Every gardener and gardener dreams of fertile soil, on which you can set up a garden, and beds, and a flower bed. But over time, the fertile soil layer becomes thinner, it is inhabited by diseases and pests. How to fix 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 every problem has its own solutions. The main thing is not to wait until your yields become equal to the planting material spent.

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 saving on top dressing, then there is nothing surprising in the thinning of the fertile layer. After all, your green pets probably used all the nutrients for growth and development, and you did not apply enough fertilizers that would normalize the situation.

What to do?

Try to add compost to the soil (3 buckets per 1 sq.m.) for digging. This organic fertilizer can significantly improve the quality of "tired" land, providing the plants with the necessary trace elements.

Another great way is green fertilizers (green manure). They can be sown between the main crops or on vacant plots after the crop has already been harvested. It is best to select green manure according to 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, eggplant or zucchini. Mustard will help fight the nematode and prepare the soil for planting potatoes or winter crops. It is good to sow rapeseed before carrots or beets, as it will serve as additional protection against viral and bacterial rot.

And the most suitable siderates 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 the nodules on their roots form during this period.

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

Problem 2. The soil crumbles like dust

Let's say you are a conservative to the marrow and prefer to plant traditional vegetables (like cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage or zucchini) in the beds, which require a lot of nutrients. At the same time, you avoid fertilizers, believing that the crop should be environmentally friendly, forget about mulching, because your grandparents did not do that. But do not mind how to dig up the soil and pump up muscles at the same time. And therefore it is not surprising that the once fertile land in your garden in a few years begins to absorb moisture poorly and scatters under the gusts of wind.

What to do?

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

Try starting with fertilizer. Add 2-3 buckets of compost per 1 sq.m, planting 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, almost without retaining moisture, and therefore require special care. It is not recommended to dig them more than once a year.

So that the soil does not dust, mulch it with improvised materials, for example, young grass, straw, compost, sawdust, bark, freshly cut weeds. Mulch will not only protect the soil from further erosion. Decaying, it will work as an organic fertilizer, gradually giving useful substances to the crop.

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

Problem 3. The soil has become too dense

Hard, wet ground that is difficult to stick a shovel into can be the result of improper care. For example, if deep digging of clay soils, in which heavy loam is on the surface, occurs in rainy weather, then a water- and moisture-impermeable crust can form on top of the earth.

What to do?

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

If there is clay on the surface of the soil, 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 a neighbor. But if the earthworms are uncomfortable, they are unlikely to linger in your beds.

These invertebrates love decaying organic matter. Therefore, it would be useful 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 shoots and roots of dandelions must be poured with 10 liters of water, and after two weeks, strain and dilute with water 1:10.

Problem 4. The soil is 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. Also, the level of acidity is 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 on freshly limed soil, so it is advisable to normalize the acidity at least a year before planting them. These 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, deoxidizing the soil.

Soils with a pH above 7.5 prevent iron uptake by plants. As a result, your green pets develop worse, which is usually easy to see by yellowing leaves.

What to do?

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

Mulching also prevents moisture evaporation, weed germination and wind erosion of the soil. This is best done in the spring or fall after weed removal, fertilization and surface loosening.

It is impossible to mulch the soil before the plants sown in open ground sprout.

Problem 6. The soil is saline

As the proverb says, "It's better to be undersalted than oversalted." If whitish salt marks appeared on the soil, most often this indicates improper fertilizing of plants with mineral fertilizers.

What to do?

Salt is known to dissolve in water. After harvesting, try watering the soil generously 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 site does not turn into a dirty puddle.

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

Problem 7. The soil is infected 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 doze in winter - including in the soil, so that next season they will again start the battle for the harvest with you.

What to do?

The easiest way to deal with insects wintering on the site is to treat the soil with insecticides. Since most of the potential threats are hiding in the ground in the form of eggs and larvae of pests, in the store you need to pay special attention to larvicides that destroy larvae and caterpillars, as well as ovicides that affect eggs of insects and mites.

Mechanical methods of struggle will not be superfluous either. For example, if you dig up the soil in the beds in late autumn (without breaking lumps), 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 spill the soil with a solution of an EM preparation when loosening, this will help weaken harmful bacteria.

It is also important to remove fallen leaves, as pest larvae often hibernate under it.

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

Problem 8. The soil is covered with red bloom

"Rust" can not only metals, but also the 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 be the cause of the appearance of a red plaque on your beds.

What to do?

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

Do not dissolve biopreparations in tap water, as the chlorine contained in it will kill beneficial bacteria. It is best to use melted 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 the garden, flowerbed and even on the lawn. Most often, the reason for this is increased humidity, excessive shading, as well as dense or acidic soil.

What to do?

How to deal with the last two problems, we told a little higher. 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, first of all captures free areas. So if vegetables do not want to grow under the shade of a branched tree, plant plants there that tolerate shade well, for example, forget-me-not, fern or hydrangea.

Usually in the beds, moss is removed mechanically. And if he tries to take over your lawn, slowly but surely displacing the grass, you can use ferrous sulfate (90 ml per 20 liters of water). With this amount of solution, 300 square meters of area can be treated.

If your dacha is a place to relax, and not for hard work in the beds, try moving moss from the category of enemies to allies. Moss gardens are extremely popular in landscape design today. So if you are not ready to say goodbye to an old tree that is shading a large area, and do not 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 at all 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, make the necessary fertilizing, observe crop rotation, then you will not need our advice on how to restore soil fertility.

Ecology of consumption. Homestead: Fertile soil is so easy to make that it's hard to believe, so we're still looking for magic fertilizer...

Now for most people, fertile soil is a utopia. A purely consumer approach to growing plants destroys the fertile soil layer. Most agronomists think that fertile soil is soil of a certain chemical composition. Such an idea is fundamentally wrong, and it is precisely this that leads to the destruction of the soil.

Everyone knows that the fertile layer near the soil is relatively small, and is located on the surface of the earth. If you dig a two-meter hole in the ground, you can see with the naked eye that there is no fertile soil at its bottom, although if we assume that soil fertility is determined by its chemical composition, then at such a depth, on the contrary, it should be more fertile, because plants don't get there.

Also, everyone knows that for the normal development of plants, the soil in which they grow must be loose. Here, AGRONOMS AGAIN TAKE US IN THE WRONG and said that for this we need to dig it up regularly. Digging up the soil, we first make earth out of it, then sand and, finally, dust. And then we breathe it all in.

Another mistake is how do we plant plants. Different plants consume and produce different micronutrients. If different plants grow mixed in the garden, then they work for each other and practically do not require care. And if the entire garden is filled with plants of the same species, then they begin to fight among themselves for a place under the sun. As a result, we get diseased plants from a lack of trace elements. We are trying to cure them with chemistry, again on the advice of agronomists, and we enter into a vicious circle.

So, should we all go beat the agronomists for giving us false information? You can of course go, but it will not solve the problem. A more reasonable action is to figure out for yourself what determines the fertility of the soil. It's worth it - if we manage to copy the behavior of Nature- because now only she makes the soil fertile, then you will no longer need to bend your back in the garden - everything will grow there by itself. Tempting? Go ahead.

FERTILITY SOIL IS A LIVING ORGANISM and not just a collection of chemical elements. The fact that it contains many trace elements is a side effect of its "aliveness". In order to increase the fertility of the soil, it is necessary to increase its "vitality", and the necessary microelements come to the living soil themselves. Can't believe it? There is no mysticism here, but only the exact laws of Nature.

Firstly, fertile soil is not earth. The earth is an integral part of it, but it is only a frame on which a fertile layer is formed.

Let's figure it out first, how to loosen soil. It's simple - you need to plant annual plants with long roots in it several times in a row. When their long roots die, there will be passages due to which the soil will be loose.

Now let's figure it out where to get trace elements that plants need. There are no problems here either. you just need not to leave the beds bare under the scorching sun. Partially weed out the weeds, and partially left, and throw the weeded weeds right here in the garden. Plus, plant plants mixed with each other, and not in separate beds.

The last problem is where to get water. You might be surprised, but there is no problem here either. You just need to overlay the seedlings of our plants with a fifteen-centimeter layer of straw, foliage or needles. This layer is called MULCH.

Most people who use mulch think that it only retains moisture. In fact, it also produces moisture. At the top and bottom of the mulch, the air temperature is different, due to this difference, dew falls on the mulch, which is so necessary for plants.

Dew falls not only in the mulch, but also in the passages left by the roots of old plants, i.e. Annual plants with long roots have a double benefit.

That's the whole technique of soil fertility. As you can see, THERE IS NOTHING COMPLICATED HERE. Fertile soil is so easy to make that it is very hard to believe in this simplicity, so we are still looking for a magical fertilizer that will make our soil fertile. But the truth is that there is no such fertilizer and cannot be. published

Clay soil is difficult to cultivate, such soil is not very fertile and allows the cultivation of limited varieties of garden crops. You can fix the situation, but it will take time and a lot of effort. There are proven methods based on removing excess moisture by changing the relief, fertilizing, and growing green manure.

clay soil

Clay consists of many tiny particles that are strongly compacted together when exposed to moisture. A monolithic mass in small quantities passes oxygen and water through itself, which is detrimental to most plants. In clay, biological processes are inhibited. Garden crops begin to wither, yields decrease and many plants die.

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

• In the garden, they dig a hole half the depth of a shovel bayonet. Take a handful of soil with your hand and knead the dough out of it. If the soil is dry, you need to add a little water.
• A sausage is rolled out of the finished mass, after which a ring with a diameter of 5 cm is rolled up.

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

Clay soil has negative qualities:

• heaviness;
• poorly conducts heat;
• poorly passes oxygen;
• water stagnates on the surface, which swamps the bed;
• moisture to the roots of the plant does not enter 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 each plant.

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

It is possible to turn clay into fertile land, but the work is laborious and will take at least three years.

Site preparation

Water with clay form an explosive mixture, which, when solidified, differs little from concrete. Stagnation of moisture in a rainy summer threatens to swamp the site. Nothing will grow in this garden. Improvement begins with the arrangement of drainage. The system is designed to remove excess moisture. To figure out if drainage is needed, conduct a small experiment:

• A depression of about 60 cm is dug on the site. The width of the pit 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 site needs drainage.

Surface drainage

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

They dig trenches along the paths, along the perimeter of the beds, lawns, recreation areas. Drainage trays are laid around the buildings, closed with a grate. All surface drainage is connected to one system, which can drain water into wells.

deep drainage

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

To improve drainage in a heavily flooded area, it is optimal to equip a combined drainage 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, a vegetable garden by embankment of soil. Water will drain faster from higher ground.

Fertilization

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

Peat with manure

Improvement of clay soil begins with the introduction of manure or peat. Organics are added at the rate of 2 buckets per 1 m 2 of the 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 friable, moisture and oxygen will begin to penetrate inside.

Attention! Manure is used only overripe, 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 entering into the soil, peat is well weathered.

Sawdust

Wood chips are considered good organics and loosen the soil perfectly. However, during decay, they pull nitrogen from the soil, reducing its fertility. You can fix the problem by wetting the sawdust before adding a solution of urea to the soil. The fertilizer is diluted with water to a concentration of 1.5%.

Advice! Best suited are sawdust soaked in the urine of pets that have been used as bedding.

Sawdust is applied at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 m 2 of the garden. The earth is dug up to a depth of 12–15 cm.

Sand with humus

Sand will help loosen the clay soil. However, by itself it is not fertile. Sand is brought in with humus. This should be done every fall. The amount of sand depends on what crops will grow in the garden. For example, for growing vegetables and flowers, 1 m 2 of land is covered with 1 bucket of sand. When growing cabbage, apple trees, beets, the amount of sand per 1 m 2 is reduced to 0.5 buckets. After at least 5 years, the thickness of the fertile layer will reach 18 cm.

Important! Sand with humus must be applied annually. Useful substances from the humus of the plant will be taken and they must be replenished. The sand will settle in a year. If you do not make a new portion of it, the soil will again become clayey and heavy.

Soil liming

Soil liming helps to reduce acidity and increase fertility. Do this in the fall once every five years. Hydrated lime is added to the soil to reduce acidity, and chalk helps to increase fertility, as it contains a lot of calcium. Good results are shown by the introduction of wood ash, dolomite flour and ground limestone. The amount of applied substances depends on the composition of the soil. You can't do it randomly. A preliminary analysis is required.

Cultivation of green manure

As a soil fertilizer, annual plants called green manure are well suited. They are sown before planting vegetables or after harvest. Young greens are mowed, but they are not removed from the garden, but dug up with the ground. The most common siderates are:

• Rye. Sow in August after harvest. Greens can be dug up in late autumn or spring before planting.
• Clover. The site will not be used for planting horticultural crops for three years. Clover is mowed annually and the green mass is left to lie in the garden. In the third year, the site is dug up to a depth of 12 cm. Clover roots will also rot and become additional fertilizer.
• Phacelia. Sow in the spring after the snow melts. At least one 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 seedlings reach a height of up to 10 cm. It can be sown in August after harvesting vegetables, and mowed in autumn 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 the heat, they will prevent overheating of the soil, retain moisture and become organic fertilizer in the future.

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

• Large clods help to improve the structure of the soil. In autumn, the site is not interrupted with a walk-behind tractor, but is 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 clay area cannot be dug deeper than 25 cm. The earth will not become looser from this. With increasing depth, the properties of clay become even more pronounced.
• A good result is the use of mulch in the beds. Straw, sawdust, leaves or needles are spread on the ground around garden plantations. Mulch prevents the rapid evaporation of moisture and the formation of a crust on clay soil. The thickness of the mulch depends on the material used and is a maximum of 5 cm. In autumn, it is dug up with the ground in the garden to obtain organic fertilizer.

Advice! Digging clayey soil is easier in dry weather. It is hard to work with wet clay, plus you get clods, which, after drying in the sun, are problematic to break.

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

If nothing worked

If the work to improve the clay soil was unsuccessful, do not abandon the site. Even on such land, useful crops can be grown:

• from flowers you can plant peonies, aconite, volzhanka;
• from garden crops, many varieties of strawberries, cabbage, salads, peas take root well;
• currants, plums, cherries, grapes grow from fruit crops on clay.

It all depends on the varieties of each crop. On clay, those plants and trees will grow that tolerate a lack of oxygen and high humidity.

Do not test plants for survival. The composition of any clay soil can be improved, you just need to invest maximum work and be patient.

The development of a summer cottage, where nothing cultural has grown for a long time, is not a quick matter. How to make beds that will give a good harvest next year? The well-known gardener and gardener Nikolai Kurdyumov tells how to improve clay soil, sandy and how do-it-yourself beds differ from ordinary ones.

My friend in his youth lived in the famous village of Starocherkasskaya, the capital of the Don Cossacks. Don floodplain, meadow chernozems, two meters high, soft. And his garden was also on the site of the old regimental stables.

I remember he sincerely complained: well, it's a real torment to harvest! Potatoes in weeds - almost a bucket from a bush, beets - two pieces no longer fit into a bucket! Of course, to improve such soil is only to spoil it. It is enough for her to return as much organic matter as has grown on it. And digging it is a crime. But we have few such happy places. My friend is just lucky.

For us, simple clayey, in order to achieve good fertility, we need to work with the soil. And in order not to wait years, it is better to immediately improve the soil in the beds - the first and last time, but dramatically. Oh, how many times I regretted not doing it right away!

Soil improvement during site development: where to start

If your soil is heavy loam, then you need humus, sand, and, if possible, a fine screening of expanded clay. If it is poor sandy loam, clay and humus are needed. In both cases, a third of the new volume of the beds should be organic matter, which has rotted to varying degrees. And only a peat bog needs fresh nitrogenous organics: grass or hay, kitchen waste, unusable grain or spoiled feed. And also some clay and sand.

Renowned Austrian permaculturist and nature farmer Sepp Holzer uses his method to rapidly build up humus reserves in extremely poor soils and harsh climates. A trench 40–50 cm deep and of the same width is dug in place of the beds. It is clogged with dry trunks, branches, rotten. This is the primary supply of slow organics and a "sponge" for moisture during the drought.

Then the trench is dug in, and in the Sepp version, the earth is thrown from the sides, fitting into a rampart 70–100 cm high. The meaning of the rampart is a huge difference in microclimate. Sunny windward side - hot and dry. Sunny lee - hot and humid, subtropics. Shady without wind - humid and not hot, shady with wind - not hot, but it blows out moisture.

On the shady side, the plants will climb up the ridge. In the sun - they will bush and fly, like on the beach. Given all this, Sepp sows the shaft with a mixture of different plants - cereals, pumpkins and squash, beans, corn and sunflowers - everything that has large seeds and quickly increases biomass.

By the way, the area of ​​the slopes of the rampart is one and a half of the area of ​​its base.

The finished shaft is covered with straw or hay, strengthened from the wind with branches, and the branches with longitudinal poles. The great dignity of the shaft - early and fast heating of the soil. A trench formed between the ridges - branches were also placed in it and covered with straw. The roots will reach here too.

Sowing is done directly into the straw using a pointed peg. Seeds germinate after rains. All plant residues remain on the ridge. A year later, potatoes are planted here, and various rutabaga with turnips, and pumpkins with zucchini, and on top - a wall of corn.

Beautiful, deep, natural! But to be honest, this is for the most enthusiastic permaculture and personally Sepp owners of a hectare. For my garden, three acres is not an option. We are not accustomed to climbing steep ramparts and unraveling freely mixed bushes. We do not know the behavior of different plants so much. I won't take it from the air. So I'm leaning towards more conventional methods.

In my early books - "according to John Jevons". In fact, all smart gardeners and growers do this. But it just so happened: Jevons wrote a bestseller, I read it in the late 90s and was impressed.

John is an American organ farmer and hard worker, the inventor of "bio-intensive mini-agriculture" (BIMZ). The yields from his beds were many times larger than traditional ones - you must admit, this is impressive.

He began to invent on extremely bad, poor soil. Therefore, I improved it immediately, and then increased fertility not from scratch. The meaning is simple: you need to mix the soil with organic matter (and, if necessary, with sand or clay) to a depth of two bayonets of a shovel. Well, two bayonets - this is in hot California. One and a half (35-40 cm) is enough for us. And three or four spades wide.

Jevons suggests mixing the soil with the additives as you work your way up the bed: take off the top layer, mix the bottom with compost, put the top layer back on, mix it with the compost, move a little further... I keep it simple. Improving my clay bed with sand, I take out the most fertile top layer entirely and fold it from the edge. I mix additives into the bottom and return the top layer to its place, also mixing something.

The top, most organic layer is taken out, it is on the left. The bottom is mixed with sand. The top layer is returned in the same way with sand. This is the only way I have been able to drastically reduce the density of my clay soil. The comfort zone for the roots has almost doubled in depth. It remains to re-structure the soil - this will be done by worms and roots.

So let's take the best of both worlds. We take out the top 10–15 cm of the most fertile soil. We deepen the bottom with a trench deep into the bayonet of a shovel. In the trench - logs and thick branches, but not thick, so that the capillary connection with the subsoil is quickly restored.

It is harmless to lightly powder this windbreak with some kind of nitrogen fertilizer, moisten it with a dung mash or the contents of a dry closet - it will rot faster. It is useful to throw in some fresh weeds - the same nitrogen. In the dry south it is exceptionally harmless to pour hydrogel, circles per square meter.

We return down the subsoil from the trench, pushing it between the pieces of wood. We scatter the excess subsoil in the aisles or take it away. At the bottom we put one or two strips of immature compost or grass, flavored with EM, "Shine" or another bioactivator. Then we fill the bed with the top layer taken out, interspersed with additives (sand / clay) and humus.

It turns out a raised bed - a convex gentle shaft. The bulge adds a lot of space and light to the plants, and in the spring it better receives the sun's rays. For the damp Non-Black Earth Region and - an ideal option for do-it-yourself beds. In the steppe zone, you need and.

In the photo - beds-ridges on the site of Irina Kalmykova on Taman. They warm up much earlier and better. Here, in a very dry area, they are covered with a special mulch film, under which drip tapes lie.

The result of our sweating: the bed is ready to immediately give a decent harvest. The difference is visible in the first year. Look at the photo. Three cucumber bushes on the right are on improved soil, two on the left are on normal soil. Garden L. Lobanov, Ivanovo.

In the next photo, the soil on the right is also improved. Filling with organics and bioactivator at the same time added warmth to the soil. Eggplant yield is 9 times more than from the left control bush. Experience of A. Bushikhin, Yaroslavl.

Already a lot! But this is only the beginning. The soil is not yet inhabited by living creatures, not structured, not pierced by roots, not sown with coprolites of worms and other poop. Now we will improve it every year with natural forces: plants, worms, microbes and fungi. But it is already easy. Our main business is feed the soil workers and all kinds of organic matter. Another important work don't disturb them. The rest they will do themselves. And I assure you - they will make it as wonderful as you never dreamed of.

Comment on the article "How to improve the soil in a summer cottage? 2 ways"

Raised beds in winter. Arrangement of the site. Dacha, garden and vegetable garden. Dacha and country plots: purchase, improvement, planting trees and shrubs, seedlings, beds, vegetables, fruits, berries, harvest.

Who has stationary beds? On the beds. Dacha, garden and vegetable garden. Dacha and country plots: purchase, improvement, planting trees and Who has stationary beds? Please share your impressions, comfortable or not, what they are made of, how you care, and so on. Thank you.

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Clay soil is very difficult to cultivate. Nevertheless, there are a lot of summer cottages and vegetable gardens with clay soil. It is a lot of work to cultivate such soil and most of the work falls on the autumn months. Consider how to improve clay soil.

What is clay soil.

Clay soil contains over 80% clay and less than 20% sand. These small particles of clay adhere tightly to each other. That is why it is poorly permeable to water and air. And the lack of air in it greatly slows down the decomposition of organic matter.

The structure of clay soils is very imperfect. These are heavy, highly cohesive and compacted soils, especially after rains, as they are usually poorly drained.

Clay soils are cold and warm very slowly, although they contain more nutrients than light soils. They are difficult to process and penetrate into the root system. Water on them after snow melting, during rain and irrigation, lingers on the surface, slowly penetrates into the lower horizons.

That is why in such areas water can stagnate for a long time, displacing air from the soil, resulting in acidification of the soil. The same happens if the water table is close to the surface.

After heavy rains, clay soils quickly sink, forming a surface crust, which, after drying, becomes hard and cracks. And during a drought, the earth becomes so hard that even a sharply sharpened shovel can hardly enter it under great effort.

At the same time, the surface crust increases the air deficit in the soil and leads to its further drying. It makes cultivation difficult and causes large lumps when digging the soil.

In clay soil, as a rule, humus is contained in a small amount only in the upper layer 10-15 cm thick. A distinctive feature of such soils is that they have an acidic reaction, which many cultivated plants do not tolerate or tolerate poorly.

The disadvantages of heavy soils can be overcome within a few seasons. Of course, there is no question of turning them into light soils. At the same time, the gardener requires large physical and material costs. The work to transform them can take years.

How to improve clay soil

First you need to pay special attention to the layout of the surface of your site. All terrain irregularities must be leveled to avoid any stagnant water. And the direction of the beds should be determined so that a good flow of excess water is constantly provided along the boundaries.

It is very important to dig clay soil for the winter without breaking lumps. This must be done before the onset of autumn rains, so as not to compact the soil even more. In winter, the structure of these lumps will improve under the influence of frost and moisture. This accelerates the spring drying and warming of the soil. And in the spring such soil must be dug up again.

When cultivating clay soils and deepening their arable layer, a significant part of the lower podzolic layer cannot be turned up to the surface. The depth of digging should be increased every year by only 1-2 cm, while adding lime materials and organic fertilizers for digging.

If the earth is so heavy that even digging is difficult, then crushed brick, straw, finely chopped branches, and bark can be added. In the absence of a brick, it can be replaced with burnt weeds. They are burned along with the roots and the earth adhering to them, and then brought into the soil when digging.

But the main method for gradually improving the structure of heavy clay soils is the application of organic fertilizers: rotted manure, peat-dung, peat-fecal and prefabricated composts and peat.

During the years of their development, it is desirable to make every year at least 1.5-2 buckets of rotted manure or compost per 1 sq. meter. At the same time, organic fertilizers in the first years of soil cultivation should be planted to a depth of no more than 10-12 cm, which contributes to their better and faster mineralization. This stimulates the development of beneficial soil microorganisms and earthworms. As a result of their vital activity, the soil becomes looser, more structural, better permeable to air and water, and more fertile for plants.

At the same time, the manure introduced into the clay soil must be well rotted, otherwise the roots of the plants may “burn out”. It is advisable to use only horse or sheep manure, as they decompose faster.

Before introducing peat into the soil, it must be weathered. It is better not to introduce rusty peat into the soil, since it has an excess of iron, which is harmful to plants.

Good results are obtained by introducing stale sawdust into the soil, no more than one bucket per 1 sq. meter. But their introduction into the soil during decomposition diverts part of the soil nitrogen, which reduces soil fertility and worsens the conditions for plant growth.

To prevent this from happening, these sawdust must first be soaked with a solution of urea (150 grams of urea per 10 liters of water per 3 buckets of sawdust) or sawdust from livestock, richly moistened with animal urine, should be used.

Good results are obtained by introducing supercomposts from the Pixa group into such soil. The dose of “Pixa” and “Pixa-Lux” application is small. The application rules are indicated on the bags, and you will receive the result next year.

Simultaneously with organic matter, it is necessary to introduce significant doses of river sand into the clay soil during autumn digging. This is a very laborious but effective technique.

Due to the fact that for different crops grown on the site, the requirements for the mechanical composition of the soil are different, the amount of sand applied may be different.

Most vegetables, many flower crops, especially bulbs and annuals, grow best on light loam. Therefore, when preparing the soil for these crops, it should be applied per 1 sq. meter for 1 bucket of sand.

For cabbage, beets, apple trees, plums, cherries and some flower crops (gladiolus, delphiniums, peonies, roses), soils with a heavier mechanical composition are the best. Therefore, when preparing a site for them, it is enough to make 1 sq. meter for half a bucket of sand.

Unfortunately, it is necessary to introduce organic matter and river sand into heavy clay soil at least a year later for several years. The fact is that plants will use the organic matter for their own needs, and the sand will gradually seep down, and the soil in the upper habitable layer will “get heavier” again.

But still, when organic matter and sand are introduced into the soil for 5 years in such quantities, it is possible to turn the top arable soil layer 15-18 cm thick from clay to loamy.

The use of annual green fertilizers (vetch, lupine, phacelia, etc.) is very effective.

They are sown after harvesting early vegetables or potatoes, and in late autumn they are already dug up. An excellent result is also obtained by sowing winter rye at the end of August, followed by digging it in the spring. Rotting, all these herbs enrich the soil with organic matter. And most importantly, at the same time, clay soils become looser.

In the absence or lack of organic matter, various types of perennial clover are also often sown to improve such soils. Crops are periodically mowed, leaving the grass in place. Living and dying clover roots have a beneficial effect on the soil. Once every 3-4 years, perennial clover is dug up to a depth of 10-12 cm.

It is also very useful to populate areas with heavy clay soil with worms that contribute to its loosening. And plant all free places with ground cover plants. They prevent the formation of a crust after rain and watering, and also, rotting, replenish the top layer with organic matter.

Liming of clay soil is carried out only during autumn processing. Usually it is carried out once every 5-6 years. At the same time, one should not forget that the introduction of lime not only deoxidizes the soil. The addition of calcium increases the fertility of the soil, since without it a water-resistant structure is not formed. When liming, heavy soils become looser, which significantly improves the water-air regime of such soil.

The dose of application of alkaline materials depends on the content of calcium in them, the level of soil acidity and its mechanical composition. For autumn soil liming, a wide variety of alkaline materials are used - ground limestone, slaked lime, dolomite flour, chalk, marl, cement dust, wood and peat ash.

After liming, the conditions for processing heavy soils improve, they are much easier to dig, and light soils, on the contrary, become more coherent and water-intensive. Liming enhances the activity of various microorganisms that assimilate nitrogen or decompose humus, thereby improving plant nutrition.

How to determine what kind of soil you have? To do this, conduct a simple experiment. Take a small amount of earth in a handful and moisten it with water right in your hand. Knead so that the moisture disperses evenly and the soil resembles a not too thick dough. Roll up a “sausage” about the size of a pencil and try to roll this “sausage” into a ring about 5 cm in diameter. If the ring cracks, then you have loam. If the ring is even, without cracks, then the soil is clayey. Will have to improve it.

V.G. Shafransky, Yekaterinburg

You can find this article in the newspaper "Magic Garden" 2010 No. 21.