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Growing Carrots
Growing Carrots

Video: Growing Carrots

Video: Growing Carrots
Video: Growing Carrots from Sowing to Harvest 2024, March
Anonim

The girl is sitting in the dungeon, and the scythe is on the street

carrot
carrot

The riddle of the carrot, known to many, suggests that this tasty and healthy root vegetable has been popular among the people since ancient times. Carrots are still in our price, sometimes they are more expensive than bananas. If you want, buy carrots from Holland, if you want - from Israel or elsewhere. She is beautiful, smooth. However, these carrots may seem delicious only to those who have never eaten carrots from their garden.

A great variety of carrot varieties have now been obtained - with different ripening periods, different styles, sizes and taste. All characteristics are now written on seed bags. However, its taste depends not only on the variety, but also to some extent on the specific growing conditions, as well as on the consumer's taste preferences. It is better to try different varieties in your garden and choose the one that suits your taste for further cultivation.

Gardener's guide

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Gone are the days when the most diverse carrots grew from seeds taken from the same bag: long and short, thin and thick, with a rounded tip and sharp. True, I must admit that it was all very sweet. Now we are offered such selected seeds that we can grow perfectly even, beautiful roots with a delightfully thin tail on a round tip. However, for this you need to try, because if she doesn't like something, she strives to bend, and if you don't look, then freaks can grow up altogether.

The soil

carrot
carrot

Let's start with the soil, because this is her apartment, where she should be comfortable, and nothing should stop her from growing in full contentment. The root vegetable in carrots is mainly formed by thickening of the taproot, and any damage to this root will cause it to branch out. This means that the soil should be loose, light. Carrots do not tolerate heavy clay soils, root crops turn out to be curved or branched. In addition, if the soil dries out after sowing the seeds, it forms a dense impenetrable crust that prevents the germination of seeds. Therefore, seedlings are uneven, sparse.

The density of the soil affects not only the shape, but also the length of the root crop. Experience has shown that leveled root crops are obtained only on light loamy or sandy loam soils, as well as on loose peatlands, necessarily non-acidic, with pH = 6-7. If the tops of your carrots have an orange, red or purple hue, then the soil is too dense, the roots cannot breathe in it, and besides, not everything is in order with acidity. In general, colored tops are produced in lean, acidic soils where plants are starving. Such soil must be deoxidized. This should be done in the fall, in advance, or even better - under the previous culture. At worst, carrots tolerate the introduction of lime into the soil in the year of sowing, and this should be done at least two weeks before sowing, however, the effect of this will appear only in the middle of summer. If the tops are still painted in all the colors of the rainbow,then don't expect a good harvest this year.

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The soil must be nutritious. On too dry and poorly nourished sandy soil, root crops turn out to be coarse, woody, and during storage they begin to taste bitter. Therefore, the soil is fertilized with organic matter, but organic matter is applied no later than a year before sowing. In the year of sowing, the introduction of manure is categorically contraindicated: "octopuses" will certainly grow. The best predecessors are cabbage, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, under which manure was applied. It is recommended to return the carrots to their old place after 4-5 years so that diseases do not accumulate.

The depth of the cultivated soil layer depends on the type of carrot you are going to grow. If this is a Parmex-type carotel, similar to a radish, then a shovel bayonet is enough. But there are varieties in which the length of the root crop can reach 40 cm, for example, Vita Longuet or the Queen of Autumn. For such a carrot, you will have to process the soil with two shovel bayonets. If groundwater comes close - less than 60-80 cm, you will have to grow it on high and narrow ridges, because otherwise you will get a lot of branchy and ugly root crops. Usually, varieties are selected to the depth of the fertile layer available on the garden bed. For most varieties, a 35–40 cm layer is sufficient.

It is known that carrots are very sensitive to soil aeration, i.e. to the presence of air in it. The pores in the soil are filled with either air or water. Better when "so for so." If there is more water, you will get freaks, if there are strong fluctuations, it is too dry, then too humid, the roots may crack.

What place to choose for the garden? Most illuminated. When shading, even from thickened sowing and from weeds, especially in the first period of life, the plants stretch out strongly, while the yield and quality of root crops are greatly reduced.

In those areas where there is an excess of moisture, carrots may die, because they cannot stand even short-term stagnation of water. Here high ridges will help you.

When choosing a sowing site, one must also take into account that pale, irregularly shaped root crops often grow in cold places. Therefore, for a carrot bed, you need to choose a place that is not the coldest, but not the hottest: carrots also do not like heat.

Sowing carrots

So, you dug up the garden. If the soil is very poor, and you did not add or did not contribute much under the previous culture of organic matter, then you will have to add a bucket of well-rotted compost or humus for every square meter of the garden bed under the digging. It is also useful to add a complete mineral fertilizer such as Kemir - according to the instructions. To accelerate germination and accelerate the formation of root crops, it is very useful to additionally add superphosphate for sowing.

Usually, a groove is made before sowing, superphosphate granules are placed on the bottom - 2 g per running meter. Then they are covered with soil with a layer of 2 cm. Spill the groove with warm water and spread the seeds. If you have patience, then the seeds can be laid individually at a distance of 2 - 2.5 cm from each other. (Then you will not need to do the first very laborious thinning.) After that, the seeds should be covered with sifted earth in a layer of 1–2 cm (the lighter the soil, the deeper). It is useful to cover crops with a strip of newspaper, and on top - with plastic wrap. Such a shelter protects the topsoil from drying out, accelerates seedlings, the newspaper saves seedlings from overheating under the film and from burning. If you do not make shelter, then you will have to sow the seeds deeper, and the soil from above will have to be slightly compacted.

Seeds, if they have not been treated with anything, can be washed before sowing from essential oils with warm water for two days, changing the water in the morning and evening. This procedure will speed up seed germination.

If you want to sow several rows of carrots, then the distance between the rows is made from 15 cm - for an early harvest, up to 20-25 cm - for an autumn harvest. The lower figure refers to lighter soils, where plants form less vegetative mass and do not shade each other.

Now - about the sowing time. For early harvests, experienced gardeners sow carrots in May, and the most frisky ones do at the end of April, because carrots are very cold-resistant plants. Carrots sprout reluctantly and grow reluctantly: after all, in May we are usually cold. But it is only at first glance that it grows poorly. In fact, the coolness is not a hindrance to her. Her main life goes on at this time underground, i.e. the root grows deep in the soil, because at a young age carrots love moisture, and there is enough moisture there at this time. This means that carrots, if there is enough moisture in the soil, will be long.

Previously, podzimny sowing of carrots was widely practiced. However, now winters are unstable, seedlings may not appear. In addition, as experienced gardeners note, carrots from winter sowing are worse stored.

Carrot care

Carrot seedlings are light sensitive. With a lack of light, they can stretch out, or even die altogether. Therefore, there should be no weeds in the garden, and if they appear, they must be removed immediately, because carrots at first grow very slowly, and weeds always grow quickly. Weeds are best removed at a very young age, in the cotyledon stage, because later they grow roots, and when pulled out, the roots of the carrot seedlings can be disturbed.

In the future, it is very important to thin out the seedlings in a timely manner, to make them uniform. Such an operation is carried out in the phase of the first - second true leaf, removing the weakest and poorly developed plants. Leave 1.5-2 cm between the plants - at this density, the plants grow quite briskly, competing with each other and at the same time not interfering with each other. Secondary thinning is done when the plants become cramped again, this is about 15–20 days after the first. Leave 3-6 cm between plants (the richer the soil, the greater the distance). Delay in thinning strongly inhibits carrots. Lost then can not be returned. After thinning, the crops should be watered and slightly hilled. You can limit yourself to one thinning, if the crops were not too thickened.

Carrot plants pulled out of the soil should not be planted in the garden, because most often ugly branched root crops grow from them. You need to bury them in the ground, but in no case leave them lying in the sun. In general, it is better to thin out carrots in the evening or early in the morning, so that the wind does not carry tasty carrot smells throughout the district, which will immediately flock to carrot pests. After the second thinning, some of the roots may be suitable for soup or frying in a skillet.

Early crops have one drawback: the growth of carrot tops occurs during the breeding season of the carrot beetle, which happily feasts on carrot leaves, rolling them into curly lumps. At the same time, root crops grow no larger than a rat's tail. It is difficult to protect yourself from it, it is undesirable to use chemistry, kerosene or naphthalene - too. Better to cover the crops with something like lutrasil, leaving no gaps on the sides.

The most effective way to get away from this beanie is to sow carrots at the end of their years. Usually sown on June 10th. By the time the carrots sprout - and this will happen in 15–20 days, and even later in dry cold weather - this insect will practically be gone. If the crops are covered with foil, then the carrots will sprout in 8-10 days.

Next, you will need the usual thinning, weeding, loosening, watering in cases of drying out of the soil, top dressing. By October, large, healthy roots grow.

All early and mid-early varieties of carrots are suitable for June crops.

When growing carrots, keep in mind the following:

  • Water infrequently, but abundantly. This should be done in small portions so that the water does not spread out where it is not necessary, and until the entire root layer gets wet.
  • After watering, it is imperative to loosen the soil surface, and once a decade you need to do deep loosening - by 8-10 cm.
  • Make two fertilizing with mineral fertilizers: one - two to three weeks after germination, the second - three to four weeks after the first.
  • Carrots, unlike other vegetables, tolerate only very weak solutions of mineral fertilizers - 0.015%, i.e. 1.5 g of complete fertilizer per 10 liters of water - less than 1/4 teaspoon!
  • Urea makes roots very bright in color, however, the enthusiasm for nitrogen fertilizers reduces keeping quality. It is better to use complex fertilizers.
  • The color of carrots depends on calcium, so you can "tint" the carrots with calcium nitrate, but it is better to add old crushed plaster to the soil for digging.
  • The density and taste of carrots depend on potassium, so it is recommended to feed them with ash. Considering that carrots consume a relatively large amount of chlorine, it is convenient to feed them with potassium chloride or potassium salt. This is done during the formation of root crops, the roots are much larger.
  • Additionally, you can feed carrots in the stage of two or three true leaves and bunch maturity with organic fertilizers: a weak mullein, herbal infusions.

I wish you all good luck!

Lyubov Bobrovskaya, Photo by the author

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