Carrot Daucus carota "Darina" (Agronom seeds, 3 g)

• Type: root vegetable, seeds
• Botanical name: Daucus carota "Darina"
• Producer: Agronom (Agrofirma Sėklos, Lithuania)
• Group: late, Berlicum type
• Root: cylindrical, blunt, 20–22 cm
• Sowing: IV–V
• Germination: 2–3 weeks
• Maturity: 120–130 days, harvest IX–X
• Spacing: 20–25 × 4–5 cm
• Seeds: ~800–1000 per 1 g
• Light: full sun
• Soil: loose, humus-rich loam or sandy loam, no fresh manure
• Size: packet 3 g

Planting. Sow carrots outdoors from late April to mid-May, 1.5–2 cm deep in rows 20–25 cm apart. Seeds are slow to germinate – 2–3 weeks; you can soak them for a day before sowing. Dig the bed deeply, 25–30 cm, without fresh manure, which makes roots fork.

Watering and feeding. Keep the soil moist until emergence, then water generously once a week so the soil is wet to root depth. Irregular watering causes splitting. A month after emergence you can give a potassium feed or wood ash.

Care. Thin twice: at 1–2 leaves to 2–3 cm, three weeks later to 4–6 cm. Hoe and weed between rows. Fleece and onions in the next row help against carrot fly.

Gardener's tip. Sow this late variety as early in spring as possible – it needs four months. Lift in early October in dry weather and store in a cellar at 0–2 °C: Berlicum carrots keep until spring.