When and how to properly plow the land in the garden? Why do you need an autumn digging of the site.
At present, opinions on this matter are divided into two opposing camps. Proponents of the traditional approach believe that autumn digging very helpful. Thanks to it, pests and weeds are destroyed, in addition, the soil is aerated.
Supporters of new methods, including organic farming on the contrary, they believe that digging the earth is harmful. The defenders of this theory treat the soil as a separate living organism and argue that when we dig, we break the soil structure and do not give it the opportunity to recover.
What to choose a gardener and gardener?
First of all, there is no doubt that the soil needs processing that will help replenish the supply. nutrients. Soil also needs air for the flow of natural processes.
Therefore, the view autumn processing soil depends on its type. If you have heavy, clay soil in your garden, then you must dig it up. Light, loose, cultivated soils do not need such a procedure; deep loosening is enough for them.
When digging clay soil, do not turn it over, but only shift it. So you can remove the roots of weeds, and provide air access to the depth. In this case, the structure of the soil will not suffer.
The fact is that what lives in the earth a large number of beneficial microorganisms. Turning the soil, we mix those that live on the surface in depth, which leads to their death. And vice versa, those living at a depth die, falling to the surface of the soil.
Soil treatment is carried out immediately after harvest. To improve the structure of the soil, you can, for example, mustard.
Plants are left on the site so that they rot under the snow. Thanks to this, the land in your garden will become looser over time and at the same time not lose its nutritional qualities.
When digging the garden, all nitrogen-fixing organisms are activated, which in turn enrich the soil with nitrogen forms, most suitable plants. But the effect is visible only if the soil is harrowed. Otherwise, everything useful that began to develop in the soil simply disappears.
So, whether it is necessary to dig up the garden in the fall, each gardener decides for himself. Some prefer methods proven over the years and dig up the plots. More daring innovators try new options and sometimes refuse to dig at all.
Today, you can often come across the opinion about the futility of digging the soil in the fall. Often in modern specialized literature on agriculture one can read that it is necessary to dig up a vegetable garden in cases of emergency. And it is desirable to do without this procedure at all. But many experienced gardeners know that such an approach can even harm the plantings. So do you need an autumn digging of the garden? It is worth considering this issue from all sides.
What gives the cultivation of the earth in the fall?
First of all, it simplifies and facilitates landing work spring. Even those who are against such an event agree with this. After all, when the last vegetables are harvested, the cold weather is still quite far away. And if the weather is warm, then the beds are overgrown with weeds. This means that if you do not remove them now, then next season it will be more difficult to fight the dominance of weeds. What are the other benefits of this procedure?
The soil becomes softer and looser;
The earth cleared of weeds is saturated with oxygen, moisture;
In spring, such soil warms up faster than untreated since autumn;
During autumn tillage, a good water-air regime is created for plants;
The thermal properties of the soil also improve in the spring, the earth will ripen faster for planting. To the pluses autumn work it can also be attributed to the fact that the remains of stems, stones and other debris were removed ahead of time. All this makes it easier to work in the garden in the spring. In addition, tillage in autumn is usually carried out with the turnover of the soil layer. It helps to fight pests and pathogenic bacteria. After all, they winter in the upper layers of the soil. And after digging the earth, some of them will simply die from freezing by spring.
Dependence on soil type
However, do not go to extremes, because whether the soil needs deep digging in the fall depends primarily on its type. An area with clay or loamy heavy soil will not do without autumn processing, where ground water lie close to the surface. The fact is that all the pores and holes formed during digging in the fall are filled with air. And the treated soil increases its volume by almost 2 times. In loose soil, due to carbon dioxide and oxygen, plant remains decompose faster and humus is formed. In such soil, plants tolerate frost and drought more easily, and their roots penetrate deeper into the soil. But initially light and loose, sandy and humus-rich soils are advised to simply loosen deeply in the fall. On a site with such land, it is recommended to dig up only heavily polluted places, removing weed roots. Frequent and deep digging of such land is not useful. So you can destroy the structure of the soil. The cultivation of the land in the fall is best done before the onset of cold weather and before the snow falls. Because if you bury it in the ground, it will slow down the warming of the soil in the spring. And, most importantly, be in time for the period heavy rains, otherwise you can achieve the effect of compaction of the earth.
What is the best way to cultivate a garden in the fall?
This again depends on the type of soil. Deep autumn digging of the garden on heavy soil is carried out with raising the layers of the earth. They can not be turned over, but simply carefully shifted and removed the weed roots. It is better not to level the soil, leaving rather large clods of earth, they will not allow it to cake during the rains. In addition, due to this, the soil will freeze to a greater depth. This will not only make pest control easier, but after such a rough treatment, the earth will better absorb autumn rainfall. Such a surface will retain moisture and snow well. The bottom layer of soil will be a breeding ground for plant roots. And here top part, if you put it at the bottom of the furrow, it will be enriched with various useful substances. When one row of soil is processed, proceed to another. The main thing is that the distance between them should not be too wide, otherwise the layer of excavated earth will be large, and the soil will not be saturated with air. With shallow cultivation of light soil in the fall, it is worth starting with loosening immediately after harvesting. This provokes the growth of weeds, which will appear on the beds in two weeks. They are easy to handle with a regular hoe. Vegetable tops and other herbs can be laid in trenches for warm beds.
Fertilizing while digging
The procedure for digging a garden in the fall is good opportunity fertilize the soil with various mineral and organic compounds. They will saturate the bottom layer of soil with useful substances, where the roots of plants are located. Organics, for example, compost, manure, can only be applied where it is planned to grow vegetable seedlings. Before the time of their planting, she will have time to pereper well in the ground. It is quite acceptable to add fertilizers with potassium and phosphorus to the soil. They are not washed out of the soil for a long time, and the earth will be fed all winter. You can add ash, superphosphate. What else useful material can be added to the ground when processing in the fall?
Wood sawdust soaked in a solution of urea.
Wood decomposes slowly in the soil, while it consumes a large amount of nitrogen;
Herbs or tops planted in the ground in autumn will be used as green manure;
By burying the leaves in autumn to a decent depth, you can increase the fertile soil layer.
However, if in the summer the plants suffered from fungal diseases, then it is advisable to remove and burn all the leaves from the site.
Plowing is the main type of agricultural work. It is impossible to imagine a cultivated piece of land without this most ancient agricultural technique. From time to time, an opinion appears that plowing the land does not give anything, that the land itself improves its properties, it is only necessary to leave it alone for a while. Often advocate only cultivation without plowing. But such opinions are debatable, most gardeners follow the established tradition in cultivating the soil. Let's look at the question - when to plow the garden: in autumn, spring, or not to plow at all.
Importance of plowing for soil fertility
Plowing is an integral part of the cultivation of any crop and has several tasks.
- Control of weeds and agricultural pests.
- Increasing soil fertility by increasing aeration, improving structure and increasing the humus layer.
- Help in the accumulation of moisture.
Weed control in progress different ways and each of them includes plowing. Even adding herbicides to the soil involves preparing the soil for them. Plowing with the turnover of the layer allows you to effectively deal with rhizomatous weeds, exposing the roots and rhizomes. Subsequently, they dry out and freeze. Autumn plowing is preferable in this case, and spring peeling will complete the process.
The better harvested crop in the current year, the more depleted the soil. Application organic fertilizers, humus plow, as well as the introduction of minerals to improve acidity - a commonly used technique. But the need for plowing is not limited to this.
Deep plowing increases the aeration of all layers of the soil and promotes moisture filling. The soil structure improves even without mechanical additions. The increase in the humus layer of the soil is also closely related to plowing.
When we start plowing the garden in the fall, useful research can be done. Try to make a soil cut, as soil scientists do. On cultivated soils, the so-called plow sole is clearly visible, a clear line between the cultivated part and the underlying rock. It is located at the depth to which we loosen the garden. Only periodic plowing allows increasing the depth of the fertile layer, and the formation of humus (organic fertile layer) directly depends on the introduction of organic substances for decay, air and water balance in the soil layer.
The best time for autumn plowing
Having established for ourselves that autumn plowing is preferable, we must choose the best time to implement our soil improvement ideas. Depending on the tasks considered, you should make a start in setting deadlines.
If your main goal is weed control, then you need to plow as late as possible. Let the weeds grow until late autumn, and then carry out cultivation and plowing. But it is worth considering that plowing land with a high moisture content will not give the desired effect, as well as overdried. Here the most profitable option is when the soil is already starting to dry out from frost.
Plowing of organic fertilizers and minerals can be done a little earlier, shortly after harvesting. But is it worth the haste to solve only this problem? The accumulation of moisture does not mean plowing during the rainiest period. On the contrary, preparing the soil for the accumulation of moisture involves improving the structure to the full depth, creating a soft sponge from your garden that will absorb moisture and leave before winter. Either the accumulation will occur from the spring melting of snow, and by cultivating you will only close it.
Every gardener knows that the soil must be prepared in the fall, because. autumn processing is much more useful than spring. It's hard work, but recent times more and more voices are heard from supporters of organic farming, who call for it to be abandoned.
They believe, not without reason, that by digging the soil, we create ideal conditions for the death of soil microorganisms and for the growth of weed seeds, and by trying to give air to the roots, we often get rid of the roots themselves (of course - in the garden).
Therefore, autumn tillage in the garden depends entirely on what kind of soil you have. For heavy clay and uncultivated soils, autumn digging of the soil is required. And on light, loose, deeply cultivated soils, deep digging should not be done at all, replacing it with deep loosening.
Soil cultivation begins immediately after harvesting. It is carried out primarily to remove weeds and fertilize the soil. If the weather is dry, then the dried tops of vegetables and weed roots can be burned, and the ashes can be used here when digging. Of course, when the tops of tomatoes and cucumbers from the greenhouse are burned, all disease-causing principles will also die.
But still, it is more useful to lay the bulk of weeds, leaves, tops of vegetable crops and root crops in compost heaps, if possible, treating this mass with the Baikal EM1 preparation, or laying it in shallow trenches for arranging warm beds. And then the hardest part begins. garden work- autumn tillage.
Everyone agrees that it is necessary to loosen the soil in the garden and remove perennial weeds, especially if these are heavy loamy and clay soils, the structure of which is imperfect. Since the roots of plants breathe underground, they consume the oxygen contained in the pores of the soil and release carbon dioxide. This means that too dense clay soils greatly interfere with breathing. Wherein root system plants are deficient in oxygen.
Do I need to dig deep into the soil often? Twice a year (often incorrectly) tillage and its continuous loosening in the summer do not contribute to improvement, as many gardeners believe, but to spraying the soil structure. This means that such deep tillage in the garden should not be abused without the need, although in autumn it is practically impossible to do without it on heavy clay soil.
Digging heavy soil to a depth of no more than 15 cm should be done only in the fall, and not turning the soil over, but only shifting it and removing the roots of perennial weeds.
The thing is that the flora and fauna of the upper soil layer does not take root well in the deeper layers of the soil and vice versa. But, by digging with the turnover of the reservoir, we bury the microorganisms that are accustomed to living from above, into the depths of the soil, where they will die, and we bring the inhabitants of the depths to the surface, where they also have no life.
And finding themselves in unusual conditions for themselves, the microorganisms that form humus die with our help. And in place of the ruined soil-forming microorganisms, pathogens settle.
And abundant, sometimes countless waterings, caused by the rapid evaporation of water from the unprotected surface of your garden bed, lead to the washing out of the calcium necessary to maintain the structure of the soil from the cultivated fertile layer. And all this leads to the destruction of the soil structure, the deterioration of its physical properties.
Autumn tillage under vegetable crops next year should be carried out as early as possible, before the onset of stable cold weather. Usually it starts immediately after harvesting late-ripening vegetable crops and harvesting plant residues. The success of obtaining good harvest vegetables next year.
Autumn tillage cannot be replaced by spring. It must be completed before the onset of heavy rains, otherwise, instead of loosening the soil, it can be compacted, on the contrary, especially if it is heavy clay soil. The best time, for such tillage, the end of September-beginning of October.
It is advisable to start such preparation with a light loosening of the topmost layer of soil on each bed immediately after harvesting the previous crop on it. This can be done easier, faster and easier with a rake.
The purpose of this work is one - to provoke the germination of weed seeds, which are in abundance on your site. Two weeks after such loosening, your beds will be covered with numerous and friendly shoots of weeds. Now it's time to show the weeds who is the boss on your site.
If you do not have the opportunity or desire (it happens so) to prepare the soil in the fall, then these young weeds (and most importantly, perennial ones) still need to be destroyed with the same rake, having harrowed the entire plot. But this is far from the best way because the soil needs to be loosened.
This is best done with a Fokin flat cutter, which destroys weeds, including perennials, and loosens the soil. Such an autumn “attack” on weeds is important because the garden gets rid of adult plants that contribute to the spread of pests. Even if later on the beds a shoot of young weeds appears, it is not dangerous, because. during the spring loosening of the soil, they will be destroyed.
In the land cleared of weeds in autumn, healing processes are in full swing. With regular carrying out of this work, weeds such as dandelion, wheatgrass, coltsfoot, etc. disappear, since only mature plants have their outstanding vitality. And their young shoots have tender roots, which, when the aerial part of the plant is removed, quickly die ...
It is deep autumn outside, the last root crops are harvested, and the earth is preparing for rest. At such a time, gardeners often think about whether it is necessary to dig up the garden in the fall, because after harvesting all the vacant plots have already been dug up.
Purpose of digging
Why do you need to dig up the ground in the garden at all? For example, in autumn it increases in volume by almost one and a half times due to porous air ducts. In friability, carbon dioxide and oxygen contribute to plant residues decompose quickly, create nutritious humus. In such soil, the root system of crops easily penetrates deep into, finds moisture, food for itself, thanks to which the plants endure frosts and a dry period.
So, when is the best time to dig a garden? There are many arguments on this subject, arguments and conclusions, too, and diametrically opposed.
Digging in autumn
The work ahead is hard and not everyone enjoys it, but, according to experts, the turnover of the earthen layer in autumn time necessary, and for the following reasons:
- to saturate the earth with beneficial microorganisms (and their number has already been calculated - ten kilograms per square meter), it is necessary to add organic matter - compost, humus, manure, rotted sawdust, ash, and all these utilities are brought in only during autumn digging
- enable microorganisms and the earth to breathe, because it is air that helps the process of their reproduction
- weed seeds will fall to a depth from which they will not be able to germinate in the spring
- weeds moved deeper will rot and fertilize the soil
- pests that are in the ground and prepared for hibernation (Colorado potato beetles, caterpillars, various wireworms), once on the surface, they will die from the wind, sun or be eaten by birds
- in the soil loosened in autumn, nitrogen-containing microorganisms are activated and fixed, they saturate the earth with plant forms of nitrogen
- a layer of earth that goes up, saturated with fertilizers, minerals, that is, it seems to be useful for future plants
- if there are trees on the site, their leaves are buried and become useful humus
- after a dry summer and a dry autumn, the inverted clods of earth retain moisture, which is created by air, dew, and condensate. And it, in turn, is obtained from the differences in warm daytime and cold night temperatures.
Without waiting for the autumn rains, you can immediately dig up the liberated sections of the garden. Then nutrient organisms will begin to cultivate and improve the soil earlier.
Digging in the fall is a time saver that comes in handy when preparing gardens in the spring, and this is probably the strongest argument in solving the problem - when to dig the garden in autumn or spring.
Controversial moments of autumn gardening
Autumn digging for today is controversial issue, and experienced gardeners who prefer spring processing land, it is also justified:
- when turning over a layer of soil in autumn, useful worms can die, but according to statistics, there are only ten percent of them, most of them are in clods that do not break in autumn
- during spring digging, all processes are actively updated, the soil at this time is able to give all its useful substances to new plants and grains
- in order to avoid weathering of food, moisture, in the spring the dug up earth is immediately harrowed. Its structure allows this to be done, but in autumn this process is in no way possible, because summer period the earth is so compacted that it has to be crushed
- fallen leaves - perfect healthy trees on the site is now a rarity, so with fallen leaves fruit trees during autumn digging, their pathogenic microbes can also get into the soil, they are preserved and are waiting in the wings. So about the fallen leaves, the answer is obvious - they need to be removed from the garden.
At the expense of the depth of digging, agricultural technicians have proven that it is the upper five to ten centimeters of the soil layer that have one hundred percent usefulness, the farther inland, the poorer the soil. Turning the layer on the bayonet of a shovel, we bury beneficial microorganisms in fertile soil, and upper layer turns out to be destroyed, lifeless, barren. By nature, the biological soil becomes passive from active, and it needs time to recover, which we simply do not give it due to the annual habit.
It also happens that suddenly, in the allotted area for the garden, the fertile layer is small and, with deep digging, the subarable layer gets up. And it can consist of sand, podzolic unfertile soil, clay. They, mixing with the already cultivated soil, lower its fertility, and this area will constantly need additional fertilizer.
Do you need to dig your garden in the fall?
And it depends on the composition of the soil. After all, each soil has its own density, and for our crops we need an optimal one.
For example, marshy land is favorable for vegetables because it is light. In the fall, it is not necessary to dig it up, and it is useless. After the autumn digging, in the spring it will have to be processed with a roller in order to regulate the humidity and create conditions for the beneficial development of planted crops.
Chernozem is a mechanically heavy, moisture-intensive, very dense composition. The obligatory depth of its plowing is up to thirty centimeters. It is especially necessary to work in heavily clogged areas, while it is necessary to apply fertilizers.
Do not need to dig sandy, sandy, peat soils. And here, given that only the top layer is useful, such land can be cultivated with a small cultivator. Fertilizers should not be applied to the entire area, this is a difficult, impractical occupation, because the food is quickly washed off by rainfall and watering. It is more convenient and more useful to apply it to the planned areas separated for vegetable crops or directly into the holes during spring planting.
You should also not adapt to the neighbors. Areas that are very close can be very different in type and humidity. Low-lying - damp, wet, they are well suited for arranging high beds, which dry out faster and warm up better in the spring sun.
Light soil sod-podzolic, sandy loam is dry and not suitable for high beds. From double drying, the plants will have to be tight and they will have to be watered more often. In this case, a normal landing is used, at the level of the ground surface, and this saves effort, time and the result is pleasing.
Labor-intensive activities, such as digging up beds with the introduction of useful ash, lime, manure, the formation of plots for the necessary crops, are best done taking into account the above factors. After all, in the fall we have more time to prepare for the next summer season, and in his garden, each gardener himself determines when, what and where to dig or not to dig.