How to grow carrots outdoors. How to grow large carrots

Carrots, along with potatoes and onions, are one of the main vegetables, so all gardeners find a place for it on their plot. Correct cultivation carrots are the key to a rich harvest. Even in small areas, you can get a high-quality and productive harvest. And if you combine the implementation of the basic rules of agricultural technology with advice experienced gardeners, then you can achieve great results in growing carrots, while also saving your labor costs and precious time that can be spent on rest. In our article, we will tell you how to properly grow carrots so that they are large.

Sowing dates for carrots

Experienced gardeners know how important the correct sowing time is. The yield of root crops directly depends on this. After all, the ripening time different varieties varies considerably. In addition, it is necessary to focus on the desired harvest time.

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To get early carrots, the so-called "bundle production", practice podwinter or spring sowing of early ripening varieties. True, the first option is not possible in all climatic zones... In severe winters, seeds freeze out even under a thick layer of covering material. Therefore, it is better to give preference to early spring crops. They can be carried out immediately after warming up. upper layer soil.

Returning cold snap will negatively affect the level of "keeping quality" of root crops and can provoke the active formation of flower arrows. But for beam products, these flaws are not a hindrance. That's why early ripening varieties can be sown much earlier.

The main causes of small carrots

Carrots do not tolerate swampy lowland areas, closely located fruit and forest tree crops. It will not be smooth and graceful, and even more so when grown in the shade, under the canopy of the garden.
The culture needs a deep-loosened nutrient soil, air and permeable. The presence of fine gravel, pebbles, rhizomes and other inclusions in the soil causes bending and crushing of the carrot root crop.
The root crop needs bright lighting. The carrot beds are positioned so that each plant receives adequate lighting. Tall crops (tomatoes, eggplants) should not shade the carrot tops. Carrots are best located south of tall neighbors.
Carrots will not bear fruit in acidified soils. Therefore, a year before sowing crops on a dedicated bed, the soil is deacidified by the introduction of humus, chalk, lime, dolomite flour... The soil under the carrots should be neutral with zero acidity in the range of pH = 6-7.
Ugly, branched, burst carrot root crops and small root crops are obtained with poor soil preparation, spring pre-sowing soil deoxidation, the use of chlorine-containing fertilizers, with an excess of nitrogen fertilizers, thickened crops.
The value of carrots is determined by the amount of nutrients that are formed in the root crop as a result of metabolic processes with the timely receipt of moisture and nutrients. Therefore, the lack of moisture and nutrition at the beginning and their excess at the end of the growing season of carrots will change not only the external forms and signs, but also significantly reduce taste qualities.

Preparing the garden for planting carrots

Carrots grow slowly and, as already mentioned, are afraid of excess moisture. If the earth has the ability to accumulate water, then organize the beds-ridges - raise the soil by 25-35 centimeters. If the ground dries well, then it is enough just to make grooves with a distance of 20-25 centimeters from each other. Before planting, the land is leveled and loosened a couple of days before planting, then watered. You can cover with foil so that the earth "steamed". Seeds are soaked before planting. The prepared seeds are planted in a strip with a distance of one and a half to two centimeters from each other. Then the top is covered with a mixture of organic fertilizers or peat with sand, depending on the prepared soil.

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After that, the bed is again covered with foil. This is necessary to conserve heat and moisture, if everything is done correctly, then with this method, seedlings appear already on the sixth day after planting. As soon as the first green shoots are shown, protective film removed. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the crop rotation - the order of growing crops in a specific area.

Preparing carrot seeds for sowing

A high yield of carrots directly depends not only on the correct care of the crop in the garden, but also on the quality of the seeds used. If a gardener buys material from a trusted manufacturer, and knows for sure that friendly shoots will turn green on the beds in the spring, then there is no particular point in doing additional germination tests. It is another matter when the seeds are bought from grandmothers in the market or harvested on their own. In this case, it is worth using the entire arsenal of knowledge on how to prepare carrot seeds for planting.

To start in the spring, before planting, you need to perform several general procedures:

Mechanically check and reject poor quality seeds. This is not difficult. You just need to inspect and manually select all the small and discolored seeds from the bag. It is also necessary to throw away everything that is damaged or seems empty.
To be sure, gardeners are calibrating. All material is poured into warm water and mixed. Everything that has surfaced merges with the water. The rest can be soaked in warm water for a day, then dried and sowed.
Another calibration option is to soak the seeds in salt water. The concentration of the solution is from one to three tablespoons of salt per glass of water. The more salt in the solution, the harder the seed calibration. After the procedure, all material suitable for inoculation is washed and dried.
Many gardeners consider it not superfluous to check the collected seeds for germination before planting (this applies not only to carrots). The procedure is carried out only if there are a lot of seeds. It takes about ten days. Place a napkin at the bottom of the plate, sprinkle seeds (100 pieces) evenly, soak in water, cover with glass and put in a transparent plastic bag... If after a while 80 seeds germinated on the plate, then the germination rate is 80% and the material can be used. If less than 60 pieces hatch, then you should not waste time, germination is very low.

How to sow carrot seeds in an open gunt

Sowing methods that can facilitate this process:

Mix small seeds with sand: mix 1 tablespoon of seeds with 1 cup of sand, then divide the resulting mixture into 3 parts and use each part for 1 m2 of beds.
Mix carrot seeds with seeds of lighthouse plants (lettuce, radish). They sprout much earlier and thus show us where the carrot seedlings are. This gives us the opportunity to carry out the first weeding of a bed with carrots, without fear of damaging the plants, much earlier than usual.
Liquid sowing of carrots is also very convenient, in which sprouted seeds are mixed with a liquid paste made from potato starch. Then carefully "pour" them into the grooves from the teapot.

Then we cover the seeds with loose sifted earth or a mixture of peat and sand, or with pure peat with a slight compaction to ensure better contact of the seeds with the soil and the flow of moisture.

Watering and weeding carrots

Regular watering is essential. When the first shoots appear, watering is carried out as carefully as possible, trying not to moisten the greens. It is undesirable to allow the soil to dry out on carrot beds, especially during the period of growth in the size of root crops. With a lack of moisture in the ground, by the middle of summer, carrots can stop growing, and root crops can bend and become coarse. It is noticed that when irrigation is resumed after a drought, the roots begin to crack and in the future are no longer subject to long-term storage. After each watering, it is imperative to loosen the plantings to a depth of 6 cm and remove all weeds. Weed grass not only reduces the supply of nutrients to root crops, but also serves as an additional source of nutrition for the main pest of carrots - the carrot fly. When the tops of the plant reaches a height of 15 cm, it is advisable to mulch the planting.

Fertilizing carrots during the growing season

Root dressing contributes to an increase in yield. A solution of slurry, bird droppings, urine of farm animals, to which a tablespoon of superphosphate is added to a bucket of composition, is used during the period of active growth of the aerial part of carrots and the formation of root crops (late May-mid-July).

The first feeding is usually carried out in the phase of 4 leaves, 23-25 days after mass shoots, using nitrogen compounds eg urea solution (25 g per standard bucket of water).
The second feeding is done 3.5 weeks after the first. Carrots react well to complex mineral supplements, for example, nitroammofoska (30 ml per bucket of water).
One and a half to two months after sowing, the stage of thickening of root crops begins. During this period, it is desirable to introduce wood ash.

Harvesting carrots

The ripening time of carrots depends on the variety and, as a rule, is indicated on the seed bag. It is better not to throw away the bag or calculate the expected harvest day in advance, in the spring. Why? Carrots pulled ahead of time do not ripen, do not have time to accumulate enough sugars, which negatively affects its taste. On the other hand, overexposed carrots in the garden have an excess of sugars and amino acids, and this, in turn, makes it a tasty morsel for pests - carrot fly larvae, mice and rats. If you still don't know exactly when to harvest the carrots, be guided by the color of the tops. As soon as they start to turn yellow lower leaves- carrots are ready for harvesting. To keep the roots juicy for a long time, they should not be watered on the eve of digging.

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Immediately after harvesting, the tops of the carrots are cut off. Otherwise, it will draw off some of the moisture from the root crops during drying. After cutting the tops, the carrots are ventilated under a canopy or dried in the sun for 2-3 hours. It is recommended to keep carrots at a temperature of 10-14 ° C for 7-10 days. During this time, she, like the potatoes put for storage, undergoes a kind of "quarantine": the cut sites and minor mechanical damage are tightened, sick and spoiled root crops make themselves felt. Before harvesting carrots in storage, they are examined and sorted out again, removing all unusable roots.

Carrots as one of the most demanded root crops are cultivated everywhere. When growing it, it is important to follow the basic rules of agricultural technology and crop rotation. Only this approach will allow you to grow large and even carrots in the garden. Of course, each farmer has his own secrets of cultivating this vegetable crop, but ultimately everything is aimed at creating the maximum favorable conditions for the growth and development of fruits.

What varieties of carrots are better to plant

To grow sweet carrots in the country, you should give preference to zoned varieties with high taste. There is a huge selection in specialized retail outlets seed material different terms ripening (early, medium, late), sugar content, storage duration.

The secret to successfully growing carrots is a well-chosen variety:

Nantes-4, Shantane, Karotelka are representatives of universal variants, which have a high immunity to diseases and harmful insects... They are distinguished by their unpretentious care and resistance to negative factors. environment.
Moscow winter A-545 is suitable for cultivation in all regions of Russia.
Polar cranberries are distinguished by a very early ripening period, the ability to produce a crop in 2 months of growth, it can be planted in northern latitudes.
If the culture is planned to be included in the diet of young children, you should pay attention to Vitamin-6, Viking, Baby sweets, Sugar gourmet. They contain a lot of carotene and sugar. The latter is especially sweet. The advantage of Baby Sweets is considered to be a long shelf life, up to a new harvest.

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Shantane
Carotel
Moscow winter

Polar cranberry
Viking
Vitamin 6

Baby sweetness
Moscow winter
Nantes 4

Thanks to breeders who are constantly working on the creation of new varieties and hybrids, choose the best option will not be difficult.

Conditions for a good harvest of carrots

To get a high-quality and tasty harvest, you need to know how to properly plant carrots on personal plot... When choosing a place for planting, it is better to give preference to soils rich in humus. Carrots love sandy loam soil, loam, drained peat bogs. Most gardeners are sure that the culture grows well on such a land. On a dense clay soil and heavy chernozems, it is unlikely that it will be possible to get even fruits, since the vegetable is practically unable to overcome the resistance of the soil.

It is better to plan a garden bed in areas where cucumbers, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, garlic, and onions have grown before.

Long and large carrots can be grown at a temperature of 18-25 ° C; in hot conditions, metabolic processes inside the root crops slow down. For seeds, the optimum temperature is 3 ° C. The crop is sufficiently cold and drought tolerant, its seedlings can withstand frosts at -2 ° C, and adult plantings can withstand a drop of -4 ° C.

Soil requirements

The land for sowing must be prepared in the fall. All the tops remaining after harvesting are harvested on the site. If there are stones, rhizomes at the site of the proposed bed, it is necessary to dig up the soil onto the bayonet of the shovel. The soil must be fertilized complex formulations that do not contain chloride forms. The nutrient mixture is introduced into the soil with the simultaneous crushing of its large lumps, after which the site is leveled with a rake. The soil for carrots should be enriched with beneficial trace elements.

If there is a need to introduce deoxidizers in the form of dolomite flour and lime, they are added to the soil in the fall. Fertilizers are best used 2-3 weeks before planting seeds in the soil. To grow large root crops, it is recommended to add sand, perlite, vermiculite to the garden bed.

Sowing dates for carrots

To grow good carrots, sowing is done when the ground warms up to 3-4 ° C. Such work should be carried out only with varieties early dates ripening. The first shoots are expected to appear on the 20-30th day. But it is best to plant a crop at a soil temperature of + 8-10 ° C. Seedlings grow on the 12-15th day.

Before winter, sowing carrots is best done in late October - early November. Such terms are relevant for central Russia. It is not recommended to lay seed material in the ground at earlier dates, so that it does not germinate and die during frost.

Agrotechnical techniques to increase yields and taste

Not all novice gardeners know how to grow a good and tasty harvest of carrots. But there are basic techniques that allow you to achieve high results. First of all, while the plants are still young and weak (in June), they need to be watered several times. In July, irrigation should be temporarily stopped, which will stimulate root crops to grow deeper to seek moisture.

It is very important to add mulch every week. If there is such a covering layer, there is no need to loosen the soil and remove weeds.

When growing carrots, every gardener wants to know how to get high yield from this culture. For the correct formation of root crops, an excess of nutrients and moisture in the soil should be avoided. Better not to feed than to overfeed. It is not recommended to add fresh manure, lime to the beds, regularly apply wood ash, nitrogen compositions. Providing the plantings with comfortable growing conditions, the farmer promotes the growth of fruits in breadth, sideways. Particular attention should be paid to checking plantings for the presence of diseases and pests.

Among gardeners there is an opinion that it is necessary to cut the tops at the last stage of fruit ripening. It is important to understand here that in green leaves and stems the process of photosynthesis is still ongoing, therefore, such manipulation is not worth doing. Otherwise, the growth of carrots stops.

Sowing features

Before planting seeds in the ground, it is recommended to disinfect them, soak and germinate. Already processed material is dried and sown. This technique allows you to get seedlings after 6-10 days. If dry seeds are planted in insufficiently moistened soil, their germination can be expected only after 40 days.

The garden bed must also be prepared before sowing. To do this, the earth is loosened 10-15 cm deep, after which the surface is leveled and grooves are made 5 cm wide and 2 cm deep. It is not worth deepening the seeds too much, as this significantly slows down their germination. The grooves are made at a distance of 25-30 cm from each other.

To obtain friendly shoots, the depth in the grooves must be the same. The seeds are sown in moist soil, maintaining a gap between them of 1.5-2 cm. It is very important to know at what distance to plant the crop in order to avoid thinning carrots in the future.

Watering and hilling

When growing carrots in open ground Special attention should be given to the irrigation system. If there is not enough moisture, young plants will simply die. Overflow promotes the growth of root crops, their taste deteriorates, such a crop is more suitable for feeding livestock. Based on this, watering should be carried out according to the following scheme:

To improve the growth of young seedlings, the sprinkling method is used at the rate of 300-400 m3 / ha, further drip irrigation is used 20-30 m3 / ha. The frequency of the procedure - every 2-3 days, everything will depend on weather conditions.
When the period of fruit formation begins, the frequency of watering should be reduced, and the volume of water should be increased. Irrigation is done once every 7-10 days. The ground should be moistened to a depth of 10-15 cm.
Watering is stopped 1 month before harvest. Otherwise, excess moisture impairs the taste of root vegetables and reduces the shelf life. To facilitate the process of digging up the carrots, the garden bed should be slightly moistened.

Such a technique as hilling, protects plantings from exposure to ultraviolet radiation, reduces the likelihood of plants getting sunburn... In addition, greening of the root crop can be avoided. It is advisable to carry out the manipulation in cloudy weather either in evening hours.

Top dressing carrots

In order for the carrots to be sweet and juicy, nutrient compositions should be periodically added to the soil. The number of dressings per season is 2. The first procedure is carried out 3-4 weeks after germination, and the next one - 2 months later. It is convenient and effective to use liquid fertilizers. There are several options for such dressings, where the selected ingredient is diluted in 10 liters of water:

1 tbsp. l. nitrophosphate;
2 glasses of wood ash;
a mixture of potassium nitrate (20 g), urea (15 g) and double superphosphate (15 g).

Folk remedies

Considering that the culture grows better on neutral or slightly acidic soil, ground, crushed chalk is used when planting if the soil is too acidic. Ash, dolomite, lime are also suitable for these purposes. For soil enrichment it is recommended to use organic fertilizer at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 sq. m.

To grow large root crops, you can use not only ready-made store dressings, but also folk remedies... The fertilizer of three components gained popularity: nettle, yeast and wood ash. First, the container is filled by ¾ of the volume with phyto-raw materials, then yeast and ash are added. After standing in the sun, the mixture is used in a proportion of 1 liter of fertilizer per 10 liters of water. On average, one bucket of nutrient mixture is consumed per bed.

Growing carrots at home. Soil and crop rotation

This plant has a two-year cycle. In the first year, root crops are harvested, if left for the second - it gives seeds. Carrots are cold-resistant, easily tolerate low temperatures above zero, after frost they continue to develop.

Growing carrots at home requires structured, lightweight, neutral soil with low acidity. Sandy loam, light loamy soils are optimal for it. Carrots need light, the plant withers with the least shade. Growing carrots and caring for them is carried out after the preparation of the appropriate conditions in the garden. Care consists of several points: soil fertilization, planting, weeding, thinning, watering.

Growing carrots will be effective if the soil is prepared in the fall. Large blocks of earth are left, they are leveled in spring - this way moisture is better preserved, carrot fly larvae freeze out. It is necessary to distinguish some of the nuances of how to grow carrots on different soils... The infertile are fertilized with compost, humus - two buckets per 1 sq. m. If the site has high acidity, it is reduced by adding chalk, a small amount of sawdust, lime. Clayy heavy earth is mixed with river sand, peat. It is advisable to do all these procedures before digging in the fall.

In the fall, it is recommended, after harvesting, to cover the area with mulch (with a layer of humus, peat, mowed grass or sawdust), and sow it with green manure. These are plants that are planted in front of the main crop so that they nourish the soil with useful substances and structure it. Carrots are grown from seeds that are juicy and regular in shape in such a soil.

Agricultural technology for growing carrots includes accounting for crops that grew before it. It will be good if, before the carrots, the beds were planted with cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, and legumes. On one site, it is recommended to plant it for no more than three years.

It is necessary to take into account some of the nuances of how to grow a good harvest of carrots in the spring. At this time of the year, the land is fertilized:

ammonium sulfate (15–20 grams per 1 sq. m);

precipitate (30-40 grams);

potassium sulfate (25-35 grams).

The plant is suitable for soil with moderate moisture, but not dry either: excess moisture is the cause of decay of root crops, and they do not develop in drought.

Growing carrots from seeds

Before disembarking, you should carefully sort and prepare. Carrots are grown from seed in several stages.

Seed preparation

Carrot seeds are characterized by a low germination rate - only 55–75%. They lose it when long-term storage... Growing carrots at home will be more effective if you plant fresh seeds. After storage for 2–4 years, their germination is checked: the seeds are placed on a moistened napkin, covered with a film and placed in a place with a temperature of about +23 ° C. Then they calculate how much will germinate.

Pre-treatment methods

Growing carrots requires preparing not only the soil, but also the seeds. 20 days after planting, slender, friendly and vigorous sprouts should germinate, for this they process and clean the seed shell from essential oils.

soak. The seeds, wrapped in gauze or cloth, are immersed in water at a temperature of about + 30 ° C for 24 hours. It is advisable to change it several times to a clean one. It is good to use an ash solution instead (a large spoon per liter of water);

soaking and hardening. The seeds are wrapped in a cloth, moistened and placed in the refrigerator. They stay there for 2–6 days. At the same time, make sure that the bag is constantly wet;

treatment hot water... The water is heated to +50 ° C, the seeds are dipped in it, kept there for 20 minutes, after that they are kept in cold water for 2 minutes;

bubbling. A gauze bag with seeds is placed in a container with water, above the tube of the aquarium blower to saturate the water with air. Turn on the device - the process continues for 18 hours;

dropping. The seeds are wrapped in a damp cloth or gauze and buried in moist soil for 10-12 days. The ground should be cold, the depth is about 30 cm;

germination. The seeds are mixed into peat and left for 6–8 days. After germination, they are sown. Carrot seedlings are created by growing it in peat, and later on in the beds;

After each of the procedures, the seeds are washed clean, running water, are dried for 20-25 minutes - dry they are comfortable to hold in your hands - and immediately planted. Prepared seeds sprout in 4-5 days.

Landing

There are three periods for planting carrots:

first planting - early spring, late April, early May. Planting is done very early, immediately after thawing of the ground. Frozen spring soil and temperatures up to - 4 ° C are not terrible for the plant;

the second is summer, early June. Summer planting can last until October - early November. Soil temperature should be +5 ° C and above;

third - late autumn, October, November, early December. They are planted when the soil temperature drops to +5 ° C. How to grow carrots secrets: seeds are placed even in frozen soil, if the climate is not very harsh, while the planting is covered with a layer of snow 40-50 cm.

The seeds are small, so you can mix a small spoonful of them with sand. A glass of sand is enough for 10 sq. m. you can also stick them on a strip of toilet paper. There are dragees on sale - seeds wrapped in a shell of useful microelements. The original way with paste - the seeds are mixed with it and squeezed onto the garden bed with a culinary syringe.

Planting process in stages:

Before growing carrots in the spring, 7-14 days before planting, earth clods are broken on the site, the surface is leveled. The earth is spilled with warm water (+ 30 ... + 40 ° C) and covered with polyethylene. This will moisturize the bed and warm it up;

It is necessary to distinguish between planted in different pores. Growing carrots and caring for them has its own characteristics. In the spring, in the summer, swollen wet seeds are planted. Planting depth 3-4 cm. At the end of autumn, before winter, dried seeds are sown to a depth of 1-2 cm. The step between them is 1 cm. Sown in rows with a distance of 15 cm - for early and middle varieties, 20 cm - for late varieties ... Carrots develop better on narrow beds(4-5 bands);

The grooves are watered, powdered with ash. After planting, it is recommended to sprinkle the bed with mulch (in winter with a layer of 3-4 cm). In spring or winter, the beds are covered with polyethylene at a height of 5–7 cm above the ground, it can be laid on bricks.

Agricultural technology for growing carrots. Conditions

Growing carrots requires a systematic check and the creation of the necessary properties of the environment and soil.

Garden bed

Growing carrots on high beds and in rows - the most better ways get a bountiful harvest.

A high bed is a frame, a kind of formwork into which the soil is poured, thus, it is raised above the surface. Formwork is also made of boards, slate, branches, boxes. Growing carrots as a business is often done this way.

The rows are made in the form of a trough - they look like tubercles, and seeds are planted in them. The recommended bed width is no more than 1 m; it is advisable to place the rows at a distance of 20 cm from each other.

Watering and temperature

Before you grow good carrots, you need to create moderately humid environment... Best temperature regime 20-22 degrees (seeds germinate already at +3). Water enough once a week. After planting, you don't need a lot of water - about 3 liters per 1 sq. m. Later, when the root crop begins to develop, the rate increases by 20 liters. A month and a half before harvesting, they are watered less often: once every 14 days. The intensity of the procedure is halved - 10 liters per 1 sq. m, a month before harvesting, they stop watering.

Growing carrots in the Moscow region or any other place is possible if there is a well-clarified area with light, fertile, moderately moist soil.

Weeds, thinning

Proper maintenance of the garden beds is one of the important steps. How to grow carrots secrets: the first weeding is done 10-12 days after the sprouts have come out and the leaves have formed. The second weeding - 8-10 days after the first, and then - as needed.

It is best to weed after watering, in the morning, at the same time the beds are thinned out. During the first thinning weeding, you need to leave 2-3 cm between the shoots, during the second - 4-5 cm, after the procedure, the plant is watered again.

Top dressing

Top dressing takes an important place in the list of procedures, methods and tips on how to grow good carrots. After the germination of the first shoots, that is, after a month they are fed: mullein, bird droppings are diluted in 10 liters of water, ash is mixed into the solution. After the start of development, root crops are fed a second time. If the soil is well fertilized, then this procedure is not required.

Pests

You need to take care of the removal of all pests and treatment of diseases. A few secrets of how to grow healthy carrots: a carrot fly will fly around the garden on the tenth road, if you sprinkle the soil with red pepper or alternate carrot and beds with onions, and it must be planted earlier. It is also good to alternate with carrot beds, sage, calendula - this will protect against pests.

Conditions affecting the quality of the crop

Growing carrots has its own characteristics. How to grow large carrots? It is necessary to provide the plant with enough light. Its lack is the cause of small fruits. Insufficient thinning - skinny carrots with large tops.

Before growing large carrots, it must be borne in mind that size does not always mean good taste... Too sparse crops and abundant moisture - the roots are large, cracking, they are rough and tasteless. Insufficient watering - the fruits are rough and dry.

Soils with a dense, stony, clay structure give a bad taste, irregular shape... Sour - the carrots will be savory. It is not recommended to plant it after celery, horseradish, beets, caraway seeds, dill.

The agricultural technology for growing carrots takes into account the moderate moisture balance in the soil. But that sunlight will not harm the plant in any way - the more, the better.

Growing carrots in the Moscow region on a personal plot can be carried out for your needs, as well as on an industrial scale - the plant is unpretentious, gives a good harvest. You just need to take into account the above tips on how to properly grow carrots.

Carrots do not require special care, but the growing rules must be followed. It is a drought-resistant crop, tolerates frosts and prolonged cold snaps well. How to grow carrots? The secrets, like other vegetables, lie in the correct agricultural technology.

She demands more care compared to other cultures. Let's take a closer look at how to grow carrots in the country or garden plot do it yourself.

Soil preparation

It is required to choose a bright place before growing carrots. The secrets are that with a lack of sunlight due to a falling shadow or an uneven surface of the bed, root crops lose sugar content and in mass.

Before you can grow a good crop of carrots, you need to choose a light and level soil. It should be sandy loam, light loamy, with good drainage... In dense loam, the fruits grow small; during storage, they are quickly affected by rot. Carrots must not be planted on acidic soils... It requires a neutral or slightly acidic environment.

Before growing good carrots, you must

The garden bed is prepared in the fall so that it settles. It is made loose. To do this, add sawdust, humus, peat or sand. For liming, chalk, lime, dolomite, ash are used. You should not use manure for growing carrots, since you get not very beautiful and poorly stored root crops. Humus should be introduced into poor soil - in a bucket per square meter... If the groundwater is close, the bed is made high.

The arable layer is well formed with the help of green manure roots - plants that create a good soil structure. They are sown in the garden in the fall, in order to plant carrots in this place in the spring. Also, worms and microorganisms create a good soil structure.

Carrot beds should be constantly changed. The predecessors should be garlic, onions, cabbage, potatoes. How to grow large carrots if you have to grow the same crop in one place? This will help the introduction of wood ash twice a year in the amount of 0.2 kg / m 2, followed by digging.

In the spring, a week before planting, the bed is leveled, loosened, treated with a 0.3% solution of vitriol, watered with warm water, and then covered with a polyethylene film. During this time, it will retain moisture and warm up well in the sun.

How to prepare seeds for sowing

The germination rate of carrot seeds is low - 55-75%. In this regard, the seeds should be taken fresh. In addition, carrots do not germinate evenly. The first shoots should appear in 2-3 weeks. Seeds germinate for a long time due to the presence of essential oils on their surface, which slow down the penetration of moisture.

Before growing, you need to prepare for sowing. Let's consider several ways to pre-germinate them.

Soak

The seeds are poured into cloth bags and kept in warm water for 24 hours. The water must be changed every four hours. A nutrient solution can be made from it by adding wood ash (30 g / l). After that, the seeds must be rinsed.

The method will be more effective if you additionally harden. Seeds in wet bags are placed in the refrigerator for 2-5 days.

Soak with nutrient solution

Use a weak solution of potassium permanganate with the addition of ½ teaspoon of fertilizer per liter of water or a mixture of nitrophoska and boric acid(1/3 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon per liter of water, respectively). The seeds are scattered on a gauze folded several times, and also covered with it on top and poured with a solution for a day. The liquid level should be just above the fabric. Then they are washed with water and refrigerated for three to four days.

If the weather does not allow planting seeds, they are left on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, keeping them hydrated all the time. In this case, you need to ensure that they do not germinate more than 0.5 cm.

Heat treatment

Heat treatment of seeds consists in their successive immersion in hot and cold water... They are poured into a bag and rinsed at a temperature of 50 degrees, and then dipped in a humate solution and kept warm for two days. As a result, the germination of not only carrots, but also parsley and dill is accelerated.

Bubbling

Sparging speeds up the seed preparation process. An air or oxygen supply hose with an emery stone filter at the end is brought to the bottom of a non-metallic container with water. A mesh with seeds is placed on top.

In the process of bubbling, the water is saturated with air. At home, a small aquarium compressor is enough for this. The time for bubbling carrot seeds is 17-24 hours. After that, the material is removed to the middle shelf of the refrigerator, where it is stored for 3-5 days. Before sowing, the seeds are dried for 12 hours to make them free-flowing, and sown.

Burying seeds in the soil

Dry seeds are placed in cloth bags and buried in the ground with a shovel to the depth of one bayonet, where they should be for at least 10-12 days. Then they are taken out and sown in the garden bed. After such treatment, seedlings should appear in five days.

Another method is to mix the seeds with moist peat and keep them in a warm place for at least one week. During this period, they have time to germinate, after which they are sown. Before planting in the ground, the seeds are dried for 20-25 minutes on parchment or cloth at room temperature.

How to grow carrots. Sowing and Care Secrets

Front planting works Seeds are selected and purchased that are most suitable for a particular region. You can also get them yourself. Before growing carrot seeds, find a good and large root vegetable and then plant it in the spring. It will ripen by autumn.

Carrots grow for about three months. To get a harvest in September, planting should be done no later than May. Sowing dates are from late April to early June. Landing before May 5 is considered optimal.

Before winter, carrots are planted when the soil becomes cold enough. This can be from late October to early November. Sowing and harvesting times depend on the variety and region. Northern varieties should not be planted in the south as they will grow slowly. If grown in middle lane southern varieties, they give abundant tops, and root crops do not develop at the same time. Some varieties bred abroad are poorly stored.

Should be done on time, otherwise beneficial features and keeping quality of root crops may deteriorate.

Small carrot seeds need to be spread evenly in the groove. Therefore, they are mixed with sand or peat and sown in a garden bed.

So that neighboring rows do not interfere with her growing? To ensure sufficient illumination, it is better to make the beds narrow - no more than four rows of carrots.

Bumpers are made along the edge to prevent water from flowing off. The distance between the rows should be 15 cm, and for late varieties - 20 cm. The bed is watered and sprinkled with ash. The seeds are placed in the grooves at a distance of about 2.5 cm.

In spring-summer plantings, the swollen seeds are planted shallowly - by 3-4 cm. They should be sprinkled with very light soil, which is used as black soil mixed with peat, sand or humus. Then over the bed is done ventilation gap from the film at a distance of about 12-15 cm.

The first shoots in warm weather appear in a week. If the temperature is below 12 degrees, the time is doubled. If there are vacant places, additional sowing is done.

For many gardeners, the question of how to grow early carrots is a problem. In fact, it is not difficult. In the fall, early varieties of carrots are sown to a depth of 2 cm, and then sprinkled with mulch to a height of 3-4 cm. In this case, the soil temperature should be below +5 degrees. When there is little snow in winter, the beds are additionally covered with it to a height of 50 cm. With this method of planting, the crop is harvested earlier than usual for 2-3 weeks.

Thinning of plants

How to grow a good harvest of carrots if they sprout perfectly? To do this, you need to do a thorough thinning of the seedlings after the appearance of the third leaf.

All this is not as simple as it seems at first glance. In order for the plants to be well removed, the garden should be watered and the soil should be carefully loosened. In addition, the operation should be performed during the day, so as not to attract a pest - a carrot fly that flies in the evening.

The sprouts should be removed with tweezers, leaving a distance of at least 2 cm. The smallest shoots are removed. The tops are thrown away from the garden. In no case should you leave it nearby, so as not to attract pests. Onion arrows are a good deterrent, which is chopped up and scattered around the garden. You can cover crops with special material. The ground around the plants is slightly crushed. After 20 days, the thinning is repeated. In this case, a distance of 6 cm is left between the carrots.

Row spacings need to be loosened and weeded (at least once a week) so that the roots receive a sufficient amount of oxygen. After thinning the aisles, mulch with compost or sawdust soaked for several weeks in a 2-3% urea solution.

How to grow large carrots? The correct dosage of fertilizers is needed here. They cannot be entered directly into large quantities... Carrot beds begin to fertilize with mineral water when 5-6 leaves appear. The frequency of feeding is 2-4 weeks. This culture is particularly disliked by excess nitrogen.

As it grows, the top of the root crop comes out of the ground and turns green. It doesn't hurt, but it tastes worse. How to grow sweet carrots so that they do not lose their taste? When root crops appear from the ground, they are huddled, raking up the earth on them with a height of about 50 mm.

Watering carrot beds

Poor germination of carrots is primarily associated with drying out of the soil. Until she has risen, the top layer of the bed should be constantly wet. Sometimes the soil should be watered even several times a day. Granular seeds are especially difficult to germinate. Immediately after sowing, the bed is protected with a foil so that the top layer does not dry out.

Until the roots appear, watering is done after 3-4 days, 3-4 buckets per 1 m 2. At the same time, they grow independently in depth and find moisture. Therefore, watering is carried out once a week at 1-2 buckets per m2, and from the end of August - once every 1.5-2 weeks at 8-10 liters per square. The beds are kept for two weeks without watering until harvest.

Rough root vegetables are an indicator that they lacked moisture. With an excess of it, the fruits grow small. Also harmful are sudden changes from drying to excess moisture, leading to cracking of the carrot and subsequent poor preservation.

Carrots are not afraid of cold weather, but at temperatures below 8 degrees, starch in root crops turns into sugar, keeping quality of root crops worsens. In the middle lane, the crop is harvested at the end of September in dry weather.

Harvested for 1.5-2 hours, and then cut off the tops. The harvest is sorted, even carrots are placed in a ventilated box in a dark and cool place. This can be a cellar or basement.

Conclusion

You can never get a good harvest if you don't know how to grow carrots. The secrets of agricultural technology are proper preparation soil, competent landing and care. As a result, in the fall, you will get large and even root crops.

The orange root vegetable is widely used in cooking both raw and for juicing and different dishes... It is rich in vitamins, carotene and is very beneficial for the body. Growing carrots is a simple process, but there are some principles and rules that allow you to harvest a consistently good harvest.

Growing carrots outdoors

It's herbaceous biennial plant, the root crop is formed in the first year of life. When planting carrots, you should know that competent cultivation and outdoor care implies the following:

root crops are sown at the end of April;
the garden bed should be located on the sunniest area, in the shade the root crop will develop weakly and will not give a large harvest;
to get sweet carrots, they are sown in the ground, not very sour;
excessive watering is fraught with the fact that the root crop will coarsen and become fodder;
the vegetable likes a loose substrate, otherwise it bends;
when growing carrots, fresh manure is not used, or it will acquire an ugly shape;
if the vegetable is not watered for a long time, it will lose its sweetness and juiciness;
if the soil is moistened after a long dry stage, the fruit may crack;
weak small fruits grow without thinning.

How to properly plant carrots in the ground?

Carrots are grown in the beds where onions, cucumbers, potatoes or beets were previously grown. For a rich harvest, lush soil is needed - for this purpose, the land is dug up and leveled with a rake. To reduce acidity, ash is added to the soil. Growing carrots in the country is made from seeds, before planting they are soaked for 3-4 days, then dried. After that, beds are made with a depth of 2 cm, in which the seeds need to be placed. The seeds are very small so that they lay flat and do not fall into one place, gardeners have come up with original ways:

they are mixed with sand - so the grains do not stick together and are evenly stacked;
each seed is fixed to the toilet paper with paste, then the tape is simply placed in the garden bed;
prepare a composition of potato starch, to which seeds are added and poured evenly into the ground;
the seeds are planted every 3-5 cm from each other, an interval of 15-20 cm is observed between the beds.

Outdoor carrot care

Nursing a crop in the ground after planting requires a systematic approach. How to grow large carrots in the garden:

Water the vegetable often and sparingly in the evening. With a lack of moisture, young roots may die, and an excess of moisture will lead to a loss of the juiciness and sweetness of the vegetable. Watering the seedlings is worth three times a week. There should be half a bucket of water per square meter of the site. From the middle of the growing season, irrigation is carried out once a week. Then the formed roots rush down, forming long and even fruits. Two weeks before harvesting carrots, watering is stopped;
After 10 and 20 days, the plantation is thinned out - too often grown seedlings are removed. If we neglect this, then sprouts planted close to each other will not allow a large fruit to develop - the vegetable will grow small;
Weeding is necessary so that the weeds do not obscure the shoots;
Loosening is an important step in carrot cultivation. A crust on the surface of the earth will make it difficult to peck seedlings;
The seeds take about three weeks to germinate.

Top dressing of carrots in the open field

For growing carrots, top dressing is indispensable (2 times per season); for this, mineral compositions are used. The first application is made after 3-4 weeks, after the emergence of sprouts, the second - after a couple of months. It is advisable to use liquid fertilizers. To do this, put in a bucket of water to choose from:

a tablespoon;
two glasses of wood ash;
mix of 20 g of potassium nitrate, 15 g each of double superphosphate and urea.

How to grow carrots in a greenhouse?

Growing carrots is also relevant in greenhouse conditions. The advantages of this method is that vegetables will appear earlier than in the garden. For this are selected early varieties- Mokush, Eli Nantes, Amsterdam Forsing 3, Mokum. Where are carrots grown in such cases:

in polycarbonate constructions;
in greenhouses covered with foil.

The main thing is to make sure that a lot of light enters the greenhouse and that ventilation is provided. If the winter garden is heated, then the sowing of the plant can be done all year round... Carrots do not grow well in a hard substrate, the soil for cultivation must be loose. Beds are being made, seed planting scheme: 2 cm - depth; 20-25 cm - width. The rules for caring for early carrots coincide with growing vegetables in the open field and include watering, weeding, thinning and feeding. At the expense of the greenhouse, the crop can be obtained without waiting for autumn. If you plant a garden in early April, then the vegetable is harvested in May.

How to grow carrots at home?

Windowsill-grown vegetables may be available throughout the year. Small varieties of carrots are suitable for home breeding, for example, early Amsterdam. It produces small and sweet fruits. How to grow carrots in an apartment:

drained soil is acquired;
high (up to 20 cm) containers are selected for disembarkation (convenient in this regard plastic bottles with a cropped top), they must have holes at the bottom;
growing carrots at home is advisable at any time of the year - the seeds are placed in one container, three pieces each (then it remains to thin out, leave the strongest sprout);
pots should not stand in direct sunlight;
watered with settled water;
after 2 weeks, the sprouts are thinned out - there should be a space of 2 cm between adjacent ones;
you can feed home carrots with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, but a little - otherwise it will lead to rapid growth of leaves;
you can harvest the crop after 70 days and immediately plant the next batch;
it is recommended to sow a vegetable no more than three times in one land.

Secrets of growing carrots

Those who know the secret of how to grow large carrots will be able to get a harvest of beautiful and even root crops:

it is better to buy colored seeds - they have already been treated with a fungicide;
the most popular varieties: Nantes, Losinoostrovskaya 13, Samson, Vitamin 6;
loamy soil is suitable for planting, in the fall you need to dig it up, and in the spring add humus and;
carrots grow especially well after onions;
seeds must be soaked before planting, then dried;
in the spring, planting is carried out by warmth, after the flowering of the bird cherry;
planting grains in winter allows you to get a harvest in July;
the basic rules of care are to thin out the seedlings, remove weeds, monitor the moisture of the earth and prevent the appearance of a crust on the surface.

Growing carrots according to the Kizima method

Amateur gardener Galina Kizima offers her own sowing method that protects the vegetable from pests and diseases. Features of growing carrots according to its method:

the garden bed is moistened and watered with "Fitosporin" the night before;
in the morning, grooves are made at a distance of 5 cm;
along the entire perimeter, marigold seeds are sown (they scare off pests), then from each edge - three furrows of carrots, and in the center - an annual onion;
the seeds are not soaked and the seedlings are not thinned out in the future;
in order not to thin out and not feed the carrots, take 1 teaspoon of seeds, AVA powder fraction (or any mineral fertilizer other than potassium chloride) and fine sand;
everything is mixed and sown, as if the soup is salted;
the soil is leveled and pressed with palms;
after the appearance of four leaves in the shoots, watering stops.

Chinese method of growing carrots

Everyone is accustomed to the fact that the garden bed is ideally smoothed with a rake before planting, or you can plant vegetables in high ridges. In this case, root crops receive good lighting, which contributes to good growth and the acquisition of immunity to diseases, after the root crop it is easier to harvest. Rules for growing carrots in Chinese:

parallel combs are made with a hoe, height - up to 20 cm, distance between rows - 60 cm;
fertilizer is applied to the lower part of the ridge: for 1 square meter of soil, half a bucket of humus, 15 g of nitrophoska, 30 g is needed;
seeds are planted in two rows different sides one comb, deepen by 2 cm;
the first month of watering is generous;
the plant is thinned out, pests are removed;
feeding is carried out according to the usual scheme;

Dutch method of growing carrots

The technology is similar to the Chinese one, the difference is in the height and width of the ridges. Dutch way of growing carrots:

to receive good harvest varieties of Nantes, Berlikum, Flakke are used;
the combs are cut at a distance of 75 cm from each other, the width of the beds is 20 cm, the height can reach half a meter;
soil preparation includes autumn plowing and spring loosening;
on the ridges, one-line sowing of seeds is carried out with a strip of 6 cm, two- or even three-line, depth - 2 cm;
further - watering, feeding, one thinning.

How to water carrots?

Inappropriate watering of vegetable beds leads to the fact that the root crop grows crooked, hairy or cracked. This vegetable does not tolerate dryness or excess moisture. Lack of water causes the crop to become rough and lose its sweetness, while oversaturation causes the tops to grow excessively. It is important to know how to properly water the carrots so that the roots grow even and juicy. Moistening regime differs at different stages of seedling growth.

How to water the carrots after planting?

Immediately after sowing and before the initial germination, soil moisture is required high. Water the garden bed from a watering can through a strainer so as not to wash the seeds. When asked how often to water carrots, experienced gardeners give the following recommendations:

moisten the vegetable at the beginning of growth twice a week so that the soil is well saturated;
in June-July, after the root crops have been formalized, watering is reduced to once a week, the volume of water is increased. Then the roots grow evenly downward in search of moisture;
in the second half of August, after the roots are poured, watering is stopped (moistened during a drought). If the vegetable is overdried, and then it rains, it may crack - this should be monitored.

How to grow carrots without watering?

Often it is difficult to moisturize plants and is accompanied by many difficulties - financial, physical, organizational. Growing carrots without watering:

the soil is dug up in the fall, cultivated in the spring;
to increase the ability of the earth to retain moisture, it is enriched with peat, manure, mineral dressings;
planting seeds is best done by sticking them on a roll of toilet paper, which is moistened and placed in the ground, sprinkled with earth with your hands;
then the bed is covered with black polyethylene;
on the 15-17th day, the cellophane is removed;
further, soil moisture is ensured by maintaining its upper layer stably in a loose (without crust) state;
the ground is covered - sawdust, dry grass, straw, needles;
this will improve its water-air regime, the roots will grow down in search of moisture and grow strong and even.