10 ways to properly plant carrots in the ground so as not to thin out.

Small and light carrot seeds are difficult to sow evenly, and sloppy seedlings can fall victim to weeding. How to achieve even rows that are easy to notice and process, and ideally get rid of thinning? There is a way, and more than one.

Of course, you can just try and carefully pour the seeds into the previously prepared grooves. If there is no wind, you bend low enough and do not rush, then the rows can be formed quite evenly. However, if standing over the garden bed and carefully measuring the number of seeds per 10 cm is not to your taste, you can try to change something.

How to plant carrots in spring

In order to avoid the routine work of breaking through unnecessary seedlings, we suggest using 10 simple and practice-tested techniques. These methods are very easy to use, and miniature carrot seeds are planted at such a distance from each other that will allow the future vegetable to receive everything it needs for growth and development. Plus, neighboring root vegetables will not intertwine, which means the appearance of the future carrot will be aesthetic, correct in shape and pleasant to use.

How to plant carrots so you don’t have to thin them later

Devices for sowing seeds in a bed

For sowing seeds, seeders are used that are capable of scattering seeds in doses at the sowing site. Using these devices, you can achieve uniform and friendly seed germination. And, therefore, obtaining leveled and large products.

Industrial seeders designed for sowing seeds over large areas.

The first method is how to plant carrots so as not to thin out later. Using regular toilet paper.

First we need to prepare a paste. To do this, dilute 1 liter of water with 1 tablespoon of flour, put it on the fire and add the first bulbs - turn it off. Once it cools down to 35 degrees, you can add a little complex fertilizer. Next, place drops of natural glue on the toilet paper at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other lengthwise. Glue our seeds on top. Dry the paper and you can go to the garden, dig a small furrow, put the tape there along with the seeds, sprinkle soil on top to a depth of 1-2 cm.

Preparing the soil for sowing

Planting carrots in open ground is carried out as follows:

• loosening the soil;
• fertilizing the sowing site;
• laying carrot seeds;
• timely watering;
• pest elimination;
• weeding between rows;
• harvesting.

First of all, you need to choose an area in the garden where the least amount of weeds appears. In early April, you can start sowing early ripening varieties.

It is important to loosen the soil, add a little sand, and mix it with mineral fertilizers a few weeks before sowing the seeds.

The sixth way to plant carrots: Make dragees!

Dilute mullein with a small amount of microfertilizers with water in a ratio of 1:10, filter through a layer of gauze. We take a three-liter glass jar (this container is most convenient), pour the seeds into it, moisten it with a paste (we discussed how to prepare this natural glue earlier), add one part of the fertilizer. Shake the jar and repeat the procedure again until the pellets have increased in volume to 3 ml. Sprinkle with ash so that the balls dry and stop sticking together.

Sowing carrot seeds with sand

There is another way to avoid thinning: pour two tablespoons of seeds onto a bucket of sand. The mixture should be evenly moistened, after which it is distributed into the grooves. Cover with a small layer of soil and water periodically. A good harvest awaits you: beautiful and well-aligned root crops.

There is an old, grandmother's way of sowing. Pour the seed material into a jar of water. Then we take water with seeds into our mouth and sprinkle it on the garden bed, as is done when ironing. Compared to dry planting, the seedlings are much more even.

Use a carrot seeder.

And the tenth most labor-intensive method is suitable for a real owner who is interested in tinkering and inventing something new and useful for the household. Carrot seeder. The first wheel of this unit must have spikes through which seeds fall into the soil to the same width and depth. A spout goes through a small hopper, which supplies a certain amount of seeds; the supply of seedlings is strictly regulated by a special valve. And the second wheel with a smooth surface rake and lightly compact the landing.

We have given you an example of the ten most effective ways to plant carrots, which will significantly save your time when growing root crops. Happy planting and great harvest!

Sowing carrots in a bag

This method is implemented when the snow melts and the first thawed patches appear. We moisten the seeds with water, put them in a linen bag and lower them into a shallow hole dug with the bayonet of a shovel. Cover with a mixture of snow and soil. The seeds will hatch after two weeks. They are taken out and mixed with river sand, then scattered over the garden bed.

The bed is covered with film for good heating. Shoots can be seen after 6 days. You should try to replant them carefully and evenly in the quantity required.

• advantage of the method: carrots ripen early, they are juicy and large, contain all the useful substances,
• disadvantage of this method: if there is a sudden frost, the seeds may freeze, although they are quite resistant to cold.

Thinned and evenly spaced carrot shoots

Improving sandy soil for growing carrots

Let's say right away that growing carrots on sandy loam and even sandy soils is less troublesome than on the same loam, and even more so on clay soil. After all, carrots are a crop that categorically cannot tolerate stagnation of water, the formation of a dense crust on the soil surface and waterlogging, but, on the contrary, prefers soils that are loose and light, water- and breathable.

However, even in this case, the bed should be prepared before planting carrots.

Choose the sunniest place on the site for your favorite root vegetable - carrots love a lot of light and warmth.

Do you remember what grew in this place before? Good predecessors for carrots are green manure, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, legumes, cabbage, and zucchini. But you shouldn’t plant it after beets, chard, parsnips, celery, dill or other umbelliferous plants. An unsuccessful solution would be to choose a place for carrots even after crops that leave behind large plant residues in the soil - late cabbage, corn.

The carrots themselves are replanted in their original place no earlier than after 3-4 years to prevent damage to the root crops by diseases and pests.

If you are going to grow carrots in compacted or mixed plantings, remember that this crop tolerates the proximity of many plants well, but develops best next to onions, peas and spinach. And herbs such as dill, anise, celery and parsley cannot be planted nearby, because They have a depressing effect on each other.

How to prepare the bed itself for carrots? We proceed from the fact that the root crop prefers light and loose soils, rich in organic matter, with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction environment. It is on such soil that smooth, large and sweet root crops grow.

Sandy and sandy loam soils fully meet these requirements. The only thing is that they cannot retain moisture well and contain few nutrients. This means that they must first be filled with complex mineral fertilizer - this is usually done in the spring, at the same time as sowing.

If necessary, it is better to apply deoxidizing agents (lime, dolomite flour) under the previous crop. Untimely (spring) deoxidation of the soil just before planting carrots will lead to multi-tailed root crops.

The same applies to organic matter - it is added under carrots in the fall to dig up the soil to a depth of 20-25 cm. At the same time, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are added (up to 15 g of urea, 30-40 g of superphosphate and 15-20 g of potassium sulfate per 1 sq. m).

It is absolutely important not to add fresh manure to the soil before planting carrots, even a year before sowing - this is guaranteed to ruin your harvest, if not completely ruin it!

Mistakes gardeners make when sowing carrots

Many beginners, and even experienced gardeners, make mistakes when planting carrots. And then they are surprised at the low yield and crooked roots. With what it can be connected?

1. Sowing with dry seeds is the easiest and most effortless method. Shoots appear late, they are uneven, often thickened.
2. It happens that crops are poorly thinned, explaining that this way you can get more harvest. Yes, there will be more carrots, but they won’t be called large.
3. When using seeds on a tape, it is buried, but not compacted. In windy weather, the tape ends up on the surface, and the seeds that have begun to germinate dry out.
4. When planting mixed crops, the plants are selected incorrectly. Scientists have proven that not all cultures “feel good” next to each other.
5. If seedlings are uneven, try replanting small plants. Carrots, like beets, take root poorly (50/50).

Preparing carrot seeds

Carrot seeds are slow-witted: when sown dry, they take a very long time to germinate: even in optimal weather conditions, the first sprouts may appear only after 2–3 weeks, and in early spring even after a month. The fact is that the surface of the seeds is covered with a dense ethereal shell, and in order to remove it or at least soften it, the seeds must be prepared.

Calibration (rejection) of seeds by specific gravity is rarely done. The seeds are small, there are a lot of them, and if, for example, for cucumbers or tomatoes, shaking in salt water after 5-7 minutes will lead to the fact that defective seeds will float and good ones will sink, for carrots this trick does not work: you need to soak for many hours . Although, of course, preliminary preparation consists of soaking.

But they do it differently. The seeds are kept in a damp cloth at room temperature for 3–4 days, wetting it as it dries. This significantly speeds up germination, but simple soaking is not the most effective way. You can treat the seeds with hot water (but not boiling water, as can be found in some articles!). Having lowered them in a bag into water with a temperature of about 50 ° C, wait for the water to cool naturally.

Bubbling them with air helps the germination of carrot seeds very well. If you blow air into the water in which the seeds are placed through a sprayer from an aquarium compressor for 8–10 hours, the ethereal shell is removed almost without a residue, and the seeds will germinate in no later than a week.

Some gardeners germinate seeds, but if this process is started, it will not be easy to separate them later

Hardening carrot seeds is probably a useless piece of advice: carrot seedlings are not afraid of frost, and what is good for peppers and tomatoes is of no use to carrots.

Preparing carrot seeds for sowing is a double-edged sword. In a problematic climate, it can also cause harm. So, in my practice, I never know in advance whether carrots will succeed this year. It is most often necessary to sow it in May: for April crops, there is usually enough moisture in the soil for germination, but from early sowings, carrots ripen already at the end of summer, when you have not yet put them in the cellar. And in May in our area it is often hot over 30 ° C and not a drop of rain. When visiting the dacha only on weekends, this is risky farming.

If the seeds are soaked, they will hatch, but heat and drought will destroy them. This applies to any small seeds: parsley, godetia, clarkia, etc., which do not sprout in our country every year. Dry seeds can lie in the ground, naturally preparing for hatching until favorable weather: this is a little more reliable. In the middle zone, where there are fewer problems with humidity, it is still better to prepare the seeds for sowing.

Sowing methods that require time or money

Sixth method: seed pelleting.

As a result of this procedure, seeds will be obtained that will be enveloped in a shell, like store-bought granules. For this you will need to prepare mullein. It should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 10, then filtered through a thick layer of gauze. Microfertilizers are supposed to be added to it.

Pour the carrot seeds into a three-liter jar (it will be more convenient to shake the seeds well in it), lightly moisten them (you can use a paste solution) so that the prepared composition sticks to them, but they do not stick together.

Add a little prepared mixture of mullein and fertilizer to the jar. Shake the container so that the seeds are enveloped in this powder.

Alternate spraying with dusting with mullein until the balls become about 3 mm in size. You can shake them a little more to make the balls more dense.

The final step is to sprinkle the balls with wood ash. It will make the balls dry and they will stop sticking to each other.

Seventh method: using paste with seeds.

The seeds in the thick mixture are evenly distributed, so when you squeeze it onto the bed, the seeds will fall evenly. This is a great way to sow carrots without having to thin out.

To create a paste, you will need a liter of warm water, and you will have to brew a tablespoon of flour in it. You can enrich the composition if you first dilute a small amount of complex fertilizer in it. The mixture should cool to 35 degrees Celsius. Then you can add carrot seeds to it and mix everything well. You can squeeze the paste out of a plastic bottle with a small hole in the lid.

Eighth method: planting carrots on toilet paper.

In this case, you need to stick it on thin paper (for example, toilet paper).

You can use the same paste as described in the previous method, or prepare another one based on starch (1 teaspoon of starch per glass of water). Apply a drop of paste to toilet paper and glue a few seeds onto it. Dry the tape and you can go to the garden.

Ninth method: special seeder.

This is the most expensive method of planting carrots without thinning. It is a seed container with two wheels. The front wheel has a spike that makes a hole in the soil. Several seeds fall out of the hole in the container. The second wheel compacts the plantings.

Here are nine rather original ways to plant carrots without thinning them. Which one did you like best and would you like to use in your summer cottage? My mother-in-law, for example, always mixes carrot seeds with sand, and after planting, sprinkles the furrows with ash. Plants 1 row of onions, another row of carrots. This is how she fights onion and carrot flies. My aunt prefers to glue carrot seeds onto toilet paper. Everyone chooses what they like. We hope you will find the best way to plant carrots in the spring. Have a good harvest!