How to plant carrots: proven methods. How to plant carrots in the ground? Precursors, useful and unwanted

Since ancient times, mankind has been engaged in agriculture. Today, all kinds of vegetables and fruits can be easily bought in the store. But no store-bought product compares to home-grown. personal plot. It is much more pleasant to realize that the fruits are grown with my own hands So much time and effort has been invested in them. And if it also brings benefits, then it is doubly pleasant. One of these vegetable crops growing in the country is carrots.

Carrots - a common crop for growing in the country

No summer season is complete without planting carrots. Carrots are grown in open ground. Experienced gardeners sure that the root crop will please the eye as a result proper fit 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 store.

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

Selection of seed material

Modern counters of any stores, including country ones, are full of a variety of goods, in which it is not surprising to get confused. Therefore, before you go shopping for seeds, decide what you will plant the root crop for:

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

In the first case, the vegetable must be used immediately, since it is not stored for a long time at home. For such an application, the Vitamin-6 variety is perfect. 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 winter time, you should choose varieties such as:

• Queen of Autumn (sweet and sour taste of carrots);
• Gold autumn;
• Moscow winter.

The queen of autumn - an attractive variety of carrots

Preparing beds for planting

Everyone has it experienced summer resident there are secrets in store, thanks to which they know how to grow a good crop 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 thing to do is decide on a location. Remember that the vegetable loves well-lit areas. Before planting, remember what you grew in this garden bed last year. This is an important factor affecting the yield. Well, if you used to grow here: cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic or cabbage. After dill, parsley, parsnip, you should not plant carrots - the root crop will not be born.

The soil before sowing is cleared of various kinds weeds. Professionals believe that it will not be superfluous to re-dig the beds in the spring, this provides 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 earth. The soil is ready for sowing.

Carrots do not tolerate weeds

Cooking seeds

Carrot seeds, like any other, need preparation before sowing in open ground. Thanks to this approach, seed germination will be much better. Everyone seasoned gardener has its own way in the bins, which is easy to use at home. Consider the most interesting:

• Use for the treatment of growth stimulants. 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 in the soil. A bag of fabric is taken, grains are placed there and all this 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 seeds for a day. A rag, cotton wool or toilet paper and well moistened, it is necessary to keep them in this state only for a day, after which you can start planting.
• Thermal treatment with boiling water. Boil water, put the seeds in a rag bag and dip in boiling water for 20 minutes. With help cold water cool the contents of the tissue bag.

Carrot seeds can be treated with purchased growth stimulants

Planting carrots in the ground

It would seem that the technology of growing carrots in the country is extremely simple, there is no secret here. But is it really so? There are a lot of schemes used for sowing vegetables. Everyone chooses the one that is more convenient. Among the methods of sowing, the following should be distinguished:

• in bulk;
• rows;
• grooves.

Now more about how to grow carrot seeds.

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

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

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

This method of planting a vegetable can leave you completely without a crop, as 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, observing a distance that varies from 7 to 10 cm. But there is also a minus here. The grains are washed out when it's raining and in the place where they were planted, they may not be found.

Sowing in rows is the most popular way for vegetable growers.

Furrow sowing is a more economical process. If the suburban area has small size then the method is just for you. First of all, plan a garden bed at your dacha. It should be narrow, but rather high. Furrows are made on the surface of the soil, stepping back from the edges by 15 cm, fertilizer for carrots is selected and placed and watered. In them, the seeds of a vegetable crop are sown.

The first weeding is done after the appearance of sprouts, that is, approximately in the month of June, about two weeks after the root crop was planted. The next weed control is carried out in 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 culture does not tolerate transplanting well. This leads to damage to the tails, as a result, it grows ugly. Actually it is not. 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 give a high yield

Vegetable care

Often summer residents ask themselves: how to grow good carrot? She, like other plants, requires attention and timely care, which includes: weeding and top dressing, watering and loosening. She needs moderate watering, but it should be regular throughout the growth. Humidification occurs on an increasing scale. By July, the watering rate gradually increases. Per square meter of soil with a root crop will go within 20 liters. The closer autumn is, the more the irrigation rate will decline. The region must be taken into account weather, in accordance with which the corresponding adjustments are taken down.

Second important point when growing a vegetable, carrots are fed. It must be done regularly. What to feed carrots? Each summer resident uses his own fertilizer for carrots. It can be organic or one of the types of mineral fertilizer, or both can be used together. Fertilizers for carrots are very different. It won't hurt 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 for 10 liters of water.

Potassium sulfate activates the growth of carrots

Subsequent top dressing occurs two weeks after the first. Fertilizer for carrots is done as follows: in 10 liters of water, it is necessary to dilute potassium sulfate and azophoska (1 tbsp each).

You should not dwell on any one type of fertilizer, caring for carrots requires complex measures, therefore, 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 composition of the distance between the rows.

Watering with salt also has a beneficial effect on seedlings, it is necessary to dilute 1 tbsp. in 10 liters of water and water the plants.

Yeast feed recipe

Often one hears such a saying that it grows by leaps and bounds. Everything is correct and as 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. The resulting concentrate is diluted again with water (1:10) before watering.

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

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

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

Pests and diseases of the root crop

Carrot care includes not only top dressing with chemicals and yeast, but also the fight against various pests. The main pests for the crop are aphids and carrot flies. They appear when the soil is excessively moist or when there is no proper care. To combat it, seedlings are sprayed every two weeks with Bitoxibacillin or Lepidocide. Chemicals effectively fight insects.

In high humidity, fungus can 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 crops in your backyard, you will have to work hard, that is, not only plant, but also choose the right fertilizer for carrots.

Carrots are common garden culture, which, together with table beets, potatoes and cabbage, is part of the traditional "borscht set". The technology of growing this beloved vegetable is in many ways similar to the agricultural technology of most other root crops. Carrots, like all other plants, need regular watering, loosening and top dressing for proper development. Some features of its cultivation lie in the specifics of soil preparation and peculiar methods of preplant seed treatment.

Choosing a place for carrot beds

The beds for carrots should be planted in well-lit, preferably southern or western parts of the garden, since only in sunny plots do carrots form large, smooth, juice-filled roots, while in shaded places they grow woody, thin and little sweet.

Excellent neighborhood for carrot beds - onions, potatoes, cucumbers

Carrots should not be planted in places where their closest relatives used to grow - parsley, fennel, dill and other plants from the large umbrella family. The ideal predecessor for carrots is potatoes, and best neighbors in the garden - garlic, beets, beans and onions.

It is unacceptable to sow carrots in the same area for several seasons in a row - it is supposed to be replaced by legumes, tomatoes or cabbage, while carrot beds can be returned to their original place only in the third year of crop rotation.

Soil preparation

The best type of soil for growing carrots is sandy loam or light, well-drained loam, in addition, it gives good yields on peat lands, as well as on drained and plowed marshy meadows.

The land in the area intended for sowing carrots should be fertile, loose, well aerated, cleared of weeds and having an acidity close to neutral.

Sandy loam or light, well-drained loam is suitable as soil for growing carrots.

In places where it stagnates rainwater You can't plant carrots.

Attention! For the cultivation of long-fruited varieties of carrots, only those areas are suitable where the top loose soil layer extends to a considerable depth.

The beds for sowing carrots begin to prepare from early autumn. The earth in the selected area is dug up to a depth of 25-30 cm. Peat, rotted leaves or soaked in a 0.2% solution are added to the heavy clay soil for loosening sawdust(3 kg/m2).

If the soil is acidic, to neutralize excessive acidity, they add to the ground during the digging process. dolomite flour or crushed chalk in combination with ash (1 glass of mineral additive and 2 tablespoons of ash per 1 sq. M of soil).

Beds for carrots begin to prepare in the fall

To increase fertility, the land is fertilized with well-rotted or mineral nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers, such as azophoska or ammophos. Manure is applied to the soil in the amount of 0.5 - 0.7 buckets per square meter. m, and fertilizers - in accordance with the instructions for them.

Attention! oversupply nitrogen fertilizers negatively affects the taste and shape of root crops. If the earth is supersaturated with nitrogen, carrots grow on it bitter, clumsy, with a rough skin and a forked tip.

Seed selection

There are three varieties of carrot seeds on sale:

1. Ordinary, packaged by weight in paper or foil bags;
2. Dragee coated with a nutritious gel shell;
3. Pasted on water-soluble paper tape.

Seeds of the second and third types are ready for planting, and simple, unglazed seeds in weight packs need pre-sowing preparation.

Seed preparation

Because of high content essential oils, carrot seeds do not germinate as readily as the seeds of most other root crops. To increase their germination, carrot seeds are treated before planting in one of three ways:

• sorted seeds are soaked for a day in a warm solution (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water), which is changed every 3-4 hours, then they are washed clean water and put in the refrigerator for 2-3 days for stratification;
• the seeds are placed in a canvas knot and immersed in water heated to 50 * C for 1/2 hour, after which they are cooled in a container with cold water for 3-5 minutes;
• put the seeds in a bag sewn from several layers of gauze, and drop it in the garden for 10 days.

All these procedures aimed at removing excess essential oil, stimulate the vitality of carrot seeds and promote their accelerated germination.
In addition, the seeds can additionally be disinfected by short-term (for 25-30 minutes) soaking them in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate.

Landing dates

The timing of sowing carrot seeds in open ground depends on individual features specific variety and purpose of growing root crops:

• to obtain an ultra-early harvest, carrots are sown on the beds late autumn. The seeds that have overwintered in the ground begin to grow with the first warmth, which makes it possible to obtain the first marketable root crops 2-3 weeks earlier than usual;
• carrots for summer consumption are planted in the spring, as soon as the snow completely melts, and upper layer the soil warms up to 5-8 * C;
• carrots intended for laying for winter storage are sown on ridges in the last decade of April or in May.

Landing methods

As a rule, carrots are planted on narrow (about 1 m) beds in separate rows spaced at 20 cm intervals. The distance between seeds in one row is kept within 8-10 cm, while the seeds themselves are buried 1.5-2 cm into the ground Sowing is carried out in one of the following ways:

1. Traditional sowing is the simplest and at the same time the most inefficient and economically unprofitable method of planting, the main disadvantages of which are: excessive seed consumption, uneven seedlings and the need for their thinning. The essence of the method is to evenly fall asleep, collected in a handful of seeds, into the grooves marked on the beds.
2. Spot, single sowing of pelleted seeds is the most efficient and economical method that guarantees uniform, friendly seedlings that do not require subsequent thinning.
3. Sowing pre-soaked, pecked seeds provides early harvest, but requires regular watering of the beds, preventing the tiny carrot sprouts from drying out.
4. Sowing seeds glued on paper tapes- a very convenient, not laborious method that allows you to get even and uniform rows of seedlings that will sprout a little later than with other planting methods.
5. Sowing carrot seeds mixed with seeds - with this method, having a shorter growing season, the radish thins the carrot seedlings and, as it matures, frees up space in the garden for the further development of carrots.

Watering, loosening, weeding

Throughout the season, carrot beds are regularly loosened, weeded and watered. Weeding and loosening is carried out on wet soil (it is advisable to do this field for each irrigation or rain) and combine them with hilling carrots. This procedure prevents the formation of root crops with a little attractive and not tasty green top.

To prevent the appearance of green tops, carrots must be spud

Carrots are watered in the evening with settled and sun-warmed water. Water is poured in small portions from a watering can or through a shower head. Watering is carried out as the soil dries up, trying to prevent its hardening. Irregular watering adversely affects the quality of root crops - they crack on the outside and become stiff from the inside. 3 weeks before the planned start of harvesting root crops, watering is completely stopped.

thinning

If carrot seeds were sown traditional way, i.e. in bulk, after the appearance of the first two true leaves, the shoots are thinned out - all the weakest shoots are pulled out, leaving only well-developed ones after 2-3 cm.

When thinning carrots between the bushes leave 7-9 cm

Repeated thinning is carried out 17-20 days after the first, this time leaving a distance of 7-9 cm between shoots.

Attention! The smell of crushed tops attracts the main pest of carrots - the carrot fly. In order to scare off harmful insects, after thinning, the beds are dusted with ash or ground pepper, and the seedlings removed from the ground are taken away from the garden and disposed of.

top dressing

During the season, carrots are fed 1-2 times with fertilizers or a 1% solution. chicken manure. The first time fertilizers are applied 3 weeks after the seedlings hatch, and then after another two weeks, top dressing is repeated.

Pest control

To combat the main pests of carrots - aphids and carrot flies, Bitoxibacillin and Lepidocid are used, which are sprayed on carrot crops every 10-14 days. To prevent the occurrence of fungal diseases such as Alternaria, carrot seedlings are treated with Trichodermin or " Phytocide".

With all of the above tips, you can create favorable conditions for the growth and development of seedlings, carrots, which in turn will contribute to the formation of tasty and large root crops, and, consequently, an increase in the yield of carrot beds.

Planting carrots in open ground - video

Growing carrots - photo

Each gardener has his own secret of growing carrots. To get a good harvest of orange root crops, certain rules must be followed. High-quality planting material, timely and correctly prepared ridge, competent sowing of seeds in the right time give good result when planting carrots in spring in open ground in the country and in Belarus, Ukraine, Siberia and the Moscow region.

Today it is possible to grow carrots different varieties, which can be harvested in the garden if properly cared for and fertilized. Which method of planting and growing can be chosen for fruitful garden we will tell further.

Second term - end of May, beginning of June. Planting at the beginning of summer late varieties. Carrots with a growing season of 120-130 days by the end of September will fill with juice, ripen and be ready for laying in the cellar.

Late varieties planted during these periods are well stored in winter.

If late varieties are planted at the end of May, they are well stored in spring.

What soil to choose for a good yield

Soil preparation so that carrots can quickly sprout and germinate is no less important than correct timing landing. A good harvest is achieved by gardeners who know the structure and acidity of the soil on their own. suburban area. High yields obtained by sowing seeds in the soil well dug up and without stones, respectively, it is necessary to process it well.

To improve the structure make:

1. Peat for loosening in clay soil.
2. Organics are applied in spring to sandy loamy soil, and in autumn to heavy loam.
3. Once every 5 years acidic soil deoxidize, this can be done by adding at least 30 g / m2 of lime.
4. In the spring, they bring on a carrot ridge before digging mineral fertilizers.

Number norm mineral fertilizers per 1 m²: superphosphate - 20 g, potassium sulfate - 20 g.

Table optimal acidity for different kind soil, where you need to clearly follow the scheme.

in the soil for summer season harmful microorganisms, eggs and insect larvae accumulate. It is impossible to sow a vegetable in one place every year. 100% crop will suffer from onion fly.

Way out - crop rotation. good predecessors consider:

• beet
• salad;
• tomatoes;
• potato.

How and when to plant carrot seeds outdoors

Preparation for sowing begins in advance. You can check the germination before planting if you decide to use regular seeds instead of pelleted seeds. The procedure is not difficult. A few seeds (20 pcs.) Planted in a flower pot.

If free time allows at the end of winter prepare landing strips, toilet paper and a paste made from potato starch and flour are used.

Strips to cut no wider than 1 cm. Their length should be equal to the width of the future ridge. Seeds stick with an interval of 3 cm. It is convenient to do this with a wooden toothpick or skewer.

Count required amount tapes according to the formula: divide the length of the ridge by 30 and add 1. Here 30 is the distance between the rows.

A ridge 1 m wide should be prepared after the soil has matured. Signs of an arable layer ready for planting - clods of earth crumbling from a light blow. Mark the furrows across the ridge with a bar with an interval of 30 cm. Spill them with water and let stand. When the ground settles, start sowing.

It is better to sprinkle seeds not with earth, but with humus or a mixture of peat and sand. Friendly seedlings are obtained if the seeding depth is observed 1-1.5cm. Spring winds are not uncommon. You can avoid blowing seeds with the help of a film shelter. You can remove it after the appearance of the first panicles.

Advice for gardeners with small plot. When sowing use radish as a compacting plant. It has 3 times less growing season and when the panicles are 5-7 cm, radishes can be harvested for food. With combined plantings, carrots are friends with radishes, garlic and lettuce.

Another recommendation that will facilitate the sowing of small carrot seeds. Those who sow carrots with dry seeds can use it. Crush the chalk, mix with the seeds. The seeds will turn white, they will be clearly visible against the background of black earth, then they can be planted according to the technology.

When it rises

Light green panicles emerge into the light two weeks later or later. If there is a desire to speed up germination, then you can take the advice of an experienced gardener.

You will need a small amount of vodka. Seeds should be soaked in it for no more than 15 minutes. The seeds are then washed running water and dry. Sow less often.

Most gardeners prefer to soak the seeds in water. cold temperature for a day, dry them and sow.

As soon as shoots appear, the usual care of the ridge begins:

• weeding;
• watering;
• thinning;
• hilling;
• cleaning.

Need weeding throughout the summer. Weeds have no break, they grow on the ridges from spring to autumn, they need to be thinned out.

Watering is a simple task, but it must be done according to the rules. The plant does not like surface watering, it is better to water less often, but more abundantly. Moderately moist soil at the depth of root growth is what the root crop needs.

Causes of cracking carrots: excessive watering, a sharp change in the level of soil moisture.

Hilling is carried out at the end of summer, raking root crops sticking out of the ground. If this is not done, top part carrots turn green, their taste deteriorates.

Many gardeners like to loosen the ground between carrot rows. This gets rid of the crust that appears after the next watering. The best way keep moisture in the ground and prevent the formation of a crust - mulch.

Use humus as mulch. You need a layer no thicker than 3 cm. A thicker layer provokes carrots to grow "horns".

Harvesting root crops for storage is a responsible matter. It also has its own rules. So short root crops are pulled out of the ground by the tops. long carrot dig in with a pitchfork. The tops are cut off, stepping back from the root by 1 cm.

How to thin out for good yields

Inexperienced gardeners do not know that carrots need to be thinned out. The result of this illiteracy is small carrots. Thinning is uprooting densely growing carrot sprouts.

Start thinning when the tops are pulled up up to 5 cm. Remove frail sprouts. A gap of 3-5 cm is left if varieties with short root crops grow on the ridge. For long root crops of large diameter, a 10 cm interval must be maintained.

The second time, excess sprouts are removed when they reach the tops 10 cm. It is better to work in the evening, watering the ridge beforehand. Leave gaps between sprouts of 6 cm. Thinning is carried out until mid-June.

In autumn, the carrot crop will delight the eye with orange splendor and is easy to grow if planting is done correctly. simple rules and during the summer, the carrot ridge will have the necessary care.

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 with desired area 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. Such convenient ways in agricultural technology, there are many:

• with a mixture of flour and water, to a strip from a paper towel or napkin, the 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 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 weeds 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 gardeners are not counted later useful culture, because along with the grass, young tops of a vegetable that has not been grown are also in the common heap.

How to get the 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 greenery.

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 big questions does not cause, about the first there is a lot of controversy.

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 make this painstaking work at least three times during the development of a vegetable, you can protect the future harvest from three misfortunes at once:

• from the defeat of the open part of the root by a carrot fly, which loves to lay eggs at the base 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 carrot patch? 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 over grass flooring - weeds do not germinate through it, while the dried grass itself can by default have mature and ready-to-sprout seeds that will sprout when in contact with moisture. The same properties, along with sawdust, have small chips.

Mulching carrots is recommended when outer part the plant will reach 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 are 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 hatched out of the soil (until the green brush of sprouted plants appears on the garden bed, you cannot water the garden);
• frequent watering a small amount 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.