How to sow carrot seeds 

Carrots are deservedly one of the most common vegetable crops. It not only perfectly complements many dishes and homemade preserves, but also contains a huge amount of vitamins and minerals. Due to its beneficial properties, it is perfect for dietary and baby food. It is not surprising that most gardeners grow this vegetable on their plots.

But in order to get a generous harvest of carrots, you need to arm yourself with the basic rules for planting it. For example, you should learn how to prepare seeds and soil, as well as how to plant carrots from seeds in the open field. Inventive gardeners have come up with many ways to plant carrots that can make the task easier. We will consider them below.

Seed preparation

To plant carrots in open ground with seeds, you must first prepare them. Such preparation begins in the spring, just before planting.

Seed material that is more than three years old loses 50% of its germination capacity. Use the information on the packaging to determine how old the seeds are. If the seeds are collected on their own, then you can understand how old they are by smell. Young seeds have a pleasant pronounced aroma.

Carrot seeds germinate for a very long time. Therefore, gardeners use some methods to speed up the germination process:

1. A solution of ordinary kitchen salt is being prepared. For half a liter of water you need 25 grams of salt. Seeds are dipped into it for a while. Unsuitable ones will float to the surface of the water. Next, they must be drained along with water, and good seeds are poured with hot water for 10 minutes. Then it is also drained, and the seed is immediately poured with cold water. Now the seeds are laid out on a damp cloth or burlap and left to germinate. Before the sprouts hatch, you will need to rinse the seeds twice. For the first time, ordinary water at room temperature is used for washing. The next time you need to add mineral fertilizers to it. For example, manganese or copper sulphate, succinic or boric acid are often used for these purposes. When the seeds germinate, they are dried and planted.

   

2. This preparation begins 12 days before planting the seeds in the ground. Seeds are placed in a cloth bag and buried in the ground. It is important that the soil is sufficiently moist. Immediately before landing, the bag is taken out of the ground. For half an hour, the seeds are placed on a dry napkin and left to dry. After that, you can immediately start planting the seed. This method allows you to significantly speed up the time of emergence of seedlings. The first sprouts will sprout in 4 days.
3. The third option for seed preparation begins 5 days before planting in the ground. In this case, the seed is covered with a layer of mullein and soil. Such a nutrient shell will provide the seeds with the substances necessary for growth. To prepare the mixture, you will need 4 tablespoons of peat, 4 tablespoons of humus, 2 tablespoons of mullein and 2 tablespoons of seeds. All this is placed in a two-liter container and mixed thoroughly. Thus, the seeds are completely covered with the mixture. Now they are taken out of the container and dried on a sheet of paper. Immediately after that, we sow the seeds in the usual way for us.

Each of these methods will allow you to grow carrots in your area in a short time, as seedlings will appear almost instantly. Planting dry seeds will never give such quick results. Additionally, during preparation, the seeds receive the necessary nutrients.

Soil preparation

To obtain a high yield, carrots are planted in soil with neutral acidity. You can determine the level of soil acidity by growing wild plants in it. In such soil, clover, coltsfoot, chamomile, and sow thistle feel good. Also, the soil for growing carrots should be light sandy and loamy.

Before planting carrots, do not add fresh manure to the soil. Because of it, lush tops will grow on the plants, but the root crop itself will be small and branched. To avoid this, manure is applied under the previous crop.

Site preparation begins in the fall. The soil is dug up and fertilized. To do this, use humus and special mineral mixtures. If the acidity level is increased, then dolomite flour should also be added. In the spring, before sowing seeds, the soil is loosened and leveled.

In heavy soil, it is advised to apply the following mixture:

1. 30 of urea.
2. 10 liters of plain water.
3. 3 kg of peat.
4. 8–9 kg of sand.
5. 10 kg sawdust.

Before planting carrots, the soil should warm up to +8 ° C. As practice shows, this time comes closer to the end of April. In the northern regions, it is better to start planting in early May. But in the southern area, seeds are sown even earlier.

How to plant carrot seeds

For quick germination of seeds, they are planted in moist soil. Additionally, you can pour the well with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Some gardeners plant pinches of seeds 2 or 3 cm apart. It is more convenient for someone to sow carrots in a continuous line. Further, the furrows are covered with a mixture of sand and peat or with peat itself.

Then the bed can be covered with foil. It is left until the first sprouts hatch. This will keep moisture and heat in the soil, thereby accelerating seed germination. With this method of planting, you will need to thin out the carrots several times. The first time the sprouts are thinned out as soon as the first leaves appear. After that, the soil must be watered abundantly.

However, not everyone likes to engage in such a scrupulous business. Moreover, it is a pity to pull out and throw away young and strong sprouts, which in the future would give a good harvest. Therefore, many are interested in the question – how to properly plant carrots in open ground so that in the future it does not need to be thinned out?

To date, many ways have been devised on how best to do this. Such methods allow you to save seed, and in the future to get an excellent harvest. In addition, the appearance of carrots from such a planting will only improve. These methods can also be used when planting beets.

So, consider the most common ways of planting carrots:

1. For the first method, carrot seeds are sown along with the seeds of fast growing plants. For example, carrots are mixed with lettuce, radishes or spinach. Also, a little sand is added to this mixture so that the seedlings are not too thick. Fast-growing crops will sprout even before carrot sprouts appear. They are harvested from the garden, and carrots continue to grow. Thus, there is enough space for her, and plus, you can quickly grow the necessary greens, saving space in the garden.

   

2. The second way is more laborious. It has been practiced frequently lately, as it gives excellent results. In this case, the seeds are attached to a paper tape using a paste. You can also purchase ready-made adhesive tape. Of course, it can take a long time to stick the seed. But relatives or even children can be attached to this process. But in the future, the beds will not have to be thinned out, and this also takes a lot of time. To plant carrots using this method, you need to glue the seeds at the right distance. Then the tape is settled along the hole, and covered with soil from above. After that, the bed should be watered.

   

3. For the third planting method, a mixture of mineral fertilizers is also used. So in this case, the seeds will also receive additional nutrition. So, mineral complex fertilizers and flour are added to the water. This mixture is then boiled until a paste is obtained. The solution should be completely cooled. After that, seed is added to it and mixed thoroughly. The mixture is poured into an empty bottle with a convenient dispenser or into a confectionery syringe. Then it is squeezed out, evenly distributing throughout the hole. In such a mixture, the seeds are at the same distance from each other, so you should not worry that they will stick together. This method has many advantages, as it allows not only to plant carrots evenly, but also to further strengthen it with mineral fertilizers.

   

4. To apply the following method, you will have to buy a special seeder for planting carrots in a specialized store. Such a device can be made independently at home. Even an inexperienced gardener can cope with such a seeder. However, some argue that this method is not ideal and bald spots may remain after planting.

   

Planting carrots in granules

Every year there are new and new methods and ways of how to sow carrots. For example, to make it easier for gardeners, seeds already placed in the shell are sold. They are also commonly called dragee. Inside each granule is one seed. The shell itself consists of a mixture of hydrogel and various trace elements. It is very convenient to plant such seeds, as the granules are quite large.

Such granules have a bright color, due to which they are clearly visible in the ground. So it will be very to place the seeds evenly. Moreover, it is not necessary to plant them in the hole, as we used to do. Seed pits can be made with a regular stick. Here it will be much easier to determine at what distance to plant the seeds. Between the pits leave about five centimeters. The depth of the pits should be no more than two centimeters. Next, place 1 seed in the holes and bury them in the ground. After the done, be sure to water the bed abundantly. This is necessary in order for the granule to collapse and the carrots to germinate easily.

Conclusion

We see that it is possible to sow carrots not only in the usual way for many, planting dry seeds in a hole. Today, there are more effective methods that will save time and seed. Planting carrots in this way is a pleasure. And even more pleasure can be obtained by harvesting a generous harvest. Using the methods described above, you can achieve excellent results and grow beautiful carrots that will delight you and your loved ones.