Soil At Their Summer Cottage

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

Photo: Julija Sapic / Rusmediabank.ru

When you start growing vegetables on your own backyard, you are surprised to find that the familiar ground under your feet is not as simple as it seemed before. It even has a new name - soil. The soil is full of secrets and mysteries that will certainly require clues to get enough harvest for family and gifts to friends.

Soil types

Soil is a complex and living mixture of organic and inorganic substances. It depends on their composition and proportions what is preferable to grow in the beds. Soil scientists have not yet created a unified clear classification of soil, but there are several conditional divisions of it by types.

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Clay soil … The Creator's favorite material is clay, which occupies a fourth of the volume in such soil. Clay turns it into a sticky conglomerate that traps rain and irrigation water, preventing deep-seated roots from saturating. The beds require loosening of the soil after they have been watered or after rain has passed. Otherwise, a dry crust on the surface will block the access of air to the roots of the plant, slow down the decomposition of organic matter. Clay soil warms up slowly, so it is advisable to make high beds for vegetables. Although clay soil is rich in nutrients, along with loosening it requires additional application of organic fertilizers.

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Sandy soil … The sand, prevailing in such a soil, easily allows not only water to pass through, but also loses nutrients along with the water.. Quickly penetrating into the depths, the water leaves the roots located close to the surface, without moisture. These beds require more frequent watering. The advantage of sandy soil is the rapid heating of the beds by the sun's rays, which is required for early spring sowing of various greenery. It is easy to process and fertilize with organic additives. Air, having easy access to the soil, quickly decomposes organic matter, enriching the soil with nitrogen and carbon dioxide, which are necessary for good plant growth.

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Loamy soil … The most preferred option for growing plants. Everything in it is well balanced: composition, acidity, water absorption, soil density.

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Muddy soil … Periodic flooding of vegetable gardens with ponds overflowing in the spring brings not only troubles to people, but also fertilizes the soil of vegetable gardens and orchards well. The silty soil is rich in natural organic fertilizers and retains moisture well. True, due to its looseness, it easily compresses, which entails additional labor costs.

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Peat soil … The birthplace of the soil is peat bogs. It is rich in organic matter, but the form of nitrogen in it is inaccessible to plants. To turn nitrogen into food convenient for them, the soil must be provided with vital organisms. For this, manure or slurry, or microbiological preparations are introduced. Peat soil is highly acidic. Smokers, accustomed to throwing cigarette butts, need to be vigilant when working on such soil. A half-extinguished light of a cigarette can start a fire in a summer cottage, which is not always immediately noticeable due to the "secretive" nature of the peat soil.

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Calcareous or chalky soil … These soils have an alkaline acidity that not many plants like. The soil is moisture-permeable, gives an average yield of vegetables.

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Humus … The most nutritious part of the soil, the result of the activity of earthworms and other organisms living in the earth.

What soil do plants prefer

At first glance, the richer the soil in organic matter, the more favorable it is for a successful harvest. But this is not always true. The principle "Everything is good in moderation" also applies to soils. You can, for example, grow tall tomato bushes with sprawling and juice-filled stems and leaves on well-fertilized soil, but you still can't wait for ruddy tomatoes. Diagnosis - overfed.