We are accustomed to the fact that growing carrots is not an easy task. How else? First, the bed must be dug up with at least two shovels, then planted, constantly watered, and somewhere on the horizon weeding and thinning are already looming. Ugh...
Meanwhile, natural farmers grow carrots without digging, they know how to plant the seeds correctly so that all the carrots sprout together and quickly, they water the garden bed a couple of times throughout the summer and are satisfied with the harvest. We invite everyone to become familiar with the secrets of agricultural technology for growing carrots in natural farming and avoid unnecessary unnecessary garden work.
Like many vegetable crops, carrot varieties differ from each other in terms of ripening: carrots can be early, mid-ripening and late. In addition, by planting carrots not all at once, as we are used to, but gradually, you can enjoy the taste of sweet orange root vegetables almost uninterruptedly.
Carrots are sown three times per season:
Sowing in early spring. The most traditional and familiar time for gardeners to plant carrots, which lasts from mid-April to early May. It is best at this time to sow early and mid-season varieties for summer consumption, which will not go into long-term storage. Then, at the end of June - beginning of July, it will be possible to enjoy fresh carrots, and in August, harvest those root vegetables that will “feed” us all autumn.
Summer sowing. From the second decade until the end of June, carrots of medium and late dates ripening, so that in September-October you can immediately put it in the cellar for storage.
Pre-winter sowing. To get your first carrot harvest as early as possible next year, you can try planting carrots before winter. In this case, the seeds are sown in the garden bed from mid-October to mid-November. The bed should be located in a well-lit area, so that the snow melts faster in the spring.
How to increase the germination rate of carrot seeds up to 100%
Let’s not be afraid of exaggeration, every summer resident faces the problem of poor germination of carrot seeds. Manufacturers and sellers planting material are accused in every way, although often it is not the quality of the seeds at all.
The fact is that carrot seeds contain essential oils, which in wildlife protect seeds from awakening during dry periods. Therefore, for smooth and 100% germination, it is recommended to carry out pre-sowing preparation.
What is it? The gardener’s task is to wash off the essential oils from the carrot seeds. For this purpose, the seeds are placed in a gauze or fabric bag, the bag is placed in a container into which water heated to 45-50°C is poured. Now you need to thoroughly “rinse” the bag in water to wash out the essential oils to the maximum, wait until it cools completely, then rinse the seeds with clean cool water and dry on a cloth. For greater effect, this procedure can be repeated. Seeds prepared in this way should sprout on the fourth or fifth day after sowing.
Preparing the bed and planting seeds
The time has come to figure out the question of how to properly plant carrots in a garden bed, and in general, what this garden bed should be like. Carrots, as you know, love loose, porous soil, and we agreed to do without digging. How can we be here? As usual, there is a way out, and it is not the only one.
Autumn preparation of a bed for carrots using mulching. In the fall, after harvesting cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes or legumes, which are the best, the bed is covered with mulch (tops, weeds, grass clippings, leaves) with a layer of 20 centimeters. In spring or summer, before planting, the compacted and in some places rotted layer of mulch must be raked from the garden bed. The soil under the mulch will not dry out and will remain loose.
Using a flat cutter or hoe, rows are outlined, then a board 10 centimeters wide is taken and pressed into the soil so that a depression of 1.5-2 cm is formed. The soil in the depression must be WELL spilled and compacted a little so that the seeds do not fall through and all sprouted at the same time .
The seeds are simply scattered in a chaotic manner over the prepared wide strip. In a narrow furrow with such sowing they would end up too close to each other, but in a wide “trench” they will themselves be evenly spaced. If you are not sure and are still afraid of frequent germination, mix a tablespoon of seeds with a glass of sand and sow with this mixture.
On top, carrot seeds are covered with light, loose material: compost, humus, vermicompost, soaked coconut substrate - a layer of 1 centimeter. And under no circumstances DO NOT WATER before germination!
Last year's mulch, removed from the garden bed, can now be returned to its place and left there until germination. After the carrots sprout, the old mulch is raked again and sent to the compost heap or under berry bushes, and young carrots are mulched with freshly cut grass in a layer of 1-2 centimeters.
Spring preparation of a bed for carrots using green manure. For summer sowing of carrots, the bed can be prepared in the spring. IN in this case Green manure will come to our aid. In early spring, as soon as the weather permits, you need to sow mustard in the garden bed intended for carrots (among other things, it will also protect your future carrots from the encroachments of wireworms). At the beginning of May, mustard should be trimmed with a flat cutter, left in the garden bed and sprinkled generously with a solution of an EM preparation, which can be purchased (Baikal, Siyanie and the like) or. The top of such a bed is covered with an opaque film and left for two to four weeks.
Carrots are planted in exactly the same way as in the previous version.
Preparing a trench for carrots. This option is for those who, of all the organic matter in their garden, only have compost heap and who is not afraid of hard work. Because you will have to dig a trench 30 centimeters deep. The trench is filled with compost mixed half and half with sand. Using a board using the method described above, wide strips are made, which are first well moistened, then seeds are sown in them and covered with the same compost on top. You can also mulch the trench with grass on top.
Caring for a carrot bed
While the carrots are small and weak, you can water them a couple of times. At the beginning of July, watering carrots should be stopped so that the root crop has an incentive to grow deeper in search of life-giving moisture. The rest of the care carrot bed involves only one procedure - adding mulch weekly. If you apply mulch, you don’t have to think about weeding, loosening and watering.
To ensure that the carrot root is formed correctly, is even, does not “fork in two” and does not become a bizarre freak, avoid excess nutrients and moisture in the soil. Yes, this is exactly the case when it is better to underfeed than to overfeed. You should not apply fresh manure and lime under carrots, often feed with ash and nitrogen fertilizers or water too much. By creating “paradise conditions” for carrots, we ourselves promote the growth of the root crop not in depth (in search of water and nutrients), but sideways and in breadth (irrigation water and fertilizing remain in upper layers soils).
we already know how, but it is possible in simple ways Simply simply do not allow them into your garden. To do this, sow carrots when the carrot fly no longer flies (after the cherry blossoms), early landings cover with a non-woven cloth, practice mixed plantings with onions, parsley, and other root vegetables to confuse the pest, and in the fall, do not forget to sow the beds with green manure.
Harvesting carrots
By harvesting carrots too early, we end up with unsweetened and tasteless root vegetables. By harvesting carrots too late, we end up with a crop damaged by pests and poorly stored. Carrots need to be harvested on time. Do not throw away the seed bags; calculate the expected harvest date in advance, focusing on the ripening period indicated on the package.
Or keep a close eye on the tops. As soon as the leaves begin to darken, grow larger, and the lower ones generally turn yellow, it’s time to harvest, crunch on fresh carrots or lay them down
You can grow an excellent carrot crop on your own plot if you know what issues require closer study and attention. First of all, you should take care of the soil in which this useful root vegetable will grow. Good result can be achieved by growing carrots in light loam or sandy loam soils. A crust forms on top of the clay soil, which creates a barrier to seed germination. This will cause the seedlings to be scattered and uneven. The amount of crop harvested will depend directly on the quality of the land in which it grows. In poor soil, the yield may be several times smaller than from a similar area in suitable land.
Soil for carrots
For planting carrots, suitable soil contains a lot of organic matter (humus), good drainage, and the soil is loose and light. It is not recommended to add fresh manure to the soil and big number mineral supplements, since an excess has a bad effect on the growth and development of carrots. An excess of fertilizers can lead to the appearance of gnarled root crops and one of the main pests of carrots - carrot fly.
The choice of fertilizers to be applied in the spring depends on the type of soil. If it is black soil, then you need to add a couple of tablespoons of superphosphate to it. To the clay and podzolic soil you need to add a bucket of granular river sand, peat, sawdust and half a bucket of humus, superphosphate and nitrophoska (a tablespoon of each fertilizer). Half a bucket of humus, peat, a couple of buckets of turf soil and sawdust.
Thus, fertile soils require very little mineral fertilizers, and in areas poor in nutrient content, humus and wood ash should be added to the soil.
It is better to plant carrots where cucumbers previously grew. onion, potatoes, under which humus had already been added in advance. After these plants, there is a lot of decomposed organic matter in the ground, which creates a suitable environment for carrot shoots. In addition, the soil after these plants is not overgrown with weeds. This is an important quality, because young carrots grow much slower weed, so she easily shades and oppresses her.
Carrots can be returned to the old bed after four years from the date of the previous planting. This will help collect best harvest and prevent the development of various diseases.
Carrot bed
They begin to prepare the bed in which the carrots will grow in the fall, digging it to the depth of a spade bayonet. To make the soil softer, during digging you need to add sawdust and peat (3 kg per sq. m.) to it.
In the spring, a few days before planting, the soil needs to be dug up again, leveled and watered, and then covered with film. On the day of sowing, the soil should be loosened a couple of centimeters deep, and furrows should be made in it, located at a distance of 20 centimeters from each other. Water the grooves with diluted potassium permanganate or just water, pour the seeds into them. Next, the grooves are mulched with peat and covered with film.
In addition, root vegetables autumn sowing They often turn out to be larger, and are less susceptible to attack by pests and diseases. Disadvantage - early carrots are unsuitable for long-term storage. But planting carrots in spring or early summer gives a harvest that will last all winter.
How to choose a site for planting carrots in the fall
At the end of summer, a place is selected to plant carrots for the winter. You need to find a flat, well-warmed area, protected from the winds. You cannot plant seeds on a slope, as they will be washed away when the snow melts in the spring.
It is important to pay attention to crops that have grown over the previous three years where carrots are supposed to be planted. It is very undesirable if these were representatives of the Celery family: parsley, dill, fennel, as well as celery or carrots themselves. They provoke an increased “interest” of specific carrot pests in this area. In addition, over the past years, the listed species have already removed from the soil a significant amount of micro- and macroelements required for a full-fledged carrot harvest.
It is much better if cucumbers, melons, onions or potatoes previously grew in this place. Cabbage and tomatoes are also considered good predecessors. Immediately after harvesting, the bed must be cleared of plant residues, dug deep (as much as a shovel) and loosened: carrots love loose soil.
Fertilizers for carrots - keep it in moderation
At the same time, digging up the soil, apply fertilizers. Fresh manure is not suitable in this case, since after applying it, carrots can only be sown in this place after two years. Otherwise, the carrot tops will turn out tall and thick, but the roots will be clumsy and branchy.
Fertilizers for carrots are prepared as follows: for one square meter beds required
- 2-4 kilograms of humus (one fourth of a bucket)
- A tablespoon of superphosphate
- Half a tablespoon of potassium salt
If the soil is too acidic, it can be neutralized by adding wood ash. Poor soils should be additionally fed with nitrogen fertilizers: less than a tablespoon per square meter of soil. There is no point in exceeding the specified dosage of mineral fertilizers: this will not affect the yield in any way. When digging, sand or half-rotten sawdust should be added to heavy, clayey soil. Fresh sawdust and other undecomposed organic components cannot be added to the soil: the plant begins to suffer more from carrot flies, and root crops lose their marketable appearance.
A bed for planting carrots for the winter
Immediately after the soil is fertilized and prepared, a bed is formed. The bed for carrots needs to be high, from fifteen centimeters, so that the water does not stand on it. Now the place prepared for planting can be left untouched for a month and a half.
When planting carrots, the seeds will need to be sprinkled with dry sifted soil. This soil needs to be prepared in advance, since after the first frost the soil structure will change. Dry soil, preferably sifted through a large sieve, is poured into a bag or box. Store under a canopy in a dry, preferably even warm, place.
In October, the soil in the garden bed became saturated with moisture and settled. Now you need to harrow it with a rake. This will retain moisture and loosen the soil.
Next, grooves are cut for the seeds. They should be deeper than spring planting, up to five centimeters. Maximum depth seed placement is used on light soils prone to drying out, minimal (about one centimeter) - on clayey and heavy soils. The distance between the grooves should be fifteen or twenty centimeters.
Now the land is left alone for another month, before sowing. To prevent rain from washing away the grooves made, the bed is covered with film.
How to plant carrots before winter
In mid-November, even if the ground is already covered with snow, you can begin planting in previously prepared furrows. Autumn planting of carrots does not require any special treatment seed material . Under no circumstances should the seeds be soaked - they should be placed in the ground dry to avoid premature germination. There is enough time ahead to naturally absorb moisture, undergo winter hardening and spring up in spring.
When planning when to plant carrots in the fall, you have to take into account weather anomalies, for example, prolonged November warmings. During such periods, seeds at a temperature of three degrees above zero begin to hatch and grow without waiting for spring, and then die from frost. Ideally, the soil will be frozen and warming is unlikely. Therefore, when deciding when to plant carrots before winter, it is better to focus on mid-to-late November. In order not to lose the required volume of the harvest, the rate of seeds prepared for planting should be increased by twenty percent.
Successful planting of carrots in the fall is also due to the correct selection of varieties. You need to take early ripening and cold-resistant ones. It is also worth considering that varieties with short roots have the shortest growing season: such carrots grow faster.
If the prepared grooves are sprinkled with snow, carefully sweep it away with a broom. Seeds are poured into grooves along the entire length with an approximate frequency of ten seeds per ten centimeters.
The seeds are sprinkled on top with pre-prepared dry soil, pre-mixed with sand or peat. It is good if this mixture differs in color from the main tone of the soil. Then in the spring it will be easier to understand where the rows are located in order to loosen them. The planted seeds are lightly compacted or rolled with a special roller to reduce the risk of being washed away during the spring snowmelt.
Care - finishing touches
A four-centimeter layer of peat or humus is thrown on top of the bed. This is soil protection (mulching) so that it does not freeze excessively. Additionally, the plantings are covered with spruce branches or cut branches.
When loose snow falls, they need to throw in the bed to create additional protection from frost. Now we just have to wait for spring.
When the snow melts, the branches are removed from the garden bed and covered with film to speed up germination and protect it from night frosts. Germinated seeds can withstand temperatures only up to minus four degrees. When shoots appear, the film must be removed.
The crop can be treated against pests fifteen days after emergence. Carrots begin to require complementary feeding no earlier than the third and fourth leaves appear.
Weeding over long areas is labor-intensive, so carrots are often treated with herbicides. The most well-known herbicides for carrots are linuron, prometrin and gesagard. They are effective, but have a peculiarity:
Root vegetables can be used for food only four months after processing.
It turns out that in order to eat fresh carrots in June, you will have to give up herbicides. Weed control will have to be done manually. Otherwise, caring for the June and August generations of carrots is no different.
Carrot bed For spring sowing, it is recommended to prepare it in the fall. Comfortable bed size for growing carrots:
— width 90 cm,
— height 15-20 cm.
In autumn, the soil in the garden bed for carrots should be dug up, leveled and fertilized.
Fertilizing the soil in autumn
Bed for planting carrots in spring, as mentioned earlier, are formed in the fall. Adding minerals and organic fertilizers under carrots(immediately before boarding) not in the best possible way affects root crops.
It is strictly forbidden to apply fresh manure under carrots in spring. When adding manure to the soil, it is recommended to plant carrots in this place only after 2 years. It is recommended to grow carrots as a 2nd crop after applying manure (after growing cucumbers, onions, early cabbage, early potatoes).
Earth in the fall it is necessary to dig (depth - at least 20, optimally - 30-40 cm), select pebbles, and even better - sift. Carrots love loose soil, and if during active growth they encounter obstacles, they become crooked and split in two.
Carrots will definitely like it bed from a mixture of peat (sawdust or pine needles) and sand, which also needs to be sifted. For one bucket of peat, take half a bucket of sifted sand and a 1-liter jar of ash. In such a bed, a vegetable can grow for 3-4 years. The advantages of soil prepared specifically for carrots are that there are no weed seeds in it and it is perfectly saturated with oxygen, which is so necessary for the formation of high-quality root crops. To replenish such soil, it is necessary to add chlorine-free potassium in the spring during pre-sowing soil preparation in the amount of 1/2 cup per 1 linear meter.
In the reference book “Vegetable garden. Practical advice»recommend:
- fertilize nutrient-poor soil in the fall by digging 3-4 kg per 1 sq.m of humus;
- harrow 2-3 cups per 1m2 of wood ash.
Acidic soil is enriched in the fall dolomite flour based on 20-30 g per 1 m2. In the spring, as soon as the soil has dried, it is disinfected with a solution copper sulfate based on 1 tbsp. spoon into a 10-liter bucket of water and dig it up. It is convenient to spray the product from a watering can with a strainer attachment.
How to fertilize carrots in the spring when planting in the garden?
In the spring, preparing the soil for planting seeds It is recommended to start 10-12 days before sowing. If the soil is very depleted, it is permissible to add humus (but it is better to do this in the fall) and dig deep.
Fertilize carrots before planting in open ground(in spring, a week before planting) in small doses:
- nitrogen fertilizers at the rate of 10-20 g per 1 m2;
- phosphorus and potassium fertilizers at the rate of 30-40 g per 1 m2;
- lime at the rate of 300-500 g per 1 m2 (for acidic soils);
- complex mineral fertilizers - nitroammofoska or nitrophoska at the rate of 2 tbsp. spoons per 1 m2.
After applying mineral fertilizers in the spring, the soil is dug up so that the substances are at a depth of 15 cm (this way they will not burn the roots of the plant). After digging, the soil in the carrot bed is leveled with a rake and beds are formed.
For planting seeds, grooves are formed with a depth of 1.5 - 3 cm. The distance between the grooves is 20 cm. The distance between seeds is 2-4 cm.
Watch the depth of the grooves: if they are too deep, the seeds will not germinate; too small - the seeds will be scattered by the wind.
During growth, carrots are fertilized separately.
Sources: country literature, reference books for gardeners and gardeners, Internet
