How to grow good carrots: all stages of growing
Carrot is not a very demanding crop, but you still need to adhere to the basic rules of growing it. It is considered the most drought-resistant crop and tolerates fairly high frosts. The quality and quantity of the harvest obtained primarily depends on the condition of the soil.
Content:
Soil preparation
It is advisable to plant carrots in well-lit soil. If the crop does not have enough light, it will lose weight and sugar content. The soil for planting should be light and level. It should also be well-drained, sandy loam and light loam.
If the loam content is dense, then the ripe fruits will turn out small and during storage they will quickly become affected by rot. Under no circumstances should carrots be planted in acidic soils. It is best to choose a neutral or slightly acidic environment. The bed for planting must be prepared in the fall so that it is well established.
To give it looseness, components such as sawdust, peat, sand and humus are added to it. To carry out liming, you can use lime, chalk, ash and dolomite. At growing carrots, manure may not be used, otherwise the root crops will be poorly stored. If the soil for planting is too poor, then humus is added in proportions - one bucket per square meter.
To improve the soil structure, you can use special plants when arranging the arable layer, which help create a good soil structure (green manure roots). These roots are sown on the prepared bed in the fall, and in the spring carrots are planted in this place. Good predecessors for carrots are garlic, cabbage, onions, and potatoes.
Preparing seeds for sowing
The germination rate of carrot seeds is quite low (60-75%). To increase the percentage of yield, it is necessary to sow only fresh seeds. The first shoots of carrots can be observed within 20 days after sowing.
The long germination time of seeds is due to the presence of essential oils in them, which slow down the germination process.
Rapid seed growth is achieved by flushing away these oils. Therefore, seeds must be pre-treated. There are several ways to prepare seeds.
Soak. Seeds in a fabric bag should be placed in warm water for twenty-four hours. The water should be changed after every four hours. You can also soak carrot seeds in a solution of wood ash. After taking it out seeds from the solution, they must be washed under running water. To get a good harvest, soaking can be combined with hardening, which involves keeping the bags of seeds in the refrigerator for about four days.
Thermal impact. Fabric bags with carrot seeds should be immersed in hot water for twenty minutes, at a temperature of about fifty degrees. Placing seeds in the soil. Dry carrot seeds must be placed in fabric bags and buried in the ground for 10-11 days. The digging depth should be at least one spade bayonet.Seeds that have undergone this treatment germinate already on the fifth day after planting.
Video about how to grow a good crop of carrots. Practical recommendations:
Bubbling. It consists of soaking the seeds in water previously saturated with oxygen. The container in which bubbling will be carried out must be made of non-oxidizing materials. A hose is connected to it through which air will flow. At the end of the hose there should be a filter made of an emery wheel. A special mesh should be attached above the filter to collect seeds.
The container itself should have a hole for draining water and other solutions. When bubbling, the entire layer of water is completely saturated with air. To prepare seeds using this method at home, you can use a regular compressor for a home aquarium. The proportional ratio of water and seeds should be 5:1. The duration of bubbling depends on varieties seeds
Features of sowing carrots
Most often, carrots are sown in early April. But experienced gardeners recommend planting carrots in stages, which begins in March. Initially, early varieties are used, which are sown with the onset of March. Then, in April, medium-term varieties are planted, and already in June, carrots are sown, which are intended for long-term winter storage.
The beds for such planting should be prepared in the fall. Beds with early carrots should be covered on the sides with dry grass or reeds. The harvest can be obtained at the beginning of summer. Beds intended for medium-term carrots also need to be prepared in the fall. First of all, they should be fertilized with ammonium nitrate in a ratio of 60 g per square meter.
When planting, you need to make longitudinal furrows along the length of the entire bed. Thus, the soil will not crumble near the root crops growing along the edges. In addition, the longitudinal planting method significantly saves space on the garden plot. Seeds need to be planted densely to increase the percentage of germination in one bed.
Depth sowing carrot seeds should not exceed two centimeters. After planting, mulching must be carried out immediately. When the seedlings reach a height of 1 cm, the beds with carrots must be thinned out. Next, the seedlings need to be cared for, which includes watering, thinning, weeding and fertilizing. When thinning for the first time, the approximate distance between seedlings should be one centimeter.
After the second thinning, the distance between the root crops should be two to three centimeters. The tops of root vegetables should always be covered with soil, otherwise they will turn green from exposure to sun and water. It is advisable to water carrots using a sprayer or using special nozzles.
