, a slightly cool moisture of 17-21 ° C is recommended. On cool and cloudy days, bring your water to a warmer state of 25-30°C.

top dressing

In addition to watering great importance in the care of carrots has the right top dressing. Fertilizer for a plant is like vitamins and useful nutritional properties for a person. They will give carrots full growth, strengthen it immune system, provide better pest control and increase viability. Through the nature, degree and correctness of the feeding, your final harvest can be healthy, tasty and have an appetizing appearance.

So, you can grow good carrots in your country house by adding the following fertilizer microelements to the soil:

Potassium. This fertilizer helps the proper photosynthesis of the plant and is able to protect carrot roots from diseases. The lack of this trace element is determined by the short stature and lethargy of the bush, the browned tips of the leaves, the bronze tint and the too abundant growth of the aerial part of the carrot, which develops to the detriment of the root crop. It is used 10-14 days before harvesting, by liquid solution and 30 grams per 1 m².
Nitrogen is a fertilizer that will help carrots grow green mass and form the ground part of the plant. With a lack of nitrogen, the leaves become noticeably smaller, the tops stop growing, and the color loses its intensity. The fruits grow bitter, small and dry.
Phosphorus is a substance responsible for restorative properties and does not prevent the death of plant tissues. Carrots experience a special need for it in hot and exhausting weather. The lack of this microelement is determined by the leaves beginning to turn red or purple stripes on them. Then, if the plant is not fertilized with phosphorus in a timely manner, they will finally change color and dry out. Fruits with a lack of vitamins are formed weak, small and thin. Their taste gives a noticeable bitterness.
Manganese and barium are best fertilizers for carrots at the time of growth of root crops. A solution of these useful trace elements is prepared in a combination of both chemical compounds in the ratio of one teaspoon per 10 liters of water.
Boron is one of the most important nutrients for vegetable crops. It regulates protein, carbohydrate metabolism and is responsible for taste filling. The lack of this trace element is determined by the apical and marginal leaf necrosis, yellowing of the veins, inhibition of plant development. A solution of boron is prepared in proportion at the rate of 2-3 liters of the mixture per 1 m².

thinning

Carrot thinning in the open field is one of the essential elements of carrot care. This crop requires this action, as densely planted and closely spaced roots prevent each other from developing and growing. Weeding carrots is carried out twice during its growth. Shoots are thinned out for the first time. This must be done when the first 2 leaves are formed in the range of 1.5-3 centimeters from each other. For this process, tweezers are best suited. Another tip to facilitate thinning is the recommendation for preliminary abundant watering of the garden bed with water. Thus, the plant will succumb to easier pulling out of the ground.

The second time thinning the carrots in the garden should be three weeks later, when the tops have grown to a size of 10 centimeters. The gap between the roots should be 5-7 centimeters.

Also, do not forget that carrots love loose soil. Therefore, after the shoots appear, you can proceed to the first loosening. But you should do it with due diligence, as carrots have delicate, small sprouts and you can injure them.

Loosening is recommended immediately after rain. If dry weather has set in, then the carrots should be watered first and then the soil should be cultivated.

Protection against diseases and pests

Diseases and pests constantly encroach on the health and normal development of the growing fetus. side effects that may arise due to such unfavorable conditions for carrots are: an unpleasant and bitter taste, lethargy, and carrots also grow in an ugly form and do not have a marketable appearance.

Among insects, the following pests cause the greatest discomfort to carrots: carrot moth, winter cutworm, carrot fly, carrot psyllid and naked slugs. As you know, this entire listed list of insects does not tolerate onion smell. Therefore, if you combine the planting of these vegetables, the likelihood that these pests will spoil your crop will decrease significantly. Plus, constantly help your carrots with organic endorsements and increase their immunity to disease.

Several more methods are used as increased protection for fruits. Some gardeners cover the crop with non-woven fabric. It will be able to protect the garden from pests and protect from possible frosts. Around this cover you can sow any fast growing plant. In this case, its stems will be able to lift the canvas, which will create the most favorable effect for your carrots.

Another way is to sow carrots in the interval from late spring to early summer. During this period, the carrot fly no longer flies and will not be able to disturb your seedlings.

Mulching the beds with sawdust or needles of coniferous plants is also suitable for natural methods for controlling insects without the use of chemicals. As you know, they have a specific smell that can easily repel pests.

Common carrot diseases include: white rot, phomosis, or dry rot. Their reasons are improper care of the garden bed and failure to comply with the conditions for proper crop rotation. But above, all the necessary measures for feeding, watering, sowing and planting were described, subject to which, your carrots will be able to avoid all inconvenience and please their gardeners with a luxurious harvest of root crops.