What to do after working with the soil. What to do with the soil in the fall? Autumn disinfection of greenhouse soil
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.
In the conditions of the middle zone, the best system for maintaining soil in a fruit-bearing garden is considered to be perennial black fallow with periodic application of organic and mineral fertilizers. However, if the soil is kept under black fallow for a long time, it can have a negative effect on it: the soil spends its supply of nutrients and its structure is destroyed. To avoid this, when cultivating the soil using the black fallow system, it is necessary to periodically add manure and other organic fertilizers to the soil, and sow cover crops with green fertilizer.
With this method of caring for the soil in the garden, kept under black fallow, it is necessary to carry out the following basic agrotechnical measures.
When keeping the soil under black fallow in gardens with relatively wide and unshaded row spacing, free of compaction crops, in addition to manure, cover crops can be used as green fertilizer. These crops are sown in the second half of summer (early - mid-July) and plowed in in the fall. The soil is kept under black fallow until sowing. Cover crops produce the greatest effect when treating the soil with black fallow on moist soils that have been well fertilized in previous years. In dry years, as well as in the absence of irrigation on comparatively dry soils, they develop poorly and do not produce a large yield of green mass for fertilizer. It is not recommended to sow them under these conditions.
Autumn tillage system in the garden
The autumn tillage system is one of the ways to care for the garden. In the fall, after the active growth of trees and harvesting, row spacing is plowed to a depth of 15-18 cm for pome trees and 12-15 cm for stone fruit plantations, depending on the depth of the roots. Dig up trunk circles and strips, both of the main planting and of seal crops that remain unplowed, with a shovel or garden fork to the same depth. Till the soil with special care so as not to damage the roots of the trees. It is necessary to dig up tree trunk circles within a radius of 0.5 m to a depth of 8-10 cm.
In gardens located on steep slopes, only the tree trunk circles are dug up, leaving row spacing for turf. Sometimes in this case plowing is done across the slope through the row spacing. After 2-3 years, you need to plow the sod rows, and leave those plowed earlier to sod for the same period. This treatment method prevents soil erosion. In compacted orchards on such slopes with compactor crops located between the rows, continuous tillage is carried out.
During autumn tillage, the soil (plowed and dug up) is left unharrowed for the winter.
How to improve the soil in the garden: methods of loosening the surface
To improve the soil in the garden as quickly as possible, it is necessary to carry out early spring loosening. To save moisture accumulated in the soil in early spring, as soon as the soil is ready for cultivation, it is necessary to harrow the rows. Using this method of loosening the soil, highly compacted soils must be harrowed with disc harrows or loosened first with cultivators or ploughers, then harrowed.
Simultaneously with harrowing, the tree trunk circles and strips are loosened with shovels, hoes, forks, and rakes, depending on the degree of soil compaction.
It is also necessary to carry out summer loosening of the soil surface. During the summer, 3-5 loosening of row spacing is carried out with cultivators or ploughers to a depth of 5 - 8 cm, and tree trunk circles and strips - with hoes. It is necessary to loosen the soil as a compacted top layer forms and weeds appear. To ensure timely completion of tree growth and wood ripening, loosening should be stopped in the first half of August.
Knowing how to care for the soil by loosening, you will not only get rid of weeds, but also achieve increased gas exchange in the top layer of soil.
How to properly fertilize the soil in the garden
The question of how to properly fertilize the soil worries all gardeners without exception. For the growth and fruiting of trees, a large amount of nutrients is consumed annually, especially in the years of greatest harvests. As a result, the soils become poorer and the trees begin to lack nutrition. In fruit trees, there is a weakening or complete cessation of growth, a decrease in the size of leaves and fruits, and, consequently, a decrease in yield.
Adding fertilizers to the soil contributes to its fertility and improves the soil structure.
How to fertilize the soil with manure, compost, peat feces, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers? This must be done during autumn processing. To do this, they need to be evenly scattered over the entire area of the garden and possibly deeply plowed, and sealed in tree trunk circles and strips when digging.
Deep application of fertilizers brings them closer to the bulk of the active root system of fruit trees, and the deeper it is applied, the greater the impact it has on the growth and fruiting of the tree. When cultivating the soil with fertilizers, it is necessary to apply phosphorus and potassium mineral fertilizers more deeply, since they are strongly absorbed by the soil and do not penetrate much into its deep layers.
Tilling the soil in the garden: what fertilizers to apply
The fertilizers that need to be applied to the soil are nitrogenous, phosphorus-potassium, mineral and organomineral fertilizers.
Nitrogenous mineral fertilizers, being fast-acting and easily washed out into the deep layers of the soil, are applied and incorporated superficially.
A good phosphorus-potassium fertilizer, especially for stone fruits, is ash. It can be applied instead of superphosphate and other phosphoric acid fertilizers and potassium salt at 5-10 quintals per hectare.
Granular mineral and organomineral fertilizers have a great influence on the growth and productivity of fruit crops. Due to their greater digestibility and use by fruit plants, they are applied to the soil at slightly lower rates compared to ordinary powdered fertilizers. Granular fertilizers are prepared from the usual: superphosphate, potassium salt and organic fertilizer (bird, sheep, cow droppings, decomposed compost, greenhouse humus and peat).
When preparing organic-mineral granules, you must first grind and sift through a wire sieve the prepared organic fertilizer, then mix it with mineral fertilizers in the ratio (by volume): 4 parts organic and 1 part superphosphate or 6 parts organic, 3 parts superphosphate and 1 part potassium salt and moisten the mixture slightly with water or slurry; After this, begin rolling (granulating) the mixture. Granulation can be carried out by rotating a barrel mounted on an axis, filling it with the mixture to 1/4-1/3 of the volume, or by thoroughly mixing the mixture laid out on the floor with a wooden rake until lumps - granules begin to form and then rolling them on suspended wooden trays or underseed sieves (moving back and forth). After drying, the granules are used as fertilizer.
A good and effective method is deep nested (local) application of fertilizers: into holes or holes up to 40-50 cm deep, made in the amount of 4-8 pieces within the tree trunk circle, depending on its size.
To enhance the growth of shoots, better and timely setting of fruit buds and retaining the harvest on the tree (especially on weakened trees and with a large harvest), fertilizing with nitrogenous fertilizer in liquid form is used. Using this method of soil cultivation, during the growing season, fertilizing is carried out in three periods: in early spring - to enhance growth and fruit set, after flowering - to enhance the development of leaf apparatus and fruit set, after June cleansing - to develop fruits and lay fruit buds.
In systematically irrigated gardens, fertilizing with mineral fertilizers is carried out at the specified times simultaneously with watering.
Soil care in a young and fruit-bearing garden: timing of watering
By watering during the period of tree growth, it is necessary to keep the soil moist to the depth of the location of most of the active root system (50-100 cm). When caring for the soil in a young and fruit-bearing garden, it is important to follow the norms and timing of watering, which are determined on each farm depending on the species composition of the garden plot, the density of the plantings, their age, the degree of fruiting, weather, soil and other conditions.
Loamy soils are watered less often, but at higher rates, than sandy loam soils, which are watered less often, but more frequently.
Young orchards are watered at lower rates than fruit-bearing ones. Dense plantings are watered more and more often than thinner ones. If there is heavy rainfall during the growing season, watering is also limited.
During the growing season, gardens should be watered 3-5 times at times linked to the phases of growth and fruiting.
In a young garden, watering times are as follows:
- at the beginning of shoot growth (beginning - mid-May);
- at the height of growth (mid-May - end of June);
- before the end of shoot growth (July - early August). The last watering should be carried out in such a way that the trees finish growing in a timely manner and receive proper hardening for the winter.
Timing for proper watering of the soil in a fruit-bearing garden:
- in early spring, after the soil thaws and before buds open; this watering should ensure normal flowering and fruit set. In case of strong soil moisture from melting snow, this watering is not carried out;
- after flowering and fruit set (early June - mid-July);
- after the June shedding of the ovary to enhance the growth of shoots and set fruits (mid-June - early July);
- before the end of shoot growth, to create better conditions for the formation of flower buds;
- 15-20 days before the mass harvest of fruits, especially with a bountiful harvest, to ensure the normal completion of tree growth (late July - early August);
- in late August - early September to ensure autumn growth of the root system and prepare trees for winter.
If at the end of the growing season the reserves of soil moisture in the garden are insufficient, winter water-recharging irrigation should be carried out so that the soil is wet to a depth of 1.5-2 m.
Orchards at the age of full fruiting with abundant harvests are watered more than with small harvests.
Correct norms for watering soil in the garden
Based on data from experimental institutions and production experience in irrigated gardening, the following approximate norms for watering the soil in the garden (with mechanical irrigation) are recommended:
- young gardens at the age of 3-5 years, providing for watering trees within the tree trunk areas, within a radius of 1-1.5 m;
- For a garden older than 5 years, watering rates are slightly increased.
- In the absence of mechanical irrigation, watering in the first two years after planting is carried out at a rate of 3-5 buckets per tree per watering, and in the next 3-4 years - 5-10 buckets. After watering, the holes are leveled and mulched.
All available water sources and local runoff are used for irrigation. Where there are springs emerging in relatively elevated areas, it is necessary to use them for gravity watering of the gardens below.
The main methods of surface watering of the soil in the garden are flooding of tree-trunk areas (bowls) or ring ditches, irrigation by furrows, flooding (flooding) and sprinkling irrigation.
Method of watering the soil in the garden with furrows
For irrigation in tree-trunk areas, holes (bowls) are made around the trees, usually within the radius of the crown, somewhat recessed with a horizontal surface of the bottom. In the middle of the rows, one distribution furrow is made, which, when watering, is connected by grooves to the bowls. Instead of bowls, ring ditches are sometimes made around trees. The disadvantage of this method of irrigation is the uneven saturation of the soil with water, as a result, part of the root system receives little or no moisture.
The furrow method of watering the soil in the garden is a simple and rational method of irrigation. Furrows are cut before watering with a plow or hiller in row spacing at a distance of 1.5-2 m from the trees and 1 m from each other. After watering, the furrows must be leveled.
Watering by flooding (flooding) is carried out by continuous irrigation of the garden. To do this, the entire area of the garden is divided into sections depending on the relief, their surface is leveled, and the edges are banked. The disadvantage of this method is the high water consumption and destruction of the soil structure.
The main methods of watering the soil in the garden: sprinkling
Irrigation of the soil by sprinkling is carried out using a special sprinkler installation, consisting of a pump that supplies water under high pressure, a pressure pipeline with branching distribution pipes and water spraying devices. Sprinklers come in “long-stream” and “short-stream” types. The latter are the best for fruit and berry plantings.
Sprinkler irrigation is the most advanced and economical method of irrigation, allowing you to regulate soil moisture in accordance with the needs of plants. The use of this method is especially effective in young gardens and berry fields.
When caring for the soil after irrigation by sprinkling, the stuck together surface of the soil is loosened.
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 soil.
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 cockchafer 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.
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 by 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.
How to fertilize the garden in the fall? Mineral fertilizers
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"Garden. Autumn", "Fertika" |
"Sotka Osennee", "Rusagrokhim" |
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"Agricola" sticks, "Technoexport" |
"Autumn Fertilizer", "Fasco" |
Photo for the material: Anna Bershadskaya, Joseph Kaurov, press service archives, Shutterstock/TASS