Growing carrots in the Moscow region - planting and care: to grow even and beautiful
Growing carrots in the suburbs - planting and care, my tips
The shops are full of the most delicious, the sweetest, most fruitful varieties of vegetables. And I decided to grow this very “very” delicious and sweet carrot.
At first, we had very tense relations with carrots: the soil was loam, and not the lightest one. Well, carrots really do not like such conditions! No, it grows somehow ... But what! Uprooting - you can’t say otherwise - the root crops had to be shoveled, despite the preliminary watering, supposedly intended to moisten the soil. After that, “something” of unpredictable form was extracted from the earth.
Sand was made on the beds for several years trying to improve the soil structure. However, it seems, he was very quickly sucked in depth, inaccessible to root crops. Longer kept straw chop. The earth did become more friable, breathable. However, solid blades of grass still “crushed” the carrot: the delicate roots, having bumped into an obstacle, bent, twisted, branched.
However, over time, our efforts nevertheless gave effect, and the capricious vegetable began to form the correct root crops. At first, she grew the simplest, time-tested varieties - Nantes 4, Losinoostrovskaya 13, Vitamin 6, Moscow Winter A515. However, I wanted to try something new. I chose such varieties as Tushon, Dolyanka, Children's sweets, Kuroda chantane, Basel and Tenderness. And for the exotic took yellow Yellowstone and purple Violet.
When the carrot grew in height about 3-4 cm, the leaves at Yellowstone began to curl. These plants lagged far behind and had to be removed.
IMPORTANT. Deformed curly leaves in carrots, parsley or parsnip, a symptom of carrot leaf-splitting damage.
Protection measures for crops are simple: during the flight of insects (in May-June), plants are sprayed with sharply smelling infusions - wormwood, garlic, tobacco, marigolds. Perhaps the use of chemical protective agents from the group of pyrethroids or neonicotinoids. It is also necessary to combat weeds from the umbelliferous family and to maximally remove carrot crops from coniferous plantations where adult leaf-wintered individuals winter. By the way, pests cause the most damage to thickened landings.
I took care of the plantings as usual: I thinned out the first time when the plants gave 2-3 real leaves. Preliminarily, it spilled a bed abundantly: the roots jump out of the “slurry” very easily and the neighboring ones do not injure. That means they have less reason to branch. To scare away a carrot fly, I carried out all work with carrots in the morning, carefully pulled out all the pulled branches and roots and carried them into compost on the other side of the plot. These pests seek planting by smell, so that injured plants are like a beacon for them. Wormwood helped to knock them off course - I covered the aisles abundantly with its twigs. When they blew, she covered everything with grassy grass from a lawn mower. This retains moisture in the ground, and carrots crack less. The second thinning took place in July, when the root crops grew so much that they can be used as food.
See also: Carrot variety The Queen of Autumn - growing in the suburbs
I fed carrots three times a season. For the purposes of the experiment, half of the bed was fed with complex fertilizer, and the second with nettle infusion with ash and mash prepared for tomatoes from yeast and old jam.
IMPORTANT. Nitrogen supplements are required carrots before the formation of the root crop. Later it is better to use potash and phosphorus fertilizers - this will improve the keeping quality of root crops.
Carrot such a diet came quite to the taste, but I did not notice the difference in the size and taste of the root crops “on the right” and “on the left”. Only on one bed where I did not use mulch, the carrot turned out bitter.
IMPORTANT. Carrots can become rough and bitter if the roots rise above the surface of the soil and turn green under the influence of the sun's rays. Therefore, if you plant varieties that are prone to “getting out into the light,” you should spud planting 1-2 times per season or mulch well.
Root crops that are damaged by pests such as leaf-leaf, carrot fly, larvae of a raspberry or wireworm, and also growing on acidic soils and experiencing a deficiency of phosphorus and potassium, can also become bitter. Another possible cause of bitterness is the sowing of F1 hybrids (seeds collected from F hybrids1).
Crop cleaned in the autumn, as late as possible, so that the roots had time to ripen. Alas, not all new varieties were tested. For example, Children's sweetness and Tenderness are very cracked: some root vegetables literally broke in half, although I watered them just like other varieties. As for the yellow carrot, I can’t say anything — it didn’t live to see storage. The child purposefully sought out her remains on the garden, and a couple of root crops, accidentally preserved before harvesting, ate on the same day. But he did not like Violet fresh because of a sharper taste.
IMPORTANT. Carrot roots can crack not only because of uneven watering, but also because of too late harvest. Do not overdo it in the ground! Early varieties, such as Children's Sweetness, Alenka, Amsterdam, Kuroda Shantane and others, ripen through 70-90 days after germination.
Mid-season - Nantes 4, Violetta, Vitamin 6, Losinoostrovskaya 13, Peerless, NIIOKH 336, Sonata, Tushon and others - are ready for harvesting in 90-110 days. Late-ripening, such as Basel, Royal Berlicum, Yellowstone, Queen of the Autumn, Rothe Riesen, Ibiza and others, should grow 110 days or longer. For storage, varieties of medium and late ripening are best suited. But it is advisable to use early carrots immediately.
What are the impressions of the new varieties? At the end of the season, Dolyanka and Tushon were included in the list of favorites: fruitful, beautiful, tasty, well stored. Basel is good, you can’t say anything. But he formed very large and long (sometimes they turned out to be longer than the bayonet spade) root crops, many of them broke when digging. Kuroda Shantane did not like the shape - I prefer cylindrical, even root crops, and these turned out to be short, triangular, wide from above. However, on shallow cultivated soil, they should show themselves very well.
IMPORTANT. Some gardeners practice summer crops of carrots for storage, sowing seeds in early June. But at this time it is difficult to get good shoots: sprouts require constant soil moisture and the absence of a hard crust on its surface. But on the other hand, they are more likely not to suffer from a carrot fly.
Seeds for late sowing need to be pre-cooked: bubbling, or at least soaking in water for a day, changing it regularly. Before sowing, they are dried to flowability, and the sowed beds prune from the sun.
See also: How to grow carrots without beds and thinning (Moscow region)
GROWING CARROTS - TO BE SWEET: VIDEO
© Author: Z. IVANOVA Moscow Region I. BELKINA, Agronomist
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Yellow carrots - photo varieties and their description
- Growing carrots on clay soil - planting and care (Tula region)
- How to grow carrots without beds and thinning (Moscow region)
- Cultivation of carrots - care for proven varieties and soil preparation. Planting carrots.
- Growing purple carrots - planting and care (Kurgan region)
- How NOT to grow horned and crooked carrots?
- Secrets of growing carrots (Vologda region)
- Cultivation of carrots - care and feeding (Samara region)
- "Lazy" way of growing even and large carrots
- Growing carrots in the Moscow region - planting and care: to grow even and beautiful
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More than once I came across the fact that carrot seeds germinate about three weeks after sowing. During this time, the bed has time to thoroughly overgrow with weeds. In order not to damage the barely noticeable shoots during weeding, I resort to a simple trick.
I buy carrot seeds on ribbons so that they are one at a time.
I lay the tape in the prepared grooves. Between the seeds of carrots I plant one at a time radish seeds, which sprout quickly. Radish plants are clearly visible, and it is clear where the carrots will grow. This greatly facilitates weeding. By the time the carrots need more space, I have time to remove all the radishes.
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Daily use of carrots strengthens the immune system, which is especially important 80 during the flu epidemic. This vegetable has a lot of potassium, so it should be included in your diet for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases. Due to the high content of antioxidants in carrots, its regular use prevents cancer. Carrots are especially useful for those who smoke - this root crop protects the lungs from tobacco smoke. Dishes from an orange root crop quickly satisfy hunger and give a feeling of satiety.
The following tips, I hope, will help to grow healthy, juicy and tasty root crops.
You can not sow carrots in the soil, seasoned with fresh manure - root crops will grow "horned".
The best precursors for carrots are tomatoes, cabbage and cucumbers.
Carrots are a fairly cold-resistant crop. Its seeds give the first seedlings already at 4-5, and the seedlings can tolerate a drop in temperature to minus 3 degrees.
The smell of carrots being thinned during thinning attracts a carrot fly. Therefore, you should immediately sow the seeds less often.
Weeds are best trimmed at the surface. If you pull them out, you can damage the root crops.
On clay soil, curved root crops grow. On sandy, loose, well-drained soils containing silicon, carrots grow tasty, smooth, with a thin core.
The first fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers is carried out when 3-4 leaves are formed on the plants. The second - complex fertilizer after 3-4 weeks. During the period of active growth of root crops and 3 weeks before harvesting, carrots are fed with potash fertilizers.
With an excess of nitrogen, root crops grow large, but sensitive to damage and disease. With excessive feeding with potassium and phosphorus, tasteless root crops of giant sizes with a thick core grow.
With a lack of moisture in the soil, root crops grow coarse, woody, and with an excess of them, tops and core grow. With irregular watering, root crops crack.
To determine the condition of the soil, you need to pull out the root crop and see: if it is wet, the hairs are alive and keep lumps of earth on them, then there is enough water. With drought, the top of the tops as if coagulates, the root crop becomes sluggish. Watering should be regular and plentiful so that the earth gets wet to a great depth.
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So that beets and carrots grow large and well stored, thoroughly thin them at the end of summer. Between the beets, leave 6-8 cm, carrots - 4-5 cm. Do not leave the tops on the beds, otherwise the beet and carrot flies will arrive.
Dmitry DIYAKONOV
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In early September, cut the tops of carrots so that there are ponytails without leaflets about 7 cm high. This will protect the root crops from cracking and accelerate their ripening.
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Old sources advised to use kerosene to control weeds on carrots. The experiments conducted at that time showed that the plants of the umbrella family are resistant to this fluid, and for other plants it is poisonous.
It was recommended to use kerosene both before emergence, and after that. In the first case, the treatment is carried out 2-3 days before germination. If time is lost, then this must be done in phase 2 of these leaves. When processing carrots on seedlings, one should not drag out time: the deadline is the achievement of the diameter of 6 mm by the upper part of the root crop. It is also worth considering the stage of development of weeds - kerosene best suppresses them in the phase of 1-3 leaves. If you are late, the weeds are damaged much less.
Dose per one hundred parts is 2,5-4 l and depends on the degree of contamination and seedling density. After processing, carrots on 5-6 days slow down active growth, but soon recover and continue to develop well.
Spraying of beds should be made with fresh kerosene in dry, windless, warm weather. When the threat of rain can not be applied this "herbicide" - rain leads to the formation of water-kerosene emulsion that can damage carrots.
Do not use kerosene if the carrots are planned for harvesting young.
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My carrots constantly did not succeed - now small, then clumsy. To be honest, I already despaired of growing it. And somehow, in a conversation over a cup of tea at work, an employee Irina told me how she grows large and beautiful carrots. I immediately adopted her method.
But the point is that carrots are planted in a furrow next to potatoes in the beginning of May in damp earth, covered with river sand and clapped with a palm. The earth is warming up, carrots are rising, and weeds are perfectly visible on the bright sand.
I produce watering only if it is very dry, and there is enough moisture. The sand is not earth, it does not cover with a crust, and my carrots very nicely emerge. A separate furrow is clearly visible, the sun warms it up, and carrots grow. Sometimes I’ll die and polish, if it’s dry, that’s all care.
In August, I take carrots for harvesting, and at the end of September I harvest the roots and enjoy the harvest. I do not observe any curly-curliness. True, in the last two years, following the advice of Dacha, I plant carrots before planting at home. Sprouted, saturated with moisture, it is sown less often, so that later it is not necessary to thin out. And after such sowing comes up in a week.
When in September I dig my carrot with a pitchfork, I always cut off the tails and tops on the hanger to remove the growing point. I dry it a bit in the sun, then I transfer it to the shed for a draft and there I dry it. I keep in a basement in buckets with sawdust, on sawdust on top I put a sprig of spruce with needles and cover with lids. Why put a Christmas tree? But I don’t know myself, just a big fir tree grows near the house, and because of the wind there are always a lot of branches in the yard. Carrots are stored perfectly, do not germinate and do not rot.