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Carrots are a storehouse of vitamins and micronutrients. Every gardener tries to plant it. Getting a good harvest is not so difficult. The main thing is to observe the timing of sowing and to know some nuances. About them, we now talk.
Dates of planting carrots
To begin with, it must be said that carrots differ from each other in terms of maturation. There are early, middle and late varieties. Depending on this, the period will change when it is possible to sow the carrots in the open ground.
- Early varieties of carrots can be sown after outdoor temperatures are relatively positive (about +3 degrees). Usually this period falls on the end of April in early May. Planted carrots in this way ripens in the summer.
- Medium and late varieties of carrots are planted approximately in the same period - from 1 to 20 May. Sometimes this period is extended until the beginning of June. This carrot is suitable for long-term storage.
Some experienced gardeners practice planting carrots in late autumn. This allows you to harvest much earlier - about two weeks. The optimal time for planting in this case is the end of October beginning of November. The main thing is that there are no return positive temperatures. Otherwise, the seeds can germinate. Let's add, this method has one big drawback. If the winter is very severe, there is a high probability that the seeds will become frozen and will not rise in the spring.
The process of preparing for carrots sowing
Soil preparation
Before you start to plant carrots, you need to take care of the preparation of the soil. This crop grows poorly on heavy loamy soil. Therefore, it is better to take carrots to a bed with a light soil (it is good if the soil is mixed with a small amount of sand).
You can not bring fresh manure under the garden with carrots. This will adversely affect the development of this crop - the root is likely to grow weak and will be very poorly stored.
Seed preparation
Beginning gardeners usually do not attach much importance to this item, but in vain. Due to the correct processing of seeds, the plant develops much better and yields an abundant harvest. There are a lot of ways to process the seed. Perhaps the most effective of them is the soaking of seeds in manganese (a weak solution). This method allows you to protect future roots from pests and all sorts of diseases.
Some truck farmers for the early harvest soak seeds in various growth stimulants. In this case, the question of how to sow carrots in order to quickly erupt, itself disappears.
Preparation of beds
Optimal size of the bed: width 1 meter, and length 5. Of course, these are only approximate parameters. The final version depends on the gardener's preferences. Before planting carrots in spring, using, for example, a shovel shank, you need to make furrows. It is in them that they sow seeds.
The width of this groove is about 6 cm. The distance between them is 20 cm. Before you start planting carrots, the grooves are carefully spilled with a solution of potassium permanganate. This is done in order to lessen the root crops.
Planting carrots
Seeds of carrots are sown in pre-prepared furrows at a distance of 1 Crops are topped with peat (you can add sand). It would seem, why? The answer is quite simple: if the soil is dense, the seeds germinate very poorly, and if, on the contrary, one can count on amicable shoots. After the seeds are planted, it remains only to shed well (use cold water) beds.
Acceleration of germination of seeds
Certainly, any gardener always wants sprouts to appear as soon as possible. There are a lot of ways to speed up this process. We will talk about a method that is based on the use of conventional polyethylene. Everything is very simple. It is necessary to take a film and cover it with a bed so that an air layer of about 12 cm remains between the polyethylene coating and the ground. After this, you need to allow time for seeds to germinate. When using this method, usually one week is enough. When the shoots appear, the polyethylene is removed. If this is not done, the sprouts that have not yet gained strength may die.
The choice of "neighbors" for carrots
As we have already said, to get a good crop of carrots, you need to know about some nuances. One of them is the right choice of "neighbors" (those plants with which this agricultural crop grows well). In fact, carrots can quite easily get along with many plants. The list of the most successful "neighbors" includes: onions, garlic, tomatoes, radish, salad, and peas.
And another little trick: to avoid planting a carrot fly, experienced gardeners recommend to surround them with tobacco, rosemary or sage. To plants that adversely affect the development of carrots, include dill and anise.
In this article we answered many questions. After reading it, it becomes clear when planting carrots in the open ground, how to sow this culture, and how to accelerate the rate of germination of seeds. Using the above recommendations, you can easily grow on your backyard, to envy neighbors and to enjoy yourself, a rich crop of carrots. The main thing is to have patience and everything will turn out.
