When make manure in the fall or spring. Autumn work: we add organic matter to the soil

Manure

Manure is the most valuable fertilizer for vegetables. It contains all the basic elements of plant nutrition. And if you regularly apply manure to the soil, then no other fertilizer, as a rule, will be required by your garden.

Horse manure on straw bedding is considered the best: it contains more nutrients, gives them more generously to the soil, when decomposed it heats up faster and stronger. Therefore, horse manure is considered the best biofuel for stuffing (see the story about protected ground). It is very good to bring such manure into cold and damp clay soils: horse manure warms such soils, and then the crop here can be obtained earlier.
  Cattle manure warms up more slowly, it gives the soil and nutrients more slowly, but its effect is longer than horse manure. It is especially good to bring cattle manure into warm and light soils: loamy, sandy, sandy.
  Sheep manure, although rich in nutrients, decomposes slowly, and therefore slowly releases nutrients to the soil. In order for sheep manure to give nutrients to the soil, it is good to pour slurry into the soil before putting it into the soil.
  Pig manure is poor in calcium and can be very acidic - such manure significantly increases the acidity of the soil, so it can only be added with the addition of lime (100 grams of manure contain 500 grams of fluff lime). Pork manure decomposes slowly and he cannot immediately give away many nutrients to the soil. It is best to apply this fertilizer to warm and light soils, as well as cattle manure.
  Long stored fresh manure begins to decompose, rot. Pererevaet manure gradually and eventually turns into humus. Humus is a black homogeneous earthy mass.
Humus is very rich in organic matter, humus introduced into the soil, immediately begins to give the plants the nutrients they need. Therefore, when the soil urgently needs nutrients, it is better to make humus, semi-matured manure than fresh manure. Fresh manure still needs time to warm up and begin to decompose, and the nutrients enter the soil only after the manure begins to decompose. Therefore, it is common to introduce fresh manure into the soil in the autumn during the autumn cultivation of the soil, so that before spring work the manure can at least slightly perepret.
  It would seem more profitable to give manure how to perepret, and only then bring it into the soil - because in this case, the nutrients will be given to the plants. But this is not usually done, because, while overheating, manure loses a large amount of nutrients and, above all, nitrogen, essential for plants to grow successfully. That is why manure collected over the summer is brought into the soil until the autumn, and, as a rule, is not left to be stored until spring to avoid the loss of nutrients, and if you have to store manure, then store it very carefully ...
  For the storage of manure prepare a special platform with a dense ground. At this site put a layer of 25-30 centimeters or dry ground, or peat, or dry leaves - this dry litter will have to absorb the slurry.
  Manure is gradually placed on such a dry litter. So that manure does not immediately begin to decompose and does not lose nutrients, it is well compacted - manure quickly decomposes in loose heaps.
  Every 15-20 centimeters of manure lay out a special pad - a bed of peat. Peat for this purpose take well-ventilated. Poorly ventilated peat, recently taken from low-lying areas, is very acidic, which can later, when this peat is added along with manure to the soil, increase the acidity of the soil. The thickness of the peat layer is the same as the thickness of the layer of manure - 15-20 centimeters. If you do not have the necessary peat at hand, you can at least replace it with ordinary earth, which was used for laying manure bedding.
  The layer of manure is again laid out on the peat layer and well compacted - and so on.
  Manure must be protected from rain and frost. To do this, the manure is covered with peat or earth on top, the layer of such a shelter is about 20 centimeters. And over the peat (or ground) they arrange another, an additional shelter of dry leaves, reed stalks. In winter, a lot of snow is piled on top of such a pile of manure.

Similarly, manure should be collected and stored from spring to autumn, only in this case it would be nice to make a small shelter over fertilizer from summer rain over a pile of manure. Manure thus collected in the fall is applied to the soil.
  Do it this way. Manure is scattered evenly over the garden plot. Usually, about 100 to 800 kilograms of manure are stored per 100 square meters of a vegetable garden (per one hundred square meters of land). More manure is prepared for heavier and colder soils, less for lighter and warmer soils. More has to make manure less) quality.

When the manure is scattered, they start digging up the soil: the manure is supposed to be embedded in the soil on the same day in order to preserve the fertilizer. When digging manure each time it turns out to be at the bottom of a hole dug by a shovel, under a layer of earth equal to approximately the size of a spade bayonet.

The weight of the manure varies greatly depending on whether it is fresh manure, packed in a heap or rotted. Therefore, every time you should use weights or shifts, which are still preserved in the peasant farm, to determine how much a bucket weighs (or what other measure, which is convenient to take manure to the garden) of manure that you are going to bring to the soil today. And then you will do a simple calculation and determine how many such buckets filled with manure you need to take to one or another part of the garden.
  Usually, if a variety of vegetables are grown in the garden, and not just early ones that require large amounts of nutrients, if this way the soil in the garden is not depleted much in one year, fresh manure collected in spring and summer is applied to the soil once every two. year, that is, through the autumn. This amount of organic fertilizer is enough to provide the soil with enough nutrients for two years to help the soil regain its fertility and maintain the best soil structure all the time. If some individual vegetables need additional food, then it can be provided in the spring by adding humus to the soil or feeding the plants with liquid feedings prepared from slurry or bird droppings during the summer.
  Bird droppings contain more nutrients than any manure. But the nitrogen it contains quickly decomposes and is lost along with ammonia. During the two months of storage, if no measures are taken, bird droppings will lose half of the original nitrogen contained in it.
In order for bird droppings to lose as little nitrogen as possible, the collected fertilizer is immediately air dried and then stored in a dry place. If you collect bird droppings in the winter, it is best to freeze it, and in the spring to thaw out and bring it into the ground before spring cultivation.
  They bring bird droppings in the spring a few days before sowing, grinding the fertilizer well and distributing it evenly throughout the garden plot. On 1 square meter bring about 30-50 grams of fertilizer.
  When the plants appear on the beds, make bird droppings should be in the aisle, so that fertilizer does not fall on the plants: bird droppings can cause a burn of vegetables. The grooves between the rows of vegetables where the fertilizer was applied are covered with earth and the fertilizer itself is well mixed with the soil. It is best to cook liquid fertilizer from bird droppings.

Peat

Peat is used in vegetable gardens as an organic fertilizer, although, for the most part, it is used only together with other organic fertilizers: manure, feces, household garbage. Therefore, more often peat is used for composting.
  The best peat is well decomposed. The well-decomposed peat stains hands, smears the paper in dark brown. In addition, peat should be well weathered. Just brought from the swamp peat fertilizer is not suitable - he should stay in the wind at least during the spring, summer and autumn.

Composts

Compost means mixing. Therefore, “compost” means a mixed fertilizer composed of various organic fertilizers.
  Composts, depending on what they are made up of, are peat-dung, peat-faecal and prefabricated. The easiest way for you to prepare the so-called compost compost.
  For precast compost use a variety of organic residues: tops, leaves, plant residues, sawdust, weeds removed from the garden, garbage taken out of the house, kitchen waste, ash.
  In order to arrange a compost pile, one must first of all choose somewhere in the garden, to the side, a flat platform about 2.5–3 meters wide and approximately the same length. About 30 centimeters of peat, straw, dry leaves or just dry soil are laid on this pad. Then on this litter spread as they accumulate various organic residues. If the collected residues begin to dry out, then after about a week they are watered. It is best to pour slurry; if there is no slurry, then just water it with water: the compost heap should be wet all the time.
After watering, the collected organic residues are covered with a layer of peat, humus, straw, leaves, earth, and again every day house garbage, weeds removed from the vegetable garden, kitchen waste, sheep manure, goat manure, manure from rabbits bring and stack here. And again after a week they pour a compost pile of slurry or water, and again cover it with either peat, or straw, or humus, or simply with earth.
  Here you can lay out and accumulating manure, lay, like other organic residues, in layers.
  Usually a compost pile above one and a half meters is not lifted. From the top and from the sides, by the autumn they are lined with peat or earth in order to trap the gases formed during the decomposition of organic substances (and above all ammonia, which carries nitrogen from the compost heap). And before the frosts, the compost pile is covered with earth, dry leaves, reeds, and spruce paws to prevent frost from being collected. In winter, a lot of snow is pushed on the compost pile, as well as on the pile of manure stored until spring.

In order to decompose organic residues, the compost pile about once a month and a half should be shoveled, trying to get the outer layers of the pile to go inside and the inside to the outside.
  The compost, laid in the spring, is ready for the garden to fertilize the new spring. Half-ripped organic residues are ready to give nutrients to the soil. Bring them usually in the spring. They compost the garden with compost either in the same way as with manure, spreading the compost evenly throughout the garden, and then digging it along with the soil; or during spring digging, compost is introduced in the furrows, in rows, in the wells, thus creating the most favorable nutritional conditions for the plants.

Turf ground

Turf soil is a good organic fertilizer, because the top layer of soil contains many nutrients. Turf soil is necessary for the preparation of special mixtures for growing seedlings, it is necessary for the construction of polycarbonate greenhouses.
  Cooking turf land is not very difficult. To do this (best in the spring) cut into pieces of sod (best in the meadow) and put it in a pile pile. The bottom layer of turf is laid up with grass, the top one - with grass down on it. Then again: grass layer up, grass layer down and so on. If the soil is dry, it is poured with water or slurry. The edges of the pile-pile up above raise so that the water does not roll down the sides. Here, in such a pile of stacks, the remains of plants are tipped off and finally only the soft, humus-rich turf ground remains.

Leafy ground

It is easy to prepare the ground from fallen leaves, which, like turf land, is necessary for making nutrient mixtures when growing seedlings and can always help out seedlings of vegetables planted in a not very well-fertilized part of the vegetable garden. For the preparation of leafy ground, in autumn they collect the fallen leaves and pile them in a place where the wind does not pull away the leaves. Here the leaves overwinter. In the spring, a bunch of leaves are dug up and mixed. In the fall, the leaves are again mixed and dug. Over time, the leaves are crushed and turn into a loose mass, resembling a good humus.

Il from the day of the river, pond, lake

Il, extracted from the bottom of lakes, ponds, rivers, has long been considered an excellent fertilizer. It is thanks to this mud, carried in flood on flooded meadows, floodplain meadows grew and bloomed. It has long been used fertile silt, accumulated at the bottom of Lake Nero, the famous Rostov gardeners, who grew on the land of Yaroslavl a variety of vegetables. If there is at least a pond near you, try to get sludge from the pond bottom, bring the sludge home and air it properly (you just can’t use it: it will make the soil too acidic, like unventilated peat), dry it, and then add it to the soil and check how your vegetables react to such top dressing. Usually, with fertilizer, sludge is introduced into the soil at the rate of 3-4 kilograms per 1 square meter. Especially good to use sludge on light soils. If the sludge you extracted from the bottom of a pond or lake turns out to be very fertile, then consider that your garden is provided with organic fertilizer for a long time - silt reserves in the pond, in the lake are usually large. And it’s worth retrieving them from the bottom of the reservoir - so you can help the reservoir: make it cleaner and prevent it from growing.

Ash

Ash - the most valuable mineral fertilizer. How to store and how to apply the ashes, you already know. Ash will come to your aid when you need to reduce the acidity of the soil - here you need more ash (up to 7 kilograms of wood ash per 10 square meters). If the acidity of the soil is not great at all, then ash as a mineral fertilizer will be needed in smaller quantities (2-4 kilograms per 10 square meters of the vegetable garden). It is possible to bring ashes and in the fall, together with manure, and in the spring. You can simply sprinkle the earth evenly with ashes before processing, you can place the ashes in the pits-holes and on the bottom of the grooves where the seeds will be sown. Ash will help you and scare away many enemies of plants. But we will talk about this with you when the time comes to recall the enemies of the vegetable garden. In the meantime, my advice to you is to collect ashes, store it in a dry place so that it does not lose its properties: ash will always help you out. Just remember that in the ashes there is no nitrogen at all, which is so necessary for plants for normal growth, therefore with the help of one ash you will not get a good harvest in the garden.

WHEN REFERRING to manure in general, it is primarily meant bovinescientifically named cattle dung. But there is still horse manure, pork, sheep, goat. From time immemorial, all types of manure have served man as the best organic fertilizer for arable land, garden, flower garden and vegetable garden. Each type of manure has its own positives (of course, and disadvantages) and distinctive features when affecting the soil and plant nutrition.
The composition of the manure depends on the quality of the feed, the condition and the age of the animals. Therefore, the number of basic nutrients can vary within fairly wide limits. Cow manure may contain nitrogen 0.21-0.75%, potassium - 0.19-0.75%, phosphorus - 0.11-0.6%. It is rarely in its pure form, and more often with an additive (litter). The litter is needed to preserve the liquid part, in addition, they add extra batteries to the dung mass - enrich it. Potassium is added from straw bedding, potassium and calcium is added from sawdust, and nitrogen from peat litter.
Manure on peat litter contains on average: water 67%, nitrogen - 0.8%, potassium-0.5%, phosphorus - 0.2%, calcium-0.4%. On straw bedding manure has water 77%, nitrogen 0.45%, potassium 0.5%, phosphorus 0.25%, calcium 0.4%, magnesium 0.11%, sulfur 0.06% . In this embodiment, manure contains up to 0.1% chlorine. The least quality manure - on sawdust litter (due to the low nitrogen content). In terms of 1 kg of dry matter of manure it contains boron 20.2 mg, manganese 201.1 mg, cobalt 1.04 mg, copper 15.6 mg, zinc 96.2 mg, molybdenum 2.06 mg.
Not all nutrient elements of manure are in the best form for plants. Nitrogen is part of a slowly decomposing compound, from which it partially evaporates as ammonia. When manure is introduced into the soil, the microorganisms spend nitrogen on their needs, turning it into an organic form inaccessible to plants. Phosphorus from fresh manure is lower in activity than phosphorus from mineral fertilizers. Due to the slow rates of mineralization, manure is not able to provide intensive plant nutrition without the addition of mineral fertilizers. The full value of cow manure is enhanced by various methods and techniques: decomposition to humus, composting, advance application, enrichment with mineral fertilizers.
Fully decomposed manure in the form of humus is the most nutritious and beneficial to plants. It can be used sparingly and most efficiently when added to seedlings, soils, for mulching crops and plantings, and for planting in the wells. Per unit of its mass, humus contains 2-3 times more nitrogen than the original manure. Manure composts are prepared with different types of peat, with woody (coniferous) bark, turfy soil, mineral fertilizers, calcareous materials, and plant waste. Under the early vegetable crops manure is recommended to make in the autumn.
Additive to fertilizer manure gives a large yield increase. The digestibility (absorption) of nutrient plants in this case increases.
The decomposition of manure to humus occurs during storage. The main task is to preserve the available nutrients. There are dense and loose ways to store manure. Less nitrogen and dry matter is lost during dense (cold) storage (in a stack). For 8 months, the nitrogen and organic content is reduced by 15-20%. When loose (hot) storage for 2 months, organic matter is lost up to 25-30%; for 8 months - up to 60%, and nitrogen - up to 50%; the phosphorus content decreases as well. But the loss of potassium in any storage almost never happens. To reduce the loss of nitrogen during long-term storage in manure add superphosphate (15-20 kg per ton). Batteries are well preserved in manure when it is mated by ventilated lowland peat in equal proportions. In the presence of additionally introduced phosphorus in manure more humus substances accumulate.
Stored manure should be well sheltered from rain and well provided with additional snow cover from freezing. When stored in small heaps and freezing, manure completely loses nitrogen. In the shallow heaps, different parts of the manure remain undecomposed. Its nutritional value is lost, and the effect on crops can be negative if it is introduced in spring.
After 3-4 months of dense storage, manure becomes half-rotted and acts better than fresh. A ton of such fertilizer is equal to 1.5 kg of ammonium nitrate, 2 kg of double superphosphate and 4.5 kg of potassium sulphate for the availability of batteries. Only 5-10% of manure nutrients are available to plants immediately after it is applied to the soil. In the first year of growing, manure uses up to 30% nitrogen, potassium up to 70%, and phosphorus up to 50%. The effect of manure continues in the next few years. Higher positive aftereffects give higher doses of manure. The effectiveness of half-overgrown manure and humus increases with local application (in the wells) in the first year by 1.5-2 times. This method is used with a lack of fertilizer for continuous application.
On heavy soils, it is recommended to close manure smaller (up to 20 cm), on light ones - deeper (up to 30 cm); but under the cabbage, respectively, by 12 and 18 cm. Good sealing of manure warms and loosens the dug up layer of soil. Increased doses of manure (preferably rotted) contribute to the retention of moisture on sandy soils.
Regular application of organic fertilizers in normal quantities fully covers the needs of all plants in trace elements; irregular or very small doses, as well as with significant additions of mineral (nitrogen, phosphate, potash and lime) fertilizers, requires the obligatory addition of micronutrients.
All of the above applies to open ground, but manure plays a very significant role in greenhouses, where it performs 3 functions: a component of greenhouse soils, a source of nutrients and biofuels. In soils, it increases moisture capacity, reduces their density and acidity, accelerates vital processes in the soil by stimulating the activity of microorganisms, and reduces the harmful effects of excess nutrient salts when mineral fertilizers are applied. For greenhouses suitable fresh manure. During the season of use, it is 72% mineralized (organic becomes available to plants), and 28% turns into humus, which can be used with old greenhouse soil for other needs. At a dose of 25-30 kg / m², manure gives boron greenhouse crops -150 mg / m², manganese -1500, copper - 110, zinc - 700, molybdenum - 15, cobalt - 7 mg / m². Decomposing with the release of carbon dioxide, manure by 30% provides the plant's nutritional needs. For biofuels in greenhouses it is preferable to make the ridge of straw manure. When burning, it gives a temperature of up to 23-25 ​​° C.
IF DON'T GIVE manure to greenhouses as a biofuel to produce early vegetable products, then the usual dose of its introduction is 5-6 kg / m², but with the obligatory addition of mineral - nitrogen and phosphorus.
Under normal terms of operation of greenhouses, cow dung is better to give in the composition, where it can be from 20 to 30%. The components of greenhouse composts can be different types of peat, sawdust, sod land.
Of course, all kinds of composts are used for open ground. On soils of weak fertility, it is desirable to make manure composts in a continuous way at a dose of 1 ton per 100 m², on medium-fertile - 0.8 t, on high-fertile - 0.4 t (respectively 3, 4, 2-3 and 1 -2 years). After that, the composts will work for another 4-5 years. Fresh manure (mullein) goes to feeding vegetable crops. Feed solutions are preferably used on the day of preparation,
not fermenting and losing nitrogen. You can prepare solutions from a dry mullein beforehand.
After organic dressing in the open field, loosening is required - to avoid the formation of a superficial crust that hinders the respiratory activity of the roots. When feeding in greenhouses due to the special microclimate there is always the danger of the emergence of root rot, as well as wilting plants. In addition, the introduction of excessive amount of manure into the soil makes feeding almost useless.
Horse dung  for a number of properties is preferable cow, but it is extremely small. The content of elements in it varies: nitrogen - from 0.3 to 0.84%, potassium - from 0.23 to 0.80%, phosphorus - from 0.1 b to 0.68%. With peat litter, it has water 77%, nitrogen - 0.6%, potassium - 0.5%, phosphorus - 0.2%, calcium -0.45%. Straw manure contains 71% water, organics -25%, nitrogen - 0.6%, potassium - 0.6%, phosphorus - 0.3%, calcium - 0.2%, magnesium - 0.14%, sulfur -0 , 07%, chlorine - 0.04%. In horse manure, phosphorus is 51% in the mineral readily soluble form and 49% in the organic form. As a biofuel in greenhouses at a dose of up to 25 kg / m², it “burns” with a temperature of up to 33 ° C. Suitable in different composts.
Pig manure  may contain nitrogen from 0, 3 to 1.05%, potassium - 0.2-0.85%, phosphorus -0.15-0.73%. It is better with straw bedding, while it has 72% water, 25% organic matter, 0.45% nitrogen, 0.6% potassium, 0.2% phosphorus, 0.2% calcium, 0.09% magnesium, 0.17 % chlorine. Due to its high acidity, it is better to use it with potash or lime fertilizers, as well as after 4 months of storage in dense form with the addition of 0.5% superphosphate. In this case, the loss of nitrogen will be insignificant. In greenhouses, pork manure is rarely used because of the high chlorine content and the appearance of fungi on the ground, which spoil the planting.
Sheep manure  with straw contains 65% water, 32% organic, 0.8% nitrogen, 0.7% potassium, 0.2% phosphorus, 0.3% calcium, 0.18% magnesium, 0.17% chlorine. Sheep, goat and rabbit manure with a high nitrogen content decomposes very slowly. Along with porcine, these three types of organic fertilizers are best used in long-term exposure posts.
Organic fertilizers actively influence the growth of vegetable crops. From the activity of microorganisms in the decomposition of organic matter formed substances with antibiotic properties and protect plants from diseases. Growing roots in length helps vitamin B1, in significant quantities contained in manure.
The more complete the decomposition of manure to humus, the greater the increase in yield can be expected under favorable weather conditions. The value of humus for plants also consists in the absorption of toxic compounds and the prevention of their harmful effects on plants. On any soil, even very fertile, vegetable crops react positively to the application of manure of all kinds.
And now a few cautions on the use of cow manure: - Fresh manure contains
seeds of various weeds; You can get rid of them with a dense method of storage, when they become unviable for 4-5 months;
- large doses of manure for greenhouses without its prior decomposition on the surface and airing before instillation can be the cause of ammonia poisoning of planted cucumbers;
- manure with white (fungal) bloom is not suitable
for biofuels, as it is not capable of heating;
- in dense greenhouse soil with deep termination
the decomposition of manure is hampered and the formation of harmful gases (methane and hydrogen sulfide) that can poison the roots of plants is possible;
- straw manure for potatoes can cause scab infection of tubers;
- against the use of fresh manure acts
the presence of salt-lizuntsa, which is added to animal feed and inhibits plant growth.
Lovers of fresh manure fertilizer are cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, celery. The remaining vegetable crops prefer manure of the second or even third year of application.
E. Feofilov,
Honored agronomist of Russia

Autumn is the best time to apply organic fertilizer to the soil. Organics enriches the soil with readily soluble nutrients, and in the most accessible form for plants, improves its physical properties and structure, and also activates the vital activity of beneficial microorganisms. As organic fertilizers in the fall, manure, bird droppings, humus and shavings and sawdust, ashes and peat are applied to the soil.

Autumn planting

Traditionally, in the fall, manure of farm animals is brought under digging and plowing. Horse manure on straw bedding contains more nutrients and is considered the most valuable. Set in the upper layers of the soil, horse manure during the winter has time to decompose and will serve as food for soil microorganisms. If for autumn use half-rotted manure is used, then over the winter it will almost mature. Per 1 sq. M of soil is recommended to make 3 - 4 kg of horse manure. Cattle manure decomposes more slowly and gives nutrients to the soil, but it lasts longer and is more accessible. Cattle manure improves the structure and improves the fertility of any soils: loamy, sandy, sandy. It is recommended to bring 5-8 kg of cow dung per 1 sq. M of soil. Pig manure is poor in calcium and often very sour, so it can only be added with the addition of lime (500 grams of fluff lime per 100 kg of manure). More manure is applied on heavy and cold soils, less on light and warm soils. On sod-podzolic soils poor in nutrients, manure is applied in larger quantities than on black soil and highly cultivated soils.

Manure is scattered evenly over the plot in normal 100 sq.m. soil (per hundred parts) from 500 to 800 kg of organic matter, and after application they immediately dig up the soil by digging, otherwise it loses a lot of useful substances, especially nitrogen. As the rates of application of manure increase, the yield of almost all agricultural crops increases, and only at very high rates (10–20 kg / m2) ceases to grow, and in some cases decreases. If manure does not have time to make a digging, and scatter in the snow, in this case, a lot of ammonia nitrogen is lost, as well as potassium and phosphorus, along with melt water. Manure must be applied to the soil once every 3 years. Humus resulting from the complete decomposition of manure is a very valuable fertilizer. It is possible to make humus under all cultures at the rate of 40-60 kg / 10 sq.m.

  Digging the soil

Strong and fast-acting organic fertilizer is bird droppings. It contains a large number of batteries, quickly decomposes. Nutrients in chicken litter are in organic form, they are less washed out from the soil, enter the soil gradually over a long period, without creating a high concentration of salts, which increases not only the yield, but also its quality (the content of vitamins, sugars, proteins, starch increases, and nitrates do not accumulate). Bird droppings can be made with peat, mixing them in equal parts. This fertilizer is harvested and stored, just like ordinary manure, by warming heaps with peat chips, sawdust or foliage to prevent the loss of nutrients. In urban areas and in small areas it is convenient to use Floreks - granulated chicken droppings. Florex granules introduced into the soil, when in contact with water, swell and easily mix with the soil. The recommended application rate is 0.7-1.0 kg / sq.m.

  Composting

Universal fertilizer, which is recommended for all crops and is available to every gardener, is ash. Wood ash contains up to 40% calcium, 12-13% potassium, 5-6% phosphorus and 2-3% magnesium. But in the ash obtained from burning plant residues, for example, straw, tops of garden crops, corn and sunflower, the potassium content reaches 20-30%. In addition to readily available potassium and phosphorus, it also contains magnesium, iron, sulfur and zinc, as well as many trace elements essential for vegetables, fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs. The rate of application of wood ash is about 100-200 g per square meter. Its action lasts for 2-4 years after application. It is recommended to feed the orchard with ashes at least once every 3-4 years. To do this, along the perimeter of the crown of a tree or shrub, a groove with a depth of 10-15 cm is made into which the ashes are poured and immediately covered with earth. On the adult tree will need about 2 kg of ash. Since ash alkalizes, it is not recommended to bring it in its pure form under acidophilic plants (hydrangeas, ericas, rhododendrons, blueberries, cranberries, heather, etc.) When wet, ash loses many nutrients, especially calcium, therefore dry ashes are stored in boxes or barrels in a dry place.

  Manure application

Often gardeners as organics contribute to the soil wood chips and sawdust. However, in themselves, sawdust is poor in useful and plant-accessible substances, decomposes in the soil for a long time, at first even taking away nitrogen from it, which is used by microorganisms for their processing. Therefore, it is advisable to make sawdust only after a good treatment with a solution of nitrogen-containing fertilizer. To do this, dissolve 4-5 st. l Urea (carbamide) or ammonium nitrate, and then the resulting solution is poured over 3 buckets of sawdust. You can also add 2 tbsp. l superphosphate and 1 tbsp. l potash fertilizer. Sawdust treated in this way is applied to the soil in the fall at the rate of 1 bucket per 3-4 square meters.

Peat is a unique natural biological material. It is an organic breed that is formed naturally in swamps as a result of the decomposition of plants (dead parts of deciduous trees and trees, shrubs, grasses and mosses), under conditions of high humidity and lack of oxygen. Peat contains vegetable fibers that improve the water-air condition of the soil; humic acids that activate plant growth; as well as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium and other elements. Peat is introduced in order to improve the soil, make it more porous, nutritious, air-and moisture-absorbing, change its density and microbiological state. Peat is most appropriate to use for the preparation of composts or as a loosening material on heavy soils. Peat composts are mixtures of peat with manure, plant residues, including those with fallen leaves, with the addition of hydrated lime and mineral fertilizers. Peat compost can be used no earlier than 9 - 12 months after their laying. The rate of application of composts 30 - 60 kg / 10 m2.

  Floreks

To increase soil fertility, it is equally important to attract earthworms to the garden, which process organic matter into humus. For breeding worms, you can arrange a small hole with a depth of 1 m2 in the bayonet of a shovel, which is filled with plant and food waste, eggshell, mullein, manure or peat.

With the help of these affordable and simple measures, you can improve almost any kind of soil, and thus achieve good yields and beautiful flowering of your gardens.

Victoria Roy
  landscape designer
  specifically for the Internet portal
  Garden Center "Your Garden"