The article tells about the best varieties of carrots, how to prepare a garden bed, plant it. From the material you will learn about feeding, care. Useful tips relate to the correct agricultural technology, which will help to get a large harvest of even, beautiful root crops that are not damaged by a carrot fly. Carrots are quite unpretentious, so they are a frequent visitor to personal plots. You can plant seeds in spring and before winter, the first method is most popular.
Carrot varieties
First of all, you need to choose varieties. Here are the best and most popular ones:
- Nanskaya 4;
- Losinoostrovskaya 13;
- Biryuchekutskaya 415;
- Narbonne F1;
- Incomparable;
- Flaccoro;
- Shantane 2461.
Variety "Nanskaya 4"
mid-season, it is very popular with gardeners. From germination to technical ripeness, 80-100 days pass. Carrots grow in length up to 14 × 16 cm, average weight 100 × 120 g. Fruits are orange, have a nice cylindrical shape and a small number of roots. The pulp is fragrant, juicy. Root crops of this variety will be stored until mid-winter.
Losinoostrovskaya 13
also mid-ripening, technical ripeness occurs at 80-120 days. Root crops can reach a weight of 155 g, grow up to 15 cm. The shape of the fruit is similar to "Nanskaya 4", but has more lateral roots. The peculiarity of this variety is the high content of carotene, which only increases during storage.
Biryuchekutskaya 415
tolerates drought well, gives high yields in regions where there is little rainfall and there is no possibility of frequent watering.
Narbonne F1
belongs to the group of hybrids. The root vegetable has good taste, juicy orange pulp. The hybrid is resistant to cracking and stalking.
Incomparable
perfectly stored, has good indicators of drought resistance. The pulp is intense orange, juicy, with a small core.
Flaccoro and Chantane 2461
- late-ripening varieties. "Flaccoro" grows up to 24 × 28 cm. In “Shantane 2461” the root crop is smaller, it reaches 12 × 15 cm. Both varieties are perfectly stored.
Soil preparation
After you have decided on a variety, you need to choose a planting day. Carrots are not afraid of late spring frosts, so the seeds can be sown immediately after the soil thaws. It is not for nothing that in Russia they received good harvests when they planted it "in the mud." The seeds germinate for a rather long time - 8-14 days, so moisture after the snow melts will come in handy.
If you are used to orienting yourself to the moon, take a look at the lunar calendar, it will tell you when it is better to sow this crop. Usually, this crop is sown in the middle lane from April 20 to May 10.
If you dug a garden bed in the fall, the soil is light, just loosen it with a hoe. If the soil is caked, dig it up by picking out the roots. The root crop grows vertically, so it is necessary that the soil in the garden be loose to a depth of 25 × 30 cm.
On heavy soil, carrots grow "horned". Since the main root cannot break through the compressed earthy lump, roots begin to grow on other sides. Over time, they are poured, and the root crop turns out to be a bizarre shape. If your soil is not light enough, add 1 m? on:
- 2 buckets of well-ripened humus or compost;
- one bucket of peat and sand;
- 50 g of nitrophoska or complex fertilizer with microelements.
Mix the soil and fertilizer well with a shovel and rake. Leave it to settle for 3 days. If possible, it is better to prepare the bed in advance so that the soil is slightly compacted for 2 weeks. If you don't have time for this, tap on the bed with the flat surface of the shovel.
Planting carrots
Use a peg or a hoe to make grooves at a distance of 20 × 25 cm from each other. They should be 1 cm deep. Fill the watering can with lukewarm water, remove the spray tip, pour these horizontal indentations.
Sow carrots. For convenience, you can buy seeds in a ribbon. It just needs to be laid in the furrow. The seeds are glued there at an optimal distance from each other. If you sow yourself, place them every 1 cm. Less often you do not need to sow, as not all seeds may germinate. In this regard, it is worth mentioning one important point. Carrot seeds have excellent germination only during the year. Manufacturers' special packaging can extend it up to 24 months. Older seeds will not sprout, so it is better to plant those that have not yet passed a year from the moment of collection. You can put the seeds in a cloth, tie it, immerse this structure in a bowl of water for 5 hours. During this time, the liquid needs to be changed 3–4 times. This technique will help wash off some of the essential oils, which are the main obstacle to germination. After that, the seeds are poured onto a towel, dried until flowable, now they can be planted.
Top up the grooves with light soil or peat so that the still weak seedlings can break through. If you sowed in mid-late April, place low arcs over the ridge, cover them with a high-density transparent film. It will keep moisture, warmth inside the greenhouse, which contributes to better germination. If you planted in late April or early May, cover the ridge with lutrasil. When the first shoots appear, remove it.
One of the main troubles that threatens root crops is carrot fly … Experienced gardeners came up with the idea of planting onions next to carrots. He will scare off an annoying pest with his smell. You can plant onions and carrots on the same bed, alternating grooves. When you dig up the onions in early to mid-August, the carrots will have more space. Root crops in such free conditions will grow until the end of September.
Carrot care
This culture is quite unpretentious. Therefore, it is not difficult to take care of her. 2? 3 weeks after the first shoots, see if they are too rare? If so, add mid-early seeds to the voids. If, on the contrary, the greens have sprouted too often, thin them out, leaving a distance of 3 cm between the plants. The torn specimens must be taken to the compost immediately after the end of the work. If you do not do this, but leave them near the garden, a carrot fly can flock to the smell and damage the growing roots.
Carrots like moderate, regular watering
Produce them daily or every other day in hot weather. On cloudy days, you can do this once every 5-7 days, soaking the ground in the first weeks of growth by 5 cm. When the roots of the plant grow well, try to let the moisture penetrate 10 cm deep. If there is not enough water, this can become the second reason for horniness »Carrots. Water in the evening, and in the morning, carefully loosen the soil between the rows so that an earthen crust does not form.
After 2 months, carry out the second thinning, by this time some of the root crops will grow up and they can be used for food. Leave a distance of 5 cm between the plants. Be sure to cover the voids with earth. If the top of the root crop is sticking out of the surface of the soil, spud it down to keep it from turning green in the sun.
With a weak growth of green mass, 20 days after germination, they can be fed with nitrogen fertilizer. To do this, dilute 1 tbsp in 10 liters of water. urea. The plants are fed the next day after watering or after rain - on damp ground.
After 1, 5 months, plants are fed in any case. For it, you need to dissolve 1 tsp in 10 liters of warm water. urea; 1 tbsp potassium sulfate; 1, 5 tbsp. double superphosphate, water the plants with this solution at the rate of 3 liters per 1 square meter. area.
The last time feeding is done after half a month, dissolving 2 tbsp in 10 liters of water. nitroammophoska or nitrophoska. This amount of solution is enough for 2 square meters.beds.
Harvesting and storage of carrots
Carrots grow well not only in summer, but also in early autumn, so you should not harvest early. If night frosts are expected in September, spud the root tubers. Harvested on a clear, dry day. In the middle lane, this can be done in the first decade of October. If this month promises to be cold, reschedule work until the end of September.
In no case should the root crops be pulled out of the ground, then they can be damaged and cannot be stored for a long time. Dig them out with a pitchfork or shovel, free them from the ground. Cut the green part with a sharp knife to the very root. Dry the crop on spread cellophane in the shade in the air for 8 hours.
If you removed the carrots from moist soil, you can additionally dry them under a canopy for 1 to 2 days. Store carrots in a cellar or basement at + 5 ° C. You can put it in boxes, sprinkling each layer with dry river sand.
Well suited for storing a talker made of clay, one root crop is dipped into it, dried well, put in boxes, stored at + 2 + 5 ° C.
Winter sowing can be done in November. For this, the bed is prepared in October, grooves are made 2 cm deep. When the soil freezes well, sowing is carried out, sprinkling the furrows with dry peat. Such carrots will quickly start growing in the spring, give an early harvest, but in winter they will be poorly stored.
If you sowed in June or early July, you can leave some of the root crops right in the garden until spring, covering them with dry leaves or peat. Then in April you can enjoy fresh carrots. Of course, in the event that there is no wireworm in the garden bed, but there are mice on the plot, since these pests can ruin the winter harvest.
Video on how to grow fruitful carrots in high beds:
