What is a vegetable garden without carrots? Of course, not a single gardener can do without this culture. However, this seemingly ordinary and familiar vegetable is fraught with certain problems. As an experienced gardener, I can say that growing carrots is only half the battle.

It is equally important to choose the most suitable time for harvesting. This question is not as simple as it seems. Let's take a closer look at the features of ripening carrots, optimal timing for its collection, preparation for storage and the storage process itself - its subtleties and secrets.

In fact, understanding this issue is much more important than we think. If you pull a vegetable out of the ridges ahead of time, then it will not have time to collect enough sugars and nutrients, respectively, its taste will leave much to be desired.

And, on the contrary, if the carrot lingers in the soil longer than the due date, then it will not only become overgrown with numerous hairs, but also crack, begin to rot and be damaged by pests.

The ripening time of carrots, the timing of its harvesting are determined by many factors, these include varietal characteristics of the root crop, climatic conditions throughout the summer period, a list of fertilizers used during the growing season, and much more.

Therefore, it is not possible to designate any specific dates; each gardener will have to navigate according to his individual indirect signs.

In this case, the smallest detail has great value: gardener's flair, a bag of seeds saved from the moment of sowing, color of carrot tops, appearance, taste qualities of a vegetable, ambient temperature.

However, first of all, it should be borne in mind that varieties of carrots in terms of ripening are early, medium and late. In this regard, the main factor can be called the period of ripening of root crops indicated in the characteristics of the variety, as well as the recommended period for sowing seeds.

Early ripe varieties of carrots and the timing of their ripening

For early carrots, the growing season is 60-80 days. By itself, the early root crop is juicy with a high sugar content, tasty and healthy, ideal for summer light salads.

Such a carrot is quite small, it is not at all suitable for long-term storage. For this reason, carrots of this type are planted in limited quantities, so that they can be eaten before the start of autumn.

Early varieties of carrots must be dug up by mid-summer. Otherwise, the vegetable will become tasteless, or even crack and get sick. All the same can be attributed to root crops planted before winter.

Therefore, if you took care of replenishing your diet with vitamins last fall and planted carrots before winter, then do not forget to completely harvest by mid-July. The liberated bed can be reused by sowing any early crop or feeding the soil by planting green manure.

Mid-season and late varieties: terms and features of harvesting

Varieties of carrots, the ripeness of which occurs 80-110 days after sowing, are considered mid-ripening. This group includes the most popular varieties among gardeners: they easily manage to ripen even in not the longest summer and are perfectly stored. Such carrots are harvested by mid-September.

When carrots take more than 110 days to ripen, they are classified as late-ripening autumn varieties. It will be perfectly preserved without loss of taste and nutritional qualities until the next harvest.

However, if the summer is cold and rainy, it may not fully ripen. With favorable climatic conditions autumn carrots can sit in the garden until mid-October.

Sowing time is of great importance. Most often, due to its cold resistance, carrots are one of the first crops that appear in the spring in the garden. However, the weather brings surprises every year, and if in one season it is warm by mid-April, then in another, sowing is not possible until the end of May.

You can make your task much easier if you get into the habit of making notes on packets of seeds. Just specify the exact date sowing and keep the sachets until harvest. The packaging always indicates the ripening period of a particular crop variety, from which you can easily calculate the approximate date of harvesting root crops.

However, if you nevertheless neglected this advice and threw away the packaging, then you will have to focus on the external signs of carrot ripeness.

How to determine the ripeness of carrots by external signs

• Yellowed or dried lower leaves. The readiness of root crops for digging is evidenced by the yellowing and lodging of the lower foliage. The middle leaves change their appearance when the carrot is sick, attacked by harmful insects, or has been in the garden for too long;
• Increasing the "hairiness" of carrots, i.e. the appearance of white thread-like roots on it indicates that the carrot is overripe and is preparing to grow. Vegetables must be harvested urgently, otherwise you risk getting hard dry roots instead of tasty and juicy carrots;
• The taste and appearance of carrots is determined by trial. Dig up a few and look at them. If the roots are bright orange in color, large, tasty, then it's time to remove them from the garden.

Autumn cooling, in addition to its detrimental effect, can sometimes bring benefits to the plant. This has a lot to do with carrots. So, starting from the end of summer, a gradual cooling slows down the growth of green mass, due to which the root crop itself begins to intensively gain weight.

At the same time, the carrot is in the stage of accumulation of sugars, minerals, vitamins and other elements - it reaches the stage of full biological maturity, reaches the optimal level of keeping quality and taste.

Carrots completely stop growing when the air temperature drops to 3-5 degrees Celsius. This means that it is time to dig up the roots.

At the same time, the time of cooling has another side - precipitation and the first frosts. Prolonged rains cause the appearance of rot and other diseases, and frosts worsen the keeping quality of fruits. Follow the weather forecast, if precipitation and frost are expected, immediately clean up.

In such circumstances, the amount of accumulated vitamins and even the ripeness of root crops cease to matter, your harvest is at risk.

Having decided on the moment of harvesting the culture, do not relax! The technology of harvesting carrots has its own secrets.

The subtleties of the technology of collecting root crops

Prematurely, about three to four weeks before harvest, watering carrots should be stopped. This is necessary because vegetables extracted from dry soil retain their juiciness much longer. So choose a sunny, dry day, arm yourself with the right tool, and start digging.

If your site boasts light and loose soil, then you can simply pull out the root crops with your hands. To do this, grasp the bottom of the tops with one hand, and lightly hold the base of the fruit with the other. In some cases, a small spatula can help, with which root crops are undermined.

When the soil in the beds leaves much to be desired, it is best to use a pitchfork. An ordinary shovel will also work, however, you need to wield it very carefully so as not to damage the crop. Step back a few centimeters from the carrot row and gently pry the ground.

Pull out the carrots that appear from the soil, holding on to the stems, with your hands. Immediately sort the root crops: immediately remove all small, clumsy, damaged and cut ones to the side, and you have to prepare large even fruits for winter storage.

How to Properly Prepare Carrots for Storage

• You should start with cleansing. Release the root crops from adhering soil, but this must be done very carefully - the method of tapping carrots against each other is not at all suitable, since the carrots will simply crack.
• Further, without fail, the root crops should be freed from the tops - otherwise, during the drying process, it will take some of the moisture from the carrots. You can cut the foliage in a couple of steps or immediately, cutting off the base of the fruit along with the tops. If you give preference to the first option, then first cut off the greens just above the base of the carrot, and then cut off 0.5-1 cm of the pulp itself from the top along with the growth point. There is no big difference between these methods, the main thing is to make the cut as smooth and even as possible.
• Removing the growth point is necessary to prevent the germination of carrots during storage. In addition, more moisture and nutrients will remain in root crops cut in this way, the risk of getting sluggish and shriveled vegetables in winter is significantly reduced.
• After the pruning, the carrots need to be spread out in the sun or under the roof for a couple of hours to dry out. Drying for a long time is not recommended, as vegetables can wilt.
• Next, the carrots are sent for a week and a half to a cool room, where the temperature remains around 10-14 degrees. During this period, minor damage to it will drag on and dry out, and specimens affected by diseases and rot will become noticeable, and you can get rid of them in time.
• Before sending the carrots to the cellar for the winter, they once again carefully inspect and sort them out, rejecting low-quality root crops.

The timing of digging up carrots and beets depends on the time of planting, region, weather conditions and variety. Therefore, first of all, you should focus on visual signs of ripeness of vegetables. Their taste quality, duration of storage and content of useful components will depend on the timing of harvesting vegetables. In this article, we will look at when to dig up carrots and beets in the Moscow region for storage, what determines the timing of the harvest, as well as the basic rules for digging and storing vegetables.

Determining the timing of the harvest of carrots and beets

Despite the similarity of growing beets and carrots and almost the same planting dates, most gardeners recommend removing vegetables from the garden in different time. It is believed that beets must be harvested before the first frost. Carrots, on the contrary, tolerate frost well, and when harvested after the onset of cold weather, there is a higher probability of storage without rotting and spoilage. In this case, the carrots are cooled before harvesting in the cellar or other storage place. If you remove carrots in warm weather, then the likelihood of spoilage is higher.

Despite the fact that it is recommended to dig out the beets earlier, if the weather is dry and warm, you can not rush to collect the vegetable. If autumn is characterized by a stable temperature and minimal rainfall, then the root crop will be stored even better in the ground than in the cellar. In this case, the postponement of the harvest will provide the beets with good keeping quality. But if the autumn is planned to be rainy, then it is recommended to harvest the crop even before the first precipitation. Otherwise, the beets may absorb too much moisture, which will adversely affect their shelf life. That is why many agronomists recommend harvesting beets before carrots so as not to lose the crop and ensure good storage of the vegetable until the next harvest.

You can harvest beets and carrots from the garden at the end of summer or at the beginning of autumn. The optimal harvesting time depends on such factors:

• region;
• weather forecast;
• ripening period of a certain variety;
• the amount of precipitation;
• root size.

To determine the optimal harvesting time, it is necessary to monitor the weather and rainfall, as well as the condition of the root crops. For example, characteristic growths on fruits and leaves indicate the ripeness of beets. Therefore, you can dig up several root crops to assess their condition.

An excellent time to harvest carrots and beets in the Moscow region will be a warm and dry autumn day. AT middle lane it is better to choose root crops from the second half of September to the end of October. It is extremely important that the air temperature is not lower than -6 degrees.

Determining the timing of the collection of root crops according to the lunar calendar

You can determine the optimal time for harvesting beets and carrots by lunar calendar. It is necessary to harvest root crops during the period when the Moon is in the last quarter. This will allow root crops to be stored for a long time and not lose useful properties and taste qualities.

Harvest Rules

It is recommended to dig carrots and beets from the garden manually so as not to damage the thin and delicate skin. A shovel or fork should only be used as a last resort. Use the tool carefully. Even small dents and scratches can lead to storage rot.

Tops from root crops should be removed immediately so that it does not pull out of them nutrients. You can simply unscrew the tops of carrots. To remove it from beets, you must use a pruner or garden shears. The tops must be cut off at a distance of about 3 mm from the head. If you leave more, in the spring it may begin to grow, which will lead to drying of the root crops.

After digging up vegetables, you do not need to knock them on hard objects to remove the earth. This can damage vegetables. The easiest way to remove the earth is with a soft cloth or hands. After digging, the vegetables should be dried in the sun or in a dry shed.

Storage rules

In order to enjoy tasty and healthy vegetables for a whole year, it is important not only to choose root crops on time, but also to store them correctly. The best place for storage is a dry cellar or basement. Unglazed balcony - no the best place for storage. Even if you cover the root crops with several blankets, the vegetables will disappear in severe frosts.

In order for the root crops collected from the site to be well stored throughout the winter, they must be properly dug up and provided with suitable storage conditions. In each region, harvesting starts in different ways - somewhere earlier, somewhere later. We will tell you about what you need to focus on when digging up carrots and beets, when and how to do it correctly.

Specific terms of harvesting vegetables depend on the characteristics of the crop, variety, weather conditions. You can also determine the time of ripening by outward signs. Most gardeners agree that it is better to harvest beets before frost, and carrots - after the onset of the first frost, when the first snow falls.

Such a late harvest of orange root crops is preferable, because carrots will have time to cool well in the cooled ground, and will be stored better in the future. Beets, too, should not be in a hurry to dig up. In the ground she is provided ideal conditions safety. Subsequently, the vegetable will also lie well in storage until spring.

The situation changes radically if the autumn is rainy. Having absorbed excess moisture, the beets will be prone to decay. Therefore, with the onset of prolonged rains, the root crop will need to be removed from the soil as soon as possible. The weather can make serious adjustments to the timing of harvesting carrots and beets. First of all, of course, it depends on the location of the region.

In the Moscow region, carrots and beets are planted in early May. The ripening period of these crops varies from 110 to 120 days. It turns out that in September the growing season is fully completed, but it is still too early to harvest. Carrot tops turn yellow early, but beetroot still looks fresh.

At this moment, the fruits ripen, valuable substances are redistributed from the above-ground part to the underground. The peel of vegetables becomes more rigid, coarsens, which prevents spoilage of fruits.

When the temperature drops to 8 degrees, vegetables stop growing in size, but continue to accumulate beneficial substances in themselves. Digging early-ripening varieties occurs earlier than late-ripening vegetables.

Early carrots and beets are dug up gradually, as needed, and immediately used for cooking.

Harvesting of late-ripening varieties in the Moscow region occurs in late September or early October. In this case, you need to focus on weather conditions and the difference in terms for crops.

The optimal time for harvesting root crops in the middle lane coincides with the timing for the Moscow region. First, at the end of September, they dig out beets, and after the onset of frost, carrots. If autumn is late, work may move 1-2 weeks ahead.

In rainy weather, on the contrary, it is better to complete the cleaning early. Unreasonably early digging is better not to produce, in this case, you can lose 30-40 percent of the crop. Vegetables will be too small, not sweet enough and will not store well.

On a note! so that carrots and beets are tasty and sugary, fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers is stopped from mid-summer. Only potassium and phosphorus are added. Watering the vegetables is stopped 2 weeks before the expected harvest, otherwise they will become watery and may crack.

Most of the Urals are characterized by a sharply continental climate, which is characterized by long cold winters and hot, short summers. In this region, it is recommended to grow carrots and beets of early and medium early varieties. Vegetables with a long growing season simply do not have time to ripen during the summer season.

If landing at open ground was produced in mid-May, the root crops will have time to ripen towards the end of August. At this time, it is recommended to dig them out. With a prolonged cold spring, vegetables can be planted in June. In this case, the harvest will be in September.

In Siberia

Harsh Siberia is considered a difficult region for gardening. Only early-ripening varieties of vegetables are suitable for planting here. To get a full-fledged beet harvest, you need to choose a variety of crops with short term growing season (up to 100 days), be sure to follow the correct agricultural practices. In order for vegetables to ripen better, a seedling method of growing beets in Siberia is recommended.

As for carrots, under the conditions of a short Siberian summer, varieties ripen well: Altai shortened, Dayana, Nastena-Slastena. All of them quickly sing and are resistant to various diseases. Harvesting in this region is recommended from late August to early September. But, again, you need to look at the weather - in September there are often the first frosts here. In this case, the cleaning will have to hurry.

According to the lunar calendar in 2018

The best time to harvest root crops is during the waning moon. On such days, sap flow slows down to a minimum and vegetables can be removed from the garden. These dates fall on the following dates:

• in August - 4-7, 12, 13, 21-23, 31;
• in September - September 1-8, September 26-30;
• in October - October 1, October 3-8, October 25-30.

The growing moon, on the contrary, contributes to the active movement of juices and increased growth. Digging up carrots and beets on such days is not recommended. If you coordinate work with the lunar calendar, vegetables will be stored longer and spoil less.

Work should preferably be carried out in clear, calm weather. For root crops, it will be good to lie on the ground under the sun for 2-3 hours after they are dug up. If it is impossible to postpone harvesting, and it is raining outside, it is recommended to dry the harvested vegetables under a canopy.

On a note! You can first dig out one root crop and make sure that it has reached the required degree of maturity.

The order of digging carrots and beets will have the following features:

1. It is necessary to prepare a tool in advance - a shovel or a pitchfork. Forks are more convenient to use, since the risk of damaging the fruits will be less in this case.
2. Vegetables are gently pulled from below and pulled out with hands, holding on to the tops.
3. From root crops, you should gently shake off the ground and lay them out right on the bed to dry.
4. The beets are closer to the surface, and you can remove them without using inventory, but simply by pulling them out by the stems.
5. It is impossible to knock carrots or beets from each other so that lumps of soil fall off, vegetables are damaged from this and then will be poorly stored.
6. The tops are cut off with a small sharp knife; in carrots, you can simply unscrew it.
7. In carrots, it is cut up by 1 cm - this is necessary to remove growth points, which contributes to longer storage.
8. Stumps 1 cm long are left on the beets. After that, you need to sort the vegetables. Small and damaged fruits are sent for processing, and selected, large ones are stored for storage.

The safety of the crop largely depends on its proper storage. Vegetables need to create optimal conditions so that they do not rot and dry.

Vegetables are best stored in a cool, ventilated area. It can be a basement, garage or cellar.

It is not recommended to use a glazed balcony for storage; in frosty weather, root crops can freeze there.

So that the crop is not damaged by rodents, the storage must be equipped with shelves raised above the ground.

In the event that the presence of mice has not been noticed, you can put boxes of vegetables directly on the floor. The crop is ideally preserved at a temperature of plus 3 degrees. If the indicators are higher, additional measures must be taken to preserve root crops.

Carrots and beets in boxes can be sprinkled with sand, or smeared with diluted clay.

In a dry storage room, it is permissible to use plastic bags where vegetables mixed with sawdust are placed. For this purpose, large black garbage bags are suitable. In their sides it will be necessary to make several holes for ventilation.

It seems to inexperienced gardeners that harvesting and preserving root crops is quite simple. In fact, this is not entirely true. There are many little things that will help reduce the loss of beets and carrots, these nuances must be considered:

• Late-ripening varieties of carrots and beets can be harvested later than the rest. These vegetables have increased frost resistance and continue to form even at low positive temperatures.
• Carrots are best stored at temperatures between 0 and 1 degrees. If the numbers are even slightly higher, the shelf life of the crop is reduced.
• You should not place an orange vegetable in storage next to apples, this negatively affects the keeping quality of root crops.
• Sand that will be used to store beets and carrots should be calcined in advance to disinfect it.
• Instead of sand in a box of vegetables, you can add onion peel, vermiculite or peat.
• Processing the harvested crop with lime protects it from rot or pests. It should be noted that such vegetables should be washed thoroughly before use.
• Some summer residents have adapted to use plastic basins for storing carrots, where the root crops are placed vertically, with their nose down, close to each other. As the vegetables decrease, the empty space is filled with crumpled newspapers.

Super way to store carrots and beets in winter: video

Having mastered all the wisdom of the autumn collection and storage of root crops, you will be able to preserve in them all the useful substances and vitamins that we need so much in winter. We recommend trying to save carrots and beets different ways to choose the optimal one for yourself, which will be used in the future.

17.09.2018 26 566

Harvesting carrots - how not to miss the optimal time?

Nowadays, in the market or in the store, you can buy any vegetables throughout the year. This statement fully applies to such an irreplaceable root crop as carrots. However, many, not without reason, believe that in this case it is impossible to be completely sure of the absolute ecological purity of the product. Therefore, most gardeners prefer to grow on their own. personal plot natural vegetables. Carrots - demanded and loved vegetable crop on each suburban area. Rich in trace elements, carotene, vitamins, substances that increase immunity and help cure many ailments. Carrots are one of the main crops in baby foods. All summer our “girl in the dungeon, the scythe on the street” grew and grew stronger, filled with juices. And now, finally, the time has come to harvest, dry, lay in storage. Without vitamin carrots, we are nowhere. It is good everywhere: in soup, and in salad, and in vegetable stew. Therefore, it is so important to remove carrots from the garden in time. Hurry up - the carrot will wither, it will be poorly stored. And yes, it's not worth the hassle either. When is the best time to harvest carrots? The cottage cheat sheet and the Lunar calendar 2018 will tell you.

Useful composition of carrots

It contains not only carotene, but also other carotenoids: phytoene, phytofluene, lycotine.

Also vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, pantothenic and folic acid, vitamin PP, essential oil, nitrogenous and pectin substances, enzymes, mineral salts: calcium, phosphorus, iron, cobalt, boron, chromium, copper, iodine - and other trace elements.

This is what makes it so useful. AT traditional medicine it is used as a multivitamin remedy for beriberi, anemia and general loss of strength.

With daily use of its fresh, patients gain weight. And they become less susceptible to infectious diseases, their complexion is refreshed.

For those who eat a lot of carrots, drink carrot juice, “love” the sun, a tan “sticks” to them better and lays down more evenly. Before going to the beach, it is enough to drink a glass of freshly squeezed carrot juice to tan faster and more evenly.

Modern medicine believes that carrots have many wonderful properties: vitamin, tonic, tonic, moderately soothing, vasodilator, mild diuretic and choleretic, anti-inflammatory and wound healing.

The benefits of carrots for the human body are very large. By adding it to your diet, digestion improves, milk secretion increases in lactating women. Carrots also contribute to the removal of sand and small stones in kidney stones, enhances the work of the sex glands.

In addition, it activates intracellular redox processes, regulates carbohydrate metabolism, cleanses wounds and ulcers from pus, reduces pain and inflammation, and promotes rapid tissue epithelialization.

When to harvest carrots according to the lunar calendar 2018

Digging up beets and carrots is advised during the waning moon. In this lunar cycle, the movement of juices in the fruits slows down, growth stops, and the time is right for harvesting the crop from the beds. In 2018, in September-October, the waning moon will be:

• September 1-8;
• September 26-30;
• October 1;
• October 3-8;
• October 25-30.

For root crops, the movement of juices is important because the juiciness and saturation of the fruit determine the desired structure and taste. Beets and carrots dug in the right cycle are easier to prepare for storage. In addition, they have a long shelf life.

Signs that carrots are ready for harvest

When harvesting carrots great importance has a timely harvest. With the onset of low positive temperatures in September, root crops accelerate their growth. And if you dig up the carrots ahead of schedule- root crops will not have time to collect optimal weight and go to storage not fully matured. Such fruits are very poorly stored.

Root crops overexposed in the ground lose their taste, or carrots can go into secondary growth. With the onset of negative temperatures, the likelihood of carrot diseases increases.

These are the main reasons that indicate how important it is to remove carrots from the garden at the optimum time. This is the only way to expect a quality harvest.

At the beginning of September, one should already seriously think about harvesting, choosing fine days and monitoring the moment when root crops are ready for harvesting. Here are some signs that indicate that it's time to remove carrots from the garden:

• yellowing of tops;
• the diameter of the carrot in the middle of the root crop is more than 1 cm;
• white thin roots along the entire length of the carrot;
• Longitudinal cracks in root crops indicate a late harvest.

Note! Useful substances and vitamins accumulate in root crops mainly a month before harvesting, when the average daily air temperature drops to +4..6 degrees. Therefore, it is not correct to harvest before this period.

How to properly dig carrots from the garden for storage

Having decided on the time, start cleaning. It is required to properly dig up the root crops, dry and prepare carrots for storage for the winter in the cellar and at home. Carrots are not potatoes, although they usually take big garden, but it cannot be compared with potato plantations. It digs easily, and if the day is dry, it is enough for the root crop to dry slightly in the air.

1. Choose a fine day, without precipitation.
2. Prepare shovels or pitchforks in advance. It is more convenient to dig up root crops with a pitchfork, so the carrots are less damaged. On light soils, vegetables are pulled out by hand, gently holding the tops.
3. They remove the ground from the carrot, lay it on the bed to dry. You can not tap vegetables among themselves, shaking off clods of soil. Root crops are damaged, after which they rot faster during storage.
4. The tops are cut with a sharp knife or simply turned inside out. It is recommended to cut off the top of the root crop (up to 1 cm) to remove all growth points of the carrot. Otherwise, during storage, the vegetable will begin to produce sprouts, and this affects the juiciness and quality of the pulp.

How to store carrots

It is best to store the dug up carrots and beets in the cellar or basement, because there is the most suitable temperature for long-term storage. Do not store vegetables on a balcony that is not glazed - sooner or later the crop will freeze there, and all your work throughout the season will be nullified.

To prevent mice from reaching the harvest in the cellar, special shelves can be constructed there. If you are spared from such a misfortune, carrots and beets can be poured into ordinary boxes or bins.

Sometimes root crops are dipped in clay or sprinkled with sand for better storage, but if the temperature is kept within +3 ° C, they themselves are remarkably stored throughout the winter without any additional processing.

If the humidity is relatively low in the room where you store vegetables, root crops can be placed in ordinary plastic bags. In order for the crop not to become a victim of moisture, the vegetables are sprinkled with sawdust.

Carrot Storage Secrets

• The optimum temperature for storing carrots is from 0 to 1 degrees. The higher the temperature, the less carrots will be stored.
• Humidity - from 90-95%.
• It is better to store carrots in an open container.
• You can sprinkle the roots with sand, peat or onion peel.
• Do not place carrots next to apples during storage.

Harvesting carrots is a controversial issue. Some believe that you can harvest the root crop at any time up to mid-autumn. Others remain in favor of harvesting the vegetable on a fixed time frame. Summing up the question of when to remove carrots from the garden, you need to focus on the carrot variety, planting date, climate, weather conditions, weather forecast for next month and for obvious signs of ripening carrots. You can store carrots in winter where these conditions are met. The easiest way for residents of private houses, there is always a place for the harvest. In apartments, the harvest is stored on the balcony, in the refrigerator, pantry, basement or in non-residential buildings: sheds, garages.