What is leaf land. Leafy and soddy soil. Why do cats dream

In ornamental gardening, specially prepared garden soils are used. All of them are a decomposition product of turf, leaves, manure, heather, peat, contain a large number of humus, but depending on the initial substrate, they have different physical and chemical properties.

Farms usually harvest the following main lands: soddy, leafy, humus (dung), compost, peat.

Sod land is harvested in meadows and pastures, preferably in old, fallow, perennial, with good grass-clover herbage. It can not be harvested in areas of low and high acidity.

Soddy land is divided into heavy - with a large amount of clay, medium - with equal proportions of clay and sand, and light - with a predominance of sand.

Land preparation begins at the end of June. By this time, the herbage reaches its maximum development, and by winter, the harvested sod, with proper care, will have time to partially decompose. Layers are cut (with a shovel, disc, plow) 20-30 cm wide, 8-10 cm thick, depending on the thickness of the turf layer. The length is arbitrary. The sod is stacked in stacks 1.2-1.5 m wide and of arbitrary length so that the grass cover of each second layer lies on the grass cover of the first layer. Double layers are moistened with a solution of mullein or slurry to accelerate the decomposition of the sod and enrich it with nitrogen (at the rate of 0.2-0.5 m 3 of manure or slurry per 1 m 3). To reduce acidity, 2-3 kg of lime is added per 1 m 3 of land. The stacks on top are periodically moistened with slurry, and so that it does not drain (as well as rainwater), a trough-shaped depression is made at the top of the stack.

The best sod land is obtained after two seasons. During the next summer, the stack is shoveled at least twice. In the autumn, having passed the earth through a roar, they clean it indoors and use it in work. Left in the open air, it loses its Qualities - nutritional value, porosity, elasticity, etc.

sod land- the main one in floriculture, it is quite porous, rich in essential nutrients that act for many years. It is used for growing indoor and greenhouse perennials and in most soil mixtures.

Leafy land is harvested in autumn in deciduous massifs (forests, groves, parks). The best are the leaves of linden, maple, fruit plants. Oak and willow leaves contain a lot of tannins, so they are not used for harvesting land. In some cases, forest litter is used to obtain leafy soil, removing the top 2-5 cm layer. The collected dry leaves or forest litter with the remains of grass, small twigs, etc. are placed in stacks with a width and height of -1.2-1.5 m of arbitrary length. In autumn, when laying, the leaves are moistened with slurry or mullein solution and compacted; Otherwise, they will decompose slowly. During the next summer, it is advisable to moisten the leaf mass 2-3 times with slurry and shovel. It is good to add a little lime before mixing. By the autumn of the second year, the leaves are completely overripe and turn into leafy soil. Before use, it is passed through a screen to separate undecomposed residues.

leaf ground- light, loose, but contains less nutrients than turf. It can serve as a good ripper for heavy turf lands.

Leaf soil mixed with peat soil and sand can be used as a substitute for heather soil,

Humus land (humus-dung). In greenhouses, this soil is often referred to as greenhouse soil, as it is formed from rotted manure mixed with old greenhouse soil.

Pet manure, planted in greenhouses as a biofuel since spring, turns into humus by autumn. From the manure of cattle, the humus is heavy, from the manure of horses and sheep - lighter.

The humus cleaned from the greenhouse in autumn is stacked in piles, as indicated above for sod and other lands, moistened and shoveled 1-2 times during the next summer. Keep outdoors for one year. After that, the humus soil is passed through a fine screen and stored indoors.

Humus from greenhouses is often used as fertilizer in open field.

humus earth- light, loose, oily, i.e. very rich in nutrients with a predominance of nitrogen in a form easily digestible for plants. It is used as a highly effective compound component for soil mixtures. Used for most potted crops and seedlings.

Peat land is harvested, as a rule, from lowland peat bogs. In some cases, briquettes and peat chips can be used for its preparation. Well-decomposed peat is stacked in piles up to 60-80 cm high. When laying, layers of peat are moistened with slurry every 20-25 cm and sprinkled with lime at the rate of 10-15 kg per 1 m 3 of peat. When using high-moor peat, the dose of lime is increased. At the end of the first season and in the middle of the second season, the mixture is shoveled and used in the third year. By this time, the biological activity of peat increases and its acidity decreases.

peat land- soft, loose, very moisture-absorbing, consists of slowly. decomposing organic residues and in its pure form is of low nutritional value. It is used for various soil mixtures as a ripper, especially with turfy soil, as it improves its physical properties, making it looser and lighter. It is also used in a mixture with light sandy soils, improving their cohesion and moisture capacity, as well as for mulching.

When harvesting sod from peat meadows, you can prepare sod-peat soil used for making peat pots, mulching the soil and planting some plants. .

Compost soil is prepared by composting in piles, heaps, pits of various plant and animal residues, garbage, weeds, greenhouse and greenhouse waste and household. As the residues accumulate, they are poured for disinfection and better decomposition with lime, moistened with slurry and covered with peat or peat chips on top. In the second or third year, the compost mass is shoveled 2-3 times per season, moistened with slurry. By the end of the third year, the compost soil is ready for use.

The quality and physical properties of compost soil are very diverse and depend on the type of waste and the nature of the composted material.

Basically, compost lands occupy an intermediate position between soddy and humus soils in terms of nutrient content. Use them in a mixture with turf and peat lands, replacing humus.

heather land is now losing its importance and is being replaced by a mixture of 2 parts leaf, 3-4 parts peat soil and 1 part sand. Heather soil is prepared as a sheet.

Garden and garden soil, or an arable layer well enriched with humus, is harvested and stacked in autumn, adding lime, phosphorus and potassium. In the summer they shovel twice. From the plots where plants belonging to the Cabbage (cabbage) and Nightshade (tomato) families have been grown for the last three years, soil is not taken.

Good garden or garden soil with a little sand can be successfully used for the cultivation of ornamental plants.

woody ground prepared from stumps, roots, deadwood, branches, chips, rotten old trees, etc. The decomposed remains of wood form a light, close in composition to the leaf, but poor in nutrients and prone to acidification of the earth. Use it in the culture of orchids, ferns and bromeliads.

Composted bark substrates. The shredded bark is composted in stacks up to 3 m high, adding pulp mill sludge and other organic material, which ensures the decomposition of the bark with the help of microorganisms. Biochemical and microbiological processes during composting are most active in a substrate with a particle size of 1-7 mm and the addition of urea to less than 1% of the dry mass of the bark (4.3 kg per 1 m 3) during the first few weeks. Composting with constant shoveling lasts approximately 4-4.5 weeks in summer and 16-18 weeks in winter. The temperature in the stacks rises to 65-70°C.

Compost in 1 m 3 contains about 300 g of potassium, 60 g of phosphorus, 30 g of magnesium, 30 g of iron, 20 g of manganese, copper and other trace elements. It is mixed with sphagnum peat, adding 1 kg of phosphorus, in other cases - sand, clay, etc., that is, it is used as a soil improver.

When grown on the same substrate of bark and sawdust, plant growth stops and chlorosis appears due to a lack of nitrogen.

Moss. White swamp moss sphagnum is harvested in moss sphagnum bogs. After drying, grinding and sieving, it is used in earthen mixtures to make them light, loose and hygroscopic, i.e., increased moisture capacity. In its pure form, it is used when forcing lilies of the valley, to cover an earthy coma of orchids and other plants. Recommended as a substrate for stratification and germination of large seeds (palms, bananas).

Charcoal in the form of small pieces in a small amount, they are added to earthen mixtures for plants that do not respond well to waterlogging. Coal adsorbs excess water In addition, it is used as an antiseptic in the form of a powder for powdering cuts on dahlia root tubers, gladiolus corms, cannes rhizomes, etc. It adsorbs herbicides and other chemicals from the soil to a small extent.

Sand. Coarse-grained river sand is considered the best. Sea sand is thoroughly washed beforehand, freeing it from salts. Quarry sand is unsuitable - fine, reddish, containing ferrous compounds of iron and oxides of other metals that are harmful to plants, as well as clay and silty particles.

As a rule, sand is added to earth mixtures without pre-treatment in the amount of 1/5 of the total volume to make them loose. When grafting and for powdering seeds in sowing boxes, bowls, greenhouses, the sand is thoroughly washed with clean water beforehand from clay, silt particles. For difficult-to-root rocks, quartz sand is used. It gives soil mixtures looseness and porosity, which ensures the penetration of water and air to the roots of plants, prevents the development of moss, fungi and algae in boxes, bowls and on racks with crops and cuttings.

Storage and mixing of lands. Usually, in floricultural farms, two to three years of stocks of garden land are created, which are stored in a closed, preferably frost-free room. Previously, the earth must be passed through a screen. For each type of land, special chests are made, sometimes they are arranged under racks in greenhouses. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that during watering the plants, moisture does not get into the lari.

For proper cultivation of various flower plants on the farm, it is necessary to have all the above lands. They must be free from pests and diseases.

When compiling earth mixtures, the biological characteristics of plants, their age, culture conditions, as well as the reaction (pH) of the soil solution, in which this plant can grow, are taken into account.

Leaf soil is formed due to the natural decomposition of leaves, which progresses over time. This is a kind of compost obtained from the leaves of trees and shrubs. The difference between regular compost and leafy soil is due to the nutrient content. Compost contains much more nutrients, since it is obtained from nitrogen-rich organic waste. Leaf ground is mainly carbon compounds, which are the main constituent material of leaf plates. The leaves, converted into humus, are applied as a supplement to the soil, which significantly improves its structure by increasing the water-absorbing layer.

Why should you use leaf soil?

leaf ground added to or in flower pots improves soil quality in at least two ways. Significantly increases its ability to accumulate moisture, significantly improving growing conditions, especially on light, highly water-permeable soils. It also creates a favorable habitat for earthworms and soil microorganisms that improve soil structure. Plants grown in places with the addition of leafy soil are less prone to drying out, and their roots develop more easily in loose, humus soil.

Do-it-yourself leafy soil preparation is also a great way to use leaves, which are a big problem in many gardens in the fall.

Which leaves are suitable for leaf ground?

For the preparation of leafy soil, you can use the leaves of most trees, ornamental and fruit shrubs, with the exception of leaves with a large amount of tannins. An excellent source of leaf compost would be, for example, leaves fruit trees. Never use oak and oak leaves for compost - they decompose slowly due to the tannins they contain.

How to prepare leaf soil?

In larger gardens, the leaves simply need to be placed on a compost heap that is large enough to retain moisture. With a small amount of leaves, you can use a garden composter, which will facilitate the compact storage of leaves. Leaves stored on a heap or composter can be transferred with ready-made compost (if available) or a small amount of earth. Then we water the future compost abundantly.

In small gardens, good leafy soil can be prepared in plastic bags, to which we also add a small amount of soil or ready-made compost. Filled bags are perforated in several places and watered the contents. For composting, it is necessary to place the bags in a shady corner of the garden - from time to time checking the moisture content.

The process of preparing leafy soil is not laborious, but lengthy, so it is necessary, first of all, to be patient. Before the leaves turn into humus, 6 to 12 months must pass. Composting can be done by shredding the leaves (eg with a mower) and regularly watering the compost heap or leaf bags.

How to use leaf soil?

We add leafy soil to the soil, usually in spring or autumn, in the process of preparing sowing or planting plants. Just like compost or manure, mix it with the topsoil. However, throughout the season, we can use leafy soil to mulch flower beds and beds, thereby providing plants with high humidity soil and limit the development of weeds. It must be remembered, however, that leafy soil, although it provides plants with favorable conditions for growth, does not provide them with nutrients that we need to apply in another way, for example, by adding compost or manure.

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leaf ground light, loose, rich in humus. It is obtained from fallen leaves - linden, maple, ash, elm, fruit plants. It should not be prepared from oak, poplar, willow leaves, which contain too many tannins. And also - any leaves affected by diseases or pests.

To prepare leafy ground in the fall, stack the collected leaves in stacks, soak them with mullein, and compact. Stir 2-3 times next summer, moistening with water if necessary. In July, add lime to half-decomposed leaves (0.5 kg per 1 cubic meter). At the end of the second summer, the land will be ready. But if you haven't stirred and watered it too actively, you'll have to wait another year. Keep the earth indoors.

Leafy soil is used when sowing seeds; as the basis of land mixtures for primrose, cyclamen, anthurium, begonia, gloxinia, camellia, cineraria; as a substitute for heather soil mixed with peat and sand.

sod land

sod land - dense, heavy, quite rich in nutrients. It is usually harvested in meadows and pastures rich in clover and cereals. Do not take land in the lowlands and places with very acidic soil. It is harvested in the first half of summer, before the seeds begin to ripen - if you do not want to deal with extra weeds.

To prepare the turf, it is necessary to cut it in layers (8-10 cm thick, 20-25 cm wide, 30-50 cm long) and fold it in stacks - grass to grass. Ideally, such a stack should be a cube (150x150x150). It will turn out more - the air will flow worse, less - the earth will dry out too quickly. At the top, make a small hole - rainwater can linger in it. It is good if you spill the layers with manure solution. And once or twice during the summer, properly dig them up - so that the earth is enriched with oxygen. After a year, pass the finished earth through a roar - metal mesh for sifting - and use immediately. And keep the rest indoors.

Sod land is included in most land mixtures.

tree land

tree land in its qualities it is similar to leaf, but it easily turns sour. It contains few nutrients. It is prepared from sawdust, crushed wood residues of stumps, roots, branches, and bark.

For harvesting, stack the wood pulp in stacks, moisten with mullein. Then everything is as usual: regularly turn over with a pitchfork, not forgetting about water and mullein. However, you can do without manure, replacing it with mineral nitrogen fertilizers - best of all, urea (4.4 kg per 1 cubic meter of mass).

In its pure form, woody earth is used extremely rarely. Usually used to improve physical properties soil.

peat land

peat land - light, loose, moist, rich in humus. It is collected in swamps - upland and lowland. Suitable peat and peat chips.

To prepare the peat, lay it in layers, alternating with manure and lime, in stacks 40-60 cm high. For the next two years, you will periodically mix it and water it with slurry.

Peat land is used to grow hydrangeas, azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, orchids and ferns; for sowing small seeds; to improve the physical properties of heavy soils.

humus earth

humus earth - this is rotted manure. It is the richest in nutrients, especially nitrogen. If cow dung was used, it is heavy, if horse dung is light.

Harvest it throughout the season. To do this, put the manure in piles, cover with peat and mix from time to time for 1-2 years.

Humus soil is not used in its pure form, but is added to most land mixtures.

Compost land

Compost land - these are wastes of plant and animal origin that have decayed over 2-3 years: grass, food debris, feces, etc. It is rich in nutrients and very easy to prepare.

Waste is put into the so-called compost heap and, again, mixed regularly. The layers are moistened with mullein or nitrogen mineral fertilizers are added. And so for three years.

Compost soil is used to make garden soil loose and more fertile.

In ornamental gardening, there are many specially mixed soils in various combinations. All of them are the result of the decomposition of peat, manure, leaves, turf, etc., contain the necessary amount of nutrients for growing plants, but depending on the substrate used for their preparation, they have different chemical and physical properties.

On farms, the following types of land are most often harvested: peat, compost, humus, leaf and sod. The most porous, resilient and heavy of them is turf, while others are lighter. The success of plant cultivation mainly depends on the method of harvesting and subsequent tillage, on the ability to choose the right soil mixture.

Soddy soil is harvested on perennial fallow pastures and meadows, best of all in those places where a good herbage has grown. Sod land should not be harvested in low areas with high acidity. The preparation of the soil begins in the last decade of June, by this time the height of the grass reaches its maximum height, and the turf will have time to partially decompose by the time the cold weather sets in. The turf cut into layers is laid in piles up to 1.5 m high and wide. The stacks are periodically watered with slurry from above so that decomposition occurs faster. To reduce the acidity of the soil, 2 kg of lime is added to the heaps for every m 3 of earth.

leafy soil

In autumn, leafy soil is harvested in parks, groves and forests. It is best not to use the soil from under the willow and oak, it contains a lot of tannins. Sometimes leaf litter is harvested to obtain leaf soil, choosing the top layer by 2-5 cm, the collected leaf soil is stacked in piles up to 1.5 m high. In autumn, when laying the pile, it is necessary to water the leaves with slurry and compact well.

After two years, the leaves will perepere well and turn into nutritious leafy soil. This soil is loose and light, but it contains less nutrients than soddy soil, it is an ideal ripper for heavy soils. Leafy soil is well suited for sowing crops with small seeds - gloxinia, begonias, etc., it must be used in cases where manure humus cannot be used for plants.

humus soil

Often such soil is called greenhouse soil, the reason is that it is obtained from old greenhouse soil and rotted manure. The dung of domestic animals put in the spring as a biofuel in the greenhouse completely overheats by the autumn, light humus is obtained from the manure of sheep and horses, and heavier humus from cow manure. After cleaning the greenhouse in the fall, the humus is placed in a pile and left for a year, during the summer it is shifted several times. After that, the humus is sieved and used to fertilize plants growing in open ground.

Mucky soil is oily, loose, light, and very nutrient-dense, high in nitrogen. It is used as a powerful component in soil formulations for growing fast growing plants, such soil is needed for growing seedlings of annual crops and for many potted plants.

This land is harvested mainly in peat bogs, sometimes it is prepared from peat chips or briquettes. Peat is also placed in heaps up to 80 cm high, every 25 cm the layers are sprinkled with lime and watered with slurry. In the first and second years after harvesting, the collar is shifted, and used only for the third season.

Peat soil is very moisture-intensive, loose and light, it contains a lot of slowly decaying organic particles, and in its pure form, such a composition is unnutritious. Used as a ripper for various soil mixtures.

Compost soil

To prepare such land, various animal and plant residues, weeds, household and greenhouse waste are composted in pits and heaps. In the second year, a pile of compost is shifted 2-3 times over the summer, watering with slurry. The compost soil is completely ready by the end of the third year, it must be sifted before use.

The properties of this type of soil can be very different, they depend on the nature of the waste and the type of material used for composting, they are used in a mixture with peat and sod land.

sod land- soil from under wild vegetation as a component of seedling soil.

The same can be said about most soils taken from under wild vegetation as about garden soils: they do not have satisfactory physical properties. The exception is sands, sandy loams and peat bogs of drained raised bogs. These light soils are usually infertile but have good physical properties. They can be used as components that improve the physical properties of soil mixtures, but not as carriers of natural fertility. In the absence of sand, sandy or sandy loamy soil is used as its equivalent.

Soils from under wild vegetation have a certain advantage over the same soils taken from the garden, due to the lower probability of introducing diseases into seedlings. Nevertheless, it is desirable to carry out 2-3 cycles of freezing and thawing, which will help get rid of pests and weeds wintering in the soil. Minimum processing- freezing of the soil in bags or boxes.

There is a special land that is introduced as a carrier of natural fertility into many soils. This is sod land. This is not earth that can be dug up in a vegetable garden, orchard, field, or forest. Sod is the source of sod land. It is cut into clover or in a plot with meadow vegetation, in that place of the meadow where the grasses grow especially violently and appearance do not have nutritional deficiencies.

Herbs should be tall, bright green, free from yellowing, spots, specks, and dry tips. A powerful herbage indicates that the soil is rich in all the necessary nutrients. If, on the meadows available to you, the grasses are stunted, they begin to turn yellow and dry early, then it makes no sense to take land from under such vegetation - it is poor in nutrients. The same can be said about soils sown with clover.

You must also pay attention to meadow location- the highest quality will be the land taken from a high place. In the lowlands, and even more so in a swampy meadow, the earth will be too acidic. The best soils for the preparation of sod land are medium loams. Sod land taken from sandy loamy soil will be poor in nutrient content.

Sod land is obtained from meadow sod. It is cut on loamy soil, where healthy, powerful herbs grow, without pronounced signs of nutritional deficiency.

To prepare the soddy land, the grasses are preliminarily mowed, and the cut sod plates are folded on a shaded area with the roots up or in layers - one layer with the grass inside, the other with the roots inside. In the absence of rain, the pile is periodically watered. To prevent water from rolling, the edges are made higher than the center of the stack. You can not expend any additional effort, and then it will take two seasons to completely rot the roots: the ground from the turf cut in spring or early summer will be ready by the end of the summer of the next season.

For decay acceleration the pile can be shoveled 2-3 times during the summer, breaking up pieces of turf and swapping the surface and inner layers. In autumn, you can shake off the ground from not completely decomposed roots, sift and put it in a pile under a canopy for freezing (disinfection from soil pests, in particular from wireworms). You can freeze soddy land in bags or boxes.

According to its physical properties, loamy soddy soil is too dense and heavy for seedlings, so it is always used in a mixture with loose, porous and water-permeable substrates.

When compiling a soil mixture, for example, for growing seedlings, indoor flowers, you will definitely meet instructions on which soil to use. It is possible to make them yourself and later use them to grow plants.

Soddy soil.

We select an unplowed piece of land and remove a layer of the upper layer about 10 cm thick. It is better to do this by cutting into small squares. The best places for taking land are those where legumes and cereal herbs, not acidic and not saline. Then, in the selected place, lay a layer of turf with the grass up. Pour a layer of rotted manure about 10 cm on it. Then put a piece of turf, grass down. And so several layers. Do it in the spring. Water during the summer so that it does not dry out. It is also better to protect the sides from weathering. You can weave a wattle fence from cut branches and furnish around the perimeter. Before winter, spend a couple of shoveling. You will receive excellent soddy soil.

Garden soil.

This is the kind of soil that needs to be approached very carefully. After all, it can be affected by pests and diseases. And you will only do harm. It is also often very poor in nutrient content. But with a good cultivation of the garden, with the application of fertilizers, the constant fight against diseases and pests, its use is possible. Just do not take it where cabbage and potatoes grew. And, of course, do not hide where there are weeds, especially malicious ones. taken garden soil sift. Thus, its structure improves, it is enriched with oxygen and garbage and plant residues are removed. Ash, sand (if heavy, clayey) are added to it. If it is poor, dense, then even before preparing soil mixtures, you can add a little compost, peat or humus. Then the garden soil does not cake during winter storage.

Mucky soil.

The name itself speaks for itself. For its preparation, manure is piled up, covered with turf on top. Be sure to water it, and let it lie like that from spring to summer. In the middle of summer, shovel. Then lay again, lightly compact and water. Humus soil may not work if it is very hot in summer. In this case, spend several shoveling and moisturizing. Such soil not only improves the structure of soil mixtures, but is also an excellent fertilizer, promotes plant growth. If you have greenhouses that you clog with manure, then with the receipt humus soil you won't have a problem. After all, when cleaning a greenhouse, you already take out an excellent crumbly soil, ready for use. It is primarily used where plants are grown that cannot tolerate the introduction of fresh manure.

Leafy (deciduous) soil.

It's even easier to get this look. And at the same time, you will get a double effect, get rid of fallen leaves and get an excellent fertilizer. Leaves (except for those containing a large amount of tannins, such as willow, oak) that are not affected by diseases are raked into a pile, tamped a little, moistened and covered with a layer of turf on top. In extreme cases, sprinkle some earth, moisten and cover with a film. During the summer, shovel several times and monitor the humidity. Laying from autumn to the end of the next season, over the summer you will get a loose leaf soil. It is often used mixed with sand to sow seeds in boxes.

In the garden first-aid kit of experienced gardeners, there is always crystalline iron sulfate, or ferrous sulfate. Like many other chemicals, it has properties that protect horticultural crops from numerous diseases and insect pests. In this article, we will talk about the features of using iron sulfate to treat garden plants from diseases and pests, and about other options for its use on the site.

There were times when the concepts of "tree-garden", "family tree", "collection tree", "multi-tree" simply did not exist. And one could see such a miracle only in the household of the "Michurinites" - people who were amazed by the neighbors, looking at their gardens. There, on the same apple, pear or plum tree, not only varieties of different ripening periods ripened, but also varieties of various colors and sizes. Not many despaired of such experiments, but only those who were not afraid of numerous trials and errors.

The climatic conditions of our country, unfortunately, are not suitable for growing many crops without seedlings. Healthy and strong seedlings are the key to a quality harvest, in turn, the quality of seedlings depends on several factors: Even healthy-looking seeds can be infected with pathogens that remain on the surface of the seed for a long time, and after sowing, getting into favorable conditions, they young and immature plants

Our family loves tomatoes very much, so most of the beds in the country are given over to this crop. Every year we try to try new interesting varieties, and some of them take root and become favorites. At the same time, over the many years of gardening, we have already formed a set of favorite varieties that are required for planting in every season. We jokingly call such tomatoes "special purpose" varieties - for fresh salads, juice, salting and storage.

The snow has not yet completely melted, and the restless owners of suburban areas are already in a hurry to assess the scope of work in the garden. And there really is a lot to do here. And perhaps the most important thing to think about in early spring How to protect your garden from diseases and pests. Experienced gardeners they know that these processes cannot be left to chance, and delay and postponing the processing time for later can significantly reduce the yield and quality of the fruit.

If you are preparing soil mixtures for growing indoor plants yourself, then you should take a closer look at a relatively new, interesting and, in my opinion, necessary component - coconut substrate. Everyone, probably, has seen at least once in their life a coconut and its “shaggy” shell covered with long fibers. Many delicious products are made from coconuts (actually a drupe), but the shells and fibers used to be just waste products.

Canned fish and cheese pie is a simple lunch or dinner idea for a daily or Sunday menu. The pie is designed for a small family of 4-5 people with a moderate appetite. This pastry has everything at once - fish, potatoes, cheese, and a crispy dough crust, in general, almost like a closed calzone pizza, only tastier and simpler. Canned fish can be anything - mackerel, saury, pink salmon or sardines, choose according to your taste. This pie is also prepared with boiled fish.

Fig, fig, fig tree - these are all names of the same plant, which we strongly associate with Mediterranean life. Anyone who has ever tasted fig fruits knows how delicious it is. But, in addition to a delicate sweet taste, they are also very healthy. And here is an interesting detail: it turns out that figs are a completely unpretentious plant. In addition, it can be successfully grown on a plot in the middle lane or in a house - in a container.

Delicious cream soup with seafood is prepared in just under an hour, it turns out tender and creamy. Choose seafood according to your taste and wallet, it can be Seafood Cocktail, and king prawns, and squid. I cooked soup with large shrimps and mussels in shells. Firstly, it is very tasty, and secondly, it is beautiful. If you are cooking for a festive dinner or lunch, then mussels in shells and large unpeeled shrimp look appetizing and pretty on a plate.

Quite often, even experienced summer residents face difficulties in growing tomato seedlings. For some, all seedlings turn out to be elongated and weak, for others, they suddenly begin to fall and die. The thing is that it is difficult to maintain ideal conditions for growing seedlings in an apartment. Seedlings of any plants need to provide a lot of light, sufficient moisture and optimum temperature. What else do you need to know and observe when growing tomato seedlings in an apartment?

Tomato varieties of the Altai series are very popular with gardeners because of their sweet, delicate taste, more reminiscent of the taste of a fruit than a vegetable. These are large tomatoes, the weight of each fruit is an average of 300 grams. But this is not the limit, there are larger tomatoes. The pulp of these tomatoes is characterized by juiciness and fleshiness with a slight pleasant oiliness. You can grow excellent tomatoes of the Altai series from the seeds of Agrosuccess.

For many years, aloe was the most underestimated houseplant. And this is not surprising, because the wide distribution of aloe vera in the last century has led to the fact that everyone has forgotten about other types of this amazing succulent. Aloe is primarily an ornamental plant. And at right choice species and varieties can outshine any competitor. In fashionable florariums and in ordinary pots, aloe is a hardy, beautiful and surprisingly long-lived plant.

delicious vinaigrette with apple and sauerkraut - a vegetarian salad of boiled and chilled, raw, pickled, salted, pickled vegetables and fruits. The name comes from a French sauce made from vinegar, olive oil and mustard (vinaigrette). Vinaigrette appeared in Russian cuisine not so long ago, around the beginning of the 19th century, perhaps the recipe was borrowed from Austrian or German cuisine, since the ingredients for the Austrian herring salad are very similar.

When we dreamily sort out bright bags of seeds in our hands, we are sometimes subconsciously sure that we have a prototype of the future plant. We mentally allocate a place for him in the flower garden and look forward to the cherished day of the appearance of the first bud. However, buying seeds does not always guarantee that you will eventually get the desired flower. I would like to draw attention to the reasons why the seeds may not sprout or die at the very beginning of germination.

Source: chrome-effect.ru

A certain amount of ready-made leaf humus is formed spontaneously in places where it has accumulated and could overheat a lot of fallen leaves (mainly under trees in the forest). However, as with plant compost, the targeted preparation of foliar compost from the leaves of specific trees can influence chemical composition the final product, and use the finished rotted leaves as a “sourdough” to speed up the process. Nettle infusion can also be used as a composting accelerator (it is infused for about a week).

The most desirable ingredients for cooking leafy soil Oak, chestnut, maple and linden leaves are considered because they decompose relatively easily and contain a lot of nitrogen. However, if you want to increase the potassium content in leafy soil, you should use apple, pear, plum and hazel leaves for it (at the same time they contain a lot of iron).

Leafy soil is prepared in the same way as vegetable humus, with the difference that the decomposition process with complete blocking of air access occurs even faster. For the manufacture of its small quantities, you can use large plastic bags (including garbage bags), which are easily placed on the balcony. As a rule, the pH of the finished leafy soil is 5-6.

soddy soil

As already mentioned, this substrate is prepared from turf. It is prepared similarly to composts (with limited air access). The main thing to pay attention to is correct styling into the stack of sods themselves: they should be placed according to the principle "tops - to tops, roots - to roots".

Soddy soil is composted slowly, the nutrient mixture is formed on average after two years.

Based on the book by Tsvetkova M.V. "Garden on the window and balcony"

  • cut sod

    Sod land. It is used in horticulture, pot and tub culture of ornamental plants, as one of the elements of the earth mixture.

    In the composition of various earth mixtures, turf land is included in an amount from 1/8 to 3/4 of the entire composition of the mixture. It differs from other garden soils by a low content of organic matter and a smaller amount of humus, nitrogen and absorbed bases. It is characterized by high water-lifting capacity and low moisture capacity and moisture permeability. In terms of acidity and the presence of basic nutrients, sod land is similar to compost land.

    Depending on the mechanical composition of the soil of the site from which the sods were taken, there are light-sod (the sum of clay and silt particles is about 29%) and heavy-sod (the sum of clay and silt particles is more than 61%) soil.

    Sod land is harvested in spring or late summer. It is prepared from sods cut in meadows and fields (the most valuable are plots from under clover and other perennial fodder plants). The sod is cut in layers 6-12 cm thick, 20-25 cm wide and 25-35 cm long. Sods are stacked in a semi-shady place.

    Sods are laid in rows so that the upper surfaces covered with grass (lower and upper rows) are adjacent to each other. If possible, to speed up the decomposition process and improve nutritional qualities, when laying the sods, they are layered with cow or horse manure in a layer of 10-15 cm every 50 cm of folded sods. In case of excessive acidity of the soil at the place where sods are harvested, when laying sods, they are poured with lime, at the rate of 50 g per 1 m² of sods folded in two rows.

    Stack sizes vary within the following limits: height 1-1.2 m, width 1.5-2.5 and length 2-20 m. With higher stacking, aeration deteriorates and decomposition slows down. The stack is shoveled at least 1 time per summer. In dry weather, watering is carried out. Sod land is ready for use in 1-2 years.

    Sometimes sod land is used in undecomposed form. In this case, the turf is carefully crushed. A small amount of sod land can be obtained by shaking out pieces of meadow sod.

    For some plants, in particular for cyclamen, more fibrous soddy ground is required. In this case, the turf is cut and crushed into small pieces and, in this crushed form, is used for planting.

    In floriculture, specially prepared garden soils are used. They are obtained by the decomposition of sod, leaves, manure, heather, peat and other organic substances containing humus. The original substrate affects the physical and chemical properties of garden soils. Flower growers harvest the following types of garden land: soddy, leafy, humus, peat, compost, etc.

    sod land

    Turf land is rich in essential nutrients that last for many years. Sod land is obtained from meadows and pastures, fallow lands, with grass-clover herbage. Soddy soil is distinguished as heavy (with a large amount of clay), medium (with equal proportions of clay and sand), and light (with a predominance of sand).

    Sod land is harvested in the summer (at the time of maximum development of the herbage), in such a way that the sod has time to partially decompose by winter.

    Sod with the help of discs or a shovel is cut into layers 20-30 cm wide, 8-10 cm thick, depending on the thickness of the turf layer. It is stacked in stacks 1.2 m wide, 1.5 m high and of any length. When forming stacks, the grass cover of the first and second layers of sod is turned towards each other. To accelerate the decomposition of the sod and enrich it with nitrogen, the layers are moistened with a solution of mullein or slurry (at the rate of 0.2-0.5 m 3 per 1 m 3 of sod). To reduce acidity, lime is added - 2-3 kg / m 3. From above, the stack is periodically moistened with slurry. The following summer, it is shoveled two or three times.

    Only after two seasons they get sod land good quality. In the second year (autumn), the earth is passed through a screen and removed into a closed room. Sod land left in the open loses nutritional value, porosity, elasticity and other qualities.

    leaf ground

    Leafy soil is light and loose, but contains fewer nutrients than soddy soil. For heavy soddy lands, it serves as a good cultivator. Leafy soil mixed with peat and sand is used as a substitute for heather soil.

    Leaf ground is harvested in autumn during the period of mass leaf fall in parks, gardens, squares, forests. For this purpose, the leaves of linden, maple, fruit trees and etc.

    Often, leafy soil is obtained from forest litter, removing the top layer by 2-5 cm. Collected dry leaves or forest litter with grass residues are formed into piles 1.2 m wide, 1.5 m high and of arbitrary length. When laying, the leaves are moistened with slurry or mullein solution and compacted. During the next summer, the leaf mass is moistened two or three times with slurry, lime is added and shoveled. Composted leaves rot and turn into leafy soil only by the autumn of the second year. Before use, the leaf earth is passed through a screen to separate undecomposed residues. Coniferous soil is prepared in the same way.

    humus earth

    Humus soil is a loose, oily, soft, homogeneous mass, rich in nutrients. It contains a large amount of nitrogen in a form easily digestible for plants. This soil is used for most pot crops and seedlings, as well as organic fertilizer in open ground.

    Humus soil is formed from rotted manure mixed with old greenhouse soil. Manure planted in greenhouses as biofuel turns into humus by autumn. When cleaning greenhouses, humus is stacked in piles (as for soddy and leafy soil), moistened and shoveled once or twice during the next summer. The humus soil is kept outdoors for a year, then it is passed through a screen and stored indoors.

    peat land

    Peat land is a very moisture-intensive, soft and loose mass, consisting of slowly decomposing residues. But in its pure form, peat land is not very nutritious. It is used for various soil mixtures as a ripper to improve the physical properties of soddy land. Peat soil is also used in a mixture with light sandy soil, which improves their moisture capacity, as well as for soil mulching.

    This land is harvested in low-lying peat bogs. For its preparation, peat chips and briquettes are also used. Decomposed peat is formed into piles up to 0.8 m high. When laying, layers of peat are moistened with slurry every 20 cm and sprinkled with lime - 10-15 kg / m 3. If riding peat is used, then the dose of lime is increased.

    At the end of the first year of harvesting and in the middle of the second year, the mixture is shoveled and used in the third year (at this time, the acidity of peat decreases and its biological activity increases). When harvesting sod from peat meadows, sod-peat soil is prepared, which is used for peat pots, soil mulching and planting some plants.

    Compost land

    The quality of compost land depends on the type of waste and the nature of the composted material. In terms of nutrient content, compost soil occupies an intermediate position between soddy soil and humus soil.

    This land is prepared by composting into piles, heaps, pits of various plant and animal residues, garbage, weeds, greenhouse and household waste. As it accumulates, the remains are sprinkled with lime, moistened with slurry and covered with peat or peat chips on top. In the second and third years, the compost mass is shoveled two or three times. Compost soil is usually ready only by the end of the third year. Before use, it is passed through a medium screen.

    heather land

    Heather land has practically lost its importance. It is successfully replaced with a mixture consisting of leafy earth - two parts, peat - three to four and sand - one part. The technology of preparation is the same as that of leafy soil.

    Garden and garden land

    Garden and garden soils are a nutrient layer of earth enriched with humus, which is harvested and stacked in autumn, adding lime, peat and potassium. In summer, the stack is shoveled twice. These lands, mixed with a small amount of sand, are successfully used for flower crops.

    tree land

    Woody soil is prepared from roots, stumps, branches, chips and other wood waste. As a result of the decomposition of wood residues, a light earth is formed, close in composition to the leaf, but poor in nutrients. It is used in the cultivation of orchids, ferns and bromeliads.

    Composted bark

    Composted bark is prepared as follows. The bark is crushed and composted into piles up to 3 m high with the addition of slag (from the sump of pulp mills) and other organic materials, which ensures the decomposition of the bark by microorganisms. Microbiological and biochemical processes during composting proceed more actively in the substrate with a particle size of 1-7 mm and the addition of urea (4.3 kg/m3) during the first few weeks. With constant shoveling, the duration of composting in summer is 4-4.5 weeks, in winter - 16-18 weeks.

    The temperature in the stacks rises to 65-70 °C. The compost contains (g / m 3): potassium -300; phosphorus - 60; magnesium - 30; iron - 30; manganese - 20, as well as copper and other trace elements.

    Moss

    Moss is harvested in moss swamps. After drying, grinding and sieving, it is used in earthen mixtures to make it light, loose, and hygroscopic. In its pure form, moss is used in the forcing of lilies of the valley, to cover the earthy coma of orchids and other plants. Used for stratification and germination of large seeds.

    Charcoal

    Charcoal in the form of small pieces is added to earth mixtures for plants that do not respond well to waterlogging. Charcoal has the ability to adsorb excess water, but with a lack of the latter gives it away. In powder form, charcoal is used as an antiseptic for powdering cuts on dahlia tubers, gladiolus corms, cannes rhizomes, etc. In addition, it adsorbs herbicides and other chemicals from the soil.

    Sand

    The most commonly used coarse-grained river sand. It is added to earth mixtures without pre-treatment (1/5-1/10 of the total volume) to make it loose. When cutting, the sand is thoroughly washed with clean water from silty and clay particles. For hard-to-root plants, quartz sand is used.

    Storing and mixing earth

    For floriculture and horticultural purposes, a two-three-year supply of garden land is created. They are stored in closed, frost-free places. For each type of land, special bunk beds are made or separate rooms are allocated.

    For florists and gardeners, all the indicated lands are needed. They are protected from pests and diseases. When compiling earth mixtures, the biological characteristics of plants, their age, culture conditions, as well as the reaction of the soil solution (pH) at which this plant can grow are taken into account.

    Gardeners, especially beginners, are interested in how to use forest soil more efficiently: what to do with the top layer of forest soil brought to the site - mix with garden soil or use it neat.

    Fertile forest soil can be a good addition to garden soil (about 1/3), but it is not practical to use it in its pure form.

    In some cases, it is included in seedling mixes. Be sure to figure out from which forest, from which places it is supposed to be taken.

    Deciduous land includes leaf litter and the top layer (about 10 cm) of soil. best land has a dark color, contains a lot of organic substances, has a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. They take such land in mixed or broad-leaved forests, where linden, maple, aspen, and birch grow. You can also take clean litter without soil, add it to the compost, mulch it around the trunk circles of trees and shrubs.

    Earth and litter from coniferous forests are suitable for mulching or adding to the soil for crops that prefer an acidic environment (rhododendrons, heathers, hydrangeas, blueberries, cranberries, lingonberries). It is believed that pine litter is more acidic, while spruce has a moderate acidity. The soil under spruces is quite fertile, so that it can be added to ordinary trees and shrubs. litter coniferous plants well inhibits the growth of weeds and increases the friability of the soil.

    At the edge of the forest, you can take turf - upper part soil densely intertwined with grass roots. After rotting in the compost heap, it is used both for making mixtures for growing seedlings, and as a substrate for various perennial crops.

    You should not dig the ground from a depth of more than 15-20 cm, in the middle lane the soil is not very fertile, there will be no benefit for the garden. At great depths, you will find only dense rock, often clay, that does not contain nutrients and beneficial microorganisms. If there is a need to improve the soil structure, add peat, sand (on clay soils) or clay and compost (on sandy soils).

    It is very important to take good care of the forest. Do not remove large pieces of turf, they will be restored for more than one year. Do not expose tree roots. Do not make pit traps in the forest - it is dangerous for people.

    Land from under the oak. Soil for seedlings is collected under oaks

    Cherkasy 63-year-old Valentina MOROZ has been preparing the ground for seedlings and flowerpots since autumn. While picking mushrooms, he collects forest land from under oaks in bags. Until February, when he plants seedlings of tomatoes and peppers, he stores the soil in the cellar.

    -There is no better soil for seedlings than forest soil, - says. - It is best if you can find a molehill in the forest, near the oaks. There are no worms, insects, because moles eat them. AT coniferous forest the earth is not so nutritious. I store in the cellar in several two-bucket bags. Also in the autumn I transplant flowerpots into the forest land. I add a handful of humus to the pot. Before transplanting or sowing seeds, I pour the soil into a bowl with a 3–5 cm layer. I pour heavily with boiling water.

    Agronomist 61-year-old Volodymyr Tarasenko from Cherkasy is gaining forest land in the lowlands.

    -During the rains, most of the humus is carried there, - he says. - I remove the top layer with a shovel, 15 centimeters thick. But it doesn't need to be over-moisturized. To remove insects and worms, in winter I take out a bag of earth to frost. Below minus 10 degrees, pests will die, but beneficial organisms will remain.

    He says that pouring boiling water over the soil or roasting it harms.

    -Beneficial nodule, azotobacteria die from temperature. They provide nutrients to plants. Before planting flowerpots or seedlings on a bucket of earth, I add a kilo of humus.

    Since autumn, Vladimir Tarasenko advises to prepare humus as well. He says that in winter in the pits in the open air, it becomes waterlogged. Because of this, it will not be possible to mix it well with the soil. Therefore, one part of the seedlings will receive an excess of nutrition, the other will receive less.

    Worms injure the roots

    36-year-old Nikolai Dryzhenko from the village of Radovanovka in the Cherkasy region drives worms out of a transplanted flowerpot with water.

    -If a worm gets into the pot, it will harm the root. He does not eat living roots, but feeds on overripe remnants. But he makes a lot of moves. Exposes the roots, injures them. Worms are indicated by breasts on the surface of the soil.

    The owner puts the flowerpot in a bowl. Fill the pot with water so that the soil picks it up to the top.

    -In a day or two, the pest will surely crawl out to the surface, because it will not have anything to breathe, - Nikolai Dryzhenko laughs.

    Video HOW TO PREPARE SODF LAND FOR SEEDLINGS? Olga

    Sod it. Turf

    m. () f. cf. cf. sodden earth; the top layer of soil, densely overgrown with cereals, spike, meadow grass; meadow, oven rye, grass, ant, mur; fine-grass layer; n plow or virgin land. the name of the removed layer is also called, to transfer the ant, and each plate of it, in places, is spoken. erroneously vm. turn, and vm. blackthorn. grave. cf. , a place where the sod is removed, cut off in layers, or torn off, raised with a plow, under arable land. well. mezhnik, covers, turf gap between arable land, stripes. From verb. fight, goof, cry, quarrel. Turf about vy, made of turf. Sod edging of roads. Dernov about th, pertaining to turf. Sod iron ore. Turf and dense, strongly turfed, densely sprouted with roots of steppe, meadow grass. Soddy land, the same, to a lesser extent. || The turfy (turfy) peasant is old. assigned to, attached to the earth, serf, from the old. shit real estate in eternal inviolable possession, property, sobina. Thou hast been sold to him in turf, completely, irrevocably, in eternal possession; still remains adv. in about deren, completely, completely, forever. Turf at cabinet a dugout, a shack covered with turf or earth. Turf and be at bare heap, overlay, cover it with turf. Twitch, be twitch. Turf e nie cf. action is, work, according to vb. Turf e Th, turn into turf, densely grow (overgrow) with ants. Abandoned on bail, arable land pulls for ten years. Turf e nee cf. the state of twitching, overgrown with ants. Dernov a t slopes, pull, dress with turf. Dernov a nah, turf about vka turd, action. by vb. Turf or turf a dchik, a worker dressing slopes, edges of paths, etc. with cut turf or ant. Dernor e z m projectile for cutting and lifting turf. || Sod cutting worker.