Carrots are one of the most unpretentious crops in the garden. Therefore, it can be grown not only in summer but also in winter. In this case, the main thing is to properly plant carrots with seeds in open ground.
Carrots can be planted at least four times throughout the year. First, this is done in April to get an early harvest, in May it is planted for winter storage, in July - to get fresh carrots in the fall and in October, winter sowing is carried out.
Useful properties of carrots
Carrots have always been famous for their beneficial properties for the human body. It contains a huge amount of useful vitamins and minerals. It contains especially a lot of carotene, which helps a young human body to develop properly. At the same time, the low calorie content of carrots allows you to eat it at home without special restrictions.
In addition to the beneficial properties for the internal organs of a person, carrots have a positive effect on the condition of the skin. At home, you can make a simple and easy recipe for a nourishing face mask. Mix finely grated carrots with 2 tablespoons of starch and 1 egg yolk. Then apply to cleansed skin and rinse off after 20 minutes. The effect can be seen after 2-3 applications of the nourishing mask.
To properly plant carrots with seeds in open ground, you need to follow a certain sequence: seed preparation, soil preparation and sowing.
How to prepare carrot seeds
There are essential oils on the surface of carrot seeds that prevent them from germinating. Therefore, there are several ways to accelerate the germination of plants.
The most common and classic method is that dry seeds are placed in a tissue bag and 2 weeks before sowing, they are buried in damp ground on a plot to a depth of about 20 cm. On the day of sowing, they are dug out and slightly dried for 30 minutes. After that, you can start planting.
You can also make a nutrient solution to prepare the seeds in which they are soaked. For its preparation use 1 liter of water, ½ tsp. potassium permanganate and nitrophosphate. Another nutrient solution can be prepared from wood ash (1 tablespoon) and water (1 liter). In any of these solutions, seeds are dipped for a day in a special tissue bag. After that, they are taken out and placed in the refrigerator for two days. Before sowing, the seeds are dried for 20 minutes. After this preparation, you can start planting carrots with seeds in open ground.
Soil preparation
Carrots are light-loving crops. Therefore, it should be planted in sunny, open areas. Among soils, she prefers fertile loams and black soil. In this case, the place must have good drainage and be free of weeds. Fresh manure for carrots is never applied. This leads to its very rapid ripening, which negatively affects the size of the root crops.
It is best to start preparing for the spring planting of carrots in the fall. To do this, the future bed is dug onto a shovel bayonet. This does not apply to peat soils. On them, the garden needs to be prepared only two days before sowing so that excess moisture does not evaporate from the soil surface. At the same time, the necessary fertilizers are applied in the fall for digging. On sandy, clayey and loamy soils, make a mixture of 1 bucket of humus and 3 kg of old sawdust per 1 sq. m. Also add 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and 2 tbsp. l. nitrophosphate. In the spring, before sowing, it will be necessary to carry out liming with dolomite flour. On black soil, half a bucket of old sawdust and 1 bucket of yellow sand with the addition of 2 tbsp. l. superphosphate for every square meter of land. If there is no ordinary humus, then you can replace it with compost.
Before being introduced into the soil, wood sawdust is laid out on a flat surface and watered with a urea solution (for 10 liters of water, 5 tablespoons of nitrogen fertilizer).
Also, carrots are very demanding on loose soils. Therefore, it needs to be dug as deep as possible in order to achieve a good result.
Carrots give a rich harvest if cucumbers, tomatoes, legumes or potatoes were grown in this place.
How to plant carrots correctly
Before you start sowing carrots, you need to correctly determine the optimal planting dates. If carrots are needed for fresh consumption in summer and autumn, then they are planted at the end of April in central Russia and at the end of March in the southern regions. For long-term winter storage, carrots are sown in the middle lane in mid-May, and in the south - in early June. At the same time, it is important that the weather outside is warm during landing. Otherwise, the seeds will germinate for a very long time.
Beds for sowing carrots with seeds in open ground are loosened to a depth of about 3 cm before planting and various roots and weeds are removed. Then small grooves are made across the bed no more than 5 cm wide and about 2 cm deep. The distance between them should be at least 15 cm. Then you need to water the bed with a solution of potassium permanganate. After that, carrot seeds are carefully laid out in the grooves to prevent excessive thickening. You cannot pour them directly from the bag. Better to take the seeds in the palm of your hand and pass them between your fingers. If the seeds are glued to a paper base, then it is laid with the seeds facing down.
After sowing, the grooves are mulched with peat or loose humus. At the same time, watering the carrots after planting is not worth it. This can lead to the fact that the seeds go much deeper into the soil than it should be for quick germination. If the weather is dry and hot, then a film is stretched over the bed. This will prevent moisture from quickly evaporating from the ground. After the appearance of the first shoots, the film is removed from the garden bed.
Winter sowing of carrots
The garden for such sowing begins to be prepared in September. In this case, the soil is disinfected with a solution of copper sulfate (1 tablespoon per bucket of water) and the necessary fertilizers are applied. For each square meter of land for digging, you need to put 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and potassium sulfate.
In October, grooves need to be cut in the garden for future sowing. This will not be possible when the topsoil is frozen. Moreover, their depth should reach at least 4 cm.
At home, the land is harvested in advance for mulching plantings. Carrots are planted before winter, when the outside temperature is -5 to -8 degrees. This usually occurs in early December. This will prevent the seeds from germinating in the ground and keeping well until spring. During winter planting of carrots, sow only dry seeds or mix them with dry sand in a ratio of 1: 5. In the spring, as soon as the snow melts, arcs are installed over the garden bed and the film is stretched. This method will allow you to get the carrot harvest even earlier by a week.
