The development of a summer cottage, where nothing cultural has grown for a long time, is not a quick matter. How to make beds that will give a good harvest next year? The well-known gardener and gardener Nikolai Kurdyumov tells how to improve clay soil, sandy and how do-it-yourself beds differ from ordinary ones.
My friend in his youth lived in the famous village of Starocherkasskaya, the capital of the Don Cossacks. Don floodplain, meadow chernozems, two meters high, soft. And his garden was also on the site of the old regimental stables.
I remember he sincerely complained: well, it's a real torment to harvest! Potatoes in weeds - almost a bucket from a bush, beets - two pieces no longer fit into a bucket! Of course, to improve such soil is only to spoil it. It is enough for her to return as much organic matter as has grown on it. And digging it is a crime. But we have few such happy places. My friend is just lucky.
For us, simple clayey, in order to achieve good fertility, we need to work with the soil. And in order not to wait years, it is better to immediately improve the soil in the beds - the first and last time, but dramatically. Oh, how many times I regretted not doing it right away!
Soil improvement during site development: where to start
If your soil is heavy loam, then you need humus, sand, and, if possible, a fine screening of expanded clay. If it is poor sandy loam, clay and humus are needed. In both cases, a third of the new volume of the beds should be organic matter, which has rotted to varying degrees. And only a peat bog needs fresh nitrogenous organics: grass or hay, kitchen waste, unusable grain or spoiled feed. And also some clay and sand.
First mark out: you will improve the soil right here without touching the passages. Why overdo it? The depth of improvement is no more than 35 cm: below it is still too cold.
Then stock up on the necessary additives: humus, sand or clay. And then - do not rush. I assure you: creating two 8-meter beds a year is a very good pace. This is what health is for! Or good helpers.
I know two ways to radically increase the fertility of the soil in the beds. You can combine them according to your abilities.
Renowned Austrian permaculturist and nature farmer Sepp Holzer uses his method to rapidly build up humus reserves in extremely poor soils and harsh climates. A trench 40–50 cm deep and of the same width is dug in place of the beds. It is clogged with dry trunks, branches, rotten. This is the primary supply of slow organics and a "sponge" for moisture during the drought.
Then the trench is dug in, and in the Sepp version, the earth is thrown from the sides, fitting into a rampart 70–100 cm high. The meaning of the rampart is a huge difference in microclimate. Sunny windward side - hot and dry. Sunny lee - hot and humid, subtropics. Shady without wind - humid and not hot, shady with wind - not hot, but it blows out moisture.
On the shady side, the plants will climb up the ridge. In the sun - they will bush and fly, like on the beach. Given all this, Sepp sows the shaft with a mixture of different plants - cereals, pumpkins and squash, beans, corn and sunflowers - everything that has large seeds and quickly increases biomass.
By the way, the area of the slopes of the rampart is one and a half of the area of its base.
The finished shaft is covered with straw or hay, strengthened from the wind with branches, and the branches with longitudinal poles. The great dignity of the shaft - early and fast heating of the soil. A trench formed between the ridges - branches were also placed in it and covered with straw. The roots will reach here too.
Sowing is done directly into the straw using a pointed peg. Seeds germinate after rains. All plant residues remain on the ridge. A year later, potatoes are planted here, and various rutabaga with turnips, and pumpkins with zucchini, and on top - a wall of corn.
Beautiful, deep, natural! But to be honest, this is for the most enthusiastic permaculture and personally Sepp owners of a hectare. For my garden, three acres is not an option. We are not accustomed to climbing steep ramparts and unraveling freely mixed bushes. We do not know the behavior of different plants so much. I won't take it from the air. So I'm leaning towards more conventional methods.
In my early books - "according to John Jevons". In fact, all smart gardeners and growers do this. But it just so happened: Jevons wrote a bestseller, I read it in the late 90s and was impressed.
John is an American organ farmer and hard worker, the inventor of "bio-intensive mini-agriculture" (BIMZ). The yields from his beds were many times larger than traditional ones - you must admit, this is impressive.
He began to invent on extremely bad, poor soil. Therefore, I improved it immediately, and then increased fertility not from scratch. The meaning is simple: you need to mix the soil with organic matter (and, if necessary, with sand or clay) to a depth of two bayonets of a shovel. Well, two bayonets - this is in hot California. One and a half (35-40 cm) is enough for us. And three or four spades wide.
Jevons suggests mixing the soil with the additives as you work your way up the bed: take off the top layer, mix the bottom with compost, put the top layer back on, mix it with the compost, move a little further... I keep it simple. Improving my clay bed with sand, I take out the most fertile top layer entirely and fold it from the edge. I mix additives into the bottom and return the top layer to its place, also mixing something.
The top, most organic layer is taken out, it is on the left. The bottom is mixed with sand. The top layer is returned in the same way with sand. This is the only way I have been able to drastically reduce the density of my clay soil. The comfort zone for the roots has almost doubled in depth. It remains to re-structure the soil - this will be done by worms and roots.
So let's take the best of both worlds. We take out the top 10–15 cm of the most fertile soil. We deepen the bottom with a trench deep into the bayonet of a shovel. In the trench - logs and thick branches, but not thick, so that the capillary connection with the subsoil is quickly restored.
It is harmless to lightly powder this windbreak with some kind of nitrogen fertilizer, moisten it with a dung mash or the contents of a dry closet - it will rot faster. It is useful to throw in some fresh weeds - the same nitrogen. In the dry south it is exceptionally harmless to pour hydrogel, circles per square meter.
We return down the subsoil from the trench, pushing it between the pieces of wood. We scatter the excess subsoil in the aisles or take it away. At the bottom we put one or two strips of immature compost or grass, flavored with EM, "Shine" or another bioactivator. Then we fill the bed with the top layer taken out, interspersed with additives (sand / clay) and humus.
It turns out a raised bed - a convex gentle shaft. The bulge adds a lot of space and light to the plants, and in the spring it better receives the sun's rays. For the damp Non-Black Earth Region and - an ideal option for do-it-yourself beds. In the steppe zone, you need and
In the next photo, the soil on the right is also improved. Filling with organics and bioactivator at the same time added warmth to the soil. Eggplant yield is 9 times more than from the left control bush. Experience of A. Bushikhin, Yaroslavl.
Already a lot! But this is only the beginning. The soil is not yet inhabited by living creatures, not structured, not pierced by roots, not sown with coprolites of worms and other poop. Now we will improve it every year with natural forces: plants, worms, microbes and fungi. But it is already easy. Our main business is feed the soil workers and all kinds of organic matter. Another important work don't disturb them. The rest they will do themselves. And I assure you - they will make it as wonderful as you never dreamed of.
How to improve the fertility of the soil, if it has become like a desert cracked from the heat, does not give the desired result, but the effort to cultivate it becomes less and less. And although you can’t call our summer resident lazy: from dawn until late at night, he digs up his 6 acres, pulls out every weed, not sparing his back, runs between the beds with 15 liters of water in each hand - but the harvest is getting worse, the plants are weaker, and diseases are attacking why - even on the most unpretentious crops, and the seeds that literally shot out of the ground 10 years ago do not sprout at all.
Four whales of soil fertility
You give your whole soul to the garden, and instead of gratitude - bags of rotten tomatoes and a bucket of small potatoes. Let's look around and think, what did we do wrong? What are we doing wrong? How to help the soil become fertile again, and the garden trouble-free, joyful and fruitful? Let's try to fuss less and think more!
Mulching is the first step to soil fertility
Everyone, of course, knows that weeds are not weeded out in the forest and fallen leaves are not removed, it would never occur to anyone to water birch trees or spud mushrooms. Under a thick layer of last year's leaves, bark, fallen branches, the ground is cool, moist. And in the native garden on a summer afternoon, the earth heats up, becomes covered with cracks, no matter how loose and do not water.
Here is the first answer: in the forest, the soil is never bare. Last year's leaves, the remains of grass cover it with a thick layer, preventing moisture from evaporating actively. This creates ideal conditions for microorganisms that process organic matter into nutrients needed by plants. The soil remains loose, airy, alive.
Let's try and create similar conditions in our garden.
- Since autumn, we will cover our empty beds with a thick layer of straw, fallen leaves, chopped bark. This will not allow the soil to freeze in winter, especially in years with little snow. By spring, organic matter will rot and become additional fertilizer.
- Throughout the summer, we will plant weeds without seeds, hay, and straw on the beds. Under a layer of mulch, the roots of plants do not suffer from overheating; in a drought, they practically do not need watering, since the evaporation of moisture is minimal. True, fungal diseases quickly develop during prolonged rains in a humid environment, but this problem can be solved by treating the plantings with fungicides in advance.
- Most weeds cannot germinate from under the mulch layer, which means that time is freed up that was previously spent on weeding.
Mulching the soil improves its structure. Gradually settling, the mulch mixes with its top layer. The soil becomes loose, well passes moisture and air. It does not need to be loosened and dug up. When it comes time to plant seedlings, you can make indentations with a planting cone, and then only add mulch as needed, this will replace the traditional hilling.
Green manure to replace fertilizers and a shovel
What else is needed in order to improve the structure of the soil, make it looser, enrich it with nitrogen, calcium, potassium and phosphorus, and activate beneficial microorganisms? Experts will answer you: green manure. This method of soil enrichment was known in ancient times. It originated in China, and then came to Europe, where it immediately gained recognition, especially in the Mediterranean countries.
Mustard, alfalfa, phacelia, rye, barley can be used as green manure. Legumes are great for enriching the soil with nitrogen.
- Siderates can be sown when the crops are harvested from the beds, usually from the third decade of July to early August.
- Many summer residents sow them in the spring, before planting the main crops. In this case, you need to mow in May.
- Sometimes green manure is sown before winter. Then they are either left to grow until spring, or cut off and covered with mulch on top. In spring, the soil in this place will be fluffy, nutritious and will not require plowing.
Vegetable growers argue about whether to leave green manure in the garden or plow. Proponents of digging say that in this way the moisture capacity and permeability of the soil improves, and its structure improves. Opponents believe that digging is bad for microorganisms living in the soil and earthworms.
It is much more useful to distribute beveled green manure over the surface of the beds, cover with straw from drying out. Then soon the green mass will turn into compost, the inhabitants of the soil will process it and turn it into the most valuable fertilizer. In both cases, green manure roots are left in the ground. Decaying, they become food for earthworms - the best restorers of soil fertility.
Organic fertilizers are the key to harvest and the basis of natural farming
If the land on your site is poor and heavy, it just needs organic matter. Manure is considered the most valuable organic fertilizer. It contains a lot of trace elements that play an important role in the growth and development of plants: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium. The carbon dioxide released by it is important for the processes of heat transfer and photosynthesis. Cow and horse manure is used to fertilize the garden, less often sheep and pig manure. Manure can be replaced with bird or rabbit droppings.
Other organic fertilizers - ash, lake silt, peat, compost, humus. They are also rich in trace elements, with their help you can adjust the acid-base balance in the beds, depending on the preferences of the crops growing there. And, of course, organic matter significantly increases the yield and taste of fruits.
Mixed plantings - the secret of a fruitful bed
Another great way to improve and enrich soil structure is to use mixed plantings. Spicy and medicinal herbs, which are actively used in mixed beds, are very useful for problem soils.
Planted between vegetable crops, they improve the taste of fruits. Tomatoes taste better with parsley, beets with dill, and potatoes with cumin and cilantro. The main thing to remember when organizing joint plantings is the following: do not plant nearby plants belonging to the same family, take into account the height of different crops, their need for sunlight, and the growing season.
In addition to the undoubted benefits for the soil, mixed plantings save a lot of space and always look original and very beautiful. They are great for small areas.
By choosing some of the methods, and even better - using them together, you will make the soil on your site more fertile, nutritious, warm and turn your 6 acres into a real paradise.
Anatoly ONEGOV.
In a year or two, potatoes will grow again on a plot overgrown with a variety of grasses.
A green wall rises above the bed of peas.
Clover, like lupine, beans, not only restores soil fertility, but also enriches it with nitrogen.
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Pikulnik, popovnik, horsetail - lovers of acidic soils.
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Field bindweed grows on slightly acidic or neutral soil.
Tolerate slightly acidic soils.
Cucumbers do not tolerate acidic soils.
I remember when I became seriously interested in soil science and agronomy, I was struck by such figures. It turned out that at least a million different insects (that is, 95 percent of the total number of species known to scientists) are somehow connected with the soil. Some spend their whole lives in the ground, the second lay eggs, the third - pupae lie in it, the fourth - larvae live. And each of these living creatures leaves its mark on the earth, either helping to increase the fertility of the soil, or laying passages in it through which water and air enter, and carbon dioxide formed by living organisms is removed.
But besides insects, other animals live in the earth, for example, earthworms. Creeping out of the minks at night, they look for last year's leaves, the remains of plants and drag them to themselves. Eaten and passed through the intestines, these remains fall into the ground in the form of small dark lumps. So earthworms fertilize it, in their own way answering for fertility. And through their minks, water and air enter the soil, soil drainage is carried out, and often very deep.
I remember one more figure: on one hectare of unplowed land, there are about 200 kilograms of microorganisms. The total mass of all living beings inhabiting this piece of land reaches a ton. Is it a lot or a little? In order to grow a good harvest of turnips, 500 kilograms of mineral fertilizers must be applied per hectare of land, 800 kilograms when planting carrots, and one tonne of beets. As you can see, the mass of living beings that inhabit the soil is greater than the mass of mineral fertilizers applied to the ground when growing turnips and carrots. But after all, all living creatures inhabiting the earth, after the expiration of the life span allotted to them, die and remain in the earth, giving it the accumulated organic substances. The remains of animals are decomposed by microorganisms, and microorganisms, in turn, dying off, provide the soil with nutritious humus.
This is how a healthy, not exhausted, not exhausted land lives, which until recently wise peasants affectionately called living.
Living earth has one amazing property: it not only provides plants with the necessary nutrition, but is also able to restore fertility if life is not destroyed in it.
The peasant has long known that the land that has lost its strength, yielding smaller and smaller crops from year to year, should be left alone for several years, not touched with a plow and wait until it again protects itself with a layer of turf and organic matter accumulates in it. And all this without fertilization.
Having taken possession of the land to my house, I mastered the former meadow that occupied a high, dry place, and successfully grew potatoes for two years in a row, practically without introducing any fertilizer into the soil - except for pouring into each hole prepared for a potato tuber, half a handful of ash, but did it more so that the potatoes were tastier. But in the third year, I did not wait for the potato harvest in this, until recently, virgin garden. There was not enough manure then, and I left this place for a while. For the third year in a row it has been overgrown with grass, which grows thicker and thicker year after year. I do not mow the grass and do not bury it in the soil. Former grasses die off, and their remains are processed by microorganisms. This is how the strength of my garden is gradually restored. I think that in a year or two I will again get decent potato crops here.
Of course, it is unlikely that such an experiment can be carried out on several summer cottages - every piece of land is valuable. But even on your 6-8 acres, you may well take advantage of the ability of the living earth to restore its strength, and besides, you will help it in this.
Some garden bed ceases to produce crops, it would be necessary to fertilize it with organic fertilizer. If there is no such fertilizer, sow peas in early spring, preferably undersized, and plant them thicker - then it will rise like a solid green wall and will not allow any weeds. The time will come to harvest, pluck the pods, cut off the tops and leave to lie in an even layer. By spring, almost all stems will perepere. Then again loosen the grooves on this bed with a garden pitchfork and spread the pea seeds. Again, collect only the pods and leave the stems. And in the new spring, with a garden pitchfork or a shovel, close the half-rotted stalks of peas into the soil and you can safely grow root crops. For cabbage or potatoes, and even for cucumbers of two seasons, such a natural restoration of soil fertility is not enough - these plants take out, as they say, a lot of nutrients from the ground in one summer, and radishes, lettuce, carrots and beets will be quite good.
In addition, peas, like clover, lupine, also enrich the soil with nitrogen. You can plant beans on a resting bed, but they will not be able, like peas, to resist weeds - they will not cover the whole earth with a solid green mass.
I have long adopted this method of soil restoration with the help of peas: peas in my garden are a respected crop.
The ability of the soil to self-repair, accumulate organic matter, and improve its structure depends on many factors. The climate and the acidity of the soil also affect. The higher the acidity, the slower the fertile layer grows. This is explained by the fact that under conditions of increased acidity, the work of microorganisms that are busy processing organic residues slows down.
The yield also depends on the acidity of the soil. Of all cultivated plants, only potatoes feel good on acidic soil. Tolerate slightly acidic soils sorrel, tomatoes, zucchini, radish, radish, carrots. But cabbage, beets, onions, garlic, lettuce, cucumbers and peas simply do not tolerate acidic soils.
There are special instruments for measuring the acidity of the soil, but even without instruments it is possible to determine whether it is suitable for certain crops.
If the soil is acidic, unsuitable for garden plants, near the beds it is easy to find horsetail, pikulnik, speedwell, plantain, small sorrel, field mint, buttercup, popovnik. If the soil is slightly acidic or neutral, that is, suitable for all garden plants, such savage plants as field bindweed, odorless chamomile, clover, coltsfoot, wheatgrass, and garden thistle will grow on it.
Plants that help to immediately determine the acidity of the soil in the garden are commonly called indicator weeds.
Acidic soils are usually found in low, damp places and where spring water stagnates longer. There is a so-called natural acidification of the soil. But in our time, acidic soils can also be found in high places - the earth is "gifted" with acid by acid rains. Industrial acidification of the soil for some places becomes almost a national disaster.
You can reduce the acidity of the soil with fluff lime (slaked lime), cement dust, chalk, ground lime.
Furnace ash will help too. Even in ancient times, peasants used ashes to "bring horsetail" out of their gardens. Ashes are applied to the soil during autumn digging: 100-150 grams per 1 m 2 (up to 1.5 kilograms per 10 m 2 of the garden). For reference: a teaspoon of wood ash - 2 grams, a tablespoon - 6 grams, a faceted glass - 100 grams. Also note that wood ash is an excellent mineral fertilizer, it does not contain only nitrogen.
And the last thing I would like to warn about. Plants grown in acidic soil can be hazardous to health. They contain significantly more heavy metals (the same lead, mercury) than in similar plants grown on less acidic soils. This is explained by the fact that heavy metals contained in soil and rocks, as well as those that have entered the soil along with emissions from industrial enterprises and vehicles, are not washed out by ordinary rainwater, but are washed out by acidic solutions, enter plants and accumulate in them. That is, in slightly acidic and neutral soils, heavy metals are in a bound state, and in acidic soils they are more mobile and can accumulate in plant tissues. This is already a sign of our industrial age.
Today we will deal with the question of how to properly care for the soil in order to restore fertility, get consistently high yields without the use of mineral fertilizers and any other chemicals.
How to use organic matter to restore fertility
In the “pre-chemical” era (until the end of the nineteenth century), vegetables and fruits were grown without the use of mineral fertilizers and various pesticides, and now farmers have almost forgotten how it was once done by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The use of mineral fertilizers greatly facilitated the work of the peasant and increased yields, however, at the same time, it entailed quite serious negative consequences that affected the health of mankind.
Already at the beginning of the twentieth century, it became clear that the use of mineral fertilizers negatively affects the state of the environment, disrupts the ecological balance and adversely affects human health. At this time, scientists who are considered the founders of organic farming (Albert Howard, Rudolf Steiner, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer) began to sound the alarm, calling for abandoning the use of chemistry and using the centuries-old experience of ancestors in using organic matter to restore fertility.
Today, as an alternative to mineral regenerative agriculture, various organic fertilizers are used, which do not disturb the life of soil and terrestrial inhabitants and contribute to an increase in the humus layer of the earth. Organic fertilizers are everything that can rot, that is, the bodies of plants and animals, as well as the bodies of the microbes that decompose it all. Biological farming uses various organic fertilizers, the main ones are:
- humus
- manure
- compost
- green manure
- bacterial fertilizers
Humus
Humus (humus) is a fertile layer of the earth. The composition of the humus includes humic and crenic acids important for soil fertility. It is the humus that contains the main nutrients necessary for the full growth and development of the plant. Under natural conditions, various soil inhabitants (worms, bacteria and other microorganisms) are engaged in the "cooking" of humus.
Before turning into the most useful fertilizer, plant and animal residues undergo a series of changes. At first, microbes and fungi work on them, the result of their activity is the appearance of humus. But after the worms work on the humus, the soil is enriched with a substance indispensable for plant life - biohumus. Organic farming has developed a whole system of actions that allows you to influence the population of earthworms in cottages and gardens.
Manure
What is manure, probably, any gardener knows. This organic fertilizer contains nitrogen and most of the other elements that crops need for proper growth and development. The introduction of manure improves the structure of the earth, its water and air regimes and chemical properties. Manure contains calcium and magnesium, which reduce the acidity of the soil, and beneficial microorganisms increase its biological activity. Manure is one of the main sources of carbon dioxide, which is so necessary for plants.
The action of manure introduced into the ground continues for several years. However, it is important to note that this fertilizer cannot be used directly, since fresh manure contains many pathogens. Manure is best used as one of the components for the preparation of such a valuable organic fertilizer as compost.
Composting the right way
When preparing this fertilizer, it is important to remember that compost is a community of microorganisms, worms, and insects that conscientiously work to prepare food for plants. And with these "cooks" you need to be able to communicate, understand their needs and life processes.
For the normal existence of microbes, worms and insects, three main conditions must be provided. They need food, moisture and oxygen. As a rule, most problems do not arise with food and moisture, but without oxygen, the compost can simply turn sour.
The process of preparing this fertilizer should be thoughtful and unhurried. Compost can only be used of high quality, improperly prepared, it will not only not help, but can simply kill plants.
So, let's figure out what materials can be used, and how they should be processed in order to get high-quality useful fertilizer. I would like to note right away that fats, lard, bones and various synthetic materials should never be placed on compost heaps and compost pits.
Other dairy and meat waste are not contraindicated, but they can attract dangerous animals such as rats, and the smells from such a pile will be, to put it mildly, unpleasant. Even if you use meat and dairy waste, then you need to lay them as deep as possible and in small quantities.
All other materials used in composting are divided into green, that is, rich in nitrogen, and brown - poor in nitrogen, but rich in fiber. Brown and green materials behave differently in compost and perform different functions. Green rot quickly and with heating - this is the so-called stove for a compost heap or pit. Browns rot slowly, but provide porosity by retaining air and moisture in the compost.
Green materials include: manure, bird droppings, feces, various kitchen waste, hay, green leaves, cut grass and tops of various crops, weeds.
The best manure for agriculture is horse manure, the worst of all is pig manure, as it is too liquid and contains a lot of acid. Good compost can be made from pig manure and bird droppings if it is spread with sawdust or dry straw and kept until fully ripe.
Before making such compost into the soil, it must be lightly limed. Faeces, any manure and kitchen waste when placed on compost heaps should be interbedded with brown materials.
Hay is an excellent component for making compost, however, when laying it, it must be layered with ready-made humus or watered with an infusion of rotten grass to speed up the process of decay. Fresh grass and other greens require prior drying before laying on a pile.
Otherwise, it will compact and remain without oxygen, which will lead not to decay, but to souring (poisonous silage will turn out). If there is no time to dry, and this is exactly what happens often, then fresh greens need to be shifted with something dry from the category of brown materials.
Brown materials include dry leaves and straw, dry corn cobs, seed husks, paper, bark, sawdust. These ingredients are typically used for sandwiching green materials, and by themselves they rot slowly and absorb nitrogen, which is an important nutrient. If only brown is composted, then these materials are moistened with a solution of urea at the rate of 2 kg per cubic meter - this procedure speeds up the ripening process and enriches the compost with nitrogen.
The composting method can be cold or hot. The essence of the cold, that is, slow, method is that the gardener just needs to constantly put on a pile of different materials, which were mentioned above. It will be enough to shift such a pile once a season, while changing the layers in places.
By autumn, the compost will be almost ready for use, it can be laid out on the beds and covered with a film for the winter. If the heap is thrown twice or thrice during the summer, then the fertilizer will be prepared much earlier, and if mixed every week, then composting will end in 1.5–2 months - this is called the hot method. However, not every person has enough time and energy to do this. Therefore, the cold method of cooking is the most popular.
It is best to compost organic matter in heaps rather than in pits as some suggest. Water constantly accumulates in the pits, the mixing process and the access of oxygen are difficult - decay is slow.
Compost heaps are organized as follows. Three walls are made of any solid material, up to a meter high. Ideally, the floor should be made slatted - this contributes to a good penetration of oxygen from below, which accelerates maturation. But if this is not possible, you can build a pile on concrete, or even just on the ground. It is best to make two compartments at once, so that there is where to shift the ripened organic matter in the future.
The minimum heap volume should be one cubic meter, otherwise the compost will dry out quickly. For the same reason, it is necessary to place the compost heap in a shaded place. If the place for preparing the fertilizer is in the sun, then it must be covered (in summer with something opaque and providing air penetration, and in cold weather with polyethylene, which will contribute to rapid decay).
It is impossible to overheat the compost - microorganisms may die, but it is also not recommended not to cover it at all, since useful nutrients are weathered and washed out by rains.
Compost is the main fertilizer for all gardeners who adhere to the principles of organic farming. When it ripens in organic matter, the content of nutrients necessary for plants (potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and others) increases.
The addition of ready-made compost to the beds improves the structure and fertility of the soil, such beds retain moisture better. Ready-made high-quality compost perfectly protects crops from many diseases and contributes to obtaining a high-quality, environmentally friendly crop.
We grow fertilizers in the beds
Compost, no doubt, is an excellent fertilizer, but for its preparation it is necessary to have a large number of different organic materials on the farm, which in some cases is extremely problematic. So what should people do who do not want to use chemistry in their gardens, but they do not have the time and opportunity to make compost? In such cases, organic farming advises to grow fertilizers directly on the beds.
Here green manure plants (green fertilizers) come to the rescue. The use of green fertilizers is one of the main ways to improve the structure and increase soil fertility used in organic farming. These plants are grown specifically right on the beds, but not for eating, but for improving the land. The green mass of these crops is embedded in the soil to increase the content of organic matter in it, and is also used for composting and preparing various liquid fertilizers.
As green fertilizers, mixtures of legumes and non-legumes are most often used. From perennial legumes, alfalfa, clover, lupine, sainfoin are used. From non-legumes, any cereal is suitable, except for corn. Various cruciferous crops are perfect for sideration: mustard, rapeseed, radish, colza. Many gardeners use for these purposes generally any seeds that, for example, have passed their expiration date.
There is nothing complicated in the cultivation technology itself. In the beds where it is planned to plant heat-loving crops, in early spring, you can sow the seeds of any green manure. Before planting a tomato or pepper, you will be guaranteed a knee-deep green carpet that can be embedded in the soil without mowing. In this case, you can plant seedlings directly into withering tops.
After harvesting garlic, carrots, potatoes (that is, those crops that will no longer occupy the garden until frost), you can plant empty areas with any green manure. To do this, just walk on the ground with a rake and a bag of seeds. After the emergence of seedlings, if there is no danger that the greenery will outgrow and become woody, it can be left for the winter, and in the spring you just need to loosen the bed. If the greenery has risen long before the onset of cold weather, then it must be embedded in the soil, and immediately sow a new portion of green fertilizer on top for spring.
In general, green manure is a creative process, the main thing here is to observe the basic principle of organic farming - do not leave the ground bare and adhere to some simple rules:
- green manure cannot be overgrown, the more powerful the plant, the more difficult it is to cut it;
- green fertilizers should be sown thickly;
- it is not recommended to use rhizomatous crops as green manure crops;
- to reduce the effort and time for planting green fertilizers, you can scatter their seeds before harvesting or before spring loosening.
Sideration is a great way to improve and restore the fertility of the site. After green manures are embedded in the ground, their root and leaf mass decompose and enrich the soil with organic matter and nitrogen. Further, under the influence of microorganisms and earthworms, plant residues are processed and converted into humus.
Green manure plants provide the soil with oxygen, help retain moisture and improve the structure of the earth. Green fertilizers create a dense cover that protects the soil from weathering and leaching of nutrients, which, during green manure, remain in the upper fertile layers.
Bacterial fertilizers
As we have already found out, organic fertilizers will not work without the work of microorganisms. They are involved in both the creation of humus and the maturation of compost. To increase the number of microorganisms, scientists have invented special preparations - bacterial fertilizers, affectionately called "emochki" by the people. These are not ready-made nutrients, but microorganisms in the form of spores or cells, which, under favorable conditions, begin to multiply and process organic matter.
To date, the Vostok-EM1 and Biostim preparations are considered to be fairly well-known bacterial fertilizers. The composition of "Vostok-EM1" includes more than 80 varieties of fungi and microorganisms, which under the influence of "Biostim" begin to multiply actively and do an excellent job of processing the excrement of various animals and birds, turning them into highly nutritious humus. The microorganisms that make up these preparations produce substances that can suppress the growth of microflora, which causes various dangerous plant diseases.
It should be noted that the production of bacterial fertilizers is still far from being studied, and this branch of agriculture is just beginning to develop, but is already considered quite promising in many countries.
In our time, when the world is on the verge of an ecological catastrophe, the problem of refusing to use mineral fertilizers and pesticides when growing food sounds especially relevant. And, as we found out, the achievements of agronomists who work on the land, adhering to the principles of organic and biodynamic farming, can help in resolving it. By learning how to grow green manure and prepare compost, you will be able to provide your family with environmentally friendly vegetables and fruits, which will contribute to the improvement of the body and the nature around you.published
There are questions, ask them.
I ask you to tell me what methods are best used to heal the diseased, depleted earth with a dense structure.
In my opinion, the optimal solution in your case is the sowing of green manure. They will help to disinfect the earth, improve its structure and increase the content of nutrients. Do not embed the grown green manure after mowing into the ground. It is enough to cut them off, spread them on the ground, pour them with a solution of EM preparations and give the bacteria the opportunity to do their job. It is necessary to mow green manure in the budding phase, before flowering. At this time, plants accumulate the maximum amount of nutrients.
Why is siderata better?
Yes, because many of them either have the ability to draw nutrients from the deep layers of the soil with the help of long roots, or accumulate them with the help of nitrogen-fixing bacteria living with them in symbiosis (for example, plants of the legume family). Lupine and mustard are more effective than conventional phosphorus fertilizer. This is due to the fact that, firstly, mineral fertilizers are often used by vegetable crops in minimal quantities due to rapid leaching into hard-to-reach soil layers, and secondly, green manures enable plants to consume the necessary nutrients in a natural, easily digestible form. The roots of green manure crops remaining in the ground are also useful: after they are experienced, a kind of network of thin tubules is formed in the soil, ensuring the normal supply of moisture and air.
Never grow oil radish before or after cabbage, watercress. These are plants of the same family, which means that they are able to attract the same pests and diseases. In order to choose the right green manure that suits you, remember: mustard, oil radish, rapeseed, winter rapeseed Turtle dove are cruciferous; peas, lupins, sweet clover, vetch, clover - to legumes; rye, barley, ryegrass - to cereals.
If you have forgotten which families the predecessors or successors belong to, and there is no time to search for information, then give preference to phacelia: it is part of the aquatic family, in the ranks of which there are no garden crops familiar to us. In addition, phacelia is practically not affected by pests or diseases, and itself helps neighboring plants to recover thanks to the essential oils exuded by it and the attraction of predatory insects. Its blue flowers attract bees, so it is useful to sow phacelia not only in the garden, but also in the orchard - this will increase the yield. Phacelia blooms on average 50-60 days. They cut it in the garden, but in the garden they let it bloom freely. A double effect can be obtained if green manure is sown not separately, but in the form of mixtures. So, for example, peas go well with mustard, cereals and legumes, rape - with cereal and legume green manure.
