A root vegetable that is a source of carotene, our orange miracle, is always present on our table. This is one of our most beloved and important vegetables.
No other vegetable can replace it, because it contains many substances beneficial to our body: a large amount of vitamins, essential oils, phospholipids, sterols, mineral salts, microelements.
And even the middle of the root vegetable, which many gardeners dislike, contains apigenin, a substance that has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the heart. Finely grated carrots can heal burns and purulent wounds.
In Rus', carrot juice was used to treat inflammation of the nasopharynx, heart disease and liver disease. Also carrot juice It relieves fatigue and spring vitamin deficiency well if you drink half a glass of it 3 times a day.
And almost everyone knows that it is very useful for people with vision problems.
Carrots are widely used in cooking, both raw and in the preparation of the most various dishes, and also for obtaining juice.
According to pundits, carrots were first grown in Afghanistan, where the largest number of carrot species still grow. Initially, carrots were grown not for their roots, but for their aromatic leaves and seeds.
The first mention of eating carrot root is found in ancient sources in the 1st century. AD
Archaeological research suggests that carrots were grown much earlier - almost 2 thousand years BC.
Modern carrots were brought to Europe in the 10th-13th centuries, and they appeared here during the times of Kievan Rus.
At first, yellow and white root vegetables were grown, and only at the beginning of the 18th century did mentions of orange carrots appear.
And legends also say that in the Middle Ages, carrots were considered a delicacy for gnomes and they exchanged this root vegetable for gold bars...
Carrots are quite a demanding crop, especially when it comes to soil. She likes to grow in fertile, light, loose, permeable and weed-free soil.
The best site for planting carrots will be the one where manure was applied 1-2 years ago, since carrots react very poorly to fresh manure. In this case, many ugly, branchy root vegetables with very poor taste grow.
Also, non-standard carrots can grow under the following conditions:
if you apply fertilizers containing chlorine, the root crops will bend or branch;
if you deoxidize the soil on the eve of planting, the carrots become multi-tailed;
if there are any disturbances in the soil, for example, pebbles, organic residues, etc.;
if there is excess moisture in the soil, the root crop becomes hairy or cracks, the tops grow excessively;
if you introduce and feed unnecessarily nitrogen fertilizers- carrots begin to branch;
if we thin out the seedlings incorrectly;
if there is not enough moisture during the growth of carrots, the carrots, trying to take the moisture it lacks from the soil, release lateral roots, which has a bad effect on its taste and appearance(the pulp becomes coarse, the root crop is short and “horned”).
Based on this, preparing the soil for planting carrots must be approached with all responsibility.
Firstly , it is better to prepare it in the fall: dig it up thoroughly; if it is necessary to deoxidize the soil, then add lime or dolomite flour; You can also add phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. In general, it is best to add all kinds of additives to the soil for carrots, taking into account the type of soil on your site.
If you have peaty soil, then it would be good to add river sand, humus and clay soil to it.
If the soil is clayey - river sand, peat, humus, and with fertile chernozem soil we add only sand in the spring.
Secondly , in the spring, the area for carrots, prepared in the fall, must be loosened quite deeply, having previously added a complex mineral fertilizer; try to select all the pebbles so that nothing interferes with the growth of the plant.
One more an important condition Good illumination of crops is essential for carrot growth. Shading has a very negative effect on plant growth, especially in the initial stages.
If our plantings are dense and there are a lot of weeds, then the carrots stretch out, the formation of root crops slows down and a lot of small root crops are formed (the so-called under-growing).
Carrots are a relatively cold-resistant and drought-resistant plant. Its seedlings can withstand frosts down to minus 2 O C, and already mature plants and up to minus 4 O WITH.
But for those root crops that have survived frost, the shelf life is still reduced.
Carrot seeds germinate at temperatures above 3 O C, a optimal temperature for her height about 18-25 O C. If the temperature rises above 25 O Plant growth slows down.
When choosing a site for planting carrots, it is also advisable to take into account the fact that the best predecessors for them are plants such as tomatoes, legumes, cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers, and green crops.
There are several dates for sowing carrot seeds and they depend on when and for what purposes we want to get the crop.
So, for example, to get an early harvest, carrots should be sown from mid-April to early May ( early spring sowing). Carrots sown during these periods can be harvested in bunches from the end of June to the end of July, and from August we already receive a real root crop for summer consumption.
The next sowing period is from mid-May to early June ( summer sowing). This is the main time for sowing carrots, which we will store for winter storage.
If we want to get young carrots in the fall, then we can sow short-fruited varieties in mid-July.
A winter sowing seeds (from October 20 to November 15) can provide us with an even earlier harvest. But not every site is suitable for these purposes. For pre-winter sowing, you need to choose such a place on our summer cottage, in which the snow melts earlier in the spring and the soil should be light, sandy loam, so that the crops do not float in the spring.
When sowing seeds before winter, they are only disinfected and then dried. In the spring they will gain moisture, swell and germinate naturally. It is not recommended to germinate the seeds, as the sprouts will freeze. Using these sowing dates, we will be able to have fresh carrots from summer to spring next year.
In addition, when sowing late carrots before the 20th of June, plant development does not coincide with the greatest activity of the carrot fly (in May), which makes it possible to grow higher-quality root crops.
Essential oils contained in carrot seeds large quantities hinder quick access moisture to the embryo and delay germination. Therefore, before sowing it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing preparation seeds: disinfection, soaking, germination.
You can read about how, and also correctly, in previously published articles.
Then we dry the treated seeds and sow them. With this treatment, seedlings appear much earlier (after 6-10 days), while if sowing is done with dry seeds and in insufficiently moist soil, the emergence of seedlings can take up to 40 days.
It is best to grow carrots in garden beds. Before sowing, we thoroughly loosen the prepared beds to a depth of 10-15 cm, then level the surface and make narrow grooves up to 5 cm and about 2 cm deep. It is not worth making the grooves deeper, as this can significantly slow down the germination of carrots. We make grooves at a distance of 25-30 cm.
In order for us to have friendly and uniform shoots, the seeds must be planted to the same depth.
Experienced gardeners also advise sowing carrot seeds so that they are soft on top and hard on the bottom.
To do this, we level the bottom of the grooves and compact them with timber specially prepared for this purpose.
After this, we spill the grooves with water and sow the seeds into the moistened soil, trying to keep the distance between them 1.5-2 cm.
It is quite difficult to sow small carrot seeds at such a distance. I would like to recommend several sowing methods that can make this process easier:
Mix small seeds with sand: mix 1 tablespoon of seeds with 1 glass of sand, then divide the resulting mixture into 3 parts and use each part for 1 m2 of beds.
Mix carrot seeds with seeds of beacon plants (lettuce, radishes). They emerge much earlier and thus show us where the carrot seedlings are located. This gives us the opportunity to carry out the first weeding of the carrot bed, without fear of damaging the plants, much earlier than usual.
Liquid sowing of carrots is also very convenient, in which the sprouted seeds are mixed with a liquid paste made from potato starch. Then they are carefully “poured” into the grooves from the teapot.
Then we cover the seeds with loose sifted soil or a mixture of peat and sand, or clean peat with light compaction to ensure better contact of the seeds with the soil and an influx of moisture.
It is not worth watering the ground after sowing, as the seeds may move to deeper layers of the soil and will take a long time to germinate, or may even not germinate at all. To prevent the soil from drying out, the top of the bed can be covered with plastic wrap.
In addition, under the film the earth will warm up much faster. The film will need to be removed after shoots appear.
Carrots need our constant attention. Caring for it means periodically loosening the soil, timely watering, fertilizing if necessary, regular weeding and pest and disease control. The most crucial moment when growing carrots is the germination of seeds and the emergence of seedlings.
At this moment, a soil crust may form, which must be carefully destroyed (preferably after watering), as it prevents the timely emergence of seedlings. To prevent the formation of soil crust, crops can be mulched with peat.
After the first shoots appear, you can begin the first loosening. We act very carefully, trying not to damage the delicate sprouts.
The best time for loosening is immediately after rain, and if there is no rain for a long time, then we first water the carrots, and only then proceed to loosening.
When the carrots have 1-2 true leaves, we thin out the crops, leaving a distance of 3-4 cm between plants. We do the second thinning 2-3 weeks after the first and after that the distance between plants should be 4-5 cm.
With a smaller distance, the root crops will not reach normal sizes, especially late-ripening varieties.
To avoid the formation of ugly root crops, crop thinning must be done correctly.
First, the bed is watered and only after that the excess plants are pulled out. Moreover, we pull upward, and not to the side, without loosening it, otherwise the main root of the abandoned carrot may break off and the side roots will begin to grow, forming a “horned” root crop.
Thinning is best done in the evening, as the carrot smell that appears when plants are damaged can attract pests. It is advisable to take rejected plants away from the garden bed and cover them with soil or compost to muffle the smell.
Let me remind you once again that weeding and thinning must be carried out after rains or watering, and immediately after these operations the bed must be watered again.
In this case, the soil around the abandoned plants must be slightly compressed, and the holes in the ground must be filled up.
An operation such as hilling is also important, because during growth top part root vegetables are exposed and turn green in the light, forming solanine, which, during storage, penetrates into the carrots and gives them bitterness.
Hilling up root crops is also best done on cloudy days or in the evening, so as not to attract carrot fly.
Watering for carrots has great importance, since this plant does not like either excess moisture or dryness.
Carrots have one feature - late harvest formation. Its growing season lasts approximately 4 to 5 months.
And the growth of root crops begins only after the end of leaf growth, in last quarter growing season.
Therefore, during the growth period, plants are very demanding of soil moisture, and in the end they do not tolerate its excess well and, if abundant watering is carried out, the root crops may crack.
In warm and sunny weather When the moisture from the soil quickly evaporates, the carrots are watered 3 times a week.
Do not over-water young plants; approximately 4 liters of water per 1 m2 will be enough for them. As the root crops grow, we gradually increase the amount of water.
In the middle of the growing season, carrots can be watered once a week, using 8 to 10 liters of water per 1 m2.
If we have well fertilized the soil for planting carrots since the fall, then it is possible to grow a good crop of root vegetables without fertilizing.
But it’s still better to do 2-3 more feedings during the entire growing season.
First It is advisable to fertilize a month after germination (1 tablespoon of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water), second- 2 weeks after the first. At the beginning of August, carrots can also be fed with a solution of potassium fertilizer - this third feeding Root vegetables will become sweeter and also ripen earlier.
And it is best to add ash infusion to the water in the second half of the growing season when watering carrots (1 liter of infusion per 10 liters of water), since ash is the best potash fertilizer, which is perfectly absorbed by all plants.
In addition, ash protects plants from many diseases and pests. You can even simply sprinkle the carrot beds with wood ash once a week before watering.
It's still very good to have foliar feeding carrots solution boric acid(1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water). It will be enough to carry out such feeding twice: during the period of active growth of the underground part of the carrots (the first half of July) and when the carrots begin to ripen (the first half of August).
Harvesting carrots can be done in several stages.
Firstly, as soon as the root crops grow, you can begin to pull them out selectively for food. This makes the remaining plants in the beds freer and they receive more nutrition, moisture and begin to grow faster.
And late varieties of carrots intended for winter storage, we harvest from the second half of September to the first half of October, before frost sets in.
There is no need to rush into harvesting, because root crops grow rapidly in the second half of September. But at the same time, you cannot be late, since carrots that are frozen are poorly stored and die.
Carrots can be pulled out by the tops if your soil is light. On denser soil, this will be quite difficult to do and you won’t be able to do it without the help of a shovel. Shake off excess soil with your hands.
After pulling out the root crops, we sort them: we leave whole and healthy ones for winter storage, we put aside damaged ones for quick processing, and it’s best to throw away small and diseased ones.
Then, for those root crops that we are going to store for storage, we cut off the tops right up to the head.
If you liked the grown carrot variety and want to get your own seeds of this variety, then select the best root crops (seeds) and leave about 2-3 cm of tops.
Then we dry the carrots processed in this way under a canopy (not in the sun) and put them in storage.
We store carrots in the basement (cellar) in wooden or plastic boxes. We put it in boxes in layers, sprinkle it with wet sand and try to arrange the root crops so that they do not touch each other.
It is also good to use moss instead of sand.
I would like to recommend another way to store carrots - “glazing” with clay. This is done like this: dilute the clay with water to the consistency of thick sour cream, dip the root vegetables in this “glaze” and place them on a wire rack so that the excess liquid dries off and the coating dries.
In such a shell, our carrots almost do not lose moisture and remain fresh until spring. But of course, the storage temperature should be about 0 0 C and the storage should be dry.
If for some reason the previous methods of storing carrots are not suitable for you, then you can also sprinkle the root vegetables thickly with crushed chalk, thereby reducing the likelihood of putrefactive processes.
And if you add additional root vegetables onion skins, then they will be stored even better.
In this article, dear friends, I only touched on the issue growing carrots, well, I plan to talk about all their diversity and about the diseases and pests that plague carrots in the following articles.
See you soon, dear friends!
Of course, there are methods for preparing seeds to speed up germination. The main and most common method is to soak the seeds in water. At the same time, the seed shell becomes wetted, swells, opens, and the sprout, without any obstacle in front of it, quickly breaks out.+More[i]]
1. Place the seeds in a rag. Carefully roll up the rag, tie it with rubber bands, or tie it with threads so as not to unwind, and keep this rag under the stream for a minute hot water. The temperature should be about 50 degrees. That is, the water should be hot, but not to such an extent that the seeds cook. The human hand can tolerate the temperature of such water. Easier than that who has a thermometer.
What's the problem, you say, would be the seeds. You, as always, were right. The main thing is that sowing carrots does not turn into a tedious and labor-intensive process. There are many ways to avoid this, we’ll talk about it.
1. The most the usual way, which many people use, is sowing dry carrot seeds. Just use your hand to sprinkle the carrot seeds little by little into the grooves. One problem: the seeds of carrots are small, and if you pour a lot of seeds into the furrow, they will sprout thickly, and then you will have to sit in the garden for a long time, thinning out the seedlings. If you add few carrot seeds, they may not sprout. When sowing carrots with dry seeds, you have to wait a long time for germination. Because the seeds still need to swell. Of course, there is always at least a little moisture in the soil, but most often carrots emerge after the first rain, and only then does their growth begin.
2. Sowing carrots with soaked and sprouted seeds will immediately require watering, both during planting and in the following days. With this method of sowing carrot seeds, it is necessary to maintain the soil wet, otherwise the sprouted seeds will die. Naturally, with this method, the seeds germinate faster.
3. There is a way to sow carrot seeds, in which friendly shoots appear quickly. It's called "carrots in a bag." As soon as the first thawed patches begin to appear, you need to dig a hole in the area with a spade bayonet. Moisten the carrot seeds in a linen bag with water, put them in this hole, cover them with earth, and cover them with snow. In order not to lose the place where the carrot seeds are buried, you need to put any identification mark, for example, a stick. After 10-12 days, the carrot seeds hatch. Then they are taken out, mixed with dry river sand and scattered over the garden bed. The soil is lightly harrowed and covered with film. Friendly shoots appear already on the 5-6th day.
4. The next method of sowing carrot seeds is convenient and economical. You need to mix one or two tablespoons of carrot seeds with a bucket of sand and scatter this mixture into the furrows. It is important that the sand is dry, otherwise the seeds will not mix well with the sand and the crops will be uneven. Then water the carrot beds well, cover with a small layer of soil on top and you can stay away from the carrots until the fall. There is no need to thin out the carrot beds. In the fall, you should have large, even carrots.
5. Grandma’s way of sowing carrots: pour water into a glass (half-liter jar) and add carrot seeds. Then, after stirring this mixture well, take water into your mouth along with carrot seeds and sprinkle it onto the garden bed. This is how they used to spray dry laundry while ironing. The sowing of carrots also turns out to be more or less uniform.
6. Mixed planting method: for example, you can mix carrot and radish seeds in one cup, add a little river sand for uniformity of sowing and sow in the furrows. The radish sprouts quickly and is gradually eaten, but all that remains is for the carrots. free place in a row. In the future, there will be no need to thin out such a bed. Radishes can be replaced with any other fast-growing and ripening plant. Spinach or lettuce are good for this purpose. The idea of mixed beds is very good, it gives good results. You can get several harvests from one bed if you draw up a planting plan correctly. vegetable crops according to ripening period. However, in order for the yield of all crops, both early and late, to be high, it will be necessary to apply increased agrotechnical conditions: watering, timely loosening of the soil and removal of weeds, fertilizing with both organic and mineral fertilizers.
7. Sowing carrot seeds can be combined with sowing onions. Onions can be alternated in rows, or you can sow “beacon” onions. With the “beacon” method, it is preferable to sow carrot seeds in rows, and plant regular onion sets in the same rows. As soon as the onion and carrot shoots sprout, the onion will mark the carrot shoots like a dotted line. This planting method allows you to reduce the labor intensity of weeding significantly. This method is convenient for those joint plantings carrots and onions protect each other from pests: from carrot and onion flies.
8. Sowing carrots with seeds on a tape. Seeds on tape are available for sale, but you can make such a tape yourself by gluing carrot seeds onto a strip of paper using paste. This technology for planting carrots is very convenient: you just need to stretch the purchased or prepared tape along the furrow onto the beds and sprinkle it with soil. One thing! It’s good if you came across the exact variety of carrots on sale that you wanted to buy. But sitting and gluing carrot seeds is quite an activity!
9. A great way is to buy pelleted seeds. Each carrot seed is contained in a hard dragee made of dry hydrogel and fertilizers with microelements. The size of the dragee is also optimal - a little larger than a peppercorn, even if the dragee falls out of your hands in the wrong place, you can easily find it and pick it up. The dragee is bright in color, and it is so easy to see on the black ground. Dried carrot seed is provided with all the necessary ingredients for the first time. nutrients. Lately I used exactly coated seeds. In the bed intended for sowing carrots, I make holes at a distance of 10x10 cm, 2 cm deep, 1.5-2 cm in diameter with a pointed stick (I even have to bend over). The stick makes even little dimples, just as the seeds are spread out, I just level the bed on top reverse side rake. There is no need to thin carrots. I just pull out extra carrots for soup at the end of June and July. Experienced summer residents It is advised at home to replace pelleting of seeds with mixing regular moistened carrot seeds with dried, well-crushed (ground) mullein (4 parts mullein to 1 part seeds). (Not for everyone!)
10. And this method of sowing carrot seeds is for those who like to experiment. Take water and dissolve some fertilizers in it, preferably complex fertilizers with microelements. Then cook a paste using this water from flour or starch. Let this jelly cool completely. Feel free to add the cooked carrot seeds and mix well. Then, in any of the means at hand: empty plastic bottle(you'll have to make a hole in the lid), a pastry syringe with a large nozzle, an empty ketchup bottle - put or pour (depending on what consistency you get) paste with carrot seeds into it. In accordance with the laws of physics, seeds mixed in the paste do not stick together, but are kept at a distance from each other. Then you go boldly to the garden bed, make grooves and squeeze this paste into them. The paste with seeds lays down easily and evenly, the carrot seeds are moistened and fertilized. Seeds are used sparingly, and there is no unnecessary work on thinning carrots. And you can choose any carrot variety you like, the seeds of which are not coated.
Getting ready for sowing.
As is known, seeds have different properties, one of which is the speed of germination. If marigold seeds germinate already on the third day after sowing, tomatoes on the third to seventh, peppers take ten days to germinate, then carrots, which do not tolerate transplants and therefore are sown directly in the beds, will lie in the ground for weeks, introducing the owners of the garden into an exciting expectation: “Will it rise or not?”
Of course, there are methods for preparing seeds to speed up germination. The main and most common method is to soak the seeds in water. At the same time, the seed shell becomes wet, swells, opens, and the sprout, without any obstacle in front of it, quickly breaks out.
Of course, the seeds can also be sown dry. This is exactly what they do with carrot seeds, because few people imagine sowing small and wet seeds that will stick to their hands and are unlikely to fall evenly into the grooves. The heat and moisture present in the ground will still do their job, so a young sprout will appear from a dry seed. But while the carrots sprout, the garden bed will be covered with weeds, which will cause a lot of trouble. I hate hanging over the bed for hours, thinning out small seedlings and removing weeds. This task requires patience, which, however, my wife has enough of. Apparently, therefore, despite emancipation, there is still a division of labor between us, in which the carrot bed does not concern me. And yet, everyone who grows carrots wants to make this routine work of weeding easier and, as it turns out, it’s easy to do.
Quite by accident I came across a film posted on You Tube, where Olga Voronova, landscape designer and author of gardening books, details how she grows carrots. The most interesting point in the story is the preparation of the seeds, which promotes rapid germination, as well as the method of sowing. So, in order:
1. Place the seeds in a rag. Carefully roll up the rag, tie it with rubber bands, or tie it with threads so that it does not unravel, and hold this rag under running hot water for a minute. The temperature should be about 50 degrees. That is, the water should be hot, but not to such an extent that the seeds cook. The human hand can tolerate the temperature of such water. Easier for those who have a thermometer.
Such minute procedures should be repeated three times a day, for two days. That is, only six times. After each hot processing, the seeds are placed on a saucer with water at room temperature. Water is required, since the seeds should not dry out during this period.
After the last, sixth, hot treatment, the seeds are dried by placing them on paper, and the paper on a hot radiator.
So, the seeds are dried and now we can sow them. But don't rush. If your seeds sprout earlier than usual, you still cannot do without thinning. And to avoid this procedure, there is a sowing method described by Olga Voronova.
2. Boil jelly (liquid paste), add seeds to it, stir, pour into small teapot, or a baby watering can. In the jelly, the seeds are distributed evenly. Therefore, in the grooves watered with such jelly, the seeds will be distributed in the same way, evenly. After the carrots sprout, the crops do not need to be sown, and the weeds will not have time to gain strength (and maybe even sprout).
What a trick! We will try! There is still time to prepare the seeds, but May is just around the corner! Hurry up if anyone is interested. Good luck!
We grow carrots in any area and its advantage is that you can eat it without waiting for its growth to finish. Young carrots are tasty, sweet, and contain a lot of vitamins. It’s easy to grow carrots in the country, despite the fact that they have features that are difficult for a novice gardener to cope with:
Since carrot seeds are very small and it is difficult to plant them evenly, you can:
You can also buy carrot seeds on a ribbon or in granules; if you buy carrots in granules, you need to water them very well to soak the shell.
Secrets of how to grow carrots.
To grow good large carrots in the country you need to choose the right variety, for example, Vitamin carrots, this variety has elongated, rounded fruits that store well and taste sweet.
It is imperative to thin out carrots regularly throughout the season. This way you will always have fresh vegetables on the table, and those fruits that remain in the garden will have more space to grow in breadth.
Many people understand that gardening is a very difficult task, and not everyone is suitable for this type of activity. Here it is important not only to know how to sow, because there are often cases when diligence, endurance and patience are required from the gardener. This is especially true for the latter. And this is doubly true when you plant something so familiar to modern man plant like carrot. If the seeds of many other cultivated vegetables, for example or peppers, germinate quite quickly (they need about a week for this), then carrots can remain in a “dormant state” for a long time, forcing its owner to languish for weeks in anticipation.
However, there are several different way avoid this. The first, and easiest, is to soak the seeds in water. This is a very simple and very common method. They become swollen, then they open up and a sprout appears. But in this case there is one significant drawback. Wet seeds that always stick to your hands are not very convenient to sow. In addition, the chance that they will lie evenly in the bed is critically small. Moreover, this technique requires immediate care, since the soil must always remain moist. Otherwise, the carrot seeds will die.
There are also people who do nothing at all and just sow dry seeds. However, then you will have to face the problem of weeds, which will certainly appear by the time the sprout appears. You will have to thin out the seedlings, which requires a lot of time and especially patience, which not everyone has.
The next method is slightly similar to the first. The carrot seeds should be placed in a small rag, then folded and tied with string or thread (rubber bands will also work). After this, you should hold it under hot water. The temperature should not exceed 45-50 degrees. This can avoid both burns and damage to the seeds themselves. Perform this operation three times a day, for 2 days. Total: 6 times. But that's not all. Remember! They should not become dry between washes. It is recommended to place them on a saucer of water at that time. room temperature. After the sixth time, you need to spread the seeds on paper, the paper itself needs to be placed on the battery.
Some gardeners say that even after completing all these simple operations, you should not rush into sowing, since in the case of early seedlings, thinning cannot be avoided.
This method is quite unusual and is relatively rare, because here. You should pour the seeds into it, mix and pour into the teapot. Since mixing will distribute the seeds evenly, the distribution of seeds in the furrows will also be uniform.
What follows is a very convenient technique that many recommend. The seeds must be mixed with sand (be sure to be dry!), then mixed. The resulting mixture is distributed along the furrows. After this, you need to water the seeds generously and cover them with a layer of soil. If everything is done correctly, the sowing will be uniform, and in the fall there will be good harvest carrots.
There are also old method, which, however, some consider ineffective. The instructions are quite simple: pour water into a half-liter jar, cover with seeds. After this, you should take the mixture into your mouth, after stirring it, and spray the beds. It is believed that the seeds will be distributed evenly.
Very in a useful way A mixed planting method is considered, which allows for several harvests of early and late crops. To do this, mix carrot seeds in a cup with the seeds of another early crop, for example. After this, add a little dry sand so that the sowing is uniform. Then comes the sowing itself. Radishes (or any other early crop) ripen and are then harvested. However, this technique also has disadvantages. Since for a good harvest you need not only good soil, but also a combination of fertilizing, timely watering and loosening the soil.
Carrots are a storehouse of vitamins and beneficial microelements. Every gardener tries to plant it. Getting a good harvest is not so difficult. The main thing is to observe the sowing dates and know some of the nuances. We'll talk about them now.
To begin with, it must be said that carrots differ from each other in terms of ripening. There are early, middle and late varieties.
Depending on this, the period when carrots can be sowed in open ground.
Some experienced gardeners practice planting carrots late autumn. This allows you to harvest much earlier - about two weeks. Optimal timing landings in in this case end of October beginning of November. The main thing is that there are no return temperatures above zero. Otherwise, the seeds may germinate. Let us add that this method has one big drawback. If the winter turns out to be very harsh, there is a high probability that the seeds will freeze and will not sprout in the spring.
Before you start sowing carrots, you need to take care of. This crop does not grow well on heavy loamy soil. Therefore, it is better to allocate a bed with light soil for carrots (it is good if the soil is mixed with a small amount sand).
You cannot apply fresh manure under the carrot bed. This will negatively affect the development of this agricultural crop - the root crop will most likely grow weak and will be very poorly stored.
Novice gardeners usually do not attach much importance to this point, but in vain. Thanks to correct processing seeds, the plant develops much better and produces bountiful harvest. Processing methods seed material so many. Perhaps the most effective of them is soaking the seeds in potassium permanganate (a weak solution). This method allows you to protect future root crops from pests and all kinds of diseases.
Some gardeners soak seeds in various growth stimulants to get an early harvest. In this case, the question of how to sow carrots so that they sprout quickly disappears.
The optimal bed size is 1 meter wide and 5 meters long. Of course, these are just approximate parameters. The final option depends on the preferences of the gardener. Before planting carrots in the spring, using, for example, a shovel handle, you need to make furrows. It is in them that the seeds are sown.
The width of such a groove is approximately 6 cm. The distance between them is 20 cm. Before you start planting carrots, the grooves are thoroughly watered with a solution of potassium permanganate. This is done so that the root crops are less sick.
Carrot seeds are sown in pre-prepared furrows at a distance of 1-1.5 cm. The crops are sprinkled with peat on top (sand can be added). It would seem, why do this? The answer is quite simple: if the soil is dense, then the seeds germinate very poorly, but if, on the contrary, then you can count on friendly shoots. After the seeds are planted, all that remains is to water them well (use cold water) garden bed.
Of course, any gardener always wants seedlings to appear as early as possible. There are quite a few ways to speed up this process. We will talk about a method that is based on the use of ordinary polyethylene. Everything is very simple. You need to take a film and cover the bed with it so that between the plastic covering and the ground there is air gap about 12 cm. After this, you need to give time for the seeds to germinate. Using this method Usually one week is enough. When the shoots appear, the polyethylene is removed. If this is not done, the seedlings that have not yet gained strength may die.
As we have already said, in order to get a good carrot harvest, you need to know about some nuances. One of them is right choice“neighbors” (those plants with which a given crop grows well). In fact, carrots can get along quite well with many plants. The list of the most successful “neighbors” includes: garlic, tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, and peas.
And one more little trick: to prevent the plantings from being affected by the carrot fly, experienced gardeners recommend surrounding them with tobacco, rosemary or sage. Plants that negatively affect the development of carrots include dill and anise.
In this article we answered many questions. After reading it, it will become clear when to plant carrots in open ground, how to sow this crop, and also how to speed up the rate of seed germination. Using the above recommendations, you can easily grow on your own personal plot, to the envy of your neighbors and to your delight, a rich harvest of carrots. The main thing is to be patient and everything will definitely work out.
Carrots do not require special care, but the growing rules must be followed. It is a drought-resistant crop that tolerates frost and long-term cold snaps well. How to grow carrots? The secrets, like other vegetables, lie in proper agricultural technology.
It requires more care compared to other crops. Let's take a closer look at how to grow carrots in the country or garden plot with your own hands.
You need to choose a bright place before growing carrots. The secrets are that with a lack of sunlight due to a falling shadow or uneven surface root crops lose sugar content and weight.
Before you can grow a good crop of carrots, you need to choose light and level soil. It should be sandy loam, light loam, with good drainage. In dense loam, the fruits grow small, and during storage they are quickly affected by rot. Carrots should not be planted on acidic soils. It requires a neutral or slightly acidic environment.
Before you can grow good carrots, you need to
The bed is prepared in the fall so that it becomes established. It is made loose. To do this add sawdust, humus, peat or sand. Chalk, lime, dolomite, and ash are used for liming. Manure should not be used for growing carrots, since the resulting root crops are not very attractive and do not store well. Humus should be added to poor soil - a bucket per square meter. If groundwater close, the bed is made high.
The arable layer is well formed with the help of green manure roots - plants that create a good soil structure. They are sown in the garden bed in the fall in order to plant carrots in this place in the spring. Worms and microorganisms also create good soil structure.
carrot beds should be changed constantly. The predecessors should be garlic, onions, cabbage, potatoes. How to grow large carrots if you have to grow the same crop in one place? The addition of wood ash twice a year in the amount of 0.2 kg/m2 followed by digging will help here.
In the spring, a week before planting, the bed is leveled, loosened, treated with a 0.3% vitriol solution, and watered warm water, after which they are covered with polyethylene film. During this time, it will retain moisture and warm up well in the sun.
The germination rate of carrot seeds is low - 55-75%. In this regard, the seeds should be taken fresh. In addition, carrots do not germinate uniformly. After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots should appear. Seeds take a long time to germinate due to the presence of essential oils on their surface, which slow down the penetration of moisture.
Before growing, you need to prepare for sowing. Let's look at several ways to pre-germinate them.
The seeds are poured into fabric bags and kept in warm water for a day. The water must be changed every four hours. You can make it out of it nutrient solution by adding wood ash (30 g/l). Afterwards, the seeds must be washed.
The method will be more effective if additional hardening is performed. Seeds in moist bags are placed in the refrigerator for 2-5 days.
Use a weak solution of potassium permanganate with the addition of ½ teaspoon of fertilizer per liter of water or a mixture of nitrophoska and boric acid (1/3 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon per liter of water, respectively). The seeds are scattered on gauze folded several times, and also covered with it on top and filled with solution for a day. The liquid level should be just above the fabric. Then they are washed with water and put in the refrigerator for three to four days.
If the weather does not allow planting seeds, they are left on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, keeping them moist at all times. In this case, you need to make sure that they do not grow more than 0.5 cm.
Heat treatment of seeds consists of sequentially immersing them in hot and cold water. They are poured into a bag and rinsed at a temperature of 50 degrees, and then dipped in a humate solution and kept warm for two days. As a result, the germination of not only carrots, but also parsley and dill is accelerated.
Bubbling speeds up the seed preparation process. An air or oxygen supply hose with an emery stone filter at the end is connected to the bottom of a non-metallic container with water. A net with seeds is placed on top.
During the bubbling process, the water is saturated with air. At home, a small aquarium compressor is enough for this. The bubbling time for carrot seeds is 17-24 hours. Afterwards, the material is removed to the middle shelf of the refrigerator, where it is stored for 3-5 days. Before sowing, the seeds are dried for 12 hours so that they become free-flowing and sown.
Dry seeds are placed in fabric bags and buried in the ground with a shovel to the depth of one bayonet, where they should remain for at least 10-12 days. Then they are taken out and sown in a garden bed. After such treatment, seedlings should appear within five days.
Another method is to mix the seeds with moist peat and keep them in a warm place for at least one week. During this period, they manage to germinate, after which they are sown. Before planting in the ground, the seeds are dried for 20-25 minutes on parchment or cloth at room temperature.
Before planting, seeds that are most suitable for a particular region are selected and purchased. You can also get them yourself. Before growing carrot seeds, you should find a good and large root crop, and then plant it in the spring. By autumn it will ripen.
Carrots take about three months to grow. To get a harvest in September, planting should be done no later than May. Sowing dates range from the end of April to the first ten days of June. Planting before May 5 is considered optimal.
Before winter, carrots are planted when the soil becomes cold enough. This could be from late October to early November. The timing of sowing and harvesting depends on the variety and region. Northern varieties should not be planted in the south as they will grow slowly. If grown in middle lane southern varieties, they produce abundant tops, but root crops do not develop. Some varieties bred abroad are poorly stored.
Should be done on time, otherwise beneficial features and the shelf life of root crops may deteriorate.
Small carrot seeds should be spread evenly in the furrow. Therefore, they are mixed with sand or peat and sown in a garden bed.
So that neighboring rows do not interfere with its growth? To ensure sufficient illumination, it is better to make the beds narrow - no more than four rows of carrots.
Sides are made along the edge to prevent water from draining. The distance between rows should be 15 cm, and for late varieties- 20 cm. The bed is watered with water and sprinkled with ash. The seeds are placed in the grooves at a distance of about 2.5 cm.
When planting in spring and summer, the swollen seeds are planted shallowly - 3-4 cm. They should be sprinkled very light soil, which is used as chernozem mixed with peat, sand or humus. Then a ventilation gap is made of film over the bed at a distance of about 12-15 cm.
First shoots in warm weather appear within a week. If the temperature is below 12 degrees, the time is doubled. If there are empty spaces, additional sowing is done.
For many gardeners, the question is how to grow early carrots, is problematic. It's actually not difficult. Carrots are sown in autumn early varieties to a depth of 2 cm, and then sprinkled with mulch to a height of 3-4 cm. In this case, the soil temperature should be below +5 degrees. When there is little snow in winter, the beds are additionally covered with it to a height of up to 50 cm. With this method of planting, the harvest is harvested 2-3 weeks earlier than usual.
How to grow a good harvest of carrots if they have sprouted perfectly? To do this, you need to carefully thin out the seedlings after the third leaf appears.
All this is not as simple as it seems at first glance. To ensure that the plants are removed well, the bed should be watered and the soil should be carefully loosened. In addition, the operation should be performed during the day so as not to attract the pest - the carrot fly, which flies in the evening.
The shoots should be removed with tweezers, leaving a distance of at least 2 cm. The smallest shoots should be removed. The tops are thrown away from the garden bed. Under no circumstances should you leave it nearby so as not to attract pests. A good deterrent is onion arrows, which are chopped and scattered on the garden bed. You can cover the crops with special material. The earth around the plants is slightly crushed. After 20 days, thinning is repeated. In this case, leave a distance of 6 cm between the carrots.
The row spacing needs to be loosened and weeded (at least once a week) so that a sufficient amount of oxygen reaches the roots. After thinning the row spacing, you should mulch with compost or sawdust soaked for several weeks in a 2-3% urea solution.
How to grow large carrots? Here you need the correct dosage of fertilizers. They cannot be entered immediately large quantities. Carrot beds begin to be fertilized with mineral water when 5-6 leaves appear. The frequency of feeding is 2-4 weeks. This crop especially does not like excess nitrogen.
As it grows, the top part of the root emerges from the ground and turns green. This is not harmful, but the taste is worse. How to grow sweet carrots so that they do not lose their taste? When root crops emerge from the ground, they are hilled up, raking up soil about 50 mm high on them.
Poor germination of carrots is primarily due to drying out of the soil. Until it emerges, the top layer of the bed should be constantly moist. Sometimes the soil should be watered even several times a day. Granulated seeds are especially difficult to germinate. Immediately after sowing, protect the bed with film so that the top layer does not dry out.
Until the roots appear, watering is done every 3-4 days, 3-4 buckets per 1 m2. At the same time, they independently grow in depth and find moisture. Therefore, watering is carried out once a week, 1-2 buckets per m2, and from the end of August - once every 1.5-2 weeks, 8-10 liters per square. The beds are kept without watering for two weeks before harvesting.
Rough root vegetables are an indication that they lacked moisture. When there is an excess of it, the fruits grow small. Sudden changes from drying out to excess moisture are also harmful, leading to cracking of the carrots and subsequent poor preservation.
Carrots are not afraid of cold weather, but at temperatures below 8 degrees, the starch in root vegetables turns into sugar, and the shelf life of root vegetables worsens. In the middle zone, the harvest is harvested at the end of September in dry weather.
Collected for 1.5-2 hours, and then the tops are cut off. The harvest is sorted, straight carrots are placed in a ventilated box in a dark and cool place. This could be a cellar or basement.
You will never be able to harvest a good harvest if you do not know how to grow carrots. The secrets of agricultural technology lie in proper preparation soil, proper landing and care. As a result, in the fall you will get large and even root crops.
