What soil do vegetables like: carrots, beets, onions and dill

In order to harvest a good harvest in the fall, you must first of all properly prepare the soil before planting. And in order to prepare the soil, you must first study what exactly is required for the comfortable growth of a particular garden crop, which trace elements should prevail in the soil and which fertilizers are better to use. Even minimal knowledge in this area will significantly increase the chances of improving the quality of the crop. And in this article we will talk about four garden crops that no doubt grow in almost every garden, these are carrots, beets, onions and dill, and find out what kind of soil vegetables love.

What soil do vegetables like: carrots

Priming. Like all crops, carrots must be planted annually in a new place - this is the basic rule of crop rotation. The root crop can be returned to the previous bed no earlier than after four years. And the carrots should be moved to where representatives of the legume family (lentils, beans, peas) or nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes) grew before it, these precursors will be the best option. The soil should be light and loose, with a normal or low level of acidity, preferably the presence of humus in it. Practice shows that on dense and heavy soils with an increased level of acidity, plants develop very poorly, begin to hurt, and root crops can deform and lose their taste.

The necessary conditions. Carrots may well grow in light shade, but not in full shade (in this case, the roots will be smaller than expected and will take longer to ripen). The looseness and air permeability of the soil is also very important, since in excessively dense soil, root crops begin to branch out and change shape. Pay attention to the level of the groundwater table, as carrots are very sensitive to waterlogging of the soil. If the waters are high, then raise the beds, making them 35-40 cm high, this will save the roots from decay and the development of various fungal infections.

Site preparation and fertilization. In order to grow any culture, you need to choose and prepare a place in advance. In advance - this is the eve of the fall. Dig up the ground, at the same time soak the sawdust in a specially prepared urea solution, and then distribute them over the garden bed (about 3 kg of soaked sawdust will be required per 1 square meter of the bed), and add sand and peat (half a bucket per square meter). In addition, when digging, add a standard set: superphosphate, sodium nitrate and some kind of potassium fertilizer. All this can be replaced with complex feeding. With all this wealth, leave the soil until spring. If the soil on your site is not rich in nutrients and sand predominates in it, then you will need to add peat, rotted compost and turf soil per square meter - all at least one bucket each.

In addition, in the fall, superphosphate and potassium chloride must be added. Only in this case it will be possible to grow a decent harvest. But this is only general information, and then feeding does not end with one autumn fertilization. Humus, peat and properly prepared compost will bring the greatest benefits when growing carrots. But in addition to this, it is very important to add the necessary mineral fertilizers, which will provide root crops with everything they need for full growth.Complex fertilizer can be mixed independently using sodium nitrate or urea (one teaspoon), a tablespoon of superphosphate (not in the form of granules, but in the form of a powder) and the same amount of potassium chloride (the calculation is given per 1 square meter of carrot garden). Apply this fertilizer while digging the beds as deep as possible. But depending on what type of soil prevails on your site, experienced gardeners recommend adding some components (all recommendations are calculated per square meter, respectively, calculate the final amount of additives yourself, based on the size of the garden bed).

If your site has peat soil, then for growing carrots you need to add half a bucket (hereinafter we are talking about a standard ten-liter bucket) of coarse sand, rotted compost and sod soil (4 kg each). If you are not very lucky and the soil is clay, then add coarse sand mixed with peat (bucket) and 4.5 kg of humus. For light loam, everything is the same as in the previous paragraph, with the exception of sand, only peat and humus. If the soil is sandy, then you have to tinker. You will need two buckets of peat mixed with turf soil, about half a bucket of humus, and also a tablespoon of special fertilizer enriched with humic substances and useful elements. Well, if you have black soil at your summer cottage, then you are incredibly lucky and you can not additionally fertilize the soil with anything. Although add a couple of tablespoons of superphosphate, there will be no harm.

What soil do vegetables like: beets

Site selection and preparation. When preparing the soil for beets, you can rely on the information already received about carrots. These root vegetables prefer similar conditions in many ways, but there are still some differences. Like carrots, beets can be grown not in the sunniest place, but in light partial shade. Beets will also grow poorly on dense clay soils with a high level of acidity, but at the same time in slightly acidic soil they will feel quite normal. Unlike carrots, beets need constant watering, otherwise the roots will be bitter. Beets are very successfully grown on loamy soils with the addition of humus. The soil also needs to be prepared in the fall. With a certain time interval, dig deep twice in the soil, achieving the best looseness of the soil. If there is a need to apply organic fertilizers (compost or humus) to the soil, then do it in the fall. In the spring, dig or loosen again, if necessary, raise the bed above the general soil level.

Fertilizers. For further plant nutrition, mineral fertilizers should be applied in the spring on the eve of planting. You can use a complex fertilizer or mix your own superphosphate powder, ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride (35, 15 and 15 grams, respectively) per 1 square meter. It is not recommended to apply fresh manure or bird droppings under the beets, unlike carrots, they do not really like these organic fertilizers.

Onion

Soil requirements. If possible, place the onion garden in a sunny place, if not, it can withstand a little shading. Most importantly, do not plant it in a low area where water will stagnate, in which case the entire crop will be spoiled. It is imperative that the soil is well warmed up by the sun's rays. The ideal option would be a light loamy soil that is good for air and moisture. Like carrots, it does not tolerate an increased level of acidity, in this case, the soil must be prepared in advance, adding lime to it for a couple of years. Tomatoes, cucumbers and different types of cabbage are the best predecessors of onions, and carrots are the most suitable neighbors. These two crops grow well on the same bed, exerting a beneficial effect on each other, as they provide mutual protection from harmful insects.If your plot has loamy soil, then prepare it for carrots as described above, and successfully plant these two crops next door. The only difference is that onions, like beets, do not welcome the presence of fresh manure.

So if you plan to plant it on the same bed with carrots, then this fertilizer will have to be abandoned. Fertilizers. If you are preparing a bed personally for onions, then you need to act according to the following scheme. In the fall, during deep digging of the soil, add organic matter - five kilograms of rotted compost and a kilogram of ash per 1 sq. meter of onion beds. At the same time, add superphosphate and potassium fertilizer (20 and 10 grams, respectively), and in the spring, when re-digging, add nitrogen fertilizers. Do not deepen the mineral dressing too much, as onion roots are shallow and may simply not reach the nutrients.

Dill

Soil preparation. Dill is no exception, it also loves fertile and well-fertilized soil, like other crops. Very often they do not pay due attention to it and do not allocate a personal place, sowing where it will be among other vegetables. Gardeners cannot come to a consensus, but still most believe that dill can only coexist with different types of cabbage without prejudice to each other, but it is undesirable to plant it with other garden crops. The soil for dill is also prepared in the fall, digging up and adding half a bucket of humus per square meter, you can add nitrophoska to this. Before sowing the seeds, the soil is dug up or loosened again, then it is leveled, grooves are made and watered very abundantly. After sowing the seeds, it is no longer necessary to water before the emergence of seedlings, otherwise the water can deepen the seeds too much into the soil and they simply cannot germinate.

Fertilizers. Unlike carrots, beets and onions, dill allows a slightly increased level of acidity and does not tolerate lime, wood ash or dolomite poorly (and therefore it is recommended to plant it separately). Therefore, for fertilization, it will be enough to use humus or mullein diluted in water. If you are planning a joint planting of dill with one of the above crops, then the soil should be prepared focusing not on dill, but on carrots, beets or onions. Of these four crops, dill has the greatest ability to adapt to environmental conditions.

What soil do vegetables like: conclusion

Summing up what soils vegetables like, we can repeat once again that not only planting material is important to obtain a high-quality and abundant harvest, but also the right place, crop rotation and carefully prepared soil, taking into account the characteristics of a particular culture. Even if the land in your summer cottage does not differ in special fertility, setting the goal, you can organize several beds with wonderful fertile soil.