2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
From time to time there are disputes between farmers about digging the land. Some believe that digging violates the nature of nature and adds extra work to a person, without increasing the yield of the beds. So to dig or not to dig?
Pluses of autumn digging
Supporters of the autumn digging of the earth advise to hold this event before the frosts came, but at the same time, as close to their arrival as possible. That is, closer to the onset of stable cold weather, all soil free from plantings should be dug up.
The best tool for this job is the bayonet shovel. It is necessary to dig with a full bayonet. Layers of the overturned earth are laid tightly to each other, trying not to crush the lumps. This is done in order to:
1. Weed seeds, nestled in the soil, died from frost.
2. Pupae, larvae, and adults of harmful insects, which settled under the top layer of the soil, also froze out.
3. Frost loosened the dug up layers of the earth.
4. Moisture could freely penetrate into the soil.
But in the spring, the soil dug up in this way will only need to be loosened, completing the frost work. For this, you will no longer need a shovel. The soil is loosened with a pitchfork, which increases the efficiency of loosening. And the depth of such "digging" is much less than in the fall. A more thorough crushing of the soil will provide a better rise in water that feeds the plant roots.
Loosening of the subsoil
If on your beds the fertile layer is thin, only 15-18 centimeters, and you want to grow root crops (carrots, beets, radishes, turnips) or cabbage on them, then the subsoil should also be loosened.
To do this, first remove the top fertile layer, putting it aside. Then the bottom layer is dug up. After digging it, the fertile soil is returned to its original place.
Improvement of peaty soils
If you have peaty soil, then when digging, the upper peat layer is moved down, and the sand under the peat is lifted up and lime.
Do you need a spring digging?
If you have loamy heavy soils, then in the spring they should be dug up, but to a shallower depth than it was done in the fall. After digging, the soil is leveled with a rake.
If the soils are sandy, sandy loam or peaty, then in the spring they are simply loosened to a depth of 5-8 centimeters.
Spring digging or loosening is carried out on the day of planting, or the day before.
Digging soil for sowing early crops
If you are going to do an early sowing of crops, the soil on such beds must be dug up in the fall, and only shallowly loosened in the spring. After all, deep spring digging will raise the cold bottom layer of the soil to the top. The low temperature of such a layer will slow down the germination of seeds, and future plants will be weaker and less resistant to diseases and pests compared to those that were sown in the upper layer of soil warmed up by the spring sun.
Digging soil for perennial plants
Perennial plants are sown or planted at different times of the year. Therefore, soil digging is also carried out at different times. For autumn plantings, we pick up a shovel in the spring, and for spring plantings - in the fall, complementing it with spring loosening.
Since we have perennials in one place for a long time, especially carefully when digging, it is necessary to select rhizome weeds from the ground so that they do not annoy you throughout the life of perennials.
The depth of digging the soil for perennials is 30-40 centimeters. Simultaneously with digging for 1 square meter of soil, 15-20 kg of humus or manure are introduced.
Of course, the soil prepared in spring for the autumn planting of perennials should not stand idle all summer. You can grow radishes, salads, cauliflower, or early potatoes on it. Having collected the harvest of early vegetables and greens, they dig up the soil, and, having compacted it, they begin to plant perennials.
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