Growing carrots - all the secrets and subtleties of care. Secrets of proper planting of carrots in open ground and the basics of caring for them

Since ancient times, humanity has been engaged in agriculture. Today, all types of vegetables and fruits can be bought in the store without any problems. But no store-bought product can compare with one grown locally. personal plot. It’s much more pleasant to know that the fruits are grown with my own hands, so much time and effort has been invested into them. And if it also brings benefits, then it is doubly pleasant. One of these vegetable crops growing in the country is carrots.

Carrots are a common crop for growing in the countryside.

No summer season can’t do without planting carrots. Carrots are grown in open ground. Experienced gardeners We are sure that the root vegetable will please the eye as a result correct landing and proper care, and they know exactly how to grow large and long carrots, and even sweet ones. They always have a couple of secrets in stock.

Summer residents have to work hard: choose the right place, prepare the land, plant and care in a timely manner in order to get a good harvest by autumn. But any spring suffering begins with the choice of seeds.

Selection of seed material

Modern counters of any stores, including country stores, are replete with a variety of goods, in which it is easy to get confused. Therefore, before you go shopping for seeds, decide why you will plant the root crop:

for use in the summer-autumn period;
for winter storage.

In the first case, the vegetable must be used immediately, since it cannot be stored for a long time at home. The “Vitaminnaya-6” variety is perfect for this application. Varieties that can be stored before the onset of cold weather should have a long growing season. This type can be used for blanks. To keep the harvest in winter time, you should choose varieties such as:

Queen of Autumn (sweet and sour carrot flavor);
Gold autumn;
Moscow winter.

Queen of Autumn - an attractive variety of carrots

Preparing beds for planting

Every experienced summer resident has secrets in stock, thanks to which they know how to grow a good harvest of carrots. The preparation of the beds can be done either in the fall or directly in the spring a couple of weeks before sowing.

The first step is to decide on a location. Remember that the vegetable loves well-lit areas. Before planting, remember what grew in your garden bed last year. This is an important factor affecting the yield. It’s good if the following grew here before: cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic or cabbage. You should not plant carrots after dill, parsley, parsnips - the root crop will not grow.

Before sowing, the soil is cleared of various types of weeds. Professionals believe that it would be a good idea to re-dig the beds in the spring; this ensures better air permeability of the soil.

Be sure to enrich the soil with carrot fertilizer. It is recommended to use the following composition for this: 2 tbsp. potassium sulfate, 4 tbsp. granulated superphosphate, a little ash and dolomite flour. The mixture of ingredients is applied to square meter land. The soil is ready for sowing.

Carrots do not tolerate weeds

Preparing the seeds

Carrot seeds, like any other, need preparation before sowing in open ground. Thanks to this approach, seed germination will be significantly better. Every experienced gardener has his own method in his bins, which is easy to use at home. Let's look at the most interesting ones:

Use of growth stimulants for treatment. All actions are carried out according to the instructions strictly attached to the chemicals. The process itself takes no more than 20 hours, and germination exceeds all expectations.
Sowing seeds into the soil. A cloth bag is taken, grains are placed there and the whole thing is buried 15 cm into the ground. The contents must be kept like this for at least 10 days, after which they are taken out of the ground.
Soaking the seeds for a day. Take a cloth, cotton wool or toilet paper and well moistened, you only need to keep them in this condition for a day, after which you can start planting.
Heat treatment with boiling water. Boil water, place the seeds in a rag bag and plunge into boiling water for 20 minutes. With help cold water Cool the contents of the cloth bag.

Carrot seeds can be treated with commercial growth stimulants

Planting carrots in the ground

It would seem that the technology for growing carrots in the country is extremely simple; there is no secret here. But is this really so? Schemes used for sowing vegetable crop, a huge variety. Everyone chooses the one that is more convenient. Among the sowing methods, the following should be highlighted:

in bulk;
in rows;
grooves.

Now let's learn more about how to grow carrot seeds.

Growing carrots in bulk is a troublesome task, but most gardeners are confident that the method is the most effective and efficient.

In addition, it is the fastest of all presented. Vegetable grains are scattered over the entire surface of the bed, pressing lightly on them. After watering, the plants can be covered with film. Despite the attractiveness of the process, it has a number of negative aspects:

some of the seeds remain on the surface of the soil and there will be no seedlings from them;
shoots in some places are either sparse or too dense;
After germination, the crop is difficult to weed.

This method of planting vegetables may leave you without a harvest at all, since the young shoots can be clogged with fast-growing weeds.

The second method - sowing in rows - is more effective and common among summer residents. The harvest is richer. The root crop is planted in the ground, maintaining a distance that varies from 7 to 10 cm. But there is also a minus here. The grains are washed away when it rains and may not be found in the place where they were planted.

Sowing in rows is the most popular method among vegetable growers.

Furrow seeding is a more economical process. If country cottage area It has small sizes, then the method is just for you. First of all, mark out a garden bed at your dacha. It should be narrow, but quite high. Furrows are made on the surface of the soil, 15 cm apart from the edges, fertilizer for carrots is selected and applied, and watering is carried out. Vegetable seeds are sown in them.

The first weeding is done after the sprouts appear, that is, approximately in June, about two weeks after the root crop was planted. The next weed control is carried out after 20-30 days.

Is it possible to plant carrot seedlings?

Quite a lot is known about how to grow carrots in open ground. Is it possible to plant a vegetable through seedlings? Yes. Some varieties are sown in a protected place - in a greenhouse or greenhouse. Most people tend to assume that the crop does not tolerate transplantation well. This leads to damage to the tails, as a result of which it grows ugly. Actually this is not true. The seedlings take root well and the harvest grows excellent. The main thing is not to forget to use fertilizer for carrots.

Carrot seedlings take root well and produce high yields

Vegetable care

Summer residents often wonder: how to grow good carrots? She, like other plants, requires attention and timely care, which includes: weeding and fertilizing, watering and loosening. She needs moderate watering, but it should be regular throughout her growth. Humidification occurs on an increasing scale. By July, the watering rate gradually increases. Per square meter of soil with root crops will be within 20 liters. The closer autumn gets, the more watering rates will decline. The region and weather conditions must be taken into account and adjustments made accordingly.

The second important point when growing vegetables is feeding carrots. It must be done regularly. How to feed carrots? Each summer resident applies his own fertilizer to carrots. This can be organic matter or one of the types of mineral fertilizer, or you can use both together. Fertilizers for carrots come in a variety of varieties. This will not harm the culture.

The first time carrots are fed 10 days after the first shoots appear on the surface. To prepare fertilizer for carrots you will need: potassium sulfate (1 tbsp), double superphosphate (1.5 tbsp). The norm is diluted into 10 liters of water.

Potassium sulfate activates carrot growth

Subsequent feeding occurs two weeks after the first. Fertilizer for carrots is done as follows: potassium sulfate and azofoska (1 tablespoon each) must be diluted in 10 liters of water.

You shouldn’t stop at just one type of fertilizer; caring for carrots requires complex measures, so in addition to mineral supplements for feeding, be sure to use organic matter. As a fertilizer for carrots, you can use bird droppings, which are diluted in water and watered with the mixture between the rows.

Watering with salt also has a beneficial effect on seedlings; you need to dilute 1 tbsp. in 10 liters of water and water the plants.

Yeast feed recipe

We often hear the saying that it is growing by leaps and bounds. Everything is correct and applicable as fertilizer for carrots. Yeast is a kind of fertilizer for vegetables. For this purpose, both dry and “live” yeast are used.

First recipe. 1 kg of “live” yeast is diluted in 5 liters of water. Before watering, the resulting concentrate is diluted again with water (1:10).

Second recipe. For 10 liters of water take 10 g of dry yeast, 2 tbsp. granulated sugar. Let it sit for 2 hours, after which the composition should be diluted again with water (1:5).

Despite the intensity of growth after such feeding, you should not get carried away with yeast. No more than 3 waterings are carried out per season.

Yeast dressing for carrots can be made from both live and dry yeast

Pests and diseases of root crops

Caring for carrots includes not only feeding with chemicals and yeast, but also controlling various pests. The main pests for the crop are aphids and carrot fly. They appear when the soil is overly moist or when there is no proper care. To combat it, seedlings are sprayed with Bitoxibacillin or Lepidocide once every two weeks. The chemicals effectively control insects.

At strong humidity Fungus may develop. Here drugs such as Phytocid, Liposam and Mikosan-V will come to the rescue.

Thus, in order to get a good harvest of sweet and juicy root vegetables in your garden plot, you will have to work hard, that is, not only plant, but also choose the right fertilizer for carrots.

Carrots are in second place after potatoes in the ranking of the popularity of root crops grown in our dachas. And the most demanding root crop in terms of growing conditions and care, although this is not obvious. Especially novice gardeners complain that the carrots did not grow well, or that they were small, crooked, “hairy”, cracked, bitter, with black spots, rotted and molded during storage. A lot of troubles can happen to carrots as they grow. To avoid them, you must strictly follow carrot agricultural technology.

The best conditions for carrots

This is an open ground plant. There is no need to grow carrot seedlings in our latitudes. First of specific conditions for carrots - soil.

Soil for carrots

It should be loose. Most often, our gardens have heavy soil.

And you need carrots:

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

It is advisable to observe these conditions not separately, but all at once. They are all important, but the most important, perhaps, is the looseness of the soil. The root crop must receive oxygen, otherwise it will have low taste qualities and suffer from fungal diseases.

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

Predecessors are suitable and not so

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

The place where the root crop is cultivated must be changed annually. Return to the old one - no earlier than the fourth year.

Predecessors of carrots

Suitable	Absolutely not suitable
Cabbage	Carrot
Bows	Caraway
Tomatoes	Parsley
Legumes	Dill
cucumbers	Parsnip

Sowing process

Timing for sowing carrot seeds in the ground open type depend on several factors. They are:

weather;
varietal characteristics;
purpose of cultivation.

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

Soil preparation

Before sowing the root crop into the garden bed, it is necessary to add nutrients there. For carrots, the presence of humus or compost is required during the period of germination and the beginning of development. The norm of humus or vegetable compost per square meter of bed is 5 liters.

In addition to organic matter, nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are also added. The soil is dug to the depth of a spade two weeks before sowing.

If your soil is heavy loam, add sand as a loosening agent and also sawdust and ash. The root vegetables will be sweet, juicy, smooth and store well.

Important! Fresh manure cannot be applied to carrots (even if sowing is done before winter). The addition of unrotted organic matter will certainly lead to branching of root crops and a significant deterioration in taste. There is also no need to apply nitrogen fertilizers in excess of the norm, otherwise the root tissues will become coarser, the juiciness will decrease, but an excess of nitrates will appear.

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

Seed preparation

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

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

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

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

Methods for preparing carrot seeds

Way	Description
	First, the seeds are placed in a jar with a saline aqueous solution (2 tbsp/1 l). Those that float up should not be sown - these are dummies that do not contain an embryo. The settled seeds are taken out of the water, washed and placed, wrapped in a cloth, in a hot place (+60°C) clean water for a quarter of an hour. Rinse again with cool water. Dry for 24 hours and sow.
	This method is the simplest. There is no need to prepare solutions, and long soaking is also not required. After placing the seeds in a bag, put it in the refrigerator or bury it in the soil in early spring. Before sowing, the seeds are removed, washed, dried and sown.
	This method is suitable for your own seeds, as a disease prevention. The seeds in the bag are placed in a glass of warm water (+40°C stable temperature, to which 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide is added. The solution can be prepared from manganese (slightly pink). The seeds are kept in peroxide for 24 hours, in potassium permanganate for 2 hours Then washing, drying and sowing.
	This processing method increases the yield of carrots and also accelerates the ripening of root crops. You need only 20 g of ash per liter of water. It is infused for two days. Then it is filtered and soaked for 4 hours. Treatment is carried out one day before sowing.

Sowing and germination

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

The prepared seeds are sown densely in the grooves prepared in the garden bed and covered with light soil. The soil is compacted from above with a board or hands.

The optimal temperature for carrot seedlings is +15… +18°C. Prepared seeds germinate within 10-12 days.

Caring for carrots

Maintenance activities include weeding, loosening, digging, watering, pest control and fertilizing. All are required, none can be ignored.

Carrots are a long-day plant, so they need a lot of sun to thrive. Growing this root vegetable in the shade and even in partial shade is another mistake made by inexperienced gardeners who complain about crop failure.

Breakthrough

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

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

Video - Thinning a carrot bed

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

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

Watering

Watering is carried out frequently (every other day in hot weather), but the doses of moisture are small. The maximum amount of moisture required for carrots is:

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

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

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

Pest Control

There are many preventive methods prevent carrots from being damaged by pests and diseases.

Timely tillage.
Maintain crop rotation.
Destruction of residues and tops after harvesting.
Seed disinfection.
Planting partner plants nearby (for example, onion phytoncides repel carrot flies).

If prevention does not bring the desired result, and the carrots are still damaged, the crops need to be treated.

Root crops are treated with “Lepidocide” and “Bitoxibacillin” against carrot flies and aphids. These are biological products. Treatment is carried out twice - immediately after detection of pests on the leaves of the plant and two weeks later.

Timely use of “medicines” will protect carrots from pests. Just do not carry out the treatment immediately before harvesting. After this, you must wait at least 20 days.

Top dressing

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

The application of mineral fertilizers is carried out according to the following scheme.

1 feeding – at the age of 21 days (three weeks after sprouting). Ingredients: water, balanced azophosphate, potassium sulfate. Proportions: 1 l/1 tbsp/1 tbsp.

2nd feeding - a month after the first.

Important! Organic fertilizers for this root crop should be used with caution. It is better to add them in solution.

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

Mullein is diluted with water 1/20, infused, and watered into the furrows, which always follows the main watering.

If you want to get sweet carrots, 20 days before harvesting the root crops, the tops need to be sprayed with a solution of humates (1 g per 10 liters of water) plus nitrogen fertilizing in a proportion lower by half. After such a procedure useful material from the tops they “go” into the root crop, and the carrots turn out juicy and sweet.

Video - How to feed carrots

Video - Caring for sown carrots

Carrots have long won the right to be called one of the most popular crops among gardeners. It is grown in gardens almost all over the world. Carrots gained their popularity for their relative unpretentiousness, high yield and, of course, for great benefits. Its beneficial properties are explained high content vitamins, including vitamins of groups B, C, E, K, PP, as well as carotene, which the human body processes into vitamin A. High content of useful minerals, such as iodine, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus. At the same time, carrots contain a small amount of calories and are used in dietary nutrition.

Carrot strengthens the retina of the eyes, prescribed for hypovitaminosis, diseases of the liver, kidneys, stomach, cardiovascular system, polyarthritis. Also known are her healing properties at peptic ulcer and cancer. Thanks to such beneficial properties Almost every gardener grows carrots in the country.

From the experience of gardeners, it is known that you can get very early carrots by sowing them in a greenhouse. To resort to this method of growing, you don’t even need to prepare a special greenhouse, just sow one row at a short distance from the walls in the greenhouse that is intended for other crops. The growth of carrots turns out to be so active that by the time high tops form, which begin to interfere with the main plants in the greenhouse, the carrots are already quite suitable for harvesting.

However, most people most often resort to the traditional method - growing carrots in open ground. Therefore, let's talk about this option, consider ways to obtain good harvest carrots, growing and caring for them, as well as the features of cultivating a healthy root vegetable.

Currently on sale you can find two seed options:

If everything is clear with the first and second options, then the third is a relatively new product on the market. Each seed is enclosed in a special gel shell. The shell has a special composition, it retains water and creates optimal conditions for seed development. In addition, the shell contains useful macro- and microelements that accelerate the development of seedlings.

Gel dragees They are more expensive, but their use can be considered quite justified, since the seeds produce stronger and more friendly shoots. Dragee is very convenient for spot planting, so fewer seeds are required, whereas with conventional sowing the seedlings often have to be thinned out.

Planting methods

Exist several landing methods carrot seeds, among which you can choose the most suitable:

If as planting material For cultivation, seeds in traditional weight packaging were selected; before sowing, it is recommended to carry out special preparation.

To produce seed disinfection, they are placed for a day in water heated to 40 degrees.

More effective method Soaking in a solution of potassium permanganate is rightfully considered disinfection. Seeds must be treated in a 1% solution. To do this, 1 g of potassium permanganate is diluted in 100 ml warm water. The solution must be saturated, since lower concentrations of potassium permanganate are practically useless. The seeds must be kept in the solution for 20 minutes, after which they must be washed with warm water.

Increase seed germination can be done by heating it in water at temperatures up to 50 degrees. It is recommended to keep the seeds at this temperature for about 20 minutes. Next, the seeds should be cooled in water until room temperature.

Preparing the beds

Choosing a place for garden beds

Carrots are a light-loving plant, so you should choose places with good sunlight for planting them. Root vegetables grown in the shade will be thin and tough.

Since carrots belongs to the umbrella family, it should not be grown in the place of previous growth of dill, celery, parsnips and parsley. Family pests may remain in the soil from last year, and there may be insufficient nutrients. Traditionally, potatoes are considered the best predecessor, and after carrots it is recommended to plant legumes. Carrots can be grown again in the same place after three years. The most favorable neighbors of carrots are onions and garlic, as well as beets and beans.