Good and bad precursors for carrots
Juicy orange roots grow flat and large in fertile soil, but if there is not enough nutrients, it is unlikely that a good harvest of carrots can be removed. Usually this situation happens if the rules of crop rotation are not observed on the site and the vegetable is grown from year to year on the same bed. To avoid such a phenomenon, you should change cultures in places, and for this you need to know which predecessors are the best for planting carrots.
After which garden plants can carrots be planted?
It is better to sow carrots in those areas where they were previously grown:
- potatoes;
- bow;
- tomatoes;
- salad.
Also, the former cucumber beds are suitable for the root crop, but not earlier than two years later. After cucumbers, a lot of organic matter remains in the soil, and carrots do not tolerate its excess and often "burns out" at the initial stages.
Which predecessors should you avoid?
Least suitable for growing carrots the site is the bed after the parsley. This is due to the fact that parsley during its growing season creates comfortable conditions in the soil for the appearance and reproduction of pathogenic bacteria. As a result, the roots begin to hurt, grow small, crooked, with dry pulp, and become defenseless against pests.
If it so happens that the area after the parsley is the only one free for the whole garden, you can try to disinfect it by spilling it with a strong solution of potassium permanganate immediately before sowing carrots. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that it will be possible to destroy all the bacteria, but at least the carrots will have a chance.
And what to plant after the carrots themselves?
If it is not desirable to sow an orange root crop after cucumbers, then the opposite effect gives only a positive result. Planting cucumbers in place of carrots with the introduction of manure will restore the balance of nutrients in the soil, and after two years it will be possible to grow carrots on this place again.
The next year, after carrots, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage are planted.
How to keep a vegetable from carrot flies?
Wherever carrots are planted, carrot fly everywhere it will be found by the smell that root crops emit. And then you can say goodbye to sweet roots, because this pest loves them so much that it can "appropriate" at least half of the crop.
In order to ward off an insect, experienced gardeners use combined plantings. So, you can scare off a fly by alternating carrot and onion (or garlic) beds. Tobacco dust also gives a good result. It is mixed with ash and sprinkled between rows once a week.