The soil at the dacha is like stone, what should I do? How to make the soil loose and fertile

The type and composition of soils directly affect the quality and quantity of the harvest, the decorativeness of plants, and their health. To make the soil loose and fertile, you need to fertilize it annually and mulch the beds throughout the growing season. But first you need to determine what the soil composition is in the garden. This will help you accurately select the type of nutrient mixtures, mulch, and then turn heavy soil into soft one.

The need to determine the type and composition of soils

Soil fertility is the key to good growth and good health of plants, from which in the future it will be possible to harvest a good harvest or, in the case of decorative ones, to obtain lush flowering and dense greenery. Fertilizers acting as leavening agents will help enrich the soil and make it air- and water-permeable. To choose the right type of the latter, you need to determine the type of soil and its composition. There are two ways to solve the problem:

1. Take some soil to the agricultural laboratory.
2. Study the mechanical composition yourself.

The first method gives an error-free result, but is not available everywhere and is expensive. The second will not answer questions about the deficiency or excess of macro- and micronutrients, but it will allow you to determine the structure of the soil. The earth is moistened with water and a ball is formed from it. If the figure crumbles, the soil is light; if it is possible to form something like a cord, even “twist it into a ring,” it is heavy.

How and how to improve the looseness and fertility of heavy soil

To ensure an air- and water-permeable soil structure, organic matter is used. It is more accessible not only in price: you can prepare it yourself, compost manure if you have animals, sow green fertilizers, make mulch from mowed grass.

Sand

Natural leavening agent. To improve the soil structure, coarse river sand is added at the rate of 20 kg per 1 m2 of loam. It is distributed in an even layer over the surface of the beds, and then dug up to the depth of the spade bayonet, which is 20-25 cm. If the soil is alkaline, you can add peat. The latter acidifies the soil - use it with caution.

For your information!

If the soil is infertile, additional humus is added, since a high sand content will make the soil even poorer.

Green manure

Green fertilizer is an important component in improving and maintaining the looseness and fertility of the soil. Proponents of organic farming provide these indicators through sowing. The latter are legumes (lupine, vetch, peas, alfalfa). On their powerful roots there are nodule bacteria that concentrate nitrogen, capturing and binding it from the air. Thanks to the power of the root system, the soil is not only enriched with important macronutrients, but also becomes loose and well aerated.

Manure

Organic matter in the form of the results of the vital activity of farm animals is the source of all macroelements necessary for plant development: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. Manure restores fertility. In the garden, they mainly use cow's milk, since it is less aggressive compared to pork, in which the concentration of nitrogen is even higher. It is best to apply rotted manure at the rate of 2 kg/m2. This can be done in the fall before digging, as well as before spring sowing.

For your information!

Fresh manure contains a high concentration of nitrogen - it can burn the plantings. Only experienced farmers use it when preparing soil for the next season (5 months before field work).

Grass clippings for mulching

A type of slow-release fertilizer. On heavy soils it is used from early summer to late autumn: when used in spring, the beds will slowly warm up and will not have time to dry out before sowing. The goals that a gardener can achieve with this method.

While heatedly discussing ways to increase the productivity of certain garden crops, many summer residents lose sight of the fact that all these issues have the same root. And until you deal with it, nothing worthwhile will grow in the garden beds.

Don't push for pity

There is a saying: “A stupid person grows weeds, a smart person grows vegetables, and a wise person grows soil.” These words contain the whole meaning of working in the garden! What do you, dear readers, think? Do you agree with this saying?

And what type of people do you consider yourself to be: stubborn conservatives or curious innovators?

Although, I understand, no one wants to be stupid, probably everyone considers themselves wise. Is this so? How often do I read letters that are filled with complaints about the soil: some complain that their soil is sand, others cry because of clay, and still others generally make “discoveries” such as the fact that, for example, they have loamy black soil. What exactly is this, does anyone know? And all such messages end the same way - nothing grows in the garden, and if it does, it’s very bad.

But, fortunately, there are other messages where people tell how they turned poor land into fertile one. And there are more and more such lucky ones, which is very pleasing. Thanks to them! They are real hard workers. And since we’re talking about soil, how can we not remember about our second bread.

Potatoes are the best indicator of what is going on in the garden. He needs good, loose soil; without it you won’t get normal harvests.

And the one who managed to fulfill this main condition and make friends with potatoes will no longer be able to confuse the rest of the garden crops - which of them will be weird on the fertile land? For example, varietal large-fruited garlic generally grows in me like on a conveyor belt (photo 1). Loose soil is also good for carrots and other root vegetables.

Again, experience with potatoes teaches you to be careful and thoughtful about watering. With them, our second bread yields twice as much. Anyone who underestimates this loses a lot. And any fertilizers and all kinds of growth stimulants are only the third condition for a good harvest.

I don’t think anyone needs to explain why tubers need loose soil. But maybe someone doesn't know? Then, in short: if the soil is light, then the growing tuber effortlessly pushes it apart, and nothing interferes with its uniform growth. So it turns out smooth, depending on the variety, round or oblong, as the breeder “ordered” it. And heavy soil is more difficult to move apart, so the potatoes there are smaller in size and more bizarre in shape.

Voids and dimensions

I have experienced all this wisdom myself. When I bought a small house in the village with a plot of 20 acres, I immediately realized that the former owners did not garden, because there was no soil there, but solid clay. In 2011, I planted 12 varieties of potatoes. Only one survived and gave an excellent harvest - Vineta (originally from Germany). Apparently, there is some kind of indestructible inner strength in him. I still haven’t parted with it: it produces crops in any weather and on any soil, and is resistant to late blight.

That year his tubers were also huge, but not round, as they should be, but lumpy, like cobblestones. This is the result of uncultivated soil. I don’t have photographs from that time, but today Vineta’s tubers are the same as in photo 2. I write so much about him because I am very grateful to him. If it hadn’t yielded a harvest then, I might have given up growing potatoes altogether. Therefore, I advise: if you are new to cultivating this crop, start with Vineta. Well, now I’ll tell you in detail how I improved my soil. By the way, a question: do you know the criteria for assessing its quality? After all, the words “good” or “loose” by themselves mean little.

So, loose soil is when you can stick your hand into it up to the wrist without effort(i.e. approximately to a depth of 15-20 cm). So that. So think about what kind of land you have.

To begin with, I marked out the ridges a meter wide, and my husband fenced them off with boards. It’s already easier: all work to improve fertility now needs to be carried out only in stationary boxes. I made passages between them of 50 cm each. Looking ahead, I will say that later, for the sake of convenience, I changed these dimensions: I made the ridges a little less than 1.5 m wide, and the passages – 70 cm each.

I plant potatoes in boxes in two rows. Believe me, the sparser the holes are placed, the more opportunities the plants will have for normal growth. And only then will they please you, first with strong, powerful stems, and then with large, numerous tubers (if, of course, your variety has not yet degenerated).

Although I don’t strive for records, the past season was generous with achievements. For example, one tuber of the Unica variety grew weighing a little more than a kilogram (photo 3). Someone reading this will say: “That’s all!” I won’t argue, the weight is not prohibitive, but it’s not 150-200 g. After all, there are gardeners who don’t like very large potatoes (though I haven’t personally met such people, but only saw their letters) for fear that there are “giants” inside there may be voids. Well, then they can save time and not read about what I write here - this information is not for them. Although the large tuber potato varieties that I currently grow do not have any voids. And large potatoes just make my soul happy. Imagine, one bush of the same Unica produces 4-5 kilos of tubers, Sonny - about the same, but Galaxy is a little more generous: last year it gave out six kilos (photo 4)!

Yes, it’s a little difficult for me to harvest such a harvest: you dig and dig and wonder when it will end. And the number of varieties, like a snowball, grows and grows, although every year I reject 10. As a result, I don’t even know exactly how many of them I have in use now (last fall I was sent 21 varieties).

Soil improvement experiments

Got distracted again. Let's return to the ground. The first two years I did this: I brought peat, manure, sawdust by car and distributed it all over the ridges, mixing it with clay. The result was ambiguous: the soil did become loose, but by the next season there were no noticeable traces of sawdust and peat. Some monkey work! Although by that time the ground could no longer be called clay, but loam, I realized that this path was a dead end. And the work was terribly hard.

My next experiment was like this. I dug holes the size of a 10-liter bucket in the beds, transferred the excavated soil to another place (for example, to beds made for watermelons and pumpkins), placed fertilizers on the bottom, mixing them with the soil, and on top - a tuber with long etiolated (sprouted in darkness) with sprouts (photo 5), and filled the remaining space with well-decomposed black peat. If desired, it can be replaced with loose compost or soil mixed with sawdust, or finely chopped hay.

This work was also not easy: during the season it was possible to prepare only 13-14 beds in this way. Potatoes grew wonderfully in such pits, the yield was high. But! When I dug up the crop, the peat was still mixed with loam, because in the presence of loose soil, the tubers not only grow to the sides, but also burrow into the depths. And I was forced to improve the technique.

It's very simple, remember. So, first we fence off the place where the bed should be with boards, take out the turf and hammer many small wooden logs into the bottom of the bed. Next, fill the box with loose substrate.

That's all! In the spring, all that remains is to add a little sawdust treated with urea and a little fertilizer for potatoes before planting.

I will add that I do not hill up the plantings, but only mulch them with a 3 cm thick layer of mowed grass (but only after the sprouts have sprouted). Over the summer I add this mulch a couple of times more, and when I dig up the crop, the soil underneath remains loose. Actually, I don’t even dig, I just pull out the tubers with my hands. I take a shovel when the potatoes are deep.

Every gardener and gardener dreams of fertile soil on which to create a garden, beds, and flower beds. But over time, the fertile layer of soil becomes thinner, and it is colonized by diseases and pests. How to correct the situation, read our material.

The soil shows its fatigue in different ways. It can turn to dust, become covered with moss, or even rust. But for every problem there are ways to solve it. The main thing is not to wait for your yields to be equal to the planting material used.

Problem 1. The thickness of the fertile layer has decreased

If you have been growing plants with a shallow root system in the same place for a long time and skimping on fertilizing, then there is nothing surprising in the thinning of the fertile layer. After all, your green pets probably used all the beneficial substances for growth and development, and you did not apply enough fertilizers that would normalize the situation.

What to do?

Try adding compost to the soil (3 buckets per 1 sq.m.) before digging. This organic fertilizer can significantly improve the quality of “tired” soil by providing plants with the necessary microelements.

Another great way is green fertilizers (green manure). They can be sown between main crops or in vacant areas after the crop has already been harvested. It is best to select green manure in accordance with the needs of the plants that you plan to plant in this area. For example, lupine will be a good predecessor for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants or zucchini. Mustard will help fight nematodes and prepare the soil for planting potatoes or winter crops. It is a good idea to sow rapeseed before carrots or beets, as it will serve as additional protection against viral and bacterial rot.

And the most suitable green manures for improving “tired” soil are, perhaps, legumes (peas, beans, alfalfa). Nodule bacteria on their roots enrich the soil with nitrogen. And perennial legumes with a powerful root system also extract useful substances from the deep layers of the soil to the surface.

If you do not plan to harvest legumes, but decide to use them as green manure, do not mow the plants before flowering, since nodules form on their roots during this period.

And don't forget about crop rotation. After all, as you know, different plants receive nutrients from different layers of soil. Therefore, if the top layer has become thin and has lost fertility, plant plants with a strong root system.

Problem 2: The soil crumbles like dust.

Let's say you are a conservative to the core and prefer to plant traditional vegetables (like cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage or zucchini) in the beds, which require a large amount of nutrients. At the same time, you avoid fertilizers, believing that the harvest should be environmentally friendly, and you forget about mulching, because your grandparents didn’t do that. But he’s not averse to digging up the soil properly and pumping up his muscles at the same time. And therefore, it is not surprising that after a few years the once fertile soil in your garden begins to absorb moisture poorly and scatters under gusts of wind.

What to do?

You can, of course, replace the top layer of soil, but this is quite expensive.

Try starting with fertilizers. Add 2-3 buckets of compost per 1 square meter, covering it to a depth of 10 cm. This will make the soil heavier and at the same time make it more nutritious.

Pay attention to the type of soil in your area. After all, some types of soil, for example sandy, dry out quickly, retaining almost no moisture, and therefore require special care. It is not recommended to dig them up more than once a year.

To prevent the soil from becoming dusty, mulch it with available materials, for example, young grass, straw, compost, sawdust, bark, and freshly cut weeds. Mulch will not only protect the soil from further erosion. As it decomposes, it will work as an organic fertilizer, gradually releasing beneficial substances to the crop.

Be careful when mulching the soil with fresh organic matter. In large quantities it can destroy your green pets.

Problem 3: The soil has become too dense

Hard, wet soil that is difficult to push a shovel into may be the result of improper maintenance. For example, if deep digging of clay soils, in which heavy loam appears on the surface, occurs in rainy weather, then a water- and moisture-proof crust may form on top of the ground.

What to do?

Sometimes like is treated like, so before the onset of cold weather the soil can be lightly dug up to a depth of 10 cm. Experienced gardeners believe that if you simply dig, but do not break or turn over clods of earth, then over the winter they will freeze properly and become loose.

If there is clay on the soil surface, you can add sand for digging (1 bucket per 1 sq.m).

It is also worth attracting earthworms to the site. You can, of course, dig them up from your neighbor. But if earthworms are uncomfortable, they are unlikely to stay in your beds.

These invertebrates enjoy decaying organic matter. Therefore, it would be a good idea to mulch the soil around the plants, for example, with rotted compost.

You can feed green pets with dandelion infusion, which will also attract earthworms. To do this, 1 kg of dandelion shoots and roots must be poured into 10 liters of water, and after two weeks, strain and dilute with water 1:10.

Problem 4. The soil has become acidic

Often the acidity of the soil changes simply as a result of watering. If the water is soft, the acidity of the soil, as a rule, increases, and if it is hard, it decreases. The acidity level is also affected by the plants grown and the fertilizers applied.

What to do?

In this case, liming the soil helps.

There are a number of plants that do not develop very well in freshly limed soil, so it is advisable to normalize the acidity at least a year before planting them. Such capricious crops include:

• beans,
• peas,
• carrot,
• tomatoes,
• cucumbers,
• pumpkin,
• swede,
• parsley,
• celery.

Problem 5. There is a lot of alkali in the soil

Alkaline soils are not very common. Sometimes an increased alkali content is a consequence of improper agricultural practices. This happens, for example, if you are too carried away by deoxidizing the soil.

Soils with a pH above 7.5 prevent plants from absorbing iron. As a result, your green pets develop less well, which is usually easy to notice by yellowing leaves.

What to do?

You can acidify the soil by mulching with high-moor peat, pine needles or coniferous tree bark.

Mulching also prevents moisture evaporation, weed germination and wind erosion of the soil. It is best to do this in spring or autumn after removing weeds, applying fertilizer and surface loosening.

You cannot mulch the soil before plants sown in open ground have sprung up.

Problem 6. The soil is salty

As popular wisdom says, “it’s better to under-salt than to over-salt.” If whitish salt traces appear on the soil, most often this indicates improper feeding of plants with mineral fertilizers.

What to do?

Salt, as you know, dissolves in water. After harvesting, try watering the soil deeply several times. There should be plenty of water - up to 15 liters per 1 sq.m., but it is important not to overdo it so that your area does not turn into a dirty puddle.

As soon as the salt goes to the lower layers, mulch the soil with peat.

Problem 7. The soil is contaminated with harmful insects and diseases

Insects, bacteria and harmful fungi do not sleep in the summer, populating the site at an accelerated pace. And they sleep in winter - including in the soil, so that next season they can start the battle with you for the harvest again.

What to do?

The easiest way to control insects overwintering on a site is to treat the soil with insecticides. Since a potential threat in the form of eggs and larvae of pests is most often hidden in the ground, the store needs to pay special attention to larvicides that destroy larvae and caterpillars, as well as ovicides that affect the eggs of insects and mites.

Mechanical methods of struggle will not be superfluous. For example, if you dig up the soil in the beds in late autumn (without breaking up the lumps), the pest larvae will become prey for birds. And some insects simply will not be able to burrow into the ground again and overwinter.

Experienced gardeners believe that if you sprinkle the soil with an EM solution when loosening, this will help weaken harmful bacteria.

It is also important to remove fallen leaves, as pest larvae often overwinter under them.

In order to cope with diseases, there are also a number of drugs. For example, Alirin B is a beneficial soil microflora designed to suppress fungal diseases. The drug is compatible with many insecticides, biological products, plant growth regulators and fungicides.

Problem 8. The soil is covered with a red coating

Not only metals can “rust,” but also soil and even plants.

If you use hard water with a lot of iron for irrigation, then sometimes it appears on the surface of the soil and between the veins of plants. However, a fungus can also cause the appearance of a red coating on your beds.

What to do?

Usually in such cases, soil free of plants is spilled with boiling water. If this does not help, in the fall you can also use the drug Fitosporin-M (according to the instructions) or its analogue, which also inhibits the effect of pathogenic fungi.

You cannot dissolve biological products in tap water, as the chlorine it contains will kill beneficial bacteria. It is best to use melt or rain water.

In the future, it is important to water your green pets only with settled or soft rainwater.

Problem 9. The soil is covered with moss

Moss can appear in garden beds, flower beds, and even on the lawn. Most often, the reason for this is high humidity, excessive shading, as well as dense or acidified soil.

What to do?

We told you how to deal with the last two problems just above. And in order to normalize soil moisture, you can dig shallow drainage channels around the perimeter of the site into which excess water will drain.

It is also important to consider that moss, like any weed, primarily invades free areas. So if vegetables do not want to grow under the canopy of a branchy tree, plant there plants that tolerate shade well, for example, forget-me-nots, ferns or hydrangeas.

Typically, moss is removed mechanically from garden beds. And if it tries to take over your lawn, slowly but surely displacing the grass, you can use ferrous sulfate (90 ml per 20 liters of water). This amount of solution can treat 300 square meters of area.

If your dacha is a place for relaxation, and not for hard work in the garden beds, try to transfer moss from the category of enemies to allies. Moss gardens are extremely popular in landscape design today. So if you're not ready to say goodbye to an old tree that's shading a large area, and you don't want to dig up the soil while contaminating it with herbicides, just show a little imagination. And moss will certainly give your garden paths, as well as rockeries, a unique flavor of antiquity and tranquility.

The earth is not a dead substance that exists on its own. Each handful of it is filled with many living organisms that directly affect the harvest. If you properly care for the soil from the very beginning, apply the necessary fertilizers, and observe crop rotation, then you will not need our advice on how to restore soil fertility.

ONE OF THE CONDITIONS good health of plants, and therefore a high yield of vegetables - fertile soil. And if the land on the site is poor, it must certainly be made rich. It just takes more than one year.

However, using old and modern methods, you can quickly create ideal soil: loose, well-retaining water, saturated with nutrients, many beneficial organisms, not clogged with weeds and plant debris.

THE OLDEST WAY improve the balance of moisture and air, as well as replenish the supply of nitrogen and biologically active substances in the soil - add rotted manure, peat or compost. But the shortage and high price of traditional organics hinder its widespread use. In addition, manure, especially fresh manure, is a source of pathogens and weeds, and peat must be neutralized with lime and thoroughly mixed with the soil: delicate roots react poorly to excess acidity and, with insufficient watering, die, crushed by lumps of peat. Therefore, manure, peat and compost are usually added to holes or furrows before planting seedlings or sowing seeds, only locally improving the fertility of the area.

FERTILITY OF THE WHOLE BED or a vegetable garden can be increased with the help of green manure - plants specially sown for embedding into the soil. Cold-resistant crops - rye (cut after 25-35 days at a plant height of 15-20 cm), oats, rapeseed, mustard, oilseed radish, rapeseed, pelyushka (after 1.5-2 months, at the time of mass flowering), winter vetch and The spring crop is sown as soon as the soil has ripened after the snow melts, or in mid-August - in the beds vacated after harvesting. Amaranth, seradella, annual lupine, and calendula are placed in the garden bed when the soil warms up to 10°. Green manure is planted into the soil to a depth of a maximum of 15 cm.

To increase the thickness of the root layer in the garden bed, I recommend alternating the sowing of dicotyledonous (with a tap root) and monocotyledonous (with superficial, fibrous roots) plants over time: the roots form a capillary network through which moisture can pass deep and accumulate in the soil.

SAVE mulch helps to retain moisture in the soil without compacting it and protecting it from erosion, overheating or hypothermia, a layer of plant material 3-5 cm thick. Mown grass, cut stems of lupine, sweet clover, nettle, hay, straw, fire flax, weathered sawdust, buckwheat and sunflower seed husks, remains of corn stalks and cobs, fallen leaves, paper shavings, shredded bark. However, these materials are mainly composed of cellulose, and the bacteria that feed on it steal nitrogen from the plants. In addition, harmful microorganisms overwinter on mulching plant debris. Mulch also prevents the soil from warming up in the spring, the uniform sowing of seeds, especially small ones, and the uniform emergence of not only weeds, but also cultivated plants. That is why it is recommended to remove mulch from the beds in the spring. The peasants, since they did not have modern technology, staged fires - they set fire to the stubble. Today this technique is prohibited, since it has been established that fire not only threatens rural houses, but also reduces the content of available nitrogen and destroys beneficial microflora and fauna in a 5-centimeter layer of soil.

MORE EFFECTIVE treating the surface of the beds with a biodestructor - a preparation that contains a complex of soil cellulose- and lignin-destroying, nitrogen-fixing, lactic acid and other beneficial microorganisms. The biodestructor accelerates the decomposition of plant residues, making the soil looser. Beneficial microflora accumulates nitrogen in the soil, converts poorly digestible soil phosphorus and potassium into accessible compounds, and enhances the formation of active humus. They suppress the development of pathogenic fungi, bacteria, nematodes, stimulate the development of beneficial soil microflora, plant growth and their resistance to stress, protecting the garden from infections. The addition of humates to the biodestructor will enhance the effect of creating “healthy soil”.

Although biodestructors make it possible to reduce the dose of fertilizers, without the latter it will still not be possible to make the soil fertile.

We add large doses (6-9 g/sq. m) of the missing nutrients in the fall (for the main treatment of the area). In the spring, we need starting doses of fertilizers, which we apply simultaneously with loosening the soil. I advise you to give preference to granular and soluble fertilizers, including those with microelements. You won’t be able to cover them evenly with a shovel, and the work is hard. In a small garden bed, I recommend using a hand-held loosening tool. If an area of ​​more than one hundred square meters is being cultivated, electric and gasoline cultivators will provide high-quality processing.

BY COMBINING THE ABOVE, YOU CAN RETURN FERTILITY TO THE BEDS IN “FIVE STEPS.”

1 . In the spring, we fill the “bare” beds with starter fertilizer and fill them with green manure, and water the mulched ones with a biodestructor.

2 . At the appropriate time, we cover the plant mass while simultaneously cultivating the soil.

3 . After a week, we water it with a biodestructor, fill the furrows and holes with humus or compost and sow the seeds.

4 . When the shoots sprout, we loosen the row spacing, apply the microbiological preparation again, and mulch the beds.

5 . After harvesting, we sow or loosen green manure, apply basic fertilizer, cover the beds with mulch and water with biodestructor and humates.

Clay soil is difficult to cultivate; such soil is not fertile and allows the cultivation of limited varieties of garden crops. It is possible to correct the situation, but it will take time and a lot of effort. There are proven methods based on removing excess moisture by changing the topography, applying fertilizers, and growing green manure.

Clay soil

Clay consists of many tiny particles that become highly compacted when exposed to moisture. The monolithic mass allows oxygen and water to pass through itself in small quantities, which is detrimental to most plants. Biological processes are inhibited in clay. Garden crops begin to wither, productivity decreases and many plants die.

Clay soil is considered to be soil that contains up to 80% clay and 20% sand. At home, it is impossible to accurately determine the percentage. An approximate analysis can be done with a simple experiment:

• In the garden, dig a hole half the depth of a spade bayonet. Take a handful of soil with your hand and knead it into dough. If the soil is dry, you need to add a little water.
• Roll out the finished mass into a sausage, then roll up a ring with a diameter of 5 cm.

If the sausage cracks when rolled into a ring, it means the soil is loamy. The absence of cracks indicates increased clay content. In order to grow garden crops on such soil, it needs to be prepared.

Clay soil has negative qualities:

• heaviness;
• conducts heat poorly;
• does not allow oxygen to pass through;
• water stagnates on the surface, which swamps the bed;
• moisture does not reach the roots of the plant well;
• Under the sun, wet clay turns into a crust, the strength of which can be compared to concrete.

All of these negative qualities interfere with the normal biological process necessary for every plant.

It is important to know! The surface of clayey soil up to 15 cm thick may contain a small amount of humus. This is more of a minus than a plus. The problem lies in increased acidity, which has a bad effect on plants.

It is possible to turn clay into fertile soil, but the work is labor-intensive and will take at least three years.

Site preparation

Water and clay form an explosive mixture, which, when hardened, differs little from concrete. Stagnation of moisture in rainy summers threatens the area with waterlogging. Nothing will grow in such a garden. Improvement begins with the arrangement of drainage. The system is designed to remove excess moisture. To figure out whether drainage is needed, conduct a small experiment:

• A hole of about 60 cm is dug in the area. The width of the hole is taken arbitrarily.
• The hole is filled to the top with water and left for a day.

If after the specified time the water is not completely absorbed, the area needs drainage.

Surface drainage

The system involves digging small trenches along the entire perimeter of the site. Moreover, they are dug at a slope so that the water is drained by gravity to a designated place, for example, a ravine.

Dig trenches along paths, along the perimeter of beds, lawns, and recreation areas. Drainage trays covered with gratings are laid around buildings. All surface drainage is connected into one system, which can drain water into wells.

Deep drainage

Heavily flooded areas with high groundwater levels require deep drainage. The principle of the system is the same, only instead of the usual small grooves, perforated pipes - drains - are buried deep in the ground. Mains are usually laid to a depth of 1.2 m. The pipes are connected to storm drainage trays, surface drainage trenches and drainage wells. The distance between drains depends on the depth of their installation and the composition of the soil, but not more than 11 m.

To improve drainage in a heavily flooded area, it is optimal to arrange a combined drainage system, consisting of a surface and deep system.

In addition to arranging drainage, they are improving the relief in the clay area. They try to raise beds, flower beds, and vegetable gardens by adding soil. Water will drain faster from higher ground.

Fertilizer application

Clay soil is infertile. Mineral fertilizers will not help here. Only organic matter will help. Sand will help loosen the soil, and liming can reduce acidity.

Peat with manure

Improving clay soil begins with the addition of manure or peat. Organic matter is added at the rate of 2 buckets per 1 m2 of garden. The earth is dug up to a depth of 12 cm. Over time, earthworms and beneficial microorganisms will breed in this layer. The soil will become loose and moisture and oxygen will begin to penetrate inside.

Attention! Only rotted manure is used, otherwise the roots of the plants will burn. Peat should not have a rusty tint. This indicates large iron impurities that have a bad effect on vegetation. Before adding to the soil, the peat is well ventilated.

Sawdust

Sawdust is considered a good organic matter and perfectly loosens the soil. However, during decay, they pull nitrogen from the soil, reducing its fertility. The problem can be corrected by wetting the sawdust before adding it to the soil with a urea solution. The fertilizer is diluted with water to a concentration of 1.5%.

Advice! Wood chips soaked in pet urine that have been used as bedding work best.

Sawdust is added at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 m2 of garden. The earth is dug up to a depth of 12–15 cm.

Sand with humus

Sand will help loosen clay soil. However, it is not fertile in itself. Sand is added with humus. This needs to be done every fall. The amount of sand depends on what crops will grow in the garden bed. Let’s say that to grow vegetables and flowers, 1 m2 of land is covered with 1 bucket of sand. When growing cabbage, apple trees, and beets, the amount of sand per 1 m2 is reduced to 0.5 buckets. In at least 5 years, the thickness of the fertile layer will reach 18 cm.

Important! Sand with humus must be added annually. The beneficial substances from the humus of the plant will be taken away and must be replenished. The sand will settle within a year. If you do not add a new portion, the soil will again become clayey and heavy.

Soil liming

Liming the soil helps reduce acidity and increase fertility. This is done in the fall once every five years. Slaked lime is added to the soil to reduce acidity, and chalk helps to increase fertility, as it contains a lot of calcium. The addition of wood ash, dolomite flour and ground limestone shows good results. The amount of substances applied depends on the composition of the soil. This cannot be done at random. A preliminary analysis is required.

Growing green manure

Annual plants called green manures are well suited to fertilize the soil. They are sown before planting vegetables or after harvesting. Young greens are mowed, but not removed from the garden, but dug up with soil. The most common green manures are:

• Rye. Sow in August after harvesting. Greens can be dug up late in the fall or in the spring before planting.
• Clover. The site cannot be used for planting garden crops for three years. Clover is mowed annually and the green mass is left to lie in the garden. In the third year, the plot is dug up to a depth of 12 cm. The clover roots will also rot and become additional fertilizer.
• Phacelia. Sow in spring after snow melts. At least a month after germination, but three weeks before planting, the green mass is mowed. The garden is dug up to a depth of 15 cm.
• Mustard. White mustard is considered green manure No. 1. It is sown in early spring and mowed when the seedling height reaches 10 cm. It can be sown in August after harvesting vegetables, and mowed in the fall before frost. The soil with green manure is dug up to a depth of 12 cm.

Empty areas of the garden can be planted with ground cover plants. In hot weather, they will prevent overheating of the soil, retain moisture and become an organic fertilizer in the future.

Gardeners adopt the experience of the older generation and often use traditional methods of improving clay soil. Here are a few of them:

• Large clods help improve the structure of the soil. In the fall, the site is not interrupted with a walk-behind tractor, but dug up manually with a shovel. Large clods of earth retain snow in winter and warm up better in spring. Fertility will not increase, but the soil will become more pliable in processing.
• The clayey area cannot be dug deeper than 25 cm. This will not make the soil looser. As the depth increases, the properties of the clay become even more pronounced.
• Using mulch on the beds gives good results. Straw, sawdust, leaves or pine needles are spread on the ground around garden plantings. Mulch prevents rapid evaporation of moisture and the formation of crust on clay soil. The thickness of the mulch depends on the material used and is a maximum of 5 cm. In the fall, it is dug up with soil in the garden bed to obtain organic fertilizer.

Advice! It is easier to dig up clay soil in dry weather. It is difficult to work with wet clay, plus you will end up with lumps that are difficult to break after drying in the sun.

Recently, gardeners have begun to adhere to an innovation that involves partial improvement of the soil. The area with clay soil is not dug up and fertilized, but only the beds where garden crops are supposed to be planted.

If all else fails

If work to improve clay soil is unsuccessful, do not abandon the site. Even on such land you can grow useful crops:

• from flowers you can plant peonies, aconite, Volzhanka;
• among garden crops, many varieties of strawberries, cabbage, salads, and peas take root well;
• Among the fruit crops that grow on clay are currants, plums, cherries, and grapes.

It all depends on the varieties of each crop. Those plants and trees that can withstand a lack of oxygen and high humidity will grow on clay.