Carrot planting and care in the open field planting dates correct sowing watering and further care. Growing carrots outdoors: tips for beginners

Carrots are a vegetable popular in cooking. It adds sweetness to the dish.

It goes well with other vegetables, meat, fish or fruits.

This root crop is not a capricious plant, but mistakes in caring for it can lead to diseases, significantly reduce the quality and volume of the crop.

Features of carrots

Over a long period of time people brought a large number of carrot varieties. Initially, the plant was domesticated in our area as an exotic spice. Seeds and tops of which were used as seasoning.
Carrots, after sowing seeds in the first year, consist of tops and roots. It gives seeds in the second year of cultivation. They form in an umbrella inflorescence. As an agricultural crop, it is divided into types: sowing and cultivated carrots.

Carrots are rich in vitamins and minerals. It is necessary for a person to maintain life. The root crop has a positive effect on vision, promotes general strengthening body due to the content of vitamins, acids and other useful components.

Varieties of carrots for open ground

Carrot cultivars

Varieties of carrots are conditionally combined into three categories according to the criterion of the shape of the root crop. These are a cone, a cylinder and a sphere. Carrots are divided into varieties (Nantes, Shantane, Flakke), which are divided into early, medium and late ripening varieties.
Consider the features of each variety type.

Nantes:

leaves are small;
root crop in the form of a cylinder;
root crop with a narrow core in the tone of the bark;
has early and late-ripening varieties (Bright, Korona Natofi, Praline, etc.)

the leaves are fleshy and tall;
root crop in the form of a cone;
the core is large;
has early and late-ripening varieties (Sweet tooth, Artek, Red Giant, etc.)

leaves straight, medium;
root crop in the form of a truncated cone;
carrots have a faceted wide core;
has early ripe varieties (Alenka and Karotel);
differs in the duration of storage and the increased content of carotene, useful for vision.

the deciduous part is equal in weight to the fruit;
the root crop is large, has a rounded shape;
the carrot stem is wide in diameter;
has late-ripening varieties (Queen of Autumn, Helzmaster).

Parisian Carotel:

has early ripe varieties;
the root crop is rounded, small in diameter;
has a good yield, even in the most difficult conditions.

Amsterdam:

has early ripe varieties;
root crops in the form of a long narrow cylinder;
it is fragile and absolutely unsuitable for long-term storage.

Emperor:

has medium and late-ripening varieties (Russian size, Mo, Sugar gourmet);
the root crop is large, in the form of a pointed cone;
fragile variety type - able to break by negligence;
such carrots can be unsweetened.

Berlicum-Nantes:

a large root crop in the form of a cylinder with a pointed tip;
differs in good bed-resistance;
not as tasty as Nantes, or carrots of other varieties.

If you need carrots, which long time will preserve the taste and useful components - stop your choice on the Queen of Autumn, Red Giant, Autumn Red, Long Red, Perfectia, etc.
If the result of the fastest ripening is important, after 1.7-2 months, Nantes 4 or 14 will please the harvest, provided that the soil is soft, and 2-2.5 months after sowing, you can eat carrots of the varieties Artek, Rex, Chanson, Vitamin 6 etc.

It is advisable to eat early carrots in the summer, or use them in conservation (in salads, marinades, etc.). She is unable to keep long term. The varieties best suited for wintering in the cellar are harvested in the fall, and the ripening time ranges from 3 to 4.5 months.

Among the varieties of carrots, there is also a purple carrot F1 Purple Elixir, which contains special useful material, which help cleanse the body of fats and cholesterol, improve the functioning of the central nervous system and circulatory organs.

Features of planting carrots in open ground

So that carrots planted in open ground bring good harvest, it is necessary to carefully approach the choice of soil. The land should be loose, fertile, with neutral acidity and medium humidity. This is important for the quality of root crops: their shape, taste, health.

When is it necessary to sow carrots in open ground?

It is customary to plant carrots in the spring, but if there is a desire to get an early harvest from late-ripening varieties, you can sow carrots in late autumn - before the onset of cold snowfalls. This will harden the seeds, and in the spring they will sprout at the call of nature - when it is most comfortable for them. These carrots are good to eat fresh. It is not recommended to store it in winter - for this they are waiting for the late autumn harvest of carrots planted in spring.
Spring planting of early ripe carrots in open ground should begin at a steady temperature of +8. This is necessary in order for the abundant moisture to evaporate from the ground sufficiently. Late-ripening varieties for storage should be sown in April-May, when it is warm outside.
The seed germination temperature is about +5 ºC. This means that it is best to start sowing work after the earth has completely warmed up - in the last week of April - early May. It is necessary to have time to sow carrots before the start of the rainy season - moisture and heat contribute to the active growth of the root crop.
Land preparation for spring sowing should take place in the fall - after harvesting. Loosening is carried out as deep as possible, adding fertilizer - so the carrots will grow beautiful and rich in vitamins.
There is a peculiarity of planting carrots before winter - not every land has a possible result. For example, loamy soils react painfully to moisture when snow melts - the earth is pressed and becomes a rough monolith. Only on light soils is it possible to grow carrots with sowing in late autumn.
When planting early carrots in the fall, you need to prepare warm beds. In the second or third week of October, the place for sowing is warmed up with greenhouses. After 21 days, the seeds are buried in the ground and sprinkled with peat with a layer of at least 3 cm (sawdust and other mulch can be used instead). After wintering, when the snow melts, the beds under the carrots are again insulated under the film - they put up small greenhouses. It is necessary to monitor the emergence of seedlings: as soon as green carrots appear under the greenhouse, you can remove it and wait for the harvest.

How to process carrot seeds for open ground?

Carrot seeds do not have to be processed in any particular way. But some gardeners try to speed up the process of germination by resorting to such tricks:

Baths. Seeds are poured into a ceramic vessel and poured with slightly warm water for 4 hours. Repeat the procedure 6 times during the day, changing the cooled water to fresh warm. For the purpose of mineral enrichment, instead of ordinary water, baths can be made from a solution wood ash(for 1 liter of water - 1 tablespoon of fertilizer). Seeds that have gone through all the stages of the procedure are washed, wrapped in cloth and sent to the refrigerator, which contributes to the hardening of future sprouts.
Contrasting water procedures. Seeds are initially tied in a cloth bag. Prepare 2 containers: with hot water(about 50 ºC) and cold. They keep a bag of seeds in hot for 20 minutes, after which they dip in cold water for 3 min.
Get used to the earth. Seeds tied in fabric are buried in the ground on a spade bayonet. This enables the rudiments to adapt to the conditions of unpredictable nature.
oxygen enrichment. If you have a special sparger, do the procedure for seeds in a Silk or Epin solution during daylight hours. This processing method helps to speed up the start of seedlings.
A hydrogen peroxide bath will help speed up the harvest and prevent the development of sores: for 200 ml of water - 1 tsp. pharmaceutical agent. Seeds in a cloth bag are dipped into the solution and incubated for 24 hours.

Seeds prepared for planting can be thrown into the ground. When sowing, try to keep the distance between the grains - this will facilitate the stage of thinning the carrots.

Growing carrots in the open field - the tricks of gardeners

A proven method will help to observe the coveted distance of 3 cm between the grains when sowing.
Dilute the flour in warm water and boil for a few minutes. Dial the cooled paste into a syringe without a needle. Squeeze out the paste onto the unfolded toilet paper with drops at 3 cm intervals. Sow the seeds on the paper, let it dry, pour in the seeds that are not stuck. Toilet paper in the ground it will become sour under the influence of moisture and become fertilizer for the vegetable.

Outdoor carrot care

An important component of plant care is loosening the earth. This can be weeding or piercing the ground with a pitchfork. The procedure must be performed regularly, combining it with weed removal. Be sure to keep the soil loose. Thanks to this, the shape of the carrot will be perfect. And if you miss this, be prepared for a crooked and branched carrot that will be inconvenient to dig up and clean.

If carrots were sown without a ruler, they need to be thinned out. The distance between adjacent sprouts should be 3 cm - this is the golden mean during the first thinning, which is performed when two true leaves appear in the seedlings. It is not necessary to perform such a procedure only when a complex prepared seeding using paper has been used. The procedure is repeated a second time after some time, when 4 sheets are formed, leaving an interval of 5-6 cm.

Watering carrots in the open field

Watering is one of milestones care, the quality of which depends appearance And taste qualities root crop. You don't want to get sluggish carrots with a hint of bitterness, do you? Then be sure to take your time organizing irrigation on the site.

How often to water carrots open ground?

It is imperative to water the carrots at the stage of formation - before the first shoots appear.
During the growth period, watering should be equivalent to the depth of the root crop. Carrots do not need to be filled with a lot of water.
Water the plant dosed and often (at least 1 time per week).
During the period of seed germination and during active growth, the bed can be watered more often.
The average water consumption is 10 liters per 1 sq.m per week. At an early stage, 3 liters will be enough, and during the period of active water growth, at least 20 liters per 1 sq.m per week are needed.
Watering carrots in August in open ground is minimized. A few weeks before harvest, watering is stopped altogether.

Top dressing of carrots in the open field

Twice during the season, regular watering should be replaced by watering with fertilizers: during the formation of seedlings and at 2-3 months of growth. A super mixture is diluted in 1 bucket of water: nitrophoska (1 tbsp), wood ash (1 tbsp), potassium nitrate (20 g), urea (15 g), double superphosphate(15g).

Diseases of carrots

bacteriosis. Appears due to the presence of infected residues (carrots and other root crops). Therefore, it is important: to follow the rules of harvesting, removing root crops and tops as much as possible. Preliminary heat treatment of seeds - baths helps to avoid bacteriosis hot water.
white rot fungal origin may appear if the storage mode is violated. harvested you can powder with chalk and store it in a cellar or any other room with good ventilation.
Red and black rot can overtake the root crop still in the ground. Painful manifestations occur due to an excess of manure in the soil. The infection spreads throughout the carrot, rendering the seeds unusable. Pre-sowing treatment of seeds with a solution of Tigam 0.5% and sowing future carrots in soil that is not fertilized with fresh manure and rested on root crops helps to prevent the development of the disease.
Septoria suffering carrots, which are grown in conditions high humidity. The disease manifests itself in spots on the tops, which can spread quite quickly. Borodok liquid - the right way get rid of adversity. The entire carrot plantation is treated with it for the purpose of prevention and treatment several times per season with a time interval of 10 days. Sick carrots are removed from the beds.

Carrot pests

Carrots prevent pests from fully developing. Earth inhabitants can be gathered in one place and destroyed.

Carrots are considered the most disease and pest resistant crop. Prevention and treatment of her ailments will cost you cheap or free.

carrot harvest

Early ripe carrots look fully formed already in July. It is collected this month, but it is not subject to storage. The same applies to the August mid-season. Varieties for winter storage are harvested in September before the start of the rainy season. The ground should be dry and the weather clear and sunny.

You can pull carrots out of the sandy ground with your hands. If the soil is dense, you will need garden tools. On the surface, the carrots are sorted out, sorting into suitable for storage and damaged (broken). Married carrots should be eaten as early as possible before they wither or begin to grow rotten. It should not be stored with healthy carrots, as this is fraught with rotting and infection. As a result, the harvest will be spoiled.

The tops are cut right at the head of the root crop, and the carrots themselves are laid out under a canopy to dry for 3-4 days. After that, it is necessary to withstand 10 days at an air temperature not higher than 14 ° C. for hardening. Spoiled root crops are isolated from the crop.

Carrot storage

Effectively sprinkle carrots with sand, dry moss, onion peel or chalk in boxes. The loose cushion protects the carrots from contact and disinfects the storage environment, thereby preventing the development of rot.
To prevent carrots from sprouting, keep the air temperature no higher than 5 ° C.

The way to stop time for carrots is a clay shell. Dry clay is diluted with water to a viscous-liquid state. A root crop is dipped into the solution, taken out and placed on a net to dry. "Caramelized" carrots can be stored for a very long time. She won't wilt or deteriorate.

Methods for storing carrots may vary, depending on the variety used. In order not to be mistaken, consult with experienced gardeners or seed sellers which method of storing carrots is best for your chosen varieties.

carrots in middle lane It is convenient to grow in Russia, the climate is suitable for this. I prefer mid-season carrots, they keep well and taste good. It is optimal to sow medium-ripening varieties in mid-May. However, in order to avoid the negative impact of return frosts, you can not rush to sow - plant carrots at the end of the month.

Soil for planting carrots

Planting carrots in the garden

I prepare beds for carrots in an open, well-lit area, there is no shade there, and this has a positive effect on crops - the soil warms up well. I choose the most leveled part of the site for the beds - without slopes and depressions where it can accumulate cold air and excess moisture.

Prepare beds for carrots in the fall, when there is much more free time than in spring.

First, I remove all the plant parts left over from the crop growing on the site, then I dig up the soil with a full bayonet of a shovel, trying to remove maximum amount weeds, after which I loosen the soil with a rake and level it. For those who have heavy soil on the site, I advise you to dig it with sawdust, scattering them at the rate of 3 kg per 1 sq. m.

I don’t make beds too large and I don’t advise you, the optimal width of the beds, which allows you to take care of plants without problems, is 1 m, or a little more. On the site I arrange the beds so that they are located in length from north to south.

Carrot Planting Scheme

The scheme is simple: first, along the beds, I draw grooves about 5 cm wide and about 2 cm deep or a little more. I make the extreme groove no closer than 10 cm from the edge of the bed, it can even be a little further, but the rest, retreating from each other 18-20 cm. Some gardeners believe that they will save a lot of space if they saddle narrow grooves, but experience has shown that such beds with further care is very inconvenient.

In order for carrot seeds to germinate faster, I always sow them in previously well-moistened soil. Before planting, first I spill the beds with a weak solution of potassium permanganate (light pink), after that I moisten each groove well with water room temperature, spending 5-6 liters. Before sowing, it is also better to soak the seeds in water for about a day so that they swell. I scatter the prepared seeds along the groove at a distance of about 1 cm or a little more from each other.

Follow the sowing scheme, and you can significantly save seed and own forces- you do not have to thin out carrot seedlings immediately after they appear.

Carrot care after planting

After sowing the carrots, I sprinkle the grooves with a mixture of river sand and peat, in equal proportions, until they are level with the soil surface, and then cover with a film. There should be 10 cm of free space between the soil and the film, so I lay bricks along the edges of the bed, then lay the film on them, and on top of the same bricks I lay out another brick, stretching the film.

To prevent water from accumulating on the film, which can press it to the ground, I make several holes in the film through which excess water will drain onto the soil.

The film plays a purely positive role, it retains moisture in the soil, helps to increase the temperature of the soil, so that shoots appear in just a week. Immediately after the emergence of seedlings, the film must be removed so as not to interfere with their growth.

The next step is regular thinning, loosening, fertilizing and timely watering.

Nikolai Khromov, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Senior Researcher

Planting carrots in open ground: video

For the experience of planting carrots in open ground in the spring in the Tula region, see. Carrots are sown in late April or early May. Before sowing, carrot seeds are soaked in hot water for half an hour or in a damp cloth for 2 days. Swollen carrot seeds are dried and powdered with ash. To make crops more rare, sand is added to carrot seeds and mixed. Carrots are convenient to use in joint landings, for example, with onions or peas. When growing, crop rotation must be observed, for example, sow carrots after potatoes.

Planting carrots on paper: video

Experience in sowing seeds of carrots different ways see: how to plant carrots in jelly and on paper, using ash and sand, how to prepare seeds and beds for sowing. Carrots can be sown in joint plantings with beets and onions. Seeds are prepared before planting. First, carrot seeds are soaked in hot water at a temperature of 50-60 ° C for 2 hours in a thermos, and then for 15 minutes according to the instructions in a growth stimulator solution. Immediately before sowing, after soaking, carrot seeds are dried on a linen napkin.

Root crops are the true kings of the garden. They are cultivated by all summer residents, but not everyone grows carrots in the open field invariably pleases with a generous harvest of sweet and juicy vegetables of a perfectly even shape. To get such a result, you will have to try: to sow the crop correctly and provide it with competent care.

The best place for beds

You can count on an abundance of fruits only if you satisfy all the requirements of carrots, and they have a lot of them. Its bushes develop well on loose and fertile soils. According to their composition, medium loams or sandy loams are optimally suited for them. They will provide the necessary high aeration for carrots. It is possible to choose for breeding varieties that form long root crops only when the depth of the loose soil layer in the area is very significant.

Culture prefers neutral soil, optimal indicator Its pH is in the range of 6-7. It is better if a crust does not form on the soil, and its moisture capacity is good. In dense and heavy soil, which poorly passes air to the roots of the bushes and retains water for a long time, the taste of carrot fruits will greatly decrease, even despite good care. Unsuitable soil will affect the germination of seeds in the spring, and it will make adult bushes vulnerable to fungal diseases.

It is good to make beds for planting carrots on the site where the following crops grew last season:

cabbage;
any kind of beans and grains;
onion;
garlic;
potato;
tomatoes;
zucchini;
cucumbers.

Bad predecessors for her will be spices from the same family:

dill;
celery;
parsley;
coriander;
parsnip;
fennel;
caraway.

It is not necessary to plant carrots in one place year after year. Such beds are more often affected by pests and diseases. It will be possible to sow a crop in the same area, without fear for the health of the plants, when 3-4 years have passed since the harvest.

A place for beds with carrots should be chosen well-lit. Her bushes love the sun and do not suffer from its direct rays. But the lack of light will have a bad effect on productivity. Root crops will grow small, and their taste will be low.

Preparing for landing

The soil for planting carrots is prepared in advance by introducing rotted manure or compost into it (½ bucket per 1 m² of bed surface). If the land on the site is heavy, add to the fertilizer sawdust(2-3 l). They will make the soil looser. It is also good to add wood ash or other compounds containing potassium. It improves the taste of root crops, makes them sweeter and increases their keeping quality. If sowing carrots is carried out in the spring, they dig up the plot even during autumn work in the garden. So the soil will have time to settle. To make the root crops even, and it was easier to extract them from the soil, digging is needed deep, by 1.5 spade bayonets. With the advent of spring, the site is leveled with a rake, after which it will be possible to start planting.

Fresh manure cannot be used for pre-sowing preparation of the site. Its introduction will provoke the flowering of carrot bushes and the branching of root crops. No care will save them from this. Careful attention should be paid to the dosage of nitrogen fertilizers. With their excess, vegetables coarsen, and nitrates accumulate in their tissues.

The timing of sowing a crop is determined by the characteristics of the selected variety and the purpose of its cultivation. Carrots can be planted before winter. Then the process of vernalization of its seeds will take place in the soil. In the spring, when it gets a little warmer, they will hatch immediately. It will be possible to start harvesting 2-3 weeks earlier than with conventional sowing. But it won't last long. Such vegetables are best eaten immediately or made from them for the winter. autumn sowing carrots are not possible everywhere. In areas with cold winters, beds with planted seeds are protected with a thick layer of dry foliage, straw, or sawdust. But in severe frosts, they can die even under such shelter.

Planting carrots in the spring is most often practiced. Its timing depends on the climate of the area and on the time by which the root crops must ripen. If you plan to use them in the summer, then plant the seeds early ripe varieties better in early spring. You can start sowing when the air warms up to + 8 ° C, and the moisture remaining in the ground after the snow melts has not yet had time to evaporate.

Sharp cold snaps and frosts have a bad effect on the keeping quality of root crops and can cause carrots to bloom. Therefore, if the vegetables need to be stored for a long time, the planting dates are shifted to mid-April (for late and mid-ripening varieties). On light soils, it can be carried out until the end of May, weather conditions will serve as a guide here. On medium - it is better to hurry up and have time to sow the crop before the middle of the month. You should not be late with planting, otherwise the emergence of seedlings will have to wait a very long time.

Carrots grow fast when planted before long rains.

seed processing

Experienced summer residents prefer to plant carrots with already germinated seeds. Seed care at this stage is very simple and does not require much time. At the same time, it will allow you to immediately reject empty seeds and speed up the emergence of seedlings by at least a week. In the very simple form it consists of 2 procedures.

The seeds are placed in warm water and left in it for 10 hours. As a result, empty shells will be on the surface of the liquid.
Further selected planting material laid out on wet gauze (fabric, cotton). The air in the room with carrot seeds should be warmed up to +20-+24°C. If everything is done correctly, they will hatch in 3 days.

Presowing care can be carried out in other effective ways.

Place carrot seeds for a day in water heated to 30 ° C, changing it every 4 hours. You can take a solution of wood ash for processing (1 tablespoon of fertilizer per 1 liter of water). Its temperature should be the same. After removing the seeds from it, they are washed clean water and, wrapping it with a piece of cloth, put it in the refrigerator, where they keep it for 2-3 days.
Place the seeds in a cloth or gauze bag and expose them to contrasting temperatures. For 20 minutes, the planting material is kept in hot (50 ° C) water, then it is lowered into cold water for 2-3 minutes.
After placing the carrot seeds in a cloth bag, bury them in the ground and let them lie in it for 10 days.

Seeds prepared by any of the methods can be sown on beds.

Seeding rules

It is recommended to plant carrots both in autumn and in spring in well-moistened grooves of medium depth. If you make them small, gusty winds can blow off the seeds and scatter them throughout the garden. But the grooves should not be too deep. Otherwise, do not wait for seedlings. Furrows are made with a minimum interval of 15 cm. The seeds are laid out in them so that 2 cm remain between them. Close them to a depth of 2-3 cm if the soil is light, and 1.5-2 cm if it is heavy.

If sowing is carried out with unsprouted seeds, they are lightly rubbed with hands before being placed in the ground, removing the bristles from them.

After planting carrots, the soil in the beds is compacted. This is usually done with a roller or board, but you can simply crush the soil with your hands. Then a thick (at least 3 cm) layer of mulch is poured onto the beds. It will not allow the formation of a soil crust that interferes with the germination of seedlings.

For germination of carrots, a temperature of about + 15- + 18 ° C is needed. If untreated seeds were used for planting, it will take 18-25 days for seedlings to sprout in the spring. Short-term frosts (down to -4 ° C) are not terrible for them, so you should not cover the beds. With a long cold snap, the probability of tsvetushnosti is high.

Before winter, carrots should be planted closer to the end of autumn - in the last days of October or in the first decade of November. The site for its sowing is prepared in 3 weeks. Having planted the seeds in the soil, the beds are covered with a 3-centimeter layer of peat. In the spring, after the snow melts, they are covered with a film. Remove it only after the shoots appear. Autumn sowing of carrots is possible only on light soils.

Features of agricultural technology

The technology of growing a crop is quite simple, even beginner gardeners can easily cope with it.

Garden care consists of the following activities:

thinning too thick seedlings;
frequent loosening;
regular weeding;
timely watering;
top dressing.

For the first time, carrot seedlings are thinned out when 2 true leaves are formed on them. At this stage, it will be correct to leave 2-3 cm of free space between plants. With the advent of 3 and 4 leaves, thinning is carried out again, bringing the distance between carrot bushes to 4-6 cm. Weeding is also done at the same time.

Carrots will bring a bountiful harvest, and its fruits will be sweet and strong if the beds are watered correctly. Lack of moisture will make vegetables sluggish and give them a bitter taste. Water the plants during the entire growing season - in spring and summer. At the same time, make sure that the water soaks the soil at least 30 cm deep. If the fruits do not have enough moisture, lateral roots will form on them and the marketable appearance of the carrot will deteriorate. But an excess of water will not be useful for plants. It causes cracking of root crops, stimulates the formation of small shoots on them, and enhances the growth of leaves.

Care in the form of watering is carried out once a week, adhering to the following rules.

In the spring, immediately after sowing, 3 liters of water are spent per 1 m² of the surface of the beds.
After thinning the seedlings for the second time, the volume of the applied liquid is adjusted to 10 liters.
At the stage of intensive growth of root crops (it begins when the leaves on the carrot bushes develop well), the amount of water during irrigation is increased by another 2 times.
Moisture is reduced 1.5-2 months before harvest. It is carried out less often - once every 10-15 days, and water is spent at the rate of 10 liters per 1 m² of the bed surface. Planting care in the form of watering is completely stopped 2-3 weeks before root crops are dug up.

Fertilize carrots twice a season. The time for top dressing determines the age of the seedlings: 1 and 2 months. Such care is carried out by the root method, watering the beds with a nutrient composition of the following components:

wood ash (2 cups);
nitrophoska (1 tbsp. l);
potassium nitrate (20 g);
urea (15 g);
superphosphate (15 g).

All components are diluted in 1 bucket of water. Apply a fertilizer solution after watering.

Every summer resident considers it his duty to plant a garden bed with graceful carrot bushes decorating a garden landscape with openwork leaves with a spicy aroma. The history of the cultivation of culture has almost 4 millennia, during which many of its varieties have been obtained. Among them there are early-ripening and late-ripening, high-yielding, steadfastly withstanding the invasion of pests and not afraid of diseases. There are varieties bred specifically for a particular area, as well as differing in the length and shape of the fruit. In this variety, every gardener will be able to find exactly the one he wants to grow.

Carrots are tasty and healthy. It can be counted among the basic products that should always be in the kitchen, because a lot of dishes are prepared using it, from the usual soups to desserts. However, getting sweet root crops is not so easy, because the culture is quite demanding on growing conditions. Care for carrots in the beds cannot be called specific, but expect from her bushes bountiful harvest You can only if you follow all of its rules.

Carrot is a rather finicky vegetable that is able to respond to unaccounted for nuances in the growing process with a strange-looking crop and disappointingly low yield. Carrot care in the open field implies a strict sequence in each of the points of the successive stages of root development, and missing one of the points means jeopardizing all the work expended. How to care for carrots correctly?

How to grow carrots the right way? High yields begin with the preparation of the soil for planting, and initial preparations should be made in the fall. A flat place is selected on the garden bed, sufficiently illuminated by the sun during daylight hours and, preferably, previously used for planting cucumbers, white cabbage or cereal crops. Depending on what kind of soil carrots like, namely, neutral or slightly acidic, the alkaline balance of the soil is regulated.

First, you need to assess whether the soil is suitable for carrots in terms of this indicator. The easiest way is to collect a pinch of earth from the desired area on a piece of clean glass and pour it with table vinegar. Alkaline and slightly acidic environments will react with strong or moderate protrusion of foam (as when soda is extinguished), while acidic ones will not show changes.

You can also pay attention to the clogging of the area with grass:

neutral soils are rich in lush long vegetation: nettle, quinoa, clover;
acidic soils, on which it is impossible to grow sweet carrots, will abound in mint, horsetail, violet and buttercup;
on the ground with low acidity, there will be burdock, alfalfa, small pharmacy chamomile and thistle;
alkaline environment, the poorest and also not very suitable for growing carrots in the open ground, as well as acidic, it is characterized by: poppy, sweet clover, bindweed.

The second task in the question of how to grow a good crop of carrots is to create conditions for saturating the soil with oxygen. This is required so that the carrot tastes sweet and grows slender in length, and does not go horned and squirm in all directions, bumping into the firmament of unloosened earth. A clumsy carrot occurs when a vegetable begins to branch out in search of a convenient direction and softer soil, and not sweet - due to lack of air.

Light fluffy soil, not clogged with clay, is enough to work out with a garden rake, and hard, caked layers must be completely broken by deep digging.

How to plant carrots

How to grow carrots in even rows and evenly distributed along the groove? In order to get a good harvest, the vegetables should not sit tight to each other, which means that a distance must be maintained between the seeds that is convenient for thinning later. There are many such convenient ways in agricultural technology:

a mixture of flour and water, to a strip of paper towel or napkins, seeds are glued at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other, then these tapes are inserted directly into the grooves after preplant irrigation;
combine the contents of a bag of seeds with 1 glass of clean sand, mix everything and this mass is injected into a dug groove in a thin stream;
two tablespoons of starch are boiled in a liter of water and this barely warm substance, with the seeds added to it, is poured into the prepared grooves;
most gardeners, when planting this crop, traditionally plant seeds in the soil with a distance of about 4 cm and a gap between rows of 15 cm.

What to do immediately after landing? The bed is covered with polyethylene, which is held until the first shoots appear. The vegetable is quite tolerant of low temperatures and even soil frosts, but prolonged cold is the reason why carrots go to the arrow to the detriment of root development.

Watering carrots

Carrots in the open field do not require as much regular as uniform watering - it does not matter to the plant how often the soil is moistened, but the moisture level should be constant and unchanged. Deviation from the level of water saturation in the soil that is comfortable for the root crop leads to pathologies of root formation:

surface and slight soil moisture leads to the formation of a woody rhizome - the pale core of such a vegetable tastes bitter, and the carrot itself sometimes grows to bulky shapeless balls;
when growing carrots, it is also dangerous to oversaturate the soil with watering - there is a risk of getting nondescript twisted freaks with branchy tops.

One of the signs of improper and uneven watering is a horned carrot that has two or more root forks. To avoid mistakes of this kind, it is better to water the root crops, adhering to the approximate scheme:

when the first shoots appear, 7-8 irrigations are carried out during the month, 6 liters of water per 1 m 2 of the plot;
in the first month of summer, the rate increases to 11-12 liters, multiplied by 5-6 irrigations;
in July, there should be only about five waterings, but 13-15 liters per square meter;
the onset of August entails a decrease in water consumption and labor costs - carrots are already growing on two irrigations of 6 liters of water each.

14-20 days before the day scheduled for harvesting, watering is stopped. Then a single moistening of the soil is carried out to facilitate the digging process.

Weeding and thinning carrots

Growing carrots in the open field should be accompanied by repeated weeding, especially in the period before germination, when weed grass with powerful rhizomes may not allow the vegetable crop to sprout. Weeds must not be allowed to grow too tall - late weeding is one of the reasons why gardeners do not count subsequently a useful crop, because along with the grass, young tops of an uncultivated vegetable are also in the common heap.

How to get high yield with regular weeding? There are two theories equally substantiated by the experience of gardeners on how to weed a vegetable:

after watering or rain - thus, the weeds are easily pulled out with the entire root system;
before watering, when the ground is dry - in this case, thin grass roots remain in the ground and dry out, which prevents the germination of new weeds.

Another mandatory procedure, without which the cultivation and care of this crop in the open field is impossible, is the competent thinning of plants in the garden. When the seeds are initially planted with the same distance from each other of 2-3 cm, thinning is a rather corrective procedure and is not always necessary. Solid sowing in any of the ways, when the seeds went randomly into the furrow, in the long term always means one or two stages of breaking through the excess shoots. Should it be done? Necessarily. The first thinning is carried out immediately, as soon as individual leaves can be distinguished from the hatched greens.

Often the answer to the question: why do carrots grow ugly lies precisely in the wrong actions when removing extra sprouts.

There are certain secrets of how to perform this simple operation correctly.

What to do and in what sequence to perform actions:

before thinning, the beds should be shed abundantly from a garden watering can;
the sprout should not be pulled, but pulled straight up from the ground, without swinging it;
it is necessary that there be a distance of 3 or 4 cm between the saved bushes;
immediately after the procedure, the garden is watered with warm water.

At the same stage, it is customary to carry out the first hilling of carrots and the first loosening between rows. And, if the second part of the algorithm does not raise big questions, a lot of controversy arises about the first.

So - do you need to spud carrots?

We spud correctly

Often even from experienced gardeners you can hear that carrots are not spud. However, if you are not too lazy to do this painstaking work at least three times during the development of the vegetable, you can secure future harvest immediately from three misfortunes:

from damage to the exposed part of the root carrot fly which loves to lay eggs at the bottom of the vegetable;
from the protrusion of greenery at the top of the rhizome;
from exposure to direct sunlight, which leave burns on the surface of the root near the tops.

Mulching a vegetable

How to grow large carrots and at the same time knowingly eliminate the risk of overdrying the soil, the danger of pest invasion, and also significantly reduce the number of weeding and loosening? To do this, there is a technology for covering the soil with mulch, and the technique itself is called "mulching".

How to mulch a carrot bed? The most common way to mulch a garden bed is to cover the space between the rows of planted vegetables with hay, straw or sawdust. The latter option is preferable, since the shelter with sawdust retains moisture longer and is a more reliable shield against the invasion of cabbage and other pests.

Covering the soil with sawdust has another important advantage in front of the grass floor - weeds do not germinate through it, while the dried grass itself may by default have mature and ready-to-sprout seeds that will grow when in contact with moisture. The same properties, along with sawdust, have small chips.

It is recommended to mulch carrots when the outer part of the plant reaches 14-16 cm, and the vegetable itself will be about 7-8 cm in diameter at the widest part of the root. Is it possible to mulch late varieties of root crops? It is not only possible, but also necessary, since the shelter retains the temperature for a long time, which it receives from the sun during the daytime, and as a result, the roots turn out to be juicy and not cracked.

There are often complaints on the forums, such as the following: “I mulch vegetable crop according to all the rules, but the vegetable wilts, the tops fall, and the result is a horned or otherwise ugly carrot that does not have sweetness. Important condition before the procedure - drying the material. Whatever mulching is done, the cover should not rot and thus serve as a habitat for the reproduction of harmful microorganisms. And the secret of the withering, falling tops is the rotting of the root, to which oxygen does not reach through the dense crust of damp mulch. That's all the secrets of proper mulching.

Common Mistakes

Let's name the most common mistakes of gardeners, answering the most frequent complaints why carrots do not grow:

the seeds were planted without prior soaking or in insufficiently heated soil (the norm is 7-9 C);
too deep sowing or incorrect formation of a furrow (it is necessary to deepen the groove by 2 cm, then tamp its bottom with a palm edge or a chopper handle);
lack of watering before or after planting, or watering with cold water;
abundant watering of the soil during the time until the sprouts have hatched out of the soil (until the green brush of sprouted plants appears on the garden bed, you cannot water the garden);
frequent watering with a small amount of water, in which moisture does not penetrate deep enough;

Why does carrot grow poorly? Perhaps due to the lack of a feeding element throughout the development of the plant. In unrested or depleted soil, vegetables will be thin, pale, covered with white hairs. A lack of potassium will immediately affect the density of the root - it will become stiff, and the absence of phosphorus will affect the taste - the carrot will become tasteless or even sour.

Carrots are one of the main crops that gardeners plant every year on their plots. It is used in the summer-autumn period, and they also make preparations for the winter. With the right agricultural technology, getting a rich harvest of root crops is not difficult. Learn how to prepare the beds, plant carrots outdoors in the spring, and take care of the plants during their growing season. If you are new to vegetable growing, these tips will be especially helpful.

To grow a beautiful, even, large carrot, the soil for planting it is prepared in the fall. This vegetable, like any garden crop, has its own requirements for the site on which it will grow. Under carrots, areas well-lit by the sun are taken away; in shading, plants bear fruit poorly. They are very elongated, give a lot of green mass, but at the same time the lower part is small and thin.

It also matters after which crops to place carrots in your garden. The best predecessors for her are potatoes, tomatoes and cabbage. The vegetable grows well in the beds where zucchini or cucumbers used to be. You can plant carrots after crops such as onions and garlic.

Root crops of the highest quality are obtained on light, cultivated, fertile soils, with a good layer of humus and breathability, with neutral or weak acidity. For planting carrots in the spring, the ground in the beds is well prepared. On clay soils, leavening agents are applied. They can be peat, hardwood sawdust, sunflower husks, sand. On sandy soils, where beneficial nutrients are quickly washed out by moisture into the deeper layers, the addition of clay and peat gives a good result. The soil is not lime before growing carrots; it is performed in the previous season. In the same way, fresh manure is not added to this crop, but it is allowed to apply it under predecessors.

For every m 2 of vegetable beds, 2-3 kg of humus and mineral phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are added. For example, 25-30 g (1.5 matchbox) of superphosphate and 15 g (slightly less than 1 tablespoon) of potassium sulfate. With a lack of organic nitrogen fertilizers for carrots, an additional 15-20 g of saltpeter or urea (1 Matchbox). Next, the earth is deeply dug. The clods are left without leveling in the layers, in the spring they are well loosened before planting.

When to plant carrots

Spring planting of carrots in vegetable growing is considered traditional. In addition, it can be sown in the ground in summer and autumn before winter. The vegetable belongs to cold-resistant crops, the seeds germinate and sprout at a soil temperature of + 3 ° C (preferably 5-7 ° C). But this is possible only if there is a sufficient amount of moisture; in dry land, carrots may not start growing for a month or more.

Depending on the climatic features of the region and weather conditions in each particular season, the timing of planting carrots in open ground will be different. Generally speaking, seeds can be planted from the end of March to June. In the southern regions, the earliest sowing of seeds is possible, in the north favorable conditions need to wait a little longer.

Since each garden season is different in its own way, the date is not strongly oriented. The following indicators are adhered to: soil temperature from 5 ° C, the absence of forecasts for cooling and especially severe frosts, the presence of natural moisture in the soil.

In addition, it is worth considering the ripening time of the selected carrot variety. The seeds of late-ripening plants are sown first. They have a long growing season (more than 120 days), so they must not only grow, but also grow root crops before the fall. Often, with early planting, such beds are additionally covered with a film from frost. If the seedlings fall under frost, some plants throw out flower stalks in the summer to the detriment of the formation of root crops.

Seeds of mid-season varieties of carrots grow from 90 to 120 days. They are sown in terms from about mid-April to mid-May. Further, only early-ripening species are used for planting. At the same time, in most cases, soaking the seeds and additional irrigation of the beds is required. Deadline planting carrots in the private sector - before the Trinity.

Pre-sowing preparation of carrots

Carrot seeds remain viable for 3-4 years. But at the same time, the best germination rates are observed in the freshest seed. Then the germination drops sharply. The gardener has to either use more seeds for planting, or observe bald rows in the garden. Therefore, when buying a carrot variety you like in a store, you should pay attention Special attention on the packing date. When using your own seeds, it is best to sow those that are 1 or 2 years old.

How exactly to prepare carrot seeds for planting is up to everyone to decide. The minimum that can be done is to calibrate the seed, immediately removing bad specimens. It is also advisable to pickle the seeds in fungicides or soak in potassium permanganate for disinfection. Next, they must be dried to a loose state.

Carrot seeds are sown in the ground both in dry form and after pre-soaking. The first option is chosen for the earliest landings, when there is a possibility of cold snaps. Such seeds germinate longer, but do not die with a decrease in temperature. When the soil warms up again optimal values, they quickly start growing.

For fast germination, carrots are soaked or germinated before planting. For soaking, choose any of the options:

Carrot seeds are kept in clean water at a temperature of 30 ° C throughout the day. The fluid is replaced several times with a new one. If desired, ash is added to the solution. After the seeds are washed with clean water.
Seeds before planting are placed in a solution of growth stimulants. The manufacturer indicates the amount of substance and soaking time in the instructions. For carrots, you can use sodium humate, Silk, Epin, etc.
Seeds are wrapped in cloth and immersed in water at 50 °C for 20 minutes. After that, the carrots are cooled in cold liquid for 2-3 minutes.

In all cases, before planting in the ground, the seeds are dried a little for the convenience of working with them.

For germination, the seed is first kept in water for 2 hours. Then the seeds are laid out in one layer on a cloth, covered with a napkin or the same piece of cloth on top. Keep moist all the time. After swelling and spitting of part of the seeds, they are placed in the refrigerator for 10 days. So carrots undergo additional hardening.

Methods for sowing carrots

To get a rich harvest of root crops in the fall, the seeds must be planted correctly. On private plots, gardeners usually use a row planting pattern for carrots and narrow, long beds that are easy to care for. If we talk about the distance that should be adhered to when planting, then 20, 25 or 30 cm are left between the rows (depending on the variety, soil fertility, free land area on the site). There should be 3-5 cm between plants.

From how correctly the carrots will be sown in the spring, its yield, and in some cases, germination, directly depends. This is a small-seeded crop, therefore it is not worth burying sowing material in the ground. It is necessary to sow carrot seeds to a depth of only 1-1.5 cm. On light sandy soils, up to 2 cm is permissible. A deeper planting may cause the sprouts to not be able to break out. They just don't have the strength to do it.

Used in amateur vegetable growing various ways planting carrots in open ground. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Try and choose the one that is convenient for you.

Sowing seeds

The easiest and easiest way to plant carrots is from seeds. To do this, it is enough to mark the rows on the bed and make shallow furrows in the ground. To make the lines even, you will need twine and a couple of pegs. With their help, it is easy to maintain the required distance between the rows.

In order to properly observe the seeding depth when sowing, many gardeners use a long wooden lath. It is pressed with an edge into the ground, removed and even identical furrows are obtained. If necessary, they are watered, and then seeds are sown there. Sprinkle on top with fertile soil, peat, compost and tamp a little.

With early sowing, the beds are covered with a film, which allows you to maintain more high temperature soil, retain moisture and protect seedlings from accidental frosts. With the onset of stable heat, the protective cover is removed. After the appearance of all shoots, the extra plants are thinned out.

Sowing on a toilet paper tape

This method requires some preparation, but saves time when planting and reduces the amount of seeds used. In addition, it allows you to accurately maintain the distance in a row between plants. This method is suitable for those who want to plant carrots so as not to thin them out after.

First, cut pieces of paper that correspond to the length of the rows. Starch paste is prepared or flour is kneaded in water until it becomes thick sour cream. The width of the roll is visually divided into 3 equal parts. Then the seeds are glued in the first row, they maintain a distance of 3-5 cm and repeat everything again. To exclude the loss of plants due to the fact that some seed did not sprout, they are placed in pairs. Before planting, the seed tape is cut into long narrow strips, which are simply lowered into the grooves and sprinkled with earth.

Landing with river sand

In order not to thin out carrots that have risen more often than necessary, you can use the following method. They take large, slightly moistened river sand, mix it with seeds in a ratio of 5 to 1. This mixture is evenly scattered into the prepared furrows. From above, when planting carrots with sand, the seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer of earth, tamped a little, and then poured on top of peat and cover the beds with a film so that the seeds sprout faster. Such a planting of carrots will save seeds and not pull seedlings later.

Seeder use

You can plant carrots in open ground using a seeder homemade. These can be salt shakers, a strainer, or small plastic containers with a lid, in which holes are made a little larger than carrot seeds. It remains only to pour seeds into them and sow them in the ground. Such devices for planting seeds can be used not only for carrots, but also for other crops, if you make several covers for them with holes of different diameters.

Seeds in granules

Seed granulation is a method that allows you to increase the size of carrot seeds and thus make them easier to sow. They are planted on beds at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other. Planting carrots in granules helps save seeds and does not thin out too thick seedlings in the beds.

Carrot care

Watering and soil density are what you need to pay special attention to when caring for this plant in the open field. It is necessary to water the soil abundantly only during the period of active growth of tops. When the growth of the root crop begins, watering is reduced. But it is impossible to leave plants completely without water, since it is too much to flood them after a drought. Sharp fluctuations in moisture in the soil are the reason that carrots will be clumsy, with cracks and numerous additional roots over the entire surface of the root crop. 2 weeks before harvest, watering is stopped altogether.

After each watering, the soil is loosened as deep as possible (near the root crops themselves carefully) so that it remains soft and airy. Carrots are fed with this fertilizer: dissolve in a bucket of water

15 g of saltpeter and superphosphate;
20 g of potassium nitrate;
1 st. l. nitrophoska;
2 cups of ash.

Rows of carrots are shed with this solution only 2 times: a month after it has risen and another 2 months after that.

Carrots are harvested in the fall, when its root crops have reached the size and shape corresponding to the variety. Dig them with a shovel on a dry, not rainy day. The collected root crops are dried a little in the beds, then put in boxes or nets and lowered into the cellar for storage.

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Planting and growing carrots in the open field is a simple and exciting business. Follow the rules for planting and growing this crop, and in the fall you can get excellent harvest orange roots.