So, the harvest has been harvested, the weeds and plant residues have been removed, and the soil in the garden remains empty. Should I leave it alone until spring? We offer a solution that will help enrich the soil on your site useful substances and will reduce weed growth for the next season.
IN Lately It has become very common to sow empty plots in gardens with green manure plants. We will look at what kind of plants these are, why they are needed, and what is the best way to sow a garden in the fall in order to increase the harvest for next year.
From the article you will learn:
- 1 A few words about what green manure is
- 2 What plants can be called green manure
- 3 When to sow green manure
- 4 Rules for the successful use of green manure
- 5 Conclusion:
- 6 Interesting video on this topic
- 7 See also:
- 8 We also recommend reading:
A few words about what green manure is
Green manures are plants that are actually living fertilizers. They help increase productivity. Experienced gardeners they are sown after harvesting at the end of August,
green manure
in autumn or in early spring before planting the main crops in the ground. The green manure is allowed to grow and then plowed into the ground. This must be done before flowering, because young plants decompose faster.
During the process of decomposition, green manure enriches the soil with various micro and macroelements, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc. At the same time, among other things, beneficial soil microorganisms. But it is important to keep in mind that the amount of greens should not be too large, otherwise it will not rot, but will sour.
What plants can be called green manure?
Siderates include rye, white mustard, peas, buckwheat, broad beans, alfalfa and even corn with sunflowers. Weeds such as nettle can also be called green manure: if the nettle is mowed before flowering and
Phacelia is a summer resident's assistant and an excellent green manure.
introduced into the soil, it will not only become a fertilizer, it will also scare away slugs and snails from planting.
Have you heard the opinion that rapeseed depletes the land? With industrial cultivation, this is possible, but if you plant it as a green manure, mow it in time, and introduce it into the soil, then this destroyer of useful substances will turn into organic fertilizer, introducing phosphorus and potassium into the soil.
In general, many agronomists claim that every plant can be used as green manure. The main thing is to sow it in time and incorporate it into the soil. In this case, it is important to remember that green manure must go into the ground young. For example, if you sow corn or sunflower as green manure, it is important not only not to let it bloom, but also not to let the plants become coarse, otherwise you simply won’t be able to kill them when plowing.
When to sow green manure
Typically, green manure is sown either in early spring (before planting crops) or immediately after harvesting (second half of August, September, until mid-October). Those planted in the spring are allowed to grow slightly and incorporated into the soil a week or two before planting. Green manures planted in August and early autumn (peas, beans, sunflower, sweet clover, corn, alfalfa, lupine) are plowed up or left until winter (rye, mustard, buckwheat, rapeseed).
By the way, if you sow buckwheat in the garden for the winter under potatoes, next year you will save the planting from such
buckwheat and lupine
misfortune like Porsche. If you use rye, the soil will be enriched with nitrogen, rapeseed will be enriched with potassium and phosphorus. Wheat is also sown under potatoes for the winter.
These plants can be planted from early September to mid-October. Therefore, if you were unable to sow empty plots of the garden earlier and are wondering what is the best way to sow a garden in the fall before winter, choose buckwheat, rye or other cereals. They will not only serve as organic fertilizers, but will also keep snow from weathering from the garden in winter.
Regarding landing times, check the weather. Plants need to experience less warm nights, otherwise they will not have time to sprout and grow.
You can generally alternate planting green manures: plant one, for example, corn, mustard or peas immediately after harvesting, for example, in July or August. Mow this thing when it grows, plant it in the soil, and then sow rye or buckwheat in this place. This way you will spend the present complex fertilizer soil in an organic way.
Rules for the successful use of green manure
When deciding what is the best way to sow a garden in the fall, it is important to remember following rules Applications of green manure plants:
oilseed radish. unique green manure
Conclusion:
Having decided to sow the garden with green manure plants in the fall, as a result we will receive fertilizer of organic origin, which:
- will saturate the soil with useful substances no worse than manure;
- will help us fight pests of root crops;
- will reduce soil acidity;
- will slow down the invasion of weeds;
- loosens heavy soils;
- will retain moisture on sandy soils.
Any soil eventually uses up its reserves and periodically needs to be given rest. This means that there will be no planting on this land for a whole year. However, the weed will continue to grow actively and will need to be controlled. In order to prevent the weed from spreading, gardeners sow the soil with plants that can enrich the soil for the next sowing.
Let’s look at what experienced summer residents recommend planting using examples.
- Oats or rye.
You can plant half the bed with oats and the other half the following year. The meager land will be saturated during this period. You can plant the beds with oats or rye for the winter, dig them up in the spring and plant cultivated plants two weeks later.
- Beans, peas or other legumes.
They are easy to plant, require little care, and restore the soil. Peas can be harvested as a crop, but remember that you need to dig up the bed while the plants are still green.
- Marigold.
According to the experience of gardeners, marigolds disinfect the soil and also provide aesthetic pleasure. Is a medicinal herb.
- Calendula.
A medicinal herb that has a beneficial effect on the soil, saturating it with useful substances.
- Mustard.
Excellently displaces weeds. You need to dig up before the plant wilts or after frost.
- Phacelia.
Cute flowers, adding a nice touch to the garden bed. At the same time, it can serve as a fertilizer in the future; it is green manure. You can plant it between potato beds and dig it up as soon as it blooms.
- Lupine.
Enriches the earth with ozone, and its root system helps loosen the earth. It grows quickly and can be planted in early April. After several shoots, the soil will be significantly enriched.
- Herbs – alfalfa, rapeseed, clover, vetch, sweet clover.
Plants improve the soil and suppress weeds.
A few more ways to saturate the soil:
- Collection of leaves.
In autumn, the leaves are collected, watered with a strong solution of potassium permanganate, covered with earth and left for the winter. By spring, the leaves will rot and get rid of fungal spores. The fertilizer is dug up and applied to the soil.
- Additional fertilizers.
- Invasion of Californian worms into the soil.
A method that is gaining popularity. Worms live in the soil for a long time, saturating it.
The most important thing in saturating the soil is not to let it become empty to avoid weed growth. What to sow - choose for yourself. The main thing is not to forget to dig up the plants planted for saturation in time.
We wish you successful sowing!
The main evil of the vegetable garden is stubborn weeds, which multiply at an incredible speed, and it can be oh so difficult to remove them. You can fight them different ways: mechanical, chemical or folk. Try everything and decide for yourself how to suppress the weeds in your garden.
What is the source of weeds?
If cultivated plants appear in a garden or vegetable garden thanks to humans, then weeds arise on their own. They reproduce throughout the season and thrive in almost any conditions. These harmful plants may appear in different ways:
- From the soil. The fact is that in any case it contains spores of many weeds, which for the time being are in a dormant state. But, as soon as external conditions undergo some changes (for example, it rained), they immediately break through the soil and make themselves felt.
- Through organic fertilizers, which hardly anyone can do without when growing vegetables and fruits.
- Through planting material Low quality. Therefore, purchase it only from time-tested sellers and specialized retail outlets.
- The wind is an excellent carrier of enemy seeds cultivated plants. All it takes is one impulse to turn an ideal area into an ideal haven for weeds.
Mustard for weed control
White has excellent phytosanitary properties. Thanks to this, it helps fight nematodes, fusarium rot, late blight and potato scab. Such harmful insects as pea codling moth, wireworms and slugs are not at all happy to be in the vicinity of mustard.
The plant is a characteristic representative of the cruciferous family. Fast-growing and mass-growing mustard enriches the soil with phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen. The advantage of this green manure is the ability to lift nutrients from the deep layers of the soil to the top. And then they become available for those crops that will be planted later. With a very strong root system, penetrating to a depth of 2 meters, mustard can break even the heaviest soil. Therefore, as a green manure for dense (clayey) soils, it is simply a godsend.
Sowing mustard is carried out as follows: on average, 5-7 g of seeds per 1 m² are recommended.
On a note! We scatter the seeds by hand or place them in furrows: it doesn’t matter. Then we plant them into the soil to a depth of 2-2.5 cm, using a garden rake, and water them (after all, mustard is a very moisture-loving plant: just don't overdo it).
When to sow mustard against weeds? This should be done from April 15 to August 15, occupying with the plant areas that were either not sown at all, or already vacated after harvesting.
Advice! After the green manure is embedded in the soil (this happens after 1.5 months from the date of planting), 2-3 weeks should pass. And only then any other crop is planted.
Using white mustard as green manure, do not forget about one more thing important point: We do not sow it where cruciferous plants have been or will be planted. Due to the fact that it also belongs to this family, the possibility of contracting the same diseases cannot be ruled out.
Rapeseed seeds
How to sow a garden to prevent weeds from growing? Rapeseed - annual herbaceous plant the cruciferous family, which reproduces by seeds. It is cold-resistant and very demanding on soil fertility and moisture. Rapeseed is successfully used as green manure, which, in addition to fighting weeds, perfectly loosens and structures the soil.
Important! If you want to increase efficiency in weed control, it would be a good idea to combine simultaneous sowing of rapeseed (winter) with rye.
Agricultural technology for sowing winter crops, which is carried out in August: mix rapeseed seeds with sand and place them in furrows (2-3 cm deep). We arrange rows at a distance of 15 cm from each other. Then we add soil and compact it slightly. In a week, expect shoots.
Important! The best soils for rapeseed they consider: black soil, loam and sandstone. Remember: stagnation of water is detrimental to rapeseed.
In the spring the vegetation is restored and begins active growth and flowering. As soon as green pods are noticed: it means a signal - it's time to mow and embed into the soil. After a month, you can plant seedlings of peppers, eggplants or tomatoes.
On a note! If you have sown winter varieties in the spring, then you should know that they will not bloom, but you will be provided with green mass. You can mow it down, it will grow back.
Rape seeds (spring) are sown in early spring (in March), and already at the end of July you can mow.
Oilseed radish
Also belongs to the cruciferous family and is a high annual plant. We sow it in the third decade of July after the main crop has been harvested. The radish is gaining green mass at a fairly rapid pace before the onset of frost and thus inhibits the growth of even the most noxious weeds(for example, wheatgrass). What's good about her? The fact that it is quite unpretentious in care, tolerates cold, shade well and is absolutely indifferent to the composition of the soil.
Lupine
How to sow a garden to prevent weeds from growing? Try planting lupine:
- It produces a huge amount of biomass - 45-60 tons per hectare.
- The plant belongs to the legume family.
- Its root system (due to the fact that it reaches a depth of two meters) is capable of delivering nutrients from the depths to the top layer of soil so that subsequent crops can enjoy them (they cannot do this themselves).
After lupine, you can plant absolutely any crop, since it is not for nothing that it is called the soil health worker. And this happens because some varieties of this plant are simply saturated with alkaloids, which successfully cope with soil organisms and bacteria that cause diseases.
When flowering has finished and the seeds are already visible, we begin to mow the lupine. Then we chop it and embed it 20 cm into the soil.
Important! If you do not carry out this operation on time, the stems will become rough: it will be more difficult to process them, and they will take much longer to decompose.
Nasturtium
Why not use nasturtium as a green manure: it’s both beautiful and healthy. It is often planted in the soil next to fruit bushes and trees. Planting is done in this way: 3-4 plants per 1 m². The smell of nasturtium is not to the taste of green aphids. In autumn, when the aboveground part of the flower dies, the underground continues to “work”: the roots remaining in the ground promote moisture and air exchange in the soil and attract earthworms.
Winter rye
Rye against weeds is excellent. It copes well even with perennial weeds that have long taken root and are very difficult to “smoke” them out of the area. Best time for planting - autumn, immediately after the crop of the latest crops has already been harvested.
Advice! If you are developing a new plot, we strongly recommend that you sow winter rye for two years, which will make you forget what weeds are. This is especially true for wheatgrass and thistle.
Alfalfa and clover
How to sow a garden to prevent weeds from growing? Clover (white) and alfalfa are fighting quite well with them and are healthy competition to all the plants listed earlier.
Sometimes summer residents do not plant the entire plot in the spring. At the same time, the land freed from the load will in any case receive rest, but it is much more effective to sow green manure on it, which will multiply the recovery effect.
Here are the most suitable cover crops:
- Lupine should be sown immediately after the onset of warm days in the spring. It grows quite quickly - during the season, you can sow lupins in succession 2-3 times in an empty area. As soon as the plant enters the flowering phase, cutting and digging are carried out. The lupine planted the third time often does not have time to bloom, and the plant is left in the winter as it is.
- Phacelia is a universal unpretentious green manure, after which you can successfully grow almost any crop. It attracts pollinating insects to the site, promotes the expulsion of a number of pests (nematode, flower beetle, codling moth, locust), structures and reduces the acidity of the soil.
- Vika is a good forerunner on the site for all crops except legumes. It improves the soil structure. saturates it with nitrogen, protects the fertile layer from leaching and weathering, enhances the activity of beneficial microorganisms, and attracts worms. The green mass is mowed and embedded in the ground 10 days after the start of flowering.
- Clover (red and white) is a good green fertilizer, it saturates the earth with nitrogen, displaces weeds from the site, structures the soil, making the fertile layer more loose, moisture and breathable and preventing its destruction under the influence of winds and rains. But be careful - in the future, clover can become a malicious weed in its intransigence comparable to a birch.
- Buckwheat can be sown on the site from mid-May to mid-August. It is necessary to mow the green mass before flowering begins. It should be buried in the ground to a depth of about 15-20 cm. The branched root system of this plant well structures the soil, destroys whole line dangerous pathogens. Mown and embedded greens become a source of potassium and phosphorus.
- White mustard can be planted on the site as early as April. It is a good precursor for most crops, except cruciferous crops. This green manure cleans the soil from pathogens of late blight, scab, rot, expels slugs, wireworms and moths from the site, structures the soil, and attracts pollinating insects to the site.
- Rapeseed can be sown from the end of March until mid-August. Green manure is mowed before flowering - 1.5 months after sowing. The resulting green mass is buried to a depth of 12 cm. This plant prevents the leaching of nitrogen compounds from upper layers soil. Its branched root system loosens the soil well and increases its moisture and breathability. Essential oils, contained in rapeseed, repel wireworms and kill pathogenic flora (in particular, pathogens of potato scab). However, this negative effect does not apply to worms.
- Oilseed radish is planted from April to mid-September. Mowing is performed 40-50 days after planting. Mowed green mass, rotting, saturates the earth with humus and organic matter. It is one of the most effective crops used against soil erosion. The essential oils in the composition repel most pests (including wireworms, nematodes) and destroy a number of pathogens of fungal diseases (scab, rhizoctania, etc.). This green manure suppresses the development of such malicious weeds as wheatgrass. Rotting tops attract earthworms to the site and stimulate the development of beneficial microorganisms.
By sowing green manure, you can cope with weeds and pathogens and at the same time fertilize depleted soil.
