Along with potatoes, such a root crop as carrots is a real strategic product for us. After all, without it, do not cook soup or borsch, and even pilaf is not the same. And about its valuable vitamin composition and can not speak. Because to provide enough of this vegetable, you need to know how to grow carrots in the open ground.
It turns out that this root crop has its own preferences, without respect of which you will get a pale, tasteless and tough carrot at best, and at worst you risk not being able to harvest at all. Let's consider what is so important when planting carrots in the open ground, and then during the care of crops.
Choose a place
The worst of all options can be the sowing of carrots to the same place where it grew last year. It is also undesirable that the precursors of the orange root crop are parsley, fennel, cumin and dill, but after the onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage, you can safely sow carrot beds. On the previous place, the vegetable should be planted no earlier than four years later.
Soil quality
A fast-paced beauty is suitable only for loose and nutritious soil mixture, because on heavy lands the supply of nutrients and oxygen is difficult, which means that the carrots will grow dry and bitter.
If the place for future planting does not correspond to the ideal, then fertilize it with humus, and add ash or other potash fertilizer. This organic will also give the root crops an attractive bright color, as well as a unique sweet taste and juiciness.
In the autumn or in the spring?
Planting carrots in the open ground is possible in late autumn or spring. To understand when it should be sown, you need to ask yourself the question - for what purpose it will be used. After all, the pre-winter crops have no shelf life and are suitable for eating during the summer. But carrots, sown in the spring, on the contrary, provides full bins already up to the next season.
How to sow carrots correctly?
Root seeds are very small, and therefore they must be sown in one line in grooves, up to two centimeters deep. The site before sowing should be carefully and deeply dug up, because a good carrot grows only on loose ground. Between grooves should leave a distance of at least 20 cm, and the ground is well sealed with a plank.
If the air temperature is sufficient - from 15 to 18 degrees, then the shoots will appear after two weeks. If more time has passed, and the young shoots have not been pierced, the seed material has been of poor quality and the crop will have to be repeated.
How often to water carrots?
It is very important at the very beginning of growth to water the carrot well. This means that watering should be regular, 2-3 times a week, but not abundant. It is best to use warm water and drain from a watering can with a diffuser.
All the time while the roots actively gain weight, they should be well watered,
Squeezing carrots
The main care for carrots in the open ground is regular watering and at least two thinning. The first is carried out when the plants rise to a height of at least 5 cm. Then the distance between the bracts is about 3 cm. After about 3-4 weeks, the thinning is repeated, but then the distance should be no less than 6-10 cm.