Autumn Affairs Of Gardeners

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Over the summer, your land has yielded and become poorer. Help her recover, give her strength and increase her fertility. What needs to be done in the garden on the eve of winter? Read about the rules for digging, the specifics of soil cultivation in the greenhouse and in open beds, as well as about activities that many summer residents do not know

Improving the soil

All autumn work in the garden begins with cleaning the beds (weeds, tops and roots). Organic and mineral additives are added to the soil. Next, you determine what else to add - it depends on the type of soil.

Loams and clayey areas are always heavy and depleted, therefore sand is poured here, ash, leaf humus or compost mass is introduced. This makes the soil permeable and looser.

Add compost and sawdust to the sandy soil to retain moisture. Acidic soils need to be neutralized with dolomite flour (chalk, lime).

Autumn digging rules

You can dig the beds in the fall in two ways.

1. Moldless method. A lump of earth is not broken or turned over, just put next to it. This helps to preserve the natural microflora.

2. Dump method. The dug out lump is turned over with a shovel so that the top layer goes into the ground to the depth of the bayonet. This helps to deepen the seeds of the weeds and deprive them of the possibility of germination. At the same time, the larvae of pests are deprived of a comfortable location, being on the surface they will die from frost.

It doesn't matter which method you use - don't break the earth ball. In the spring, it will absorb melt water, become crumbly, you can easily loosen it and form a garden bed. For early crops, the depth of digging is done no more than 15 cm. This will ensure rapid heating and drying of the earth after the snow melts.

Experts recommend digging with a pitchfork so as not to disrupt the life activity of humus creators - worms. Adherents of organic farming do not dig the soil in the fall, but simply scatter ash, manure on the beds, all this lies on the surface. They also leave tops on the ground (without signs of disease), mulch with grass, fallen leaves, and cover this “pie” with cardboard. Digging is carried out in the spring, with the incorporation of these additives into the soil.

Autumn cultivation in the greenhouse

Ideally, the top layer (7-10 cm) is removed and removed from the greenhouse. This will help get rid of pathogens, larvae, and fungal spores. The soil is being replaced, which is not taken from the beds, but is done independently.

High-quality "home-made" land will help to get a good harvest from the greenhouse. It is fertile and easy to do: rotten manure or humus + sand / sawdust + wood ash. After even distribution over the bed, the surface is spilled with potassium permanganate or copper sulfate. For wintering it is covered with spruce or straw mulch.

It is undesirable to spread the land collected in a greenhouse in the beds due to the accumulation of pathogenic flora in it. Usually it is stored in an empty place, sprinkled with lime and dug up. After 1-2 years, he returns to the greenhouse again.

The time-consuming process of changing the soil can be replaced with disinfection. There are several ways, but most often copper sulfate is used. The solution is prepared in proportions of 10 l + 2 tablespoons, this volume is consumed per one square meter. Potassium permanganate is no less popular for this. The color of the solution should have a dark pink tint, the consumption is the same as when working with vitriol.

A more time consuming but effective method is steaming. To do this, you need to have a lot of boiling water, with which the garden is plentifully watered and immediately covered with a film. Such heat treatment is detrimental to larvae and bacteria. Steaming is repeated 2 times at intervals of a day. Loosening is done before each procedure.

Experts say that steaming has a big drawback: getting rid of pests and pathogens, beneficial bacteria and microorganisms die. If you still use this method, then take care of the health of the soil: spill the treated area with biological products of the EM series (Baikal-1, Azotofit, Mikosan, Aktofit, Shining, Bokashi, Gauspin, etc.). Consumption: 2 liters per sq / m, usually 100 g + 10 liters are used. The dose is always indicated on the package.

For cultivating the soil in the greenhouse, you can purchase ready-made preparations that effectively disinfect the soil. For example, Fitosporin, Phytocid, Alirin-B, PhytoDoctor, Planriz, Trichodermin, Pentafag, etc.