How to make a compost bed in the fall. Making compost right in the garden. "lazy" bed or crop rotation on a compost heap

This note is a response to an unusually interesting (like everything that comes from the pen of N.I. Kurdyumov!) Article “Nutritious thoughts in anticipation of the harvest”, published in the journal “Herald Gardener”. It is about the invaluable (and invaluable!) role of sugars and amino acids in plant nutrition.

But I'll start from afar.

For many years I have been a compost fanatic. He began excursions for numerous guests with his “chic” compost pit with a volume of 10 cubic meters and with pits, in which a neighbor put organic matter during the season. But over time, he saw the light: amazingly little "rut" remained after the decomposition of the biomass. And where did the lion's share go? And don’t go to the gate - to the sky, to the wells, to the ponds ...

It is necessary: to mow the whole district all summer, to haunt algae in a nearby lake, to grow green manure especially for biomass, to bring and demolish all this into a compost pit. And what for? To employ yourself? To gut the grown biomass? To harm the environment?

If the organics decomposed in the beds, then the "owner" would be spared from the Sisyphean labor: with a cart of organics - including from the beds - into the pit, and then, with a handful of "rut", back to the garden. At the same time, decomposition products would have a chance to get to plants.

Having begun to see clearly, I, without hesitation, covered up the object of my pride. Biomass began to remain in the garden. No wasted fuss, no loss of energy and nutrients biomass, nor habitat damage.

True, organic matter in the garden decomposes slowly. But there is a low-cost means of "spurring" the process - a conveyor-made EM silo. After waiting for a warm time, we put fresh herbs in a barrel, add a glass or two of EM solution and sweetness, fill it with water, and “the process has begun”.

The silo is ready as soon as the contents of the barrel have foamed, i.e. bacteria multiplied so much that gaseous decomposition products of organic matter began to be released. The first is carbon dioxide. For thistle, milkweed or chernoshchira, for example, a day or two may be enough, nettles need two or three days, amaranth and blooming sweet clover may need four to five days, and purslane must be held "under the gun" of bacteria for at least a week so that he does not come to life in the garden. We take out the ripened thick (silo) and lay it around vegetative plants. Then we water the decomposed EM silo with water to hide the bacteria from the sun and moisten the mulch substrate (bacteria are comfortable only in a humid environment). And in the barrel with the remaining yushka we put new greens, add sweets, add water ...

This "conveyor" works (with a single filling of the EM solution at the very beginning) all summer long, as long as there are eaters of the "brew" of this kitchen in the beds - vegetative plants. And as long as there is greenery worthy of putting it in a barrel. These can be weeded (non-seed) weeds, weeds from a wasteland, non-marketable zucchini, cucumbers, watermelons, melons (oh!), lettuce and radishes that have begun to shoot, beet tops, carrots ... Last summer, for example, plentifully born plums went into business. And how - skipping! Sweet indeed! From the fact that it is impossible to ensil, we can mention - offhand - wormwood, ragweed and foliage walnut: there is no need to "enrich" the soil with absinthine and juglone.

The manipulation of the head is determined by the intensity of the flow of greenery. If the greenery does not “support”, then part of the inoculated (populated with bacteria) yushka can be used for watering. When the greens “flow like a river”, then this yushka has to be shared with new barrels (in my “hot time” there are up to nine 70-liter barrels - all over the garden). Plants gratefully, without delay, react to EM silage.

There is an important bonus for the gardener too: EM silage is a bioactivator and a BALANCED top dressing so that what is grown remains FOOD (unlike industrial vegetables, which Fukuoka called aqueous solutions nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium ... packed in the shell of a tomato, eggplant, etc.).
Now back to Kurdyumov's article.

Here is a quote from it: “... soluble sugars are the beginning of any microbial food chain. It is the first thing that is eaten when it enters the soil. You don’t even need to digest it - energy in its purest form. Fuse, "gasoline" of any food wave. We're not the only ones craving sweets! Just like microbes and amino acids - take ready-made and build protein. Referring to the old and recent world experience, Nikolai Ivanovich talks about all kinds of sweet top dressing. Even (hold on, readers!) - just about diluted sugar syrup. That's why above the word melon was adorned with an exclamation point.

I quote further: “It is impossible not to mention the Canadian project RCW - branch wood chips. It started back in the late 70s, and in the early 90s brought to a productive technology that saves depleted soils around the world. Studying how humus is born in forests, scientists have found: main source sustainable humus - thin branches deciduous trees. Why? Because they contain almost an order of magnitude more sugar than the wood of the trunks, plus proteins in a fair amount. In branches, unlike straw, the ideal ratio of nitrogen and carbon! Including other elements, they store 75% of all the nutrients of the forest.”

And one more thing: “At the heart of the farming technique (meaning the RCW project) is the no-till mixing of a 1-2-inch layer of fine wood chips with the top five centimeters of soil. After three or four years, crops on depleted soils grow significantly.”
In the absence of a chopper, I - under the influence of Nikolai Ivanovich's article - began to bring into each barrel a bucket or two chopped (with leaves) into pieces 2-3 cm long of the annual growth of raspberries, apple trees, grapes, cherries, plums ... The effect did not take long: the contents of the barrels began to foam much faster. Elder and maple especially "appeared" to me. And no wonder. “Craftsmen” drive “cursed” from elderberry berries (I remind you: alcohol is formed due to the work of yeast on sugar). And in Canada and the USA, mainly maple honey (syrup) is in use. In any case, the contents of the barrels, in which the maple cut is laid in the evening, foam by morning.

A very important amendment to the EM conveyor ensiling technology! Cheap but angry! I stopped fiddling with my grandmother about a jar of old jam.
Maple is especially interesting in that its shoots are found at every step, and its expanded reproduction is evident: in place of cut branches, two, three, five branches a meter long or more grow in 4-5 weeks. Even champions do not know such rapid growth: goat's rue, rumex, pierced-leaved sylph ... When harvesting maple branches, you should not shun those from which you can cut twigs 70-100 cm long for easy support of plants (for example, tomatoes). With two arches stuck into the ground, a hollow is formed (indicated by an arrow in the figure), into which the plant lies. When the plant begins to lean, it is necessary to “give him a shoulder” from the side where the plant is leaning. Got to the ground? You can put a couple more bows. No comparison with tying whips to a trellis! Which, by the way, must first be built! Inserting the shackles is faster, safer for plants, does not require finger dexterity, and does not interfere with plant growth in any way. In addition, there is no rise of lashes to the sun - the fruits will be in partial shade and will not bake!

So, harvested maple branches form three fractions - one is more useful than the other:

greens for ensiling (leaves and green twigs up to 4 mm thick),
twigs to support plants without coercion,
rough leftovers.

These leftovers are cut into pieces 4-5 cm long and used as mulch. They will not decompose in one season, will be mixed with the soil at the next shallow tillage and, according to RCW technology, will feed the plants (for real, with sugars and amino acids) with the primary fuel of dynamic fertility.

And a couple of words about the maple cut. In the middle of summer, weeds begin to seed, and the flow of decent greenery for silage is depleted. It's time to reorient the process from thick to yushka: put a couple of buckets of maple chaff into barrels (the raw material for it does not dry out) and water the previously decomposed mulch and EM silo with foamy yub. I have sweet (noticeably sweet) stems and leaves of corn and sorghum added to the flow of greens at this time. They grow quite densely throughout the garden as backstage. And just in time for the middle of summer, they need to be thinned out to give the plants partial shade. Just do not uproot, but break out the stems, and then, thanks to wound hormones, stepchildren actively grow - a new raw material for mulch and EM silage.
What an effective imprint Nikolai Ivanovich's article left on garden affairs!

And now - to the compost. Here is another quote from the article: “In the end, God himself ordered to look at the compost with a new eye. And to state: from it, after all, not only ammonia nitrogen and carbon dioxide evaporate. The main thing is that there are no sugars or amino acids left! The very basis of dynamic fertility, its primary fuel, is zero. So Boris Andreevich Bublik is right: composting right on the beds is a special agricultural technique. And not just in the form of mulch or in piles, but right in the soil, in small grooves or pits, under a thin layer of soil. For kitchen waste best place you can't imagine."

I note that the incorporation of organic matter into the soil is remarkably - in time - combined with mulching and laying out the EM silo on the mulch. It is convenient to incorporate organic matter into the soil in spring or autumn, when the beds are free from plants, and lay out silage in the summer, when the beds are occupied. It turned out like a puzzle: organic matter is embedded in the soil in the cold season, and EM silage is fermented by heat (soil bacteria - thermophiles) and is appropriate only if there are plants on the garden bed - eaters of decomposition products! Let me remind you that it is also advisable to pour a silo yushka only on soil covered with mulch and plants.

The article by Nikolai Ivanovich is a golden nail in the coffin of compost made outside the beds and an extremely appropriate hosanna for sweet top dressing and watering.

Here's a recent anecdote. I gave the article to read to a neighbor who comes to the dacha "for the weekend." Killed, poor, until the evening: “Wow! Just yesterday I was cleaning my grandmother's stocks, and threw away three dozen cans of suspicious jam. Can I not understand her: after all, she could have watered her two hundred square meters of the garden sweetly, but she arrived ... with a bag of urea. This story is a wonderful illustration of the final phrase of Nikolai Ivanovich's article: "This is how the sugar cycle turns out in nature, in the head and in the garden!"
How accurate is the imperative of Lilia Zhuravleva (Orsky Club natural farming): To change something in actions, you need to change a lot in your heads. It's high time to take to mind the definition from Kurdyumov's rarity "Smart Ogool": "Fertility is the nutritional activity of the soil as a product of the activity of all living organisms inhabiting it." And throw out of your head the scanty idea that the fertility of the soil is the abundance of minerals in it. An extremely dangerous idea - it really allows you to get high yield, only he will have a distant relation to food.

Most gardeners who prepare compost for themselves in heaps are convinced that plants need, first of all, humus. That's why they compost. However, they do not take into account the losses that inevitably occur in the process of such composting. AT compost heap When organic matter decomposes, carbon dioxide is primarily lost.

And all this for the sake of obtaining humus. As a result, gardeners oppose carbon dioxide nutrition to mineral nutrition. I think that it is impossible to oppose these types of food. If there is not enough mineral nutrition, then the plants will be weak, underdeveloped. If they lack carbon dioxide nutrition, the result will be the same. To receive maximum yield it is necessary that these two types of nutrition be provided to the maximum extent possible. Experienced gardeners know: if you increase the number carbon dioxide in the air directly near the plants, then the yield will increase in proportion to this increase. Why, then, create an overabundance of mineral nutrition, if an insufficient amount of carbon dioxide will still hold back the growth of the crop? An increase in the amount of humus and mineral solutions due to the loss of carbon dioxide in this case is an extra, vain work.

On my site, composting takes place in the immediate vicinity of the plants - in the paths. Therefore, carbon dioxide is not lost, but absorbed by plants. At the same time, the formation of humus and nutrient solutions also occurs near the plants themselves - all decomposition products of organic matter are used as fully and harmoniously as possible. I see benefits in this. compost lanes. In one of the publications, I came across the statement: “It is possible to raise the level of carbon dioxide in the near-surface layer of the atmosphere without the use of green mulch by increasing the population of soil microorganisms in the soil of the ridges by applying them with EM preparations. This is easier to do than collecting and laying out green organic matter.”

I don't think it's possible to put the question this way. In order for carbon dioxide to be released, first of all, organic matter is needed. Just in order to be what to digest. And it is just as important that there are those in the soil who will digest it. If there is no one thing, then the process will not go. If one of the components is not enough, the process will go extremely sluggishly.

Proponents of organic composting in heaps most often introduce completely decomposed compost into the soil. There is already very little undecomposed organic matter in such compost. This means that the process of carbon dioxide formation will go weakly in the beds. To enhance this process, unfermented organic matter is needed on the surface of the ridges - mulch. So, in this case, it is pointless to discuss which is easier, to introduce organic matter or effective microorganisms. You need both. A fragment from another publication: “A bed plus a passage - 1 meter. The width of the passage between the ridges of less than 70 cm does not give any positive result(Mittlider). Plants in the outer rows get more food from the air (carbon dioxide) because the air near the aisles is constantly being renewed. Inside the ridge, the air stagnates or is weakly renewed. It is in this, and not in the compost of the passages, that the reason for the greater yield of the outer rows. Wide passages between the ridges will ensure a constant exchange of air around each of the plants, the wind increases the yield.”

This author refers to Mittlider as an irrefutable authority. And in this case, I consider his recommendation, for Mittlider method very important. But precisely for the Mittlider method. What caused the need for a constant exchange of air around each plant? Everything is very simple. The use of mineral fertilizers on a sterile substrate does not contribute to the formation of carbon dioxide. Mittlider: "The passages are never loosened, watered, fertilized, they are only tightly trampled down by your walking on them." This means that microbiological activity in the passages is also extremely depressed. Consequently, when the air is stagnant, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the surface space drops - it is consumed by plants. This may reduce the yield. In order to prevent a decrease in yield, it is precisely what is needed to constantly renew the air - to bring in carbon dioxide from the outside. Mittlider's recommendation - good decision when applying his methods: since his methods do not increase the concentration of carbon dioxide, then you need to attract him from outside. Often used in greenhouses different ways increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide - special burners, cylinders with liquefied carbon dioxide, barrels with decaying organics and other devices.

Now let's look at the variant of the organic garden with composting in heaps. Lost during composting large quantity carbon dioxide. Then the compost is applied to the ridges. Soil inhabitants constantly work in the ridges, decomposing the remains of organic matter that did not have time to decompose in the compost heap. This results in the release of carbon dioxide. But wide passages between the ridges will ensure a constant exchange of air around each of the plants. And carbon dioxide safely flies to the neighbors. Why don't they use carbon dioxide cylinders in open field? Yes, because it's useless. The gas is distributed in the air, moves to other areas, in short - is wasted. The same thing happens with the gas that microbes emit in the beds with constant air movement - it also goes to waste. So what happens: the wind increases the crop? Mittlider's, yes. On beds filled with compost - no. The wind just carries the carbon dioxide away. I am not talking about other gases of the atmosphere, because they are in abundance in the air to feed plants. To get the maximum yield in the atmosphere, only carbon dioxide is always missing. So do not artificially reduce its concentration.

In the wild nature, vast expanses of grass thickets, without a single mittlider path, are full of health, they all say that they feel good in this “wild” Nature. Why do they not need intensive air exchange? Because under them there is always a layer of organic mulch - food for microbes and other soil inhabitants, which replenish the surface layer of air with the missing carbon dioxide. This is exactly the same endless cylinder of carbon dioxide.

For myself, I concluded - in terms of carbon dioxide wide mittlider paths, trampled down, without a single weed, devoid of organic matter - the worst option. If the paths are turfed or under mulch, then this is already much better. In my opinion, best option- narrower paths in which the organic composting process takes place. This conclusion does not concern the issue of convenience: it is undoubtedly more convenient to walk along wide paths.

By no means am I advocating redesigning your garden layout. If for some reason only wide, bare paths are acceptable to you, then no problem - create a system of wings that prevent the wind. Most effective option – green hedge This will reduce the loss of carbon dioxide. Another quote from the publication: "The passages are never loosened, not watered, not fertilized, they are only tightly trampled down by your walking on them." Apparently it works well on sandy soil. On my loam, after the rain, you can’t walk along such a path - mud. Don't go in the spring. Paths under organic matter are much more convenient in this regard. They are always clean. The top layer -3-5 cm is always dry. Even after rain it dries very quickly. This upper layer does not overheat precisely because it is dry. On loam, such paths are a clear advantage.

Another disadvantage, in my opinion, of clean wide rammed paths is that a huge amount of moisture is lost from their surface. In summer they get very hot. In our area at the end of June, such paths are covered with cracks up to 20 cm deep and a finger thick. Such paths work to overheat the beds. The opposite situation develops if the paths are covered with mulch. Compost paths have a minor drawback - they take longer than bare paths to warm up in the spring. But for development cultivated plants it doesn't affect. The beds are raised, and due to this they heat up quickly. This is enough for small plants - the root system is still small.

Good luck everyone!

Oleg Telepov, member of the Omsk Club of Potato Growers

In the spring, one wants to start sowing faster in order to get the harvest as early as possible. The earth is still cold at this time, and the roots of plants need heat first of all. You can speed up ripening and increase the yield by arranging a warm bed, it is very easy to do it yourself. The manufacturing technology does not require large financial costs, but the harvest can be obtained three times per season. Consider how to make a warm bed with step by step instructions decorated with photographs. Watch an example of creating beds in the video to understand what the end result should be.

Advantages of a warm bed

To understand whether it is worth equipping warm beds on your site and spending your own time and effort, you need to understand the advantages of this method.

A raised warm bed is especially good for wet, cold regions. The soil warms up earlier, it is possible to get a crop at an earlier date. In case of waterlogging, the plants do not get wet. Even stone fruit trees are planted in this way to protect root system from ground water.
A properly arranged garden bed will last about five years. Then it can be rebuilt, and the resulting fertile land can be used for sowing other plants.

warm bed allows you to get early harvest vegetables

Reduced water consumption. Organics retain water, so once or twice a week for watering is enough. And if you equip drip irrigation or at least lay a holey hose for irrigation, then labor costs are minimized.
When organic matter decomposes, heat is released, which stimulates seed germination. Compost formed as a result of the activity of microorganisms and earthworms is an excellent source of plant nutrition.
There is no need for a compost heap, all organic matter falls directly onto the bed.
You can install a warm bed on the street or in a greenhouse - this will bring the same effect. In open ground, it is enough to install arcs and stretch agrofibre to protect plants from frost.
After precipitation, the crop remains clean, as a layer of mulch covers the soil, and rain splashes do not stain vegetables.
Weeds germinate with difficulty and in small quantities, they are easily pulled out.
It does not take up much space, it is convenient to handle, it does not create dirt and mess.

Advice. In autumn, all available small organic matter and leaf litter add to the bed and cover with cardboard to keep warm and useful material were not washed out by rains in the lower layers.

Arrangement rules

With a close approach to groundwater, the bed is raised above the soil. In dry regions, on the contrary, they deepen, making it level with the soil or slightly higher. Raised beds border different materials. Most often they use wood or slate, less often metal. Placed in the middle of the lawn, framed by a blind area of tiles, such a bed pleases the eye and decorates the site. Or they make it in the form of a meter-long hill without sides. In fact, a warm bed is a compost heap, folded in the form of a layer cake according to certain rules.

Neat beds look very nice

Coarse organic matter is laid on the lowest layer, which decomposes for a long time: stumps and tree trunks, thick branches. Spilled with urea. The larger the waste, the longer the bed will last. Wood retains moisture well.
The next layer is laid with smaller organic matter: corn and sunflower stalks, small shrubs. Paper and kitchen waste, leaves, straw can also be used.
To speed up the process of decomposition and heating, semi-rotted manure or compost is laid. From above, sod with grass down, and then a layer of mature compost.
After that, the seeds are sown.

The length of the bed can be any, optimal width about a metre. The depth will depend on the composition of the soil and the type of bed chosen. Recessed is made by 40 - 60 cm. The height of the raised bed is up to 1 m.
The air remaining in the cavities between large organics will provide breathing and quick heating of the beds. You can speed up the process by spilling the soil with special bacteria.

Advice. If the soil is initially good, then the need to dig the beds will disappear by itself. Already in the first year, the soil is well loosened to a depth of 20 cm, for the next season it is enough to add compost and plant plants.

The process of making beds

Consider the process of making a recessed bed with a small wooden side from an unnecessary board.

We knock down the boards to make a rectangle.
We mark the size of the bed on the ground and dig a trench about 60 cm deep.
Cut turf and top layer fertile land throw it to one side - it will still come in handy.
Fold the bottom layer over to the other side.
The sides of the trench can be additionally insulated with expanded polystyrene foam, and closed plastic bottles can be laid on the bottom.

Insulation of the bottom of a warm bed

We fill the trench with branches, logs. Above we lay smaller material.
We pour out several wheelbarrows of semi-finished compost - this will be a starter from beneficial microorganisms for processing and heating organic matter.
We lay fertile soil and sod with grass down.
From above we fill with compost, a mixture of sand, peat and sawdust with the addition of trace elements.

Filling the garden bed with compost

Water well and cover with foil. After two weeks, you can plant seeds or seedlings.
Cover the soil with dark mulch. Light-colored mulch, such as straw or sawdust, is best applied in the summer - it reflects well sunlight and does not allow the roots to overheat.

What plants are planted in a warm garden

A container filled with organic matter heats up quickly in the spring. Heat-loving vegetables in such a bed can be sown ahead of time, covering with a film for the first time. By correctly calculating the planting time and the distance between plants, you can first grow radishes and greens. Place a trellis in the center, plant cucumbers and tomatoes. After harvesting the radish crop, plant carrots, onions, and beets. In the fall, plant radishes, salads and greens again.

Experienced gardeners who have been using warm beds for more than one year recommend planning plantings in this way:

in the first year, when the bed is rich in organic matter to the maximum, sow pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumber with zucchini. It is these crops that will give the maximum yield;
on the next year you can plant the same vegetables again as in the first year;
for the third season, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, herbs, beets, beans and carrots are planted.

The film can be attached to the bottom row of the trellis with clothespins. Press the edges loosely with boards. So the bed will turn into a greenhouse. Air will be sucked in from below and exited at the top. If you forget to open the bed during the day, the plants will not burn. And if there are free funds, install a roof over the bed. It will protect tomatoes from phytophthora, and cucumbers from peronospores - these fungi germinate in water droplets on the leaves. Vegetables will stay healthy until frost.

Advice. deep hole and large volume Organics hold moisture well and give off heat. Raised boxes with a small layer of organic matter dry out faster and lose their nutritional value.

Once, having found time and energy, as well as a sufficient amount of high-quality organic matter, and having equipped a warm bed with an irrigation system, you will not only free up time for rest, but also get an early harvest delicious vegetables. If in the open field vegetables ripen a month earlier, then such a construction in a greenhouse will more than justify the invested work.

Warm garden: video

How to make a warm bed: photo

A rare garden does without a compost heap. And where else to put the grass torn from the beds? If land management is carried out using book methods, then either throw it out of the site, or prepare it from waste.

The happiness of the summer resident, if the land turned out to be virgin, that is, it had not been plowed before, it was not planted on it. These were wastelands and inconveniences. Garbage was taken out by KAMAZ, not every tractor driver agreed to plow, being afraid of a piece of iron in the depths. But what harvests were!

Not everyone received a new plot for use, more often than not one generation grew cabbage there before it. But everyone knew (or rather thought they knew) how to make compost, how to use it. Problems with phytosanitary purity were not immediately discovered, because no one even thought that a fertilizer was made with his own hands. Who has thought about what happens in the compost bin or heap? None! This was not written about in the books.

What is the harm of compost

In the compost, as in the manure heap, rotting processes take place. Would you say that they also exist in nature? True, but is it possible to compare the decomposition of one leaf and a ton of greenery in compost pit? In nature, there are beneficial microorganisms that do not allow pathogens to take over. And there are no natural protectors in the compost bin.

What do they usually put in it? Any garden and kitchen waste. Weed grass, tomato stepchildren, squash lashes, which are usually removed from the garden at the end of fruiting due to the fact that the leaves have turned gray.

Spoiled bread with a moldy smell. Of course, with obvious signs of rot, no one will throw a specially moldy piece there. But are our eyes like a microscope and can see everything at high magnification? While the mycelium develops in a piece of bread, you will not notice it, but it will sprout in a heap!

There are methods that considered suitable for soil disinfection for seedlings:

Pour in boiling water.
Ignite in the oven.
Warm up on a baking sheet or pan.
Treat with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Gardeners do this. And what do you get as a result:

humic acids - the natural fertility of the soil, are destroyed at a temperature of + 45 ... + 55 ° C;
soil nutrients and capillaries are destroyed, beneficial microorganisms die;
pathogenic microorganisms are more resistant, especially putrefactive ones.

We draw a conclusion! There is so little sense from such thermal procedures that it is not worth starting them.

Compost in the usual way: laborious and time consuming

So much has already been written about the preparation of compost in heaps, boxes and pits that we will dwell on these methods only for a minute. It's easy to write, but hard to do.

First, calculate how much money it will take to make wooden walls taking into account the decay of wood. How many years is enough? Will he have enough strength to stir up a heavy mass in a box? It is usually understood that this is difficult, therefore another box is installed nearby in order to simply transfer the contents from the first to the second. At the same time, it is necessary to disassemble the boards by about half the height, otherwise not everyone will master the work. And almost a handful of compost will be prepared, and even that one also needs to be spread on the beds. Pulling out of the pit for tedding or throwing into another pit is even harder. And I am a supporter of minimal work in terms of labor intensity and time.

Compost the easy way: learning from nature

You can make your work easier if you go on an excursion into the forest. The best time late summer - early autumn, when mushrooms grow. Where a lot of mushrooms are located in one long pile on the ground, a tree that has fallen several years ago lies under the grass. No one hid it, no one dug a hole for it - it lay on top and itself went under the soil.

In nature, there are mechanisms that regulate the ratio of beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms, because every year everything blooms and turns green. So, the most beneficial thing is to leave all plant waste in place. If you want to make the site beautiful, then it is better to rake them into the beds. This is both, and protection at the same time. We believe that we have learned how to make compost from nature.

How to make compost beds

What is the difference between a bed of plant debris and a compost heap? In the compost heap (pit) everything rots. Not in the trash can. There go almost natural processes: grasses begin to grow, find food earthworms, wood lice, vegetables grow there, releasing special substances from the roots to create convenient forms of nutrients. For beds, this option looks like this: along the ridge in the middle, you need to dig a ditch with a flat cutter, deep enough to put all the greenery in it, which has already outlived its age. From above, with the same flat cutter, throw the soil that was removed from the ditch. Everything, the compost pit is ready.

What is the benefit of such a design? There are few plant residues, there will be no decay processes - they will not have time to break out - earthworms will take everything away and process it. So it will take only one autumn and one winter to get not compost in a pit, but a bed fertilized with compost. The time will come to sow cabbage or plant tomatoes in the ground, and the garden bed is already waiting for you.

You can do a more laborious option. From two adjacent beds, build soil shafts, put vegetable raw materials between them, slightly alternating it with soil. You can put branches, branches, sawdust here, but you must cover them with earth.

On the sides of such rollers, you can grow something, such as dill or lettuce. And in the space between them in the spring sow pumpkins or zucchini, tomatoes will also like it. But here heavy earthworks many times more. There is another simple option: you need to build a mound out of greenery and kitchen waste. How much greenery there is, such a mound will turn out to be such a height. It can turn out to be of impressive size if the trees froze out in winter, and trunks and gnarled branches had to be removed. This "wealth" must be laid at the base of the hill. From above - the tops of potatoes, tomatoes, then pumpkin lashes, sometimes throwing up land for communication, although this is not necessary. You can water and trample, but you won’t trample down to the state of asphalt anyway. The topmost layer is soil.

And immediately we sow or plant, but under each root we must make a wide-mouthed cone with a cutting of a flat cutter to fill the ground. All! And the compost is being prepared, and the vegetables are growing.

Humates for soil improvement

If you do not use manure and humus, in garden soil new portions of the infection do not fall. The soil itself can improve, but it will take quite a long time. To speed up the process will help - natural compounds, which are the essence of the soil.

What are they doing:

a huge amount of nutrients (in snow, hoarfrost, soil) is in a form inaccessible to plants. Humates will collect everything together, turn it into a form that is available to plants. At the same time, they will also help you choose the right element from the entire list, save the gardener from buying and adding them to the soil of the beds;
reduce the acidity of the soil, thereby freeing it from the wireworm and the most malicious weeds (horsetail, horse sorrel);
clean the soil from pathogenic microorganisms;
preserve useful soil microflora, restore the real collective of soil inhabitants;
do not allow to accumulate harmful substances in plant fruits.

It is important! After all, until now, all smart books say that plant nutrition is mineral, but in fact it is carbon-hydrogen-nitrogen. All these substances plants extract from the air! Nitrogen helps get soil bacteria if not killed mineral fertilizers, manure and compost mixed with ammonia.

Conclusion: the less work we do, the more harvest we get! Tell your gardening friends how you can make it easier to prepare compost that is good for plants and soil.

Here are some more interesting and helpful posts.

Instead of traditional ones, you can make compost beds.

Advantages

No need to dig.
Organic fertilizers are formed right in the garden.
Harvest ripens earlier.
Plants do not need frequent watering.

Types of compost ridges

In place of the usual garden

Make them in spring or autumn. You can use the beds without a fence, you can use the beds-boxes with sides. The latter are convenient in that they keep their shape. Some of the beds are prepared in the spring, some in the fall. During the season, you can make several pieces.

Hay, straw, leftovers are placed on a free bed fresh vegetables and fruits, grass clippings, weeds (without seed heads), egg shells, tea and coffee brewing, cardboard and other organic waste. Add earth. You can put ashes, manure or bird droppings. The layer should be 15-20 cm, the width of the beds should be 70-90 cm. It is better to make the distance between the ridges large so that the plants do not shade each other. You can process two or three beds in the spring. Three weeks later, the compost bed is ready. It is sown, after the emergence of shoots, it is mulched with mowed grass. Mulch protects the soil from drying out, so frequent watering not required. Cultures are watered under the root. Harvest on such warm beds ripens earlier. The earth can not be dug up, but only loosened with a flat cutter. On such a bed it is convenient to use arcs.

Compost beds can be formed in the fall and left to mature over the winter. After harvesting, a layer of organic fertilizer is poured and left until spring. In the first year, it is better to use such a bed for planting potatoes. You can plant it under hay or mowed grass. Instead of hilling, sawdust or grass is added.

The compost layer will rot and settle, so during the season add organic fertilizers. This forms a fertile compost layer.

Bed in a portable box

A box is made of boards, put on free place, it is possible on the uncultivated part of the site. During the season they form a warm compost bed. First, drainage is done (branches, pebbles), then the box is filled up organic waste, earth. Gradually fall asleep to the top. You can spill "Baikal M-1", cover with spunbond or black film and fix. When the bed is ready, the box is removed and put in another place. Everyone repeats. So you can master the uncultivated part of the site without digging.

Healthy vegetables from your garden

A bed of rubbish

A bed can be made on some waste, garbage. During the summer, they put waste, mowed grass in one place until a big pile is obtained. They make large holes, fall asleep with earth. On such a heap, zucchini and pumpkins grow well in the first year. Mulch the soil between plants. Watered with infusion of herbs, biohumus. Add manure or chicken manure. Harvest in the fall and leave the garden until spring. In the spring it is leveled, given the shape of an ordinary garden bed.