What to do after working with the soil. Important soil care measures

After harvesting the crop from their plot and placing it in storage, gardeners cannot yet rest. The point is that their work doesn't end there. Experienced gardeners know that the basis of the future harvest is not only compliance with all agrotechnical rules when growing crops, but also proper cultivation of the land in the fall. If this work is carried out competently, then optimal conditions for the existence of plants will be created in the soil. As a result, air and hydraulic conditions will improve, heat will be retained, thickets of harmful weeds will decrease, and the percentage of susceptibility to pests and many diseases will decrease.

general information

To begin with, be sure to remove all weed plants, and in such a way that no seeds remain from them. All remnants of garden crops are also removed. If the stems of the plants are already dry, then you can simply burn them on a rainy day. Experienced gardeners even use the resulting ash. They add it to the ground as fertilizer when digging the garden or pour it into the compost heap.

Removing weeds, as well as burning roots, tops and stems helps destroy pathogens of various diseases and those pests that remain on the plant. If there are obvious signs of infection on a crop, then it should be burned away from the garden, and the ashes should not be used, but destroyed by burying them in a hole outside the site.

Where to begin

Autumn tillage should begin with lightly loosening the top layer with a rake. This process should be carried out on each bed separately after all fruit-bearing crops have been removed from it. It should be borne in mind that after about a week, weed shoots may appear in this place. They also need to be destroyed. For this purpose, experienced gardeners use a Fokin flat cutter, which chops their stems and roots, while simultaneously loosening the soil. In general, there is an opinion that weed seedlings that appear after removing plant residues are not dangerous at all, since they, as a rule, die from winter frosts, and those that survive can be removed by loosening the soil in the spring. Nevertheless, many gardeners remove them. Such preparation for winter leads to rapid self-healing of the soil. In addition, crushed weed greens can serve as a very valuable natural fertilizer.

Why is digging the earth necessary?

The main task facing gardeners is the correct implementation of this stage of soil cultivation in the fall. For digging you will definitely need a shovel. The soil should be plowed at a depth of thirty to thirty-five centimeters. If there is a small layer of humus in the soil, then twenty cm will be enough.

Autumn tillage should be carried out as early as possible - even before the onset of persistent cold days and before prolonged rains. The fact is that otherwise, instead of loosening the earth, it will be trampled and compacted, especially in clayey areas. Moreover, it is the latter who need measures aimed at increasing their fertility.

For this purpose, experts recommend digging up such soil at a depth of about sixteen centimeters, increasing it every year. It is very important to add sand and organic matter at the same time in order to reduce the layer of clay infertile part and increase the percentage of fertile part.

For heavy loamy soil, digging the soil in the fall should take place at a greater depth. In this case, it is necessary to add peat, sand, and organic matter, which promote aeration and improve the structure. As a result, the “breathing” of crop roots will be facilitated.

Treatment of light soils in autumn

Such soil does not need to be dug up too often. Since structural dispersion occurs in it, and as a result it becomes looser, the work becomes more complicated. If the top layer is fertilized too deeply, beneficial microorganisms die, and pathogenic pests begin to multiply in their place. In addition, abundant watering in dry weather leads to the rapid leaching of most of the minerals that are necessary to maintain the density of the soil structure, and this primarily concerns calcium. As a result, the physical properties of the soil deteriorate. Therefore, in order not to overuse, it is better to carry out only autumn tillage.

Fertilizers

Many gardeners make their own organic fertilizers on their plots. To do this, they create compost heaps or pits in which they put uninfected plants and substandard fruits, waste generated after peeling vegetables or fruits, onion peels, droppings, fallen spruce needles, and ash. Fertilizers that have rotted over time are used during site preparation before digging.

During the process of plowing the soil, it is also recommended to apply other organic fertilizers, for example, manure or compost. In this case, you should not go deep into the ground, otherwise the fertilizer will decompose less and will be poorly absorbed by the plants.

During the autumn digging, experienced gardeners introduce all the organic, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers necessary for the future harvest, and, if necessary, also add clay and sand. It must be taken into account that manure must be used carefully. It is better to embed this organic fertilizer at a shallow depth so that it has time to decompose over the winter and serve as a living environment for many beneficial microorganisms. Whereas in dense low layers of soil it will practically not change the structure. It is recommended to use rotted cow or horse manure in the fall so that by spring it will completely rot in the soil due to the looseness, moisture and correct temperature of the earth.

When digging, humus and compost should be added precisely to those areas where the gardener plans to grow melons, cabbage, celery, and lettuce next season. will be needed where radishes, beets and carrots are to be sown. It is not recommended to add manure to these crops in the fall. Fresh bird or animal droppings should also not be introduced during digging; it is better to pre-compost them.

In the case when there is only a small layer of humus on the site, that is, the soil is completely “poor,” it is better to “feed” it in the fall. To do this, during digging, it is recommended to increase the dose of mineral fertilizers and organic matter, which is laid a little deeper. After this, the soil is carefully harrowed with a metal rake so that the fertilizer is well mixed with the soil.

Liming

Land with a high level of acidity requires proper autumn treatment. This indicator, as is known, negatively affects not only productivity, but also the growth of garden crops. The fact is that vegetables require a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. Therefore, the high level of soil acidity must be reduced in the fall. To do this, a liming procedure is carried out once every five years. Calcium oxide can not only deoxidize the soil, but also increase its fertility, improve air permeability, hygroscopicity, optimizing the structure due to the calcium content.

For liming, you can use chalk or slaked lime, cement dust, as well as dolomite flour and ash - peat or wood. Their dose will depend on the degree of acidity of the soil, its structure and the amount of calcium content. Liming will result in the fact that clay soil will be much looser and easier to process, while sandy soil will increase its moisture capacity and become more viscous. As a result, the most favorable conditions are created for the development of beneficial microorganisms and improved fertility.

Overworked soil and green manure

Autumn has come, gardeners have already harvested vegetables and began to think about how to restore the fertility of the land on the site. Few people know that overworked soil also leads to the occurrence of many diseases in plants. Signs of this problem are the following: a disturbed soil structure, when it resembles dust, as well as a cracking crust after watering or rain. In this case, comprehensive measures are necessary for the self-healing of the soil, since treating the soil in the fall against diseases is not a sufficient measure. In this case, green manure comes to the rescue. These are plants that are grown on the site not for the purpose of obtaining a harvest from them, but to enrich the soil with organic and mineral substances, as well as to improve its structure.

Vetch, rapeseed, lupine, vetch, clover, peas, and mustard are often used as green manure. The latter is best suited for fertilizing the soil in autumn. Moreover, mustard is able to accumulate nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and many other microelements that enter the soil. Green manure is also an excellent fertilizer. Plus, they increase the aeration and hygroscopicity of the soil, loosening it thanks to branched roots. It is better to plant them in the fall so that the green mass is formed before frost, but they will continue to grow for a few more weeks in the spring. If the weather is warm until mid-October, they can grow and even put out buds. In this case, the ovaries should be trimmed.

Pest Control

In addition, green manure produces substances that serve as excellent insecticides. Today, it is very common to treat the soil against pests in the fall using mustard. It perfectly repels wireworms, mole crickets and chafer larvae thanks to its root secretions. It is best to sow insecticides immediately after clearing the beds of fruit-bearing crops. Experienced gardeners always monitor the condition of the soil in order to disinfect it in a timely manner. Otherwise, once a plant is infected with a disease, it will be very difficult to get rid of it. There are several ways to combat this problem. First, you need to know what chemicals gardeners most often use, for example, vitriol solution. Moreover, the composition should not be too concentrated. To obtain the desired result, a one or two percent solution is sufficient. Another method is biological disinfection, when special preparations are introduced into the soil fifteen days before the first frost. For those who do not know how to treat the soil against late blight, experienced gardeners in the fall recommend digging up the soil well and then adding a solution of copper sulfate to it.

What to sow after potatoes to improve the soil?

For the next season, you need to follow one unspoken rule: do not plant nightshades in the same place. After harvesting potatoes, strawberries or tomatoes, they cannot be sown in the same soil for at least three years. In cases where the plot is quite small, the task of gardeners becomes more complicated. They have to deal with the problem of what to plant after the potatoes. To improve the soil, you can plant green manure plants: phacelia, mustard, oats, lupine, etc. Legumes help enrich the soil with nutrients and nitrogen. Mustard is a reliable barrier for the wireworm who loves to feast on potato tubers. To obtain maximum effect, planting green manure can be combined with the application of organic fertilizers.

Soil care is a labor-intensive process that allows you to obtain high yields of agricultural crops and at the same time increase the fertility of the land. It includes a number of activities: preparatory work, digging or loosening (depending on the type of soil and the preferences of the gardener), fertilizer and watering, which a rare plant can do without in the dry summer months. There are many devices and methods of soil care that allow you to achieve the best results, making work as efficient as possible.

Soil is a complex natural body consisting of mineral, organic components, various gases, liquids and living organisms. A person with the necessary knowledge can grow all kinds of crops so that the quality of the land does not deteriorate over time.

Caring for the soil begins with site preparation, which consists of removing debris, stones, uprooting old trees, stumps and shrubs, eliminating large weeds, as well as leveling the area allocated for a garden, flower bed or vegetable garden. The next stage is digging up the soil.

A garden plot can become a blooming corner, delighting with its harvests, if you pay enough attention to caring for the soil

It is necessary to dig, especially if the site consists of heavy clay soils that are periodically compacted, in places where it is planned to create a new bed or flower bed, as well as in areas heavily overgrown with weeds. The digging process itself consists of removing a certain volume of earth on the bayonet of a shovel, which is turned over and placed in the previous hole. It is important to remove weed roots and stones.

Digging is most often carried out once or twice a year, depending on the type of soil.

It is best to carry out digging or plowing in the fall, leaving large lumps of earth on the site, which will be destroyed by wind and natural precipitation until spring. This will be most beneficial to heavy loamy and clay soils. If the ground has managed to freeze, then it should not be touched, since as a result the soil may become compacted and its structure may be damaged.

Loosening as an alternative to digging

Some owners of household plots and vegetable gardens refuse to dig up the site, because they believe that this leads to a disruption of the physical and chemical composition, deterioration of the soil structure, and destruction of channels formed by underground organisms. These passages allow moisture and oxygen into the depths of the soil, and the spring awakening for soil inhabitants will take longer.

It is also believed that mixing the upper nutrient layers and the lower poorer layers of soil reduces overall fertility. Therefore, only minimal tillage is used: a layer of peat, compost or manure is formed on the soil surface. The seeds are sown in this nutrient medium. It is advisable to cover the top of the soil with mulch.

Loosening with a pitchfork can replace digging in some cases

This method can be used effectively for those plants whose root system does not grow deep into the soil. In other cases, it is impossible to do without thoroughly turning over the earth. If the soil is not very clayey and quite crumbly, then you can dig it up once every 3 years, and the rest of the time it will be enough to just loosen the soil and fertilize it. It is important to take into account that this event will bring maximum benefit if it is carried out well in advance of planting seedlings and sowing seeds, then the earthworms will assimilate the new layer of soil.

Loosening process and options for watering plants

Soil care includes loosening the soil. This measure makes the soil surface more structured, improves the penetration of liquid into depth and reduces moisture loss. While loosening the soil, all emerging weeds are simultaneously removed. Loosening the soil is much easier than digging. For this process, you can use forks, sticking them into the thickness of the earth every 10 cm and shaking them from side to side. Then use a cultivator, a hoe with a powerful rounded tooth, or a grubber. The result is a very loose layer of soil suitable for planting.

Further care of the soil actually comes down to timely fertilization, fertilizing and watering. Moisture is essential during the dry summer months and is supplied to the soil in a variety of ways. Watering can be drip, subsoil, surface and sprinkling. It is advisable to immediately lay irrigation networks during the development of the site. The choice of a specific irrigation method depends on the available equipment, climatic conditions, and terrain.

The good thing about the drip irrigation system is that the required amount of moisture goes directly to the root development zone

With a drip irrigation system, the liquid flows directly to the development zone of the root system. Subsoil irrigation is carried out through pipes with holes that are laid in the ground. For surface water supply, open channels are installed; for sprinklers, a closed pipeline is made where sprinklers are installed.

Types of fertilizers and benefits of mulching

It is advisable to apply fertilizers after autumn digging. Organic and mineral products are available. In addition, you can improve the quality of the soil by planting certain plants (rape, turnip, mustard, rapeseed, etc.), called organic fertilizers. Organic products can be of animal or plant origin. The former include bird droppings and manure, and the latter include peat and compost.

You must be extremely careful with mineral fertilizers and follow the instructions. The most commonly used are potassium, nitrogen, lime, manganese and other preparations. As necessary, grown crops are fed with both diluted organic and mineral fertilizers.

You can maintain plant health and improve soil quality by using mulching. In summer, it helps fight weeds and prevents the soil from drying out. In the fall, mulching is good for protecting the soil, especially that which is not dug up for the winter. First, you can dig in the compost and cover it on top with a layer of leaves and sawdust.

Mulch is used to control weeds and prevent the soil from drying out in summer.

Important to remember. Dense mulching materials can attract mice. The benefit of this event is that the soil will freeze and become clogged less during the winter, and underground organisms will awaken there earlier in the spring. For those areas where there are a lot of slugs, it is better not to mulch.

Caring for the soil is not easy, but it has a positive effect. With proper implementation of a set of these measures, you can improve the condition of the soil, its structure, and increase the amount of substances important for plant growth.

Preserving soil fertility is a top priority for every farmer. It is impossible to constantly obtain a good harvest of vegetables without observing crop rotation on the site. Dead plant remains of one plant species, accumulating in the soil from year to year, eventually form toxic compounds. These toxins disrupt the metabolism in plants and change their chemical composition. Remember: the same thing happens in the human body if he leads an incorrect lifestyle.

“What about perennial herbs?” - you say. They grow for years in the same place and don’t get any worse. But in such conditions only grass and weeds can grow well. And the soil under the meadow grasses has a coarse-grained structure, which will have to be improved over many years. Vegetable crops require much more nutrients for normal growth, and their composition must be balanced.

Ways to increase soil fertility

We will return to this topic more than once, but today we will only briefly describe the ways in which soil fertility can be restored or increased.

Soil rest

It is advisable to give the land a rest from time to time without occupying the area with vegetable crops for one season. In the past, the practice of “clean fallow” was often used in agriculture, when the land was left free of any crops. But now, most often, sowing green manure is used to improve the soil composition.

Crop rotation

The correct one is to return the same vegetable crops to their original place no earlier than after 5 years. During this time, the soil should replenish the lack of elements used during the previous planting. Unfortunately, this is difficult to achieve in a small area. But it's still possible. This is evidenced, for example, by the vegetable planting scheme and crop rotation according to Mittlider.

Application of organic and mineral fertilizers

Organic fertilizers play a major role in this tandem. After all, adding mineral fertilizers to the soil gives a short-term effect, and the next season you will have to repeat everything all over again. And organic matter decomposes over many years, enriching the soil with useful elements and at the same time improving its structure.

Fertilizing with mineral fertilizers has another disadvantage: these compounds inhibit the development of soil microflora and impoverish its composition.

Liming and gypsum tion

Most vegetable crops develop normally if the soil has slightly acidic or normal acidity. To bring the soil reaction to this level of acidity, various methods are used.

If the soil on the site is acidic, then it is necessary to carry out. For these purposes, during digging or plowing, lime, chalk, and dolomite are periodically added.

Soils with an alkaline structure are mainly solonetzes and limestone soils. In such areas, most vegetable crops grow very poorly. Used to improve alkaline soils plastering.

Sowing green manure

Green manure - plants containing high amounts of nitrogen, proteins, and microelements - has a very good effect on the composition of the soil. Their branched roots improve the structure of the soil and increase its oxygen saturation. Rye, lupine, mustard, buckwheat, phacelia, etc. are used as green manures. They are sown after the main crops or are specially included in the crop rotation scheme.

Mulching the soil

You can use mown grass, hay, straw, and dry leaves as mulch. A layer of mulch not only protects the soil from drying out, but also serves as a natural fertilizer. Various microorganisms, earthworms and other inhabitants of the top layer of soil develop very actively under a layer of mulch. In a very short time, with their help, the soil structure can noticeably improve. A particularly noticeable effect is achieved by mulching in combination with periodic watering.

Shallow loosening

Instead of conventional plowing and digging, it is better to cultivate the soil with a manual or mechanical flat cutter to a depth of 10-15 cm. In this case, the beneficial microflora is not destroyed and moisture is retained much better in the soil.

I'll add from my own experience.

We have a rather large plot, 25 acres. Every year they plowed the land, tried both spring plowing and plowing. In recent years, almost no organic fertilizers have been applied, so soil fertility gradually began to decline, and the soil structure deteriorated.

A year ago we decided to give up plowing. In the spring, as soon as the soil had dried out a little, the area was cultivated with a cultivator. That is, the topsoil was not turned over, but only deep loosening of the soil was carried out. This depth is quite sufficient for planting all vegetable crops without exception.

And for the second year now, we have been observing a constant improvement in the soil structure, which cannot but rejoice :) So far we are increasing fertility in the most accessible ways (nitroammofoska, agrolife - fertilizer based on bird droppings).

Restoring soil fertility is a long process that requires significant effort from the gardener. But over time, the soil will definitely thank everyone who cares for it with love and patience.

After harvesting, you need to immediately put the garden in order. Autumn tillage increases soil fertility, helps fight pests, diseases, weeds and reduces labor costs.
So, what needs to be done in the garden in the fall?

What should you do with the soil in the fall?

1 step. Remove plant debris

The beds must be cleared of large weeds, dry tops, fruits and other debris. It is best to begin autumn tillage at the same time as harvesting or as soon as possible after it. Don’t put it off for long: spores of pathogenic fungi ripen on rotting plant debris, infecting the soil and preparing for a successful wintering. This is facilitated by rain, and in clear weather - fog and night dew.

Popular articles on gardening often write that tomato tops and other plant waste with signs of infection should not be composted, but burned. But this is not necessary: ​​deep within the compost there are no suitable conditions for the development of pathogens; mature compost is safe for garden plants.

Step 2. Loosen the top layer of soil

Immediately after harvesting plant debris, loosen the beds to a depth of 3–4 cm as soon as possible to destroy the soil crust. This needs to be done before it gets colder. Loosening encourages the germination of weed seeds. The more of them that have time to sprout by autumn, the better. After digging the soil in autumn, the seedlings will die, this will reduce the weeding work in the next season.

Step 3. Dig up the soil

Autumn digging is the main stage of soil cultivation in the fall. Digging and applying organic fertilizers significantly improve the properties of heavy clay soils. Have time to complete the digging before the onset of prolonged rains: when the soil gets wet to a depth of 10 cm or more, you can no longer dig it up, since you will trample the soil and this will disrupt its structure. As a rule, experienced gardeners try to finish digging by the beginning of October.

Dig the beds to a depth of approximately 15–20 cm, turning over the clumps if possible so that the weed seedlings are at the bottom. There is no need to carefully break up the lumps and level the bed: snow and water will accumulate better on an uneven surface.

Why do you need to dig up the soil in the fall?
Autumn digging is not useful for all types of soil. On sandy crumbly soil it does not have a positive effect, but on heavy clay soil it is extremely useful.
— Digging improves the structure of clay soil. Pores, air voids, where oxygen penetrates, are formed in it. It is very important for root respiration and nutrient absorption by plants. With a lack of oxygen, nutrients become inaccessible to plants, and plant productivity decreases.
— Autumn digging of the soil reduces the infestation of the garden with pests and diseases. It destroys the passages and nests of pests, opening access to cold air. Lumps turned out to the surface freeze better, this contributes to their partial disinfection.
— The number of annual weeds is reduced. Small seedlings of weeds easily die after digging, which will make it easier for you to weed next season.
— Snow moisture is used rationally. More snow accumulates on the lumpy surface of the bed after digging. At the same time, when the snow melts, the water does not flow down the sides, but enters the pores and wells formed after digging and is absorbed deep into the soil. Thus, in the spring, garden vegetables can use reserves of biologically active snow moisture for growth.

What can be added to the soil in the fall?

Fresh manure. If you have no place to store and compost a large amount of manure, you can buy it in the fall and immediately apply some of it to greenhouses and beds, and put some in a pile for maturation. It is allowed to apply fresh manure in the fall for planting cucumbers and other pumpkin crops (zucchini, pumpkins, melons), as well as dill, celery, and late cabbage. If there is a lot of straw or sawdust in the manure, in the first year after its application, vegetables require nitrogen supplements, since coarse organic materials will bind nitrogen when overheated. You will get the maximum benefit from applying fresh manure after a season, when you can plant the same pumpkin crops, cabbage, greens, beets, and radishes in areas fertilized with manure. Manure usually contains a lot of weed seeds. Therefore, it is convenient to apply it not in the spring, but in advance, in the fall: most of the weeds will have time to sprout during this time, and you can destroy them by loosening even before planting the main crop. In addition, during the winter the manure becomes saturated with moisture, gradually begins to rot and mixes well with the soil.

Compost and manure humus. Ripened manure and compost can be applied to the soil both in spring and autumn. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. When applied in the fall, some of the nutrients are washed away by meltwater, but organic materials reach optimal moisture and then easily mix with the soil. Therefore, choose the method that is more convenient. Usually, for raspberries, currants, strawberries, apple trees and other perennial fruit crops, rotted manure and compost are applied during loosening after harvesting. Perennial flowers are also fertilized with decomposed organic fertilizers in the fall. In this case, fertilizers can not be mixed with the soil, but laid out as mulch - in winter it will play the role of insulation. It is more convenient to roughly dig up garden beds in the fall, without breaking up lumps, and add humus or compost in the spring for planting vegetables. In order to save money, you can limit yourself to filling the holes for planting seedlings and furrows when sowing seeds with organic fertilizers.

Peat. Contains few nutrients, but is good as a soil amendment. Lowland peat loosens heavy clay soil and increases the moisture capacity of sandy soil. Dry peat is poorly wetted and soaks in water very slowly, which makes it sometimes difficult to distribute it evenly in the soil. It is convenient, if you have time, to add peat in the fall. If you have poorly cultivated, very heavy soil in your garden, this advice will come in handy: add 4-5 liters (half a bucket) of peat per 1 m2 with autumn digging, then in the spring - the same amount of peat or humus and dig again. This will make it easier to evenly mix organic material with the soil, and it will be easier to break up large lumps of clay.

Lime, chalk, ash, dolomite flour and other liming additives. Fluff lime is added to the soil only in the fall, as it slows down the absorption of phosphorus. To avoid harm to plants, it is necessary that several months pass from application to the start of active growing season. Nowadays, to reduce soil acidity, they often use not lime, but dolomite or limestone flour, chalk, and ash. All these additives can be added to the soil at any time. This is often done in the spring: during thorough loosening and leveling of the ridges, it is easier to distribute a small amount of liming material in the soil. It is advisable to add ash only in the spring - it contains water-soluble nutrients that are lost when washed out by melt water.

Mineral fertilizers. For a more rational use of mineral fertilizers in the garden, it is better to apply them in the spring, immediately before sowing or planting vegetables. For perennial crops, mineral fertilizers must be applied in the fall. Contrary to popular belief, autumn fertilizers should include not only phosphorus and potassium, but also nitrogen (albeit in a different proportion compared to summer fertilizers). After leaf fall, the metabolism of perennial crops slows down, but does not stop completely. Many plants continue to consume nitrogen and store it for vigorous growth in the spring. The absorption of nitrogen in cold soil is very slow, and the need for it in the spring, especially in fruit trees, is very high, and spring fertilization cannot cover it.
In the fall, you can apply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers separately, but it is more convenient to use balanced autumn mineral complexes - almost every fertilizer manufacturer has them in stock.

How to improve the soil with sapropel?

Sapropel - bottom sediments of relict stagnant reservoirs - is successfully used to restore the fertility of garden soil. It has a complex beneficial effect:

• improves soil structure and water-air regime;
• promotes the accumulation of humus;
• activates the activity of beneficial microorganisms;
• contains useful substances in a form accessible to plants.

The composition of sapropel includes humic and fulvic acids, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, boron, bromine, molybdenum, manganese. The vitamins and amino acids contained in sapropel provide complete nutrition for plants and have a positive effect on the taste and nutritional properties of the crop. The effect of adding sapropel lasts up to 5 years, and it is noticeable on everyone
types of soils, including clay and sandy. On clay soils, sapropel is applied at the rate of 2–3 liters per 1 m2 and dug to a depth of 10 cm. With this application, sapropel works actively for 3–5 years and by the first spring it loosens the soil, normalizes its acidity and structure.
Sandy loam and sandy soils have high water permeability, and nutrients are easily washed out of them. Sapropel should be applied to such soils at the rate of 3–4 liters per 1 m2 with a digging depth of no more than 10 cm. Sapropel is a moisture-intensive material, is washed out extremely slowly and works on sandy soils for 2–3 years.

The harvest has been harvested, jars of pickles are already on the shelves, which means it’s time to take care of the greenhouse. Simple care and proper autumn preparation will help to avoid various troubles in winter and will make the soil for next year's crops loose, soft, saturated with air and moisture. And also safe and completely free from pests, viruses and pathogens, thanks to which the next season’s harvest will be healthy and rich.

Cleaning the greenhouse after harvest

So, first of all, you need to put things in order in the greenhouse. After all, after harvesting, plant roots, unnecessary seeds, and, of course, pests always remain in the soil. This is why autumn work in the greenhouse is so important - this is the only way to protect spring seedlings from various misfortunes.

And to do this, all plant residues should be carefully selected, then 5-7 cm of soil should be removed - this is where most of the harmful plants live. You will also need to do such unpleasant work as cleaning up the larvae. Thus, mole cricket larvae can die on their own if the soil in the greenhouse is dug up for the winter, but from the cockchafer they like to settle in dense, newly mined soil. And, if there are a lot of them, you will have to work manually or at least sift the soil. The larvae of wireworms, a lover of greenhouse plants, will not freeze in winter either. And digging is also not scary for them.

And after working with the soil, you can begin to cultivate the soil and the walls of the greenhouse - all this must be done before the first frost hits. All dried dirt and dust should be cleaned out.

Autumn disinfection of greenhouse soil

It is also important to take care of the destruction of established pathogens in the soil. So, a spider mite, for example, is only afraid of burning with sulfur. And in order to completely destroy all pests in the greenhouse soil, it is necessary to carry out disinfection. This can be the fumigation of metal and wooden structures with sulfur, 100 grams per square meter, or with sulfur bombs, 60 grams each. The latter are evenly placed on iron sheets in the greenhouse and set on fire - all this must be done carefully and wearing a gas mask. And to increase the toxicity of the gas, the racks and walls of the greenhouse should be pre-sprayed with water.

After autumn disinfection, the greenhouse should be well ventilated, and its glass surfaces should be washed. This is best done with a 1-2% pemoxol solution using a backpack sprayer. After which everything is wiped with nylon brushes and washed again - this time with clean water from a hose.

Now the soil should be dug well, fertilized with manure, humus and peat - half a bucket for each square meter. It is advisable to sprinkle more sand and ash on top of the fertilizers, one liter per liter for the same area, and cover it all with straw. And with the first snow, the snowdrifts will need to be transferred to the greenhouse so that they protect the ground from freezing, and with the spring sun they nourish it with life-giving moisture.

Washing and treating greenhouse walls

If the greenhouse has a removable film covering, the latter must be washed before removal from the frame, so that it can then be dried thoroughly. And the structure itself should be treated with bleach at the rate of 400 g per bucket of water, leaving and stirring periodically for about 4 hours. The resulting top layer of solution can be used to spray the soil, but the greenhouse structures themselves are coated with the sediment using a regular brush. It wouldn't hurt to soak your gardening tools in bleach.

If the frame of the greenhouse is made of wood, then in the fall it is good to treat it with freshly slaked lime and copper sulfate. This treatment will last until spring, and the greenhouse will even be lighter. But boxes, cups and other containers must be scalded with boiling water, even after harvesting.

Strengthening the frame with special supports

Even the most vaunted industrial greenhouses, which are made of high-quality galvanized steel, sometimes still collapse under the snow. And the shocked owners then spend years trying to get their money back from the selling company, and not always successfully. It would seem, how can fragile snowflakes, even if there are many of them, bend a double structure, as in the “Kremlin” greenhouse? After all, these same arcs in the photo perfectly supported the weight of five or six men in the Mowgli pose... In fact, everything is simple, if you look from the point of view of physics - if you do not remove snow from the roof of the greenhouse all winter, then its pressure per meter can even reach a ton ! And Siberian snowfalls are especially treacherous in this regard. But the load-bearing capacity of the structure of even the most expensive greenhouses reaches 500 kg/m2 at best, and even 200 kg/m2 for ordinary ones. That’s why it won’t be superfluous, even in a calm winter, to strengthen the frame of the greenhouse in the fall - with special additional arches, if the manufacturer offers to purchase them, or with wooden supports in the shape of the letter “T”, made with your own hands. It is they who will support the ridge - the very top of the greenhouse.

For reference: the maximum load on any greenhouse is 30 cm of wet snow or 70 cm of fluffy snow. In total, the number of supports should be calculated as follows: 3-4 for a greenhouse six meters wide. But in those places where there is a general danger of snow caps forming (and this is near the fence and in leeward places), you need to install twice as many supports. And so that they do not fall or go deep into the ground, it is advisable to secure them to the top crossbar and put something solid under their base.

It is not necessary to treat good galvanized steel with special solutions in the fall - it is enough to either lubricate it with lime or paint only non-galvanized fittings - door handles, latches, hinges. But painted and unpainted greenhouses made of other materials will have to be given much more attention - they already need special treatment and painting to prevent natural corrosion.

But the film, no matter how durable it is, needs to be removed from the greenhouse for the winter - otherwise in frost it will become fragile and quickly turn into rags. And the wire frames on which the film was held must definitely be wiped with kerosene.

Preparing a greenhouse for tomatoes for winter

If only tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse from year to year, then autumn work should be carried out according to its own scheme.

So, in early October you need to pull out the tops of the tomatoes and leave them to dry in the sun on dry days. After which all the stems should be collected in a heap, burned, and the resulting ash should be placed in a container and hidden in a dry place for storage - in the spring this will make an excellent fertilizer and protect the future crop from many pests. The only important thing is that the tops themselves are clean, without mold or rot.

It is advisable to treat the soil with iron sulfate at the rate of 250 g per 10 liters and dig it well. Then you need to dig grooves and fill them with dry grass and leaves. After which – sprinkle with earth. On warm spring days, this grass will melt, warm the ground and stimulate the growth of tomatoes. Of course, the temperature will be low, but it will be just right for the root system of tomatoes and their rapid growth. And the rainy soils in such a warm land will add their own fertilizers.

It wouldn’t hurt to put things in order around the frame either - it’s better to remove all grass and plant remains, because either aphids or whiteflies will certainly spend the winter in them. After which it will be possible to rest - the greenhouse will not be afraid of either snow or wind, and next year’s harvest will definitely please you.