How to grow straight carrots. Carrot planting and care in the open field planting dates proper sowing watering and further care

One of the most popular vitamin vegetables on the tables of our country is carrots. They plant it in almost all gardens and plots, but not everyone can boast of its rich harvests. Now let's figure out how to properly plant and care for it in order to count on stunning yields.

Correct beds

So, carrots are the most popular vegetable that is used in many dishes. But it's important here proper fit And good care, which you will carry out in the open field. Explore this topic in more detail. It seems that it seems to be an unpretentious root crop, but it will be better if you manage to observe some factors that the carrot will certainly respond gratefully to. She will be especially pleased with loose and fertile soils, she loves sandy loam and medium loam, they are especially rich in oxygen. Please note that varieties with very long fruits require soil loosened very deep, one and a half bayonet of a shovel.

By acidity, she needs neutral indicators, for example, 6-7 pH. The formation of a dry crust on the ridges is an unnecessary phenomenon, let them be slightly wet. Heavy and dense soil that is difficult for air to reach will not contribute to the pleasant taste of the vegetable, even with excellent care. Yes, and germinating in such soil will become a problem for seeds, while adult bushes will face fungal diseases.

Do not forget about crop rotation, the most suitable predecessors of carrots are:

Legumes and grains.
Cabbage.
Garlic.
Onion - turnip.
Tomatoes.
Potatoes.
Cucumbers.
Zucchini.

But very inappropriate predecessors are spicy herbs:

Caraway.
Dill.
Celery.
Fennel.
Parsnip.
Coriander.
Parsley.

Planting carrots in the same place every year is also a bad idea, this can only be done after 3-4 years, then you can no longer be afraid of pests and various diseases.

Especially for her beds, places well lit by the sun are suitable. Even its direct rays are not afraid of carrot bushes. But with a small amount of sun, the crop will be small and tasteless.

Cooking ridges

In order to learn how to grow carrots in open ground, you need to familiarize yourself with the information that is below. Fertilizers are important point. Rotted manure or humus (half a bucket per square meter of beds) will perfectly prepare your ridges for planting carrots. If the earth of your site is heavy, then it should be diluted with sawdust, it will loosen and be saturated with oxygen. And wood ash will add potassium to the soil. This will sweeten the taste of the carrot and make it more tender. And you can dig a plot for carrots already in the fall. It is better to dig one and a half bayonet, so the earth will loosen better, and it will be easier for you to harvest in the fall - it will be easier to pull out the carrots. In the spring, it remains to walk with a rake - and you can start sowing.

As we said above, only rotted manure is used, fresh will lead to flowering bushes and branching of the carrots themselves. Even excellent further care will not improve the situation. Be careful with nitrogen components, their excess will lead to coarsening of root crops and the accumulation of nitrates in them.

And carrots can also be planted in the winter, it will turn out like spring crops. With the first warmth, it will already hatch and it will be possible to start harvesting a couple or three weeks earlier. But here you can not count on its long storage, it is better to use it right away or put it into blanks. If you still decide to plant it before winter, and you have harsh, frosty winters, pile a thick layer of foliage on top of the beds, you can sawdust or straw. In extremely severe frosts, even this may not protect the seeds from death.

So more often it is sown all the same in the spring. Here you can also calculate everything by timing - if you need early carrots, then plant part of the area with early varieties, this can be done when the temperature rises to + 8C. The beds will still be filled with moisture from melted snow, so all factors will be in favor.

Further, unexpected frosts, cold snaps will affect the crop by the fact that it can not be stored for long, it will begin to bloom, so that only in mid-April it is possible to start sowing mid-ripening and late varieties that are planned for storage. Sowing can be continued until the end of May during a long spring, but the main thing is not to delay planting, otherwise the seedlings will have to wait a very long time.

If long and heavy rains are predicted, try to have time to weed out before them, they will benefit the seeds.

Preparing seeds for planting

This article will tell you how to grow good carrots in the country. Experienced summer residents advise planting carrots already in the form of germinated seeds. Here, the ripening time is reduced and the risks of non-germination of seeds have already been minimized. The germination procedure is simpler than a steamed turnip, and consists of

Place the seeds for 10 hours in warm water. The dummy will immediately float to the top.

Other options for accelerating seedlings.

You can soak the seeds for a day in water + 30C, changing the water every 4 hours. You can do this not only in water, but also in a solution of wood ash in the proportion of 1 tbsp. spoon per liter of water. The temperature and shift schedule are the same. Then the seeds are taken out and kept in a piece of clean cloth in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Collect the seeds in a gauze or linen bag and keep it in hot (+ 50C) for 20 minutes, then in for 2-3 minutes. cold water.

In the same bag, the seeds are lowered into the ground for 10 days, buried.

Competent sowing

When sowing carrot seeds in both autumn and spring, wet beds are needed. We prepare grooves of medium depth. From too shallow furrows, the wind can simply blow away all the seeds. And from deep shoots you will wait a very long time. Row spacing is 15 cm. Seeds are scattered 2 cm apart. With light soils, the embedment depth is sufficient 2-3 cm, and in heavy soils - 1.5-2 cm.

When sowing unsprouted seeds, you need to grind them in your palms so that all the hairs are removed.

And after sealing the furrows, it is necessary to compact the earth with a board, roller, or clapping with your hands. Then they fall asleep on top of mulch 3 cm thick. This will prevent a dry rind that can prevent seedlings from hatching.

Carrot sprouts at +15+18C. Untreated seeds germinate in 18-25 days. Short frosts at -4C are not terrible, you can not even insulate the beds. But if the frosts are long, they can lead to the flowering of the bushes.

If you decide to plant carrots in the winter, then the deadlines for this are the end of October or the beginning of November. 3 weeks before sowing, it is necessary to prepare a place. After planting the seeds in the furrows, peat is poured onto the ridges with a 3-centimeter layer. For warming. And in the spring, when the snow melts, it is necessary to cover the ridges with a film. After germination, the film can be removed. And remember, only light soils are suitable for autumn sowing.

Proper agricultural technology

Now you have been able to learn about how to grow a crop of carrots. And you already understood that growing carrots is not difficult even for beginner gardeners.

Care of the ridges consists of the following manipulations:

thinning.
Loosening the more often, the better.
Frequent weeding.
Regular watering.
Top dressing.

The first thinning should be carried out when 2 leaves appear on the seedlings. We leave 2-3 cm between them. After 3-4 leaves, we carry out repeated thinning with a distance of 4-6 cm, at the same time we can weed the beds.

At proper watering you can count on a sweet and rich harvest. Carrots are very fond of water, with a lack of it, the fruits will become lethargic and bitter in taste. So you need to water all spring and summer. Water should go into the soil by at least 30 cm. With a lack of moisture, lateral roots form on the fruits, and its presentation becomes not comme il faut. And with excessive watering, the roots can crack, and the tops grow, so finding a middle ground in watering is your task.

We water once a week, but according to the following scheme:

Immediately after sowing, pour 3 liters of water per square meter of beds.
After the first thinning, we spill 10 liters per 1 m2.
After a good development of the leaves, we increase the amount of watering by 2 times.
And one and a half to two months before harvesting, we reduce watering. They are carried out every 10-12 days, 10 liters per square meter. And 2-3 weeks before harvest, watering is completely stopped.

Fertilizers are applied twice per season. This is done 1 month after germination, then again a month later. The solution is applied by the root method, the following mixture is spilled:

15 gr superphosphate,
15 gr urea,
20 gr potassium nitrate,
1 tbsp nitrophoska,
2 cups wood ash.

This is all added to a bucket of water. Water the beds with this composition after the main watering.

Over 4 thousand years of cultivation of this crop, a huge number of varieties have been obtained. This and with different terms ripening, and resistant to cold and disease, with different shelf life and with different tastes. There is where to turn around for any gardener.

Together with the above, carrots are a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. Few meals are complete without it. At proper care it will be born with a pleasant sweet taste, and will delight you not only in the first and second courses, but also in desserts and even in pastries. Moreover, these rules are not so complicated.

Secrets to Growing a Great Carrot Harvest

Carrot (lat. Daucus) is a biennial umbrella plant. The root crop ripens in the first year, and in the second a seed bush is formed (to collect seeds for sowing). Growing carrots requires following simple crop care rules that will help you get a good and healthy harvest.

When to sow carrots outdoors

Early varieties of carrots (Kinby, Color F1, Parmeks, Tushon) can be sown and planted seedlings in open ground at the end of April, provided the weather is stable and there are no frosts. Such varieties are distinguished by juiciness and sweetness, they are grown for cooking and eating.
For longer storage of root crops are suitable mid-season varieties(Viking, Nantes 4, Typhoon, Perfection), their sowing in open ground starts from the middle of the month, and planting seedlings in open ground can be started earlier, on May 8-10.
Late varieties(Selekta, Olympus, Java, Vita Longa, Valeria 5) are ideal for storage, transportation and preparation for the winter. Sowing occurs at the end of May, planting seedlings in the second half.

In the northern regions, it is worth paying attention to climatic conditions, and if necessary, sowing is transferred for half a month.

auspicious days for sowing lunar calendar are May 3-4 and 30-31, when the moon will be in the growing phase (1st quarter). All sowing work is recommended to be done before lunch.

Choosing a place and preparing beds for carrots

Fertile and loose soils are best suited for growing carrots, namely: loamy-sandy, having a neutral acidity of 6-7 pH.

It is important that a crust does not form on the surface of the soil, preventing air from reaching the root crops. Therefore, surface loosening of beds is important at all stages of cultivation.

high humidity soil can lead to the development of fungal diseases and a decrease in the taste of fruits. It is better to equip high beds for carrots, or choose a place on a hill. Wetlands and places of stagnant water will not work.

Crop rotation rules for carrots

You should not plant a vegetable in the same place for 2 years in a row. This greatly increases the chance of injury. pathogenic bacteria and pests.

Good predecessors for sowing carrots are: cucumbers, cereals and legumes, any kind of cabbage, tomatoes;
After growing most types of greens (fennel, cumin, parsley, dill, parsnip), it is not advisable to use these beds for sowing carrots.

Soil preparation for sowing

Growing carrots in the country includes tillage in two stages. In autumn, the soil is loosened and, if necessary, mulched with sawdust. In the spring, before sowing, rotted manure is introduced into the soil in the amount of 1 bucket per two square meters of beds.

Fertilizers can be added:

If the soil is heavy, you can add 2-3 kg of sawdust - this will give it friability.
A small amount of wood ash (450-500 grams per square meter of bed) will significantly improve the taste of vegetables and prolong the keeping quality of the crop.

Nitrogen fertilizers - they increase the level of nitrates in vegetables and contribute to the coarsening of their tissues;
You can not use fresh manure, because the root crops will begin to actively branch and shrink. In addition, it will attract the bear.

Planting carrots in open ground

Many gardeners prefer to sow carrots in the garden right from the package, but not all grains are of high quality and will germinate. Preliminary rejection and pre-sowing preparation of planting material will save time, get better germination and stronger seedlings.

Seed preparation

Carrot seeds are rich in vegetable oils, which blocks the access of moisture to the embryo. It is recommended to pre-wash and soak them. There are several ways of pre-sowing preparation of planting material.

Burying into the soil will help to significantly increase germination: the grains are placed in a cloth bag and placed in moist soil to a depth of 30 cm for 10 days, they are removed and dried before sowing. Seeds swell well in damp soil and give good shoots;
Dragee - a nutrient shell can greatly facilitate the procedure for sowing small seeds and increases their germination. For cooking you will need: 0.2 kg of liquid mullein and powdered peat. A tablespoon of seeds is placed in liter jar and add 1 spoon of powder and manure, cover with a lid and shake thoroughly for several minutes. The procedure is repeated several times until a shell is formed on the seeds, after which they are dried and stored until sowing in a dry place;
Soaking in a nutrient solution (1 tablespoon of ash per 1 liter of warm water). The grains in the bags are placed in a liquid for a day, then kept on a damp cloth in the refrigerator for 3-4 days for stratification. Before sowing, the planting material is dried.

Advice when buying seeds from China through Aliexpress

Carrot Planting Technology

Shallow furrows are made on pre-prepared beds (up to 2 cm deep), the distance between them should be at least 15 cm;
For convenience, small seeds are mixed with sand and sown, observing intervals between grains of 3-4 cm. You can also sow in a solid line - the "groove" method, and after germination, thin them out;
From above, planting is sprinkled with soil and compacted with a palm or a wide board.

It is recommended to cover the bed with a film to maintain soil moisture and prevent the growth of weeds. In conditions of warm weather and preliminary preparation of planting material, the first shoots will appear as early as 10-12 days. After this, it is necessary to remove the covering material, since young greenery easily withstands short-term frosts.

Carrot cultivation and care in the open field

After sowing, the most crucial stage begins - caring for carrots. It is important to act systematically and observe the agricultural practices of growing crops.

Watering carrots requires special attention when grown outdoors. Lack of moisture can lead to the death of young plants. An overabundance of watering also has its drawbacks: the fruits outgrow and lose their taste.

After thinning, the amount of water is increased to 10 liters per square meter.
When carrots form leaves, root crops begin active growth, then the water rate increases to 20 liters per unit area.
2 months before harvest, the frequency is reduced to 1 time in 2 weeks.

It is recommended to stop watering carrots 10-20 days before harvesting - this stimulates the stretching of root crops in length. For the procedure, it is necessary to use only warm, settled water (ideally, melted water). Watering is recommended in the late afternoon, then the sun will not leave burns on the greenery.

thinning carrots

The procedure is carried out on the 12th and 22nd day after germination. Small and weak plants are removed, if this is not done - the roots will be frail and thin.

Loosening and weeding

Procedures are carried out immediately after thinning.

Weeding from weeds frees access of sunlight to green bushes;
Loosening will help better nutrition fruits.

If the soil is not loosened, root crops grow small and crooked.

Top dressing of carrots in the open field

Growing carrots, top dressing is carried out 3-4 times during the entire growing season.

The first procedure is carried out when 3-4 leaves appear on the sprouts. To do this, use a solution of ammonium nitrate (30 g per 10 liters of water).
The next feeding of carrots is carried out in 3-4 weeks using superphosphate (30 g per 10 liters of water).
Top dressing of carrots in June is necessary, since during this period the root crop grows especially quickly and gains juice. For top dressing, you can use wood ash (a glass per square meter) or potassium sulfate.
The fourth procedure is performed at the time of root ripening (usually in September, but the time may vary depending on the variety). You can use any of the fertilizers that have been used previously, boric acid (a tablespoon per bucket of water) is especially good.

Top dressing carrots folk remedies very popular among experienced gardeners. There are many recipes, many of which include yeast, nettles and ash. One of the most interesting infusions is prepared using all three components.

Triple Fertilizer Recipe for Carrots

The container is almost completely filled with nettles and filled with water to ¾ of the volume. For more intense fermentation, yeast or sourdough is added to the barrel. Potassium-rich ash will only complement the nutrient mixture. The mixture is stirred periodically and kept in the sun. For top dressing, 1 liter of the resulting liquid is diluted with 10 liters of water. The average consumption of fertilizer is a bucket per garden bed.

Growing carrots in the open field video

Secrets of agricultural technology for growing carrots and a good harvest

Compliance with a few simple nuances will greatly facilitate the cultivation of carrots in the open field in the suburbs.

It is necessary to observe the rules of crop rotation;
It is recommended to disinfect the seeds that you harvested yourself before sowing in a 1% iodine solution;
Choose proven and disease-resistant varieties;
Buy seeds and seedlings from companies you trust;
When purchasing new varieties on foreign sites, first check them for germination, and when sowing in open ground, do not allocate more than 10% of the beds for them;
Carry out preventive spraying with the Baikal preparation or nettle infusion from pests and diseases.

Outcome

Good preparation soil and seed material will guarantee good germination. And the right agricultural technology and care for carrots in the open field will provide you with a good and high-quality harvest.

According to legend, in the Middle Ages, carrots were considered a delicacy of the gnomes, who exchanged this root crop for gold bars...

Carrot is a biennial plant of the umbrella family, or celery. There are round, cylindrical and conical shapes. The color of varieties of carotene carrots is orange or red-orange, Asian - lemon yellow, pink, red and purple.

Carrot varieties

Early maturing varieties and hybrids (80–90 days): Nantes 4, Incomparable, Paris Cartel, Parmex, Artek, Amsterdam, Nuance.
Mid-season varieties and hybrids (100–110 days): Losinoostrovskaya 13, Leander F1, NIIOKh-336, Vitamin 6, Nantes improved, Altair F1.
Mid-late varieties and hybrids (110–130 days): Typhoon, Forto F1, Canada F1, Moscow Long A-515, Perfect.
Late-ripening varieties and hybrids (130–150 days): Karlena, Koral, Rote Riesen, Shantane 2461, Dolyanka, Valeria, Olympus.

Soil preparation

Carrots - light-loving culture. Since autumn, the site is deeply dug up. In the spring, a week before sowing, the soil is disinfected with a solution of copper sulfate (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water), dug up. Sometimes the beds are made in the fall, and in the spring they are loosened and leveled.

The optimal temperature for the formation, growth and development of root crops is 15–20°C, for leaf growth – 20–23°C. Above 25°C, growth is retarded.

Fertilizer and predecessors

It is better to plant carrots after leafy vegetables, under which organic matter was added last year. If organic matter is needed in the year of sowing, then humus is added in the amount of 3-4 kg / m2. On the light sandy and sandy soils organic matter is applied in the spring, and on heavy- in autumn. Simultaneously - phosphate and potash fertilizers (30–40 g/m2). Nitrogen - give when top dressing. On the acidic soils lime is applied - 300–500 g per 1 m2, but only for the previous crop. Top dressing: nitrogen - 20–25 days after germination; phosphate-potassium - after another 2-3 weeks.

Sowing carrots

It is convenient to sow carrot seeds on a tape. You just need to fix them on self-destructing paper with a certain distance from each other. It is enough to make grooves 1 cm deep, lay a tape with seeds, cover with soil and water. Row spacing 15–18 cm.

Furrows for sowing

The soil is dug up to a depth of 15 cm. mineral fertilizers need 1-2 weeks before sowing. After digging, the soil is leveled, grooves are cut across the beds with a distance of 20 cm between them.

Attention! The depth of the grooves on sandy soils is 2.5 cm, on loamy soils - 2 cm, on heavy soils no more than 1 cm.

Sowing dates for carrots

For an early harvest carrots are sown from mid-April to early May.
For summer consumption and winter storage carrots are sown from mid-May to early June.
For young carrots in autumn in mid-July sow short-fruited varieties.
Winter sowing at the end of November, December-January will provide an earlier harvest than with early sowing in spring.

Carrots are sown in mid-May for winter storage. For 1 sq. m beds contribute ½ bucket of humus, 1-2 cups of oven ash, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of complete mineral fertilizer and 1-2 tbsp. spoons of superphosphate.

4 stages of sowing seeds

Do grooves at a distance of 20–25 cm, a depth of 1–1.5 cm.
Before sowing shed the soil at the bottom of the furrow and after a while start sowing.
Select large seeds, wash them off essential oils under the jet hot water in cloth bags. Pour the seeds into the palm of your hand, and then, slowly, passing them between your thumb and forefinger, evenly lower the groove to the bottom. You can mix the seeds with coarse sand 1:5.
Fill in the grooves sifted earth, preferably peat, and compact it slightly. Watering the soil after sowing is not worth it, otherwise the seeds will move to deeper layers of the soil and may not germinate.

Germination time

Carrots are a cold-resistant crop, the seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of +3 ... + 4 ° C, but when sown in cold soil, they will lie until germination for about 3 weeks. In warm soil, this process will be reduced by 2-3 times.

If the weather is dry, then it is better to protect the crops from the sun and wind by covering them with paper or film to retain moisture, laying it on bricks and fixing it on the sides so that it does not blow away with the wind.

Carrot care

Carrot care is timely watering, loosening the soil, fertilizing, weeding etc. To obtain a high yield, a sufficient amount of moisture in the soil is necessary.

Watering carrots

In a relationship glaze carrots are quite patient. But do not abuse this ability of hers. With a strong and prolonged drought, carrots should be watered once every 5 days, but plentifully. Watering is usually stopped two to three weeks before harvest. This advice must be followed.

Hilling and weeding

Important take- hilling avoids sunburn and greening of the shoulders of root crops.

Weeding and hilling carrots should be carried out on cloudy days or in the evening - sunlight and a strong carrot smell attract carrot flies. If the carrots were sown with dry loose seeds, then it must be thinned out. This is done when the carrot tops on the seedlings grow to such a size that it is easy to grab it with your hand.

Pest protection

Exists dangerous pest– . She lays her eggs in the upper part of the root crops, so the root crops must be spudded in the phase of five, seven and ten leaves. This technique, in addition, will avoid the greening of the “shoulders” of carrots.

The answer to the question of how to grow a good crop of carrots in your country house is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.

The quantity and quality of the crop directly depends on the type and condition of the soil.

This useful culture is quite demanding in care, loves light very much and does not tolerate even slight shading. At the same time, carrots are one of the most drought-resistant crops; they easily tolerate frosts and remain viable during a prolonged cold snap.

The quality of the grown carrot crop is highly dependent on the condition and type of soil. To obtain a rich harvest, it is necessary that the soil be light in texture, its arable layer be deep, fertile and with good drainage. Carrots are best suited to sandy and light loamy soils with a neutral or slightly acidic environment.

The soil for carrots should be light in texture.

Speaking of the arable layer, it must be borne in mind that in eco-farming it is formed not as a result of digging or deep plowing, but with the help of green manure roots - cultivated and weed plants grown as organic fertilizer, microorganisms and worms. They structure the soil layers so carefully that no mechanical effect can be compared with them.

From others vegetable crops carrots also compare favorably with the fact that it is unpretentious to what plants were the owners of the garden before it, but still the best predecessors of carrots are cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, all types of cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic and any legumes.

Do not grow carrots in the same place for more than 3 years.

How to properly prepare the soil and seeds for sowing

Soil preparation

A bed for carrots begins to be prepared in the fall. Stones are selected from the ground that can prevent root crops from growing. Then humus or compost is added to the poor soil at the rate of 10 liters per 1 sq. m, in acidic - chalk, in heavy - sawdust, river sand and peat. In addition, the bed can be covered with mulch or sowed with green manure.

In the spring, about a week before sowing, clods of earth are broken up with a rake on future beds and their surface is leveled. Then the beds are watered with water at a temperature of + 30-40 ° C, and then covered with plastic wrap, which will help protect the soil from drying out and create conditions for warming it up.

Seed preparation

Carrots are extremely photophilous - attempts to grow this crop, both in the shade and in partial shade, are completely useless.

Carrot seeds have low (only 55-75%) germination. Therefore, it is necessary to sow exclusively fresh seeds.

Carrots sprout for a long time and unfriendly. This happens approximately 14-20 days after sowing. Such a long germination is explained by the fact that essential oils are present in the seeds of carrots, which prevent the penetration of moisture into them, as a result, the process of swelling and germination slows down. Seed growth begins only after the essential oils are washed off from their shell, therefore, when the weather is dry, the germination of root crops is delayed. To prevent this from happening, carrot seeds must be prepared for sowing.

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Methods for pre-sowing seed preparation

soak;

Seeds are poured into fabric bags and dipped in warm (+30 ° C) water for a day, which must be changed every 4 hours. Seeds can also be soaked in a nutrient water solution of wood ash (1 tablespoon of ash per 1 liter of water). After soaking, the seeds must be rinsed in clean running water.

Experienced gardeners combine soaking with hardening to get the best result. To do this, wet cloth bags with seeds are placed in the refrigerator and kept for 2 to 5 days.

heat treatment;

Cloth bags with carrot seeds are dipped for 20 minutes in hot (+50 ° C), and then for 2 minutes in cold water.

bubbling;

Thanks to bubbling, the seeds ripen faster.

Seeds are soaked in water saturated with air or oxygen. The bubbling vessel must be made of non-oxidizing materials. A hose is connected to it, through which from the compressor or oxygen cylinder supplies air. A filter from an emery wheel is put on the end of the hose. Above it is placed a grid for collecting seeds, fixed at the ends of the container. The container must have a hole to drain the brine or water.

In the process of bubbling, the entire layer of water is uniformly saturated with air. On a small, non-industrial scale, a home aquarium compressor can be used. In this case, the ratio of water and seeds should be 5:1. The sparging time for seeds of each crop is different. For carrots, it is from 17 to 24 hours. If air is supplied, and not oxygen, the duration of bubbling is increased by a third.

burying seeds in the soil;

Cloth bags filled with dry seeds are buried in cold soil for 10-12 days to a depth of one bayonet of a shovel. Seeds treated in this way germinate 4-5 days after sowing.

You can mix the seeds with wet peat and place them in a warm place for one week, where they will germinate. Then sow them as usual.

After using any of the above methods, carrot seeds must be dried for 20-25 minutes at room temperature. Then they are sown in open ground.

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How to sow carrots and care for them

Carrots are grown in a seedless way. At the same time, the terms of its sowing in open ground are as follows:

in winter: 2nd half of October - 1st decade of November;
in spring: 3rd decade in April - 1st decade in May and 1st decade in June.

Carrots have small seeds, which makes it difficult to sow them. In order to prevent thickening of crops, a little trick is used. A teaspoon without a hill of seeds is mixed with a glass of sand and 10 square meters are sown with this mixture. m.

Carrots grow best in narrow beds with no more than 4 lanes. If it is planned to grow only carrots in the garden, the sowing technology is as follows. Before spring sowing, grooves are cut on a previously prepared ridge. The distance between them for medium and early varieties make 15 cm, for later - 20 cm. The grooves are watered. In colder climatic zones, hot water heated to + 50 ° C is used for this. Then the beds are powdered with ash and the prepared seeds are sown on them at a distance of 1.5-2 cm.

Sowing depth and seed condition depend on the season:

For summer and spring sowings, swollen seeds are used. They are planted to a soil depth of 3-4 cm. After sowing, the grooves are carefully sprinkled with soil and mulch (humus or peat). After sowing, the beds are covered with a film, which is raised on bricks by about 5 cm.

Before winter, carrot seeds of early varieties are sown to a depth of approximately 2 cm. They must be dry, and the thickness of the mulch layer is 3-4 cm.

Before winter, carrots are sown when the temperature in the soil drops below + 5 ° C. If the winters are not snowy, the beds with crops are additionally covered with snow, with a layer thickness of 40-50 cm. This technology allows you to harvest 14-20 days earlier.

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Carrot care requires the following conditions

temperature regime;

For germination of carrot seeds, a temperature of + 3 ... + 5 ° С is sufficient. The air temperature + 20 ... + 22 ° С is considered optimal for normal growth and the formation of high-quality root crops. At the same time, carrots are resistant to cold, their shoots are able to withstand frosts down to -3-4 ° C and die only when the temperature stays below -6 ° C for a long time. The tops of mature plants die when the temperature is below -8°C.

watering mode;

The volume and frequency of watering directly depend on weather conditions and the age of the plants. Basically, carrots need to be watered once every 7 days according to the following scheme:

3 liters of water per 1 sq. m of land at the very beginning of the growing season.
10 liters per 1 sq. m after secondary thinning.
20 l per 1 sq. m during the period of growth of root crops.

When approximately 2 months remain before harvesting, it is necessary to water once every 10-14 days 10 liters of water per 1 sq. m of soil. When 2-3 weeks remain before harvesting the root crops, watering is stopped.

When growing, it is necessary to monitor the soil moisture. The soil should not have both excess and lack of moisture. Carrots, even for a short time, do not tolerate excessive moisture, which causes rotting of root crops, and with prolonged drought, its root crops stop developing, which negatively affects the quality of the crop.

weeding;

Carrots sprout slowly, and the beds with it quickly sprout with weeds. To avoid the growth of weeds that inhibit the development of carrot shoots, they must be disposed of. The first time carrots are weeded 10-12 days after the first one appears on the plant. real leaf. The second - 8-10 days after the next true leaf appears.

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

top dressing;

After 3-4 weeks, which have passed after the seeds hatched and the first sprouts appeared, the first feeding of the plants is carried out. aqueous solution chicken manure, mullein, humus or ash (1:10). If necessary, during the formation of root crops and plant growth, feeding is repeated. In areas where it is practiced organic farming, due to which a layer of humus is formed in the soil, fertilizing is optional.

To avoid thickening, carrots are thinned out twice: 11-12 and 19-20 days after the first shoots appear. After the first thinning, the interval between adjacent shoots should be approximately 3 cm, after the next thinning - 5 cm. This procedure is best done in the morning, after which the bed must be watered. Experienced gardeners cultivate the soil on which carrots grow with ground red pepper (hot, hot or bitter). This will muffle the smell characteristic of carrots and protect them from carrot flies. One more effective method protection against this pest - combined planting of carrots and onions. Mulching should not be neglected, which significantly saves the effort and time needed to get a good harvest.

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 the open field - it turns out to be 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 loosen and enrich - add humus, compost, peat, leafy soil, river sand 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 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 cold earth, can resist.
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 often. 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: