Carrots are a healthy and tasty root vegetable that is used everywhere in cooking. It is used in canning, for the preparation of culinary delights, as well as in salads and not only. This vegetable contains many useful substances. Most nutrients are found in carrots grown on their own site. To grow a root crop beautiful, even, you need to know when to plant carrots and how to properly care for the garden.
Open sowing
Sowing carrots in the open ground is carried out in winter or spring. Each for himself decides which method suits him best. Only when to plant carrots?
There are different methods for determining the timing of sowing. Someone is guided by the advice of manufacturers, while others determine favorable days according to the lunar calendar. But it is best to decide when to plant carrots, focusing on the weather conditions of the region.
Sowing dates
Before you buy seeds, you should decide when exactly you will eat carrots for food. If you need to get an early harvest, then you get early varieties, for medium harvest - medium, and for long-term storage - late. And when to plant carrots of different ripening periods?
Usually, the timing of sowing directly depends on the timing of maturation of the root crop. Early varieties are recommended to be sown before winter or in the third decade of April. Mid-ripening plants are planted in the first decade of May, and later - until the end of June. Do not be afraid that the vegetables do not have time to ripen. Usually, root crops manage to gain sweetness and mass by the end of October.
You can plant carrots at different times. This will help to obtain yields of different ripening periods. Winter crops will provide a crisp carrot table for the whole summer, and crops in early summer will help to prepare root crops for the whole winter.
Seed preparation
Many people care about how to plant carrots properly. Sowing should begin with seed preparation. Each summer resident noticed that the seeds have a peculiar aroma. It is given by essential oils that impregnate the shell of the seed. Before sowing carrots, it is necessary to wash off this oil. For this, the seed is soaked in water at a temperature of 50 degrees. Once it cools, drain. At this point, it will turn orange. Then the seeds are washed with water and laid out on a towel to dry.
Bed preparation
Before planting carrots with seeds, it is necessary to prepare the beds. They begin to do this in the fall. Corroded manure or compost (at the rate of two kilograms per square meter) is brought into the soil of each bed. Be sure to add a spicy box of potassium salt and a full box of superphosphate.
Carrots do not like fresh manure, calcareous soils, ash, excess nitrogen.
In the spring, they dig up the earth, make the sides - and you can start sowing.
Sowing principles
After you decide when to plant carrots in the spring in your region, you need to prepare the beds - and you can safely proceed to the crops.
To seedlings were friendly, it is recommended to sow the seeds to the same depth. To do this, take the board, put it on the edge and make a groove.
Each groove is shed with water and transferred to sowing. Granular seeds are easiest to sow, withstanding a distance of five centimeters. If the seeds are without a shell, then it is better to pour them on a white saucer and from there take them individually and sow, or you can use a special seeder. How to plant carrots in the ground so that it grows even? To do this, it is necessary to maintain a distance of two to three centimeters between the seeds. In this case, you have to thin out the crops. You can sow carrots at a distance of five centimeters. In this case, thinning is not needed.
Many people wonder about how to plant carrots with seeds in the open ground, because its sprouts are tender and fragile. Will they be able to break through the crust formed by watering? Despite its fragility, seedlings perfectly break through the crust, although some summer residents do not agree with this. They suggest not watering the crops until the sprouts appear. However, this is not entirely true. Carrots will not be able to ascend if it does not have enough moisture, so it is necessary to ensure that the bed with crops does not dry out daily.
Wide row seeding method
Increasingly, one can hear about the wide-row landing method. How to plant carrots with seeds in the ground using this technology? For this, grooves are prepared with a width of fifteen centimeters. Onions are planted on the sides: it repels the carrot fly. To form a row, they take a board and lay it flat on loose soil, press it. As a result, a depression is formed. It is spilled with water. Then, onions are planted in these indentations along the edge, and carrots are sown in the center. From above it is possible to fill up plantings with soil or to mulch.
Sowing with sprouted seeds
In order to accelerate the emergence of seedlings, carrot seeds are not only washed with water, but also germinated. To do this, take a small piece of cloth, lay in a bowl and soak in water. Carrot seeds are laid out on top of the fabric. You should not use gauze and similar types of tissues, as carrot roots can get tangled in their fibers.
After the emergence of seedlings, the seeds are laid out in the grooves, covered with earth from above. Be sure to ensure that the top layer of the earth does not dry out.
Sowing according to the manufacturer
Many manufacturers indicate on the packaging when and how to plant carrots with seeds in the open. Most varieties are planted in early spring, almost immediately after the snow melts. However, it is worth considering the manufacturer's recommendations and focusing on them, in particular this applies to late varieties. Most often, manufacturers recommend sowing from April to the end of June.
Sowing by region
Each producer, indicating the timing of sowing, still recommends relying on climate conditions in the region. So, in the central part of Russia, crops are carried out later than in the southern part of the country. And in the north, sowing carrots in the open ground is possible only in June, and only the early varieties, so that the root crops have time to ripen before the end of September.
During crops, you can not worry about the fact that the plants freeze. Carrots are not afraid of return frosts, therefore, if it is sown at a temperature of 5 degrees or more, it will easily tolerate slight cooling.
It’s best to carefully monitor the weather to select the best sowing dates. Otherwise, the seeds will be too long in the ground and may rot. The optimal time is the end of April. At this point, there is a persistent increase in night and day temperatures.
In the northern regions, crops are best done no earlier than the end of May. In Siberia and the Urals, you should not sow late varieties - root crops will not have time to ripen.
Choice of a sowing place
And how to plant carrots in the spring, after what crops? The best carrot precursors are:
- cucumbers
- salad;
- bow;
- potatoes;
- Tomatoes
Shelter of crops
To quickly hatch the seeds, it is recommended to cover the bed. For this, cover material or film, old things are used. After the first shoots appear, the shelter is removed. Otherwise, all crops may rot due to excessive moisture. Through a special covering material, a certain amount of moisture leaves, thus reducing the risk of decay of crops.
Getting a good harvest
In order to collect a large crop, it is necessary not only to choose the right sowing dates, but also to carry out full-fledged plant care. Watering plants is necessary as the earth dries. At the same time, you should not create a “swamp”, as carrots do not like excessive moisture. Water the soil so that it is soaked to a depth of twenty centimeters.
During the growth period, the beds are weeded, weeds are removed, the soil is loosened, thickened crops are thinned out. All this helps to get large and even root crops. In order not to thin out, you must immediately sow the seeds at a distance at which you do not need to pull the sprouts.
Observing all the recommendations for sowing and care, you can get smooth, sweet root crops. Properly defined sowing dates and selected varieties will make it possible to have on your table a delicious harvest of orange beauty all summer.