What soil in the spring. Preparing beds for carrots in spring. Coniferous tree care

05.03.2020

This article discusses beds for the lazy: photos of the easiest structures to manufacture for those who want to get a neat garden with a minimum of effort, the most common materials and technologies for creating structures based on them. The reader will learn how to combine vegetable crops in one garden and prepare the soil for planting cucumbers. The article contains practical recommendations for beginner gardeners.

Design right beds in the garden will become a solution to many problems and open up new opportunities for the owner of a summer cottage:

protection against soil erosion in the garden when falling out a large number precipitation or watering plants. The bed borders will keep the nutrient soil in place, preventing it from washing out onto the paths. In addition, the passages between the structures themselves will remain clean, no dirty puddles and streaks;

the possibility of forming the basis for the creation of a temporary greenhouse for the spring. By installing high sides as fences, you can organize a multi-layered garden bed inside the structure, which can be used as a greenhouse. To do this, it is enough to install special arcs and stretch the film. The result is a neat greenhouse house;
improvement appearance gardens due to ordered and even plantings with a beautiful frame;
creating borders that prevent the spread of weeds.

Making your own beds from boards and other materials allows you to clearly limit the landing area, so weeds and harmful plants do not have the opportunity to spread widely. If the garden fence is dug in to a great depth, the level of protection increases and perennial weeds that are unable to overcome this barrier can no longer penetrate into the garden bed.

Note! With the help of beds with well-buried fences, the spread of plants such as reeds and couch grass is effectively blocked. Their root system is capable of covering large distances underground if left unchecked.

Photos of interesting designs of beds, recommendations for their creation. Design Tips for the Unusual landscape design Location on.

by the most the best place is an area where the sun is present throughout the day. It is allowed to install beds where the shadow is present in the morning or in the afternoon. If the proposed construction zone is dark throughout the day, you should not use this place for arranging a garden.

How best to make beds in the garden: choosing the optimal design

The choice of the design of the beds is carried out at an early stage of planning, when a place for the garden has already been selected.

Each type of beds has certain advantages:

raised or - the most efficient designs that are best suited for growing vegetable crops. Construction Materials to create them they are not expensive, while the soil does not need to be dug up. The width and height of the structures determine how much effort and time it will take to build them. Most often, summer residents prefer wooden beds made of boards. On the network you can find photos of bulk beds with your own hands, such structures do not have a fence. They are also categorized as elevated structures;

container beds - will be beneficial in cases where the space of the site is limited. For organizing such beds, pots of small, large and medium sizes are suitable. Garlic, peppers, lettuce and greens feel especially good in containers. Mobility is another advantage of container beds, which, if desired, can be rearranged to any place;
beds in open field- the oldest way of growing crops that are planted directly in the ground. Under such conditions, it is more difficult to obtain good harvest, therefore, the technology of joint planting of vegetables in the garden is often used.

Helpful advice! If it is planned to plant crops in open ground, it is recommended to determine the quality of the soil, fertilize it and check the compatibility of vegetables in the garden according to the table.

How to make beds from boards with your own hands: useful tips

Most often, raised beds are made of wood. This material in comparison with others is considered the most practical and environmentally friendly. Similar designs look very aesthetically pleasing in the photo. Do-it-yourself beds from boards have other advantages:

a simple maintenance system that involves easy weeding, harvesting and watering plants;
the possibility of growing vegetable crops even where the soil is completely unsuitable for these purposes. On the basis of the boards, a frame is made, which is subsequently filled with fertile soil bought in a store, so there is no connection to the quality of the earth and its composition. Thanks to this, plants can be grown even in areas with a rocky surface;

box structures allow you to keep the soil inside the beds. In addition, the presence of sides simplifies the process of mounting arcs to form a greenhouse. It is much easier to fix these elements on the fence than to dig them into the soil;
even without knowing how to properly make beds in the garden, any summer resident will cope with the manufacture of wooden structures-boxes. The boards are easy to process, and the construction and assembly of the frame does not require an expensive tool;
there is no chance that plants planted near the sides will get burned in the summer heat. Wood, unlike metal, is not prone to overheating.

Note! The ecological purity of the material allows you not to worry that harmful substances will get into the soil. Wood is much safer than asbestos cement sheets(slate). The exception is boards treated with chemicals designed to double the life of the material.

Making practical beds from boards: how to make the right choice of material

Summer residents most often create wooden structures on the basis of blanks that are found on the farm. For the manufacture of beds, timber, round timber, slab, lining can be used.

When we are talking about purchasing boards in a store, you should pay special attention to the type of wood from which they are made:

a board made of ash or oak will last a very long time. Although the cost of such products is quite high;
pine remains the most favorable in terms of price and processing. But this type of wood is highly susceptible to decay while in the ground, so its service life is short. Due to impregnations and antiseptic agents, the life of a pine tree can be extended for a couple of years;
boards made of cedar and larch wood are considered the most suitable material for making boxes. Larch has a natural impregnation with resin, thanks to which the product will retain its novelty for many years without the use of additional impregnations. Cedar wood is characterized by a lower resin content, but it is not inferior to larch in terms of durability and at the same time has an affordable price;

boards made on the basis of acacia feel good in the ground. It is worth noting that this type of wood is durable and has a solid structure, so the process of processing it will be more difficult. To work with acacia, you need a powerful electric tool.

Helpful advice! It is not recommended to save on the quality of the material. Boards made of bad wood are prone to rapid decay. After a few years, holes will appear on the fences of the beds, through which fertile soil will be washed out during rains and watering plants.

Making beds from boards with your own hands: photos, dimensions of structures

The beds-boxes have rectangular shape and made from boards. The simplest design does not require special knowledge and skills, so any novice summer resident will cope with its manufacture. The main thing at the same time is to correctly calculate the dimensions of the boxes.

height- many summer residents strive to create the highest possible sides. However, this approach is erroneous if it is not planned to build a warm bed for cucumbers or other types of crops, where a fence height of up to 0.7 m is welcome. The manufacturing technology of such structures requires the laying of a multilayer insulation. For ordinary beds, such high fences are not required, it is enough to limit yourself to 0.15-0.2 m. In addition, wood is susceptible to deformation changes under the influence of moisture, so there is a risk that over time, high fences will swell and lose their attractive shape;

width – experienced gardeners it is recommended to choose a width equal to half the height of the person who will take care of the beds. Most often, this parameter is in the range of 0.9-1.2 m, because in the process of work, a person should be able to reach the middle of the structure from the side of the side rail;
length- this parameter is practically unlimited. Although unnecessarily long structures reduce the level of rigidity of the side rails, it is therefore recommended to choose a length in the range of 4-6 m.

Helpful advice! When choosing dimensional parameters for wooden beds, it should be taken into account that between them it is necessary to organize passages 0.4-0.6 m wide. Only after that is the layout of structures on the site considered.

Creating mixed plantings of vegetables in the garden: photo examples and optimal schemes

The method of combining cultures in practice is very effective if the companion plants are chosen well. Therefore, site owners calculate according to a special table of the neighborhood of vegetables in the beds before planting. Some types of vegetables have a depressing effect on each other, others can improve the growth and development of neighbors, provide them with protection from pests.

The correct neighborhood of vegetables in the beds: compatibility table

Many gardeners note that due to the proximity of beans as a compaction for the garden where potatoes are grown, the number of Colorado potato beetle is significantly reduced. Marigolds effectively protect cabbage from white butterflies. Despite this, a certain balance must be maintained. After all, an excessive amount of marigolds in the garden can drown out the growth of cabbage.

Table of neighboring vegetables in the garden, creating a successful tandem:

The name of the vegetable crop	Plants for a successful combination
strawberries	beans, spinach, marigolds, garlic, lettuce
kohlrabi	cucumber, lettuce, onion, beetroot
peas	carrot, corn, cucumber, calendula, eggplant
onion	tomato, celery, beetroot, savory, carrot
beans	potato, cucumber, tomato, strawberry, eggplant
cucumber	radish, pepper, peas, cabbage, beans
carrot	lettuce, onion, sage, tomato, peas
salad	strawberry, cucumber, carrot, radish
pepper	lettuce, cucumber, beans
tomato	calendula, basil, beans, nasturtium, parsley

The following pairs of plants are characterized by poor compatibility of planting vegetables in the garden:

cabbage and strawberries;
onions and beans;
carrots and celery, dill, parsley;
cucumbers and potatoes.

Helpful advice! In the garden, in addition to the main crops, it is recommended to plant spicy and ornamental herbs pointwise. Thus, the garden will be not only beautiful, but also useful.

Examples of mixed planting vegetables in the garden: popular schemes

A good example of the compatibility of vegetables in the garden is the combination of onions and carrots. As an independent crop, onions are able to produce about 2.5 kg of yield from 1 m² of beds. Carrots on the same area gives about 6 kg of crop. With the joint cultivation of these crops with 1 m², you can get 9 kg of vegetables. These plants create protective barriers for each other against pests, so the efficiency of the used area increases.

Of course, when planning co-growing crops in the garden, you need to group the plants according to their height so that none of them blocks the light for the other. This is necessary because vegetables can not only have different heights, but also grow at different rates. It is desirable that compactors that are planted additionally be lower in height than the main vegetables. The principle of a multi-tiered neighborhood of vegetables in the beds allows you to create favorable conditions for the root system of crops, and also contributes to the rational use of solar energy.

High yields are collected from the beds where beets are planted and late cabbage. To do this, beets (9 plants) and cabbage (4 bushes) should be planted on an area of \u200b\u200b0.8x0.8 m, while not forgetting to fertilize the holes with a glass of compost and a handful of eggshells (pre-grind).

To obtain excellent result when planting beans and tomatoes, it is recommended to place the plants in a row with a step of 0.3 m. Along the row with bush beans, it is installed so that each plant is at the dropper. Tomatoes are planted in the central part of the garden. As a result, bean and tomato bushes should be staggered.

Helpful advice! It is better to cut the stems of tomatoes for the winter, and as low as possible. And the beans, on the contrary, are recommended to be left untouched.

Table of crop rotation of vegetables in the beds by crop groups

Crop rotation can also affect the yield of beds. If the annual change of crops grown in the same garden is carried out in the correct order, the garden will produce good yields.

Benefits of proper crop rotation:

the probability of soil fatigue on the site is excluded, since the same vegetable every year absorbs the same set of nutrients from the soil and does it from the same depth;
the spread of diseases and pests that infect plants of the same family is prevented;
it becomes possible to rationally use fertilizers.

The most primitive way of organizing crop rotation in the garden involves planting plants from different families on the same area every year. It is easiest to break cultures into four groups:

Leaf crops - these include different kinds cabbage, green onions, lettuce, and spinach.
Fruit vegetables - cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, pumpkin.
Legumes - beans, chickpeas, peas.
Root crops - potatoes, beets, radishes, carrots.

Table of the simplest crop rotation in the garden:

Order of disembarkation by year	Recommended crops for planting
Order of disembarkation by year	1st bed	2nd bed	3rd bed	4th bed
1 year	fruit	roots	legumes	leafy
2 year	roots	legumes	leafy	fruit
3 year	legumes	leafy	fruit	roots

Arrangement of beds for cucumbers in the open field: photos and recommendations

For growing cucumbers in open ground, the beds are usually prepared in the fall. This should be done before the onset of rain and temperature drops. The planting area must be carefully dug up and saturated with organic fertilizers. Cucumbers like fertile, light soil that has a good level of air and water permeability. If the soil in the area is heavy, sawdust, peat or sand can be added to the ground to facilitate loosening.

Helpful advice! To get a rich harvest, it is recommended to add a tablespoon of superphosphate and a glass of ash per 1 m² of area. Instead of ash, you can use dolomite flour.

The process of preparing the beds for cucumbers in the spring includes the procedure for disinfecting the soil. For this, the place of the future garden is spilled with potassium permanganate. The solution should be hot and strong. In addition, soil fertility can be increased by introducing chicken manure or manure. This procedure is carried out locally, that is, the fertilizer is placed directly in the trench or hole. After that, the bed is covered with a small layer of soil, where the seeds are then planted.

How to make a bed for cucumbers: agricultural secrets

To get a rich harvest of cucumbers from the garden, you must adhere to the basic rules:

Near the beds should not be canals for irrigation, streams and flowing reservoirs.
If the planting area does not have protection, the garden is best placed in a quiet place where there are no drafts.
Procedures such as watering and loosening the soil should be performed on a regular basis. Otherwise, a hard crust will form on the surface, and the bed will dry out a lot.
Cucumbers grown in open ground need to be fed much more often than plantings growing in closed beds.
During harvesting, it is not recommended to change the position of the lashes of the plant or turn them over.
Weeding plants in open beds need to be done more often than it is done indoors.
It is recommended to cover the entire surface of the bed with a black film.

Cucumbers need a rich biological composition of the soil. Therefore, it is recommended to fertilize the land with organic matter, for example, grass, humus, branches, rotted manure, food waste. In the process of their decomposition, not only the fertility of the soil increases, but also heat is released, warming the soil. So that the high temperature does not damage the root system of cucumbers, experienced gardeners advise to carry out abundant watering.

Interesting fact! Sometimes decomposition organic fertilizers occurs so actively that the soil in the garden warms up to 80 ° C. Under the influence of such a high temperature, many pests, viruses and pathogenic fungi contained in the earth die. The result is a natural sterilization of the soil.

There are several ways to grow cucumbers outdoors. For these purposes, you can form a long ridge bed, a hole, dig a ditch, or build a high structure.

How to make beds for cucumbers with a bookmark in the garden

To form a bed with a bookmark, you will need to dig a trench. The depth of the ditch should be equal to two shovels. Then branches are laid out across and sawdust is poured. The next layer consists of straw and garden waste. You can add autumn leaves, cardboard or newspapers, compost. The thickness of the fertilizer layer should be within 5-7 cm. The bookmark is poured warm water and covered with a mixture of compost and earth.

A bed with a bookmark can effectively serve for 5 years. In the second year of operation, you will not need to add compost to the top layer, because during the decomposition of organic components, the bed itself will produce nutrients.

Advantages of a bed for growing cucumbers with a bookmark:

convenient irrigation system;
water stagnation is excluded;
in the spring you do not need to dig up the soil, it is enough to loosen the soil.

Plants can be planted on such a nutrient base much earlier than is customary to do in ordinary beds. It is not recommended to use beds with a bookmark in low-lying areas and areas where water stagnates.

Warm surface beds for cucumbers in the open field

This type of warm beds for growing cucumbers is built on the surface of the prepared soil. This technology will become the best option for areas that are located in the lowlands. In order to enhance the heating process, the bed is covered with a film. As a result, a greenhouse effect is formed, which has a positive effect on the growth of cucumbers and their yield.

Surface beds also include structures in the form of boxes made of brick, slate or boards. The bottom of these containers is covered with sand, then wood waste. Next comes a layer of organic waste and straw. After laying each component, the contents are carefully compacted and filled with liquid manure. Finally, the bed is covered with a mixture consisting of and soil.

Helpful advice! Skins of vegetables and fruits, fallen leaves, eggshells (pulverized) can be used as organic waste.

Cucumbers are planted in two rows. Plants are placed along the edges of the bed-box, which ensures a sufficient level of illumination. If you plan to plant cucumbers in early spring, structures can be converted into greenhouses. To do this, you will need to install plastic arcs and stretch a plastic film over them. Thus, heating is enhanced and it becomes possible to get an early harvest. Moreover, the result is completely independent of weather conditions.

Raised beds for cucumbers in the open field

Warm raised beds are used when the site is located in a region with a cold and humid climate. Due to this, there is a full warming up of the soil, which allows to achieve a harvest in the early stages. If they come too close to the garden ground water, the bed rises high, due to which the plantings do not get wet on soil supersaturated with moisture. Stone trees, whose roots are severely affected by groundwater, are planted in a similar way.

As borders for these structures are used various materials. The most popular of them are slate and wood. In rare cases, metal is used. This type of beds can be installed even in the middle of the lawn. If you make a frame in the form of paving stones or tiles, a raised garden with cucumbers will become a worthy decoration of your summer cottage.

As alternative solution it is possible to build an artificial hill on the territory that does not have a fence. You can take any length for such a bed, the optimal width parameter is 1 m. You should not raise the decorative garden to a height of more than 1 m. The air that remains in the voids formed between the elements of large organic matter provides good ventilation and contributes to the rapid heating of the soil.

To speed up the process of decomposition of fertilizers, the soil is spilled with a solution saturated with special bacteria. The procedure is carried out twice a year. The first time the soil is watered with bacteria in the spring. Before planting plants after processing the beds, you should wait at least a week. The second time the soil is spilled in the fall after the crop is harvested. When the earth has already been treated with the composition, it should be loosened so that the soil is saturated with oxygen, and the preparation itself is evenly distributed.

How to make beds in the garden: a video review of technology

Now is the very beginning of autumn, the whole crop has not even been harvested from the site yet. But you may not believe that in order to ensure the harvest of the next season, the vacated soil, for future beds, is already time to start preparing. And this is not a joke at all: you need to prepare this soil not anyhow, but correctly, so as not to be disappointed in the next year's harvest. How to prepare the beds, how to properly dig and fertilize the most common vegetable crops right now, we will tell you today.

Autumn preparation of beds in the garden. © Charles Dowding

It is clear that the formation of the above-ground mass, the formation of a crop that we harvest, consume, or store, leads to the removal of various elements from the soil. First of all, it is the well-known nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. So, immediately after harvesting and when preparing the beds for the new season, it is desirable to make up for the deficiency of these elements in the soil, although it is not visible to the naked eye.

The autumn period is almost an ideal period for applying various kinds of fertilizers, which winter time“reach” in the soil, and the plants sown or planted on the beds we made will begin to consume them in an accessible form, and not wait until they turn into such, wasting precious time on their development and forcing us to wait longer for the harvest.

For example, organics and various minerals: in fact, any vegetable crops perceive and react to them purely positively. However, in order for the root system to perceive this or that element, it must already be in an accessible, dissolved form, and this takes time. That's just such a time and is winter.

Of course, when choosing fertilizers, you need to take into account a number of factors - this is the biology of the culture that will grow in this place in the future, and the type of soil (heavy, sandy soil, black soil, and so on) and even the weather conditions at a given time, which determine including the condition of the soil.

So, there is enough reasoning, we go directly to the rules for preparing the beds in the autumn for the next season.

Why prepare the beds in advance?

This question is often asked: after all, there is a spring when you can have time to prepare the beds, sow seeds, and plant seedlings. Yes, absolutely true, but, firstly, not all fertilizers will have time to turn into a form accessible to plants, as we said above, and secondly, spring is such a fleeting period that in fact you can simply not have time to do everything, like necessary. Remember the Russian proverb in the words of a peasant peasant: “In the spring, if you drop your hat, I won’t pick it up” (that is, I’m so busy).

In addition, if we prepare the beds for winter in the fall, think for yourself how much we will ease the spring worries: all that needs to be done is to loosen the ready-made beds, make holes for planting seedlings or furrows to sow the seeds, and begin to carry out the usual procedures related to shoots or seedlings, without rushing anywhere and without being late.

In what order should the beds be prepared?

The first step is to clear the places of future beds from weeds and plant debris and burn them outside the site, although if they are without signs of disease, then it is quite possible to put them in a compost heap, and then apply them as fertilizer for digging the soil and, if necessary, then add chalk or lime along with fertilizers to bring the pH back to normal.

Weeds should be cleaned as thoroughly as possible, all creeping weeds, wheatgrass with parts of its root system and dandelions should simply be excluded (uprooted) from the garden by all possible ways, they should not be there, no matter how much effort you spend on it.

When the soil is free from weeds and plant residues, that is, it is in its pure form, it can be enriched with the elements necessary for each plant - these are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Since nothing will grow on these beds in the current season, you can add urea (20-25 g per square meter), superphosphate (18-20 g per square meter) and potassium chloride (15-20 g per square meter). In this case, you should not be afraid of potassium chloride, since chlorine will be neutralized until spring and will be safe for plants. In addition, it is desirable to add well-rotted manure at 5-6 kg per square meter, or humus (3-4 kg per square meter) and wood ash (stove or soot) at 250-300 g per square meter of soil.

If the soils of your site are heavy and clayey, then it is necessary to add river sand in a bucket per square meter, preferably mixed with compost in the same amount, this will increase the friability of the soil and increase its fertility.

Sandy soils do not retain moisture and nutrients well, here it is necessary to add a bucket of clay per square meter, as well as well-rotted compost (5-6 kg per square meter), leaf humus (3-4 kg per square meter) and sawdust (bucket per square metre). Be careful about sawdust - they can acidify the soil, so you need to use the most gray, that is, almost rotted sawdust.

Soils are acidic, where the acid-base balance (pH) is below 6.0, it is necessary to lime or coat. If the acidity is below 4.5, then lime should be used at 200-250 g per square meter, if the acidity is from 5.5 to 4.6, then coated: add 250-300 g of chalk per square meter.

Naturally, fertilizers, and chalk, and lime - all this in the autumn, when preparing the beds, is brought in for digging, by initially scattering over the surface and then embedding by digging on a full shovel bayonet.

How to dig beds?

Usually there are two main options for digging the soil - this is a non-moldboard method and a moldboard. Let's start with the non-moldboard method of digging. With the non-moldboard method of digging, they try to make sure that the earthen clod, for the most part, does not break and does not turn over. The purpose of such digging of the soil is to maximize the preservation of the beneficial microflora of both the lower and upper soil layers. Clods of earth also do not break.

With the moldboard method of digging, soil clods turn over and break. Usually the second option is often used when preparing beds in the fall. Thus, we plant fertilizers deep into the soil, and with them chalk or lime, if necessary, and literally pull out the hibernating stages of pests and diseases to the surface.

At the same time, it is undesirable to break up clods of soil, because in this case the soil will freeze to a great depth, being disinfected as much as possible. But if you decide to prepare a full-fledged bed with clearly defined edges and don’t worry about breaking up the clods in the spring, then it’s better to bring the digging to the end: break the clods, level the bed and make, by pouring layers of soil when digging on top of each other, a bed a couple of centimeters higher soil level, so that in the end the soil on it warms up faster than on the rest of the site.

Preparation of beds in the fall. © lasercuttingmachine

Preparation of beds for certain crops

So, we talked about how to prepare the garden as a whole. There is nothing difficult in this: we free up the site, apply fertilizers for digging, we try to dig up the bed with an increase in the level of the soil, thus outlining the edges of the future bed, but this is in general. It seems to us that we also need to talk about how to properly prepare a bed for the main crops, which are certainly in every garden, the beds for them can also be prepared in the fall.

Beds for beets

So, in order for the beetroot to grow well, you need to choose the most illuminated area, where the soil is light and well-drained. Ideally, of course, a bed for beets from autumn should be prepared on sandy loam and loam, always with neutral acidity. On heavy soils, clayey, for example, beets will grow poorly even with sufficient nutrition. You should also avoid places where thawed, irrigated, rainwater, well, and of course - acidified soils.

The best predecessors for table beets are crops that leave the field early - these are cucumbers, zucchini, early potatoes, early varieties of sweet peppers and eggplant, and, again, early tomatoes. You should not sow table beets after spinach, rapeseed, carrots, chard and cabbage.

In autumn, when preparing the soil for beets, it is advisable to apply organic fertilizers, for example, compost or humus in the amount of half a bucket per square meter of the future bed. From mineral fertilizers, it is quite possible to add potassium chloride in the amount of 12-14 g per square meter, as well as ammonium nitrate and superphosphate, 22-25 g per square meter.

Next, we prepare a bed for pumpkin and zucchini

You need to know that these crops are generally unpretentious and simply react remarkably to various fertilizers contained in the soil. Under them, you can make manure, but well-rotted and in the amount of 3-4 kg per square meter of beds, no more, of course - for digging.

As for the choice of location, the soils must be neutral, therefore, if acid prevails, then chalk or lime must also be added for digging.

The best predecessors for pumpkin and zucchini are: potatoes, onions, cabbage, root vegetables and legumes, but cucumbers, zucchini and squash are considered the worst.

Pay special attention to the soil, so if the soil is clayey, then, as in the general preparation of the beds, you need to add half a bucket of humus and a bucket of river sand per square meter for digging under the pumpkin and zucchini. As for mineral fertilizers, 10-15 g of superphosphate, 250 g of ash and 15 g of potassium sulfate will be enough.

On sandy soils on which you decide to grow zucchini and pumpkin, add a bucket of clay and half a bucket of humus per square meter.

Beds for dill and other herbs

To get a good harvest of dill and other greens, you must first deal with the predecessors. Good predecessors for green crops are: cabbage, tomatoes and onions, and bad ones are parsnips, celery and carrots.

Next, try to choose the most well-lit garden bed in the fall, and, therefore, the most warmed up. Ideally, the soil should be made as fertile as possible and try to keep snow on it by throwing it with spruce branches. Do not forget to pay attention to the acidity of the future beds, green crops grow poorly on acidic soil, so lime and chalk for digging, subject to increased acidity, are necessary.

For green crops, preparing a bed from autumn is not difficult, the digging depth should not be very large, only 22-23 cm. Be sure to add 2-3 kg of well-rotted manure per square meter and 15-20 g of ammonium nitrate, 8-10 g of potassium sulfate and 10-12 g of superphosphate for the same area. In the spring, all that remains is to loosen the finished bed, make grooves for sowing, be sure to water them (2-3 liters of water per meter) and compact them slightly before sowing to prevent the seeds from deepening (a couple of centimeters of depth is enough).

Preparing beds for tomatoes

Tomatoes - their best predecessors are: table beets, cucumber, onions, beans, carrots, various greens, peas, corn and zucchini, and bad ones: potatoes, late cabbage, peppers and eggplants.

We figured this out, now let's pick up a site for tomatoes until it gets colder. Fertile soil will be the best, it is enough to dig it up, and if it is acidic, then lime it (150-200 g per square meter), but with fertilizers, in particular superphosphate, which tomatoes love, you can take your time and just scatter it over the surface of the soil without digging. By the way, tomatoes react very zealously to the level of acidity and the dose that we indicated may not affect different types soils. For example, if you have sandstone or loam on your site, then it is better to add 250 g of lime for digging, and if medium and heavy loam, then 350 g of lime and also for digging.

Do not make too high beds for tomatoes, do not forget that they themselves are tall plants, so 22-23 cm is enough and about a meter wide, no more is needed either.

Autumn soil preparation in the garden. © Vesna Maric

Cucumber beds

Well, and cucumbers, because you are unlikely to find a site where cucumbers do not grow, but only tomatoes or cabbage. The best predecessors for cucumbers are: tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, onions, legumes, spinach, rhubarb, early and cauliflower, beets, carrots and greens, but the worst are: cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, squash, melon and watermelon.

Ideally, the bed should be made in the fall so that it is light, preferably loamy or sandy. If only clayey and heavy soil is available, then add a bucket of river sand per square meter for digging. By the way, cucumbers grow well on slightly acidic soil, so if this is the case for you, then you should not worry.

The beds for cucumbers must be dug up to a full bayonet of a shovel with the introduction of 5-6 kg of well-rotted manure.

The subtleties of fertilizing warm beds in the autumn

In autumn, you can build warm bed, first you need to knock down a box from the boards, usually a meter wide and two meters long, lay a layer of drainage in the base, it can be, in fact, any large debris, for example, various branches, pieces of boards, stumps, tops of plants. You can sprinkle all this with river sand, sawdust, wood chips, weeds, peelings of potatoes and other vegetables, you need to lay leaf litter, humus and scatter wood ash on top. Of course, the layer should be such that fertile garden soil(20-30 cm), in which vegetables will grow next season.

A few words about mulching

Questions arise whether it is necessary to mulch the beds prepared in the fall, the answer will be positive. In principle, mulch, if it is made from natural ingredients (the same leaf litter pressed with spruce branches), then it will not affect the life processes of beneficial microorganisms in the garden you have built. Therefore, in the spring, after removing the mulch, the bed will look even fresher. The main thing is to remove the mulch early so that the soil warms up faster.

In order for the crop harvested from the fields to be rich and healthy, the farmer must know the basic properties of the soil, its types and the rules for preparing it before planting. By improving the qualitative composition of the soil and using biologically and chemically active preparations, the owner will be able to increase the yield and quality of the harvested products.

Soil is a substrate, formation, consisting of small solid particles of organic or inorganic origin with a distance between them that allows oxygen and water to penetrate into it in various quantities. Soil is the main, most important and valuable resource in agriculture. The yield, and, as a result, the profitability and efficiency of any production depends on the condition of the soil, its saturation with mineral elements, nutrients, water and air. From time immemorial, the possession of fertile soil has been considered a sign of prosperity, and the ability to cultivate it correctly a century or two ago was one of the most important skills of any average person.

Basic soil properties

As an agricultural resource, soil has the following properties:

indispensability;
limited quantity;
inability to move;
fertility.

These features highlight the need for exceptional careful attitude to soil resources and constant concern for increasing soil fertility (fertility is such a soil structure in which plants are freely provided with water and minerals).

The natural level of fertility is rarely conducive to the cultivation of demanding crops that require a large amount of nutrients. In addition, it decreases over time, as the number useful substances is limited, and every plant planted on a given soil absorbs them. Applying fertilizers, organic or mineral, fighting weeds, planting crops herbaceous plants, using plowless and high-tech tillage systems, any agricultural enterprise or farming can achieve a high level of so-called effective fertility: the state of the soil in which it is able to supply nutrients to a given number of plants.

Scientists argue that in terms of mechanical composition, the best soils for growing various crops are humus-rich, loose sandy and loamy soils. Agriculture is carried out in areas with suitable soils for cultivation, under climatic conditions characteristic of the area and easily tolerated by plants. Production in small areas does not make sense. In this regard, agro-industrial enterprises, as a rule, are based on large areas, which leads to the need for mechanization of production.

Over time, any productive force wears out. The soil, with the rational use of its resources, regular fertilization, and restoration work, does not deteriorate, but, on the contrary, becomes better, soil fertility increases. It performs many functions in the biosphere, the main ones are:

is the habitat of some animals;
is a "supplier" of nutrition for plants;
collects and accumulates an impressive amount of chemical energy;
maintains the balance of the biosphere.

All of the above speaks of the value of the soil and its exceptional benefits with proper, rational use. To provide optimal conditions germination of the crop, it is necessary to carefully prepare the soil.

First you need to understand what type of soil should be cultivated:

Clay soil is hard, with strong moisture such soil becomes viscous, easily deformed, but breaks with difficulty. Some varieties of roses, irises, raspberries, figs, apple trees, cherries, hawthorn, many legumes and nightshade grow on such soils.
Loamy soil in a dry state is ground into powder, upon detailed examination of which grains of sand and dust particles are found. When wet, it becomes easily deformable. Under the conditions of the development of modern agrarian science, any crops grow on such soils, but plants of the legume, cruciferous and nightshade families give the highest yield.
Dry sandy soil is ground into a homogeneous powder between the fingers. When viewed, sand can be discerned. Wet is hard to deform. Suitable for growing various root crops, legumes and cruciferous.
Sandy soil in a dry state is a coarse powder. When moistened, it does not deform. Allows you to grow some Solanaceae and Root Vegetables.
Crushed, or cartilaginous soil contains clay, sandy, crushed stone and cartilaginous particles. Suitable for growing coniferous trees.

Soil preparation before planting

There are several methods of tillage, the combination of which gives a complete preparation of the soil for sowing:

Mechanical loosening.
Fertilization with organic and mineral substances.
Treatment with biologically and chemically active substances.

Mechanical loosening

Mechanical loosening is carried out in order to saturate the soil with oxygen and minimize obstacles to the root system of the plant. It can be done with your own hands or with the help of special equipment, be simple or double.
Before starting loosening, it is checked whether it should be done. If the soil crumbles easily from a depth of 8-20 centimeters, then it is possible to loosen, the absence of this effect indicates that it is too early to loosen.

Before the procedure, all plants from the selected area are removed. The top layer of turf is removed by about 8-10 centimeters. Double (plantage) loosening is carried out at a depth of 45-60 cm, which improves drainage, destroying hardened soil layers. When the sod is removed, a kind of “trenches” are dug out in strips over the entire area, no more than 30 cm wide, the earth dug out of one “trenches” is poured into another. After the end of plantation loosening, the soil surface rises slightly. Planting begins after leveling the soil level.

The lack of organic and mineral substances is filled with fertilizers. For example, with an increase in the acid-base balance, sulfate-containing fertilizers are introduced into the soil, and with a decrease in it, limestone. The mineral balance of the soil is determined by special instruments.
Any plant waste is suitable as an organic fertilizer - sawdust, fallen leaves, small pieces of tree bark, dead herbaceous plants, mowed grass, rotten fruits. All this is collected in one container, poured, and after two months it is ready for use.

Features of soil preparation for sowing:

Training is carried out annually.
It is necessary to create a fertile soil layer with a thickness of 35-40 centimeters, every year the thickness of this layer should increase by 3-5 centimeters.
Soil cultivation is mandatory.

Treatment with chemically and biologically active substances

Microorganisms play an important role in creating soil fertility. Microorganisms are involved in many processes, such as organic decomposition. Microbial cenosis on plant roots is strictly specific. Microorganisms help the plant to feed, sometimes carry out a protective function. Some microorganisms are able to break down harmful substances - phosphates. The formation of humus is completely due to the activity of microorganisms.

Before sowing, preparations "EM-1", "Oksizin", "Baikal-1" are introduced into the soil, containing microorganisms that maintain soil fertility. Phytocide preparations or pesticides are applied to control plant pests.

Soil preparation in a greenhouse occurs using the three steps described above. Fertilizers rich in magnesium, molybdenum, manganese, nitrogen, calcium, potassium, sodium, boron are applied. For example, siderates.
Green manure - plants that easily form a shoot grown on cultivated land. These plants subsequently "plow" into the soil, become sources of organic matter and a habitat for soil microorganisms. The most commonly used siderates are:

representatives of the legume family (clover, sweet clover, vetch and others);
representatives of the Cruciferous family (shepherd's purse, rape and others);
representatives of the Cereal family (Sudanese grass, breadbasket and others).

They should be sown in spring (between March and April) and autumn (after harvesting), and plow in 1-2 weeks before planting. It is also important to moisten and warm the soil in early spring, as it usually dries out a lot in greenhouses, therefore it is a good heat insulator. To do this, it is recommended to warm the ridges simultaneously from three sides after loosening the soil. Small grooves can be made to increase the contact area warm air with soil. After that, the soil is moistened with an EM solution and watered.

Soil preparation for planting cucumbers

Cucumbers are quite demanding on conditions environment plants. You can grow them both outdoors and in a greenhouse. They need special conditions. The main ones are:

High illumination.
High air humidity (up to 80%).
Medium high temperatures (about 25◦С).
Soil pH 6-7.5. Acidic soils must be limed before planting cucumbers.
Watering with warm water (not lower than 18 C).

Tillage before planting cucumbers requires a special approach, as this vegetable crop is quite capricious.

If the soil is acidic, lime must be applied.
Carry out mechanical loosening of the soil.
Apply 10-15 kilograms of organic fertilizers per m 2.
Apply mineral fertilizers (about 10 grams of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus).
Form beds with dimensions of 80x60 centimeters with a layer of soil of at least 45 centimeters in thickness.

Soil preparation: the best experience of domestic enterprises

LLC "Bogoroditsky Alliance" is recognized as a leader in the potato industry. In 2014, the organization became the "Best Machine Operator" and "Organization that has achieved the best results in the field of crop production" in the Tula region. High degree of mechanization, operation of ploughless systems, creation artificial system irrigation, hydrotechnical measures, the use of modern fertilizers that are safe for the soil allow them to keep the soil in perfect condition - and this bears fruit - huge crops. Since 2013, the company has been implementing a precision farming program.

To maintain the organic balance of the soil, the employees of the farm actively use green manure, plant herbaceous and earthen crops. To maintain a sufficient amount of minerals, the organization uses high-quality fertilizers based on nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium.

Before sowing seeds and planting seedlings, soils are prepared for planting by certain methods. It is necessary to start planting plants after performing certain actions. Soils in central Russia, as well as in Siberia and the Urals, are highly heterogeneous. Their mechanical composition is determined by the following features:

clayey the soil in a dry state is solid, and in a wet state it is viscous, sticky, smears heavily, easily rolls into a ball or rolls into a thin tourniquet that bends into a ring without breaking. When processing it, lumps are formed;
dry loamy the soil is ground into an inhomogeneous powder. Under the magnifying glass, grains of sand and dust particles are visible. When moistened, it becomes viscous, rolls into a ball, rolls into a tourniquet, which breaks into a ring when bent;
sandy loam the soil in a dry state is easily rubbed between the fingers. It is dominated by sand, visible to the naked eye. A ball of moist soil rolls with difficulty, does not roll into a tourniquet;
sandy dry loose soil. A solid mass of grains of sand is visible. A ball of moist soil does not roll;
gravel, or cartilaginous , the soil, along with clay and sandy particles, contains fragments of cartilage ranging in size from 3 to 10 and crushed stone larger than 10 mm.

The most suitable for vegetables are light and medium loams, floodplains and cultivated peatlands, where there is a lot of organic matter (humus).

The soil for all vegetables is carefully cut. In a continuous way, they are processed in autumn and spring. Autumn plowing (or digging the soil) is preferable, especially for sowing early vegetables. It begins after harvesting and after removing the remains of tops and roots. Before this, fertilizers are scattered on the site in an even layer.

When digging with a shovel, the layers of the earth are turned over so that the upper, more sprayed, layer is at the bottom, and the lower structural layer is on the surface. In autumn, clods of earth are not broken and the surface is not leveled, so moisture is retained more. The depth of the main processing is 22-30 cm.

In the spring, it is important to start preparing the soil for planting crops in a timely manner. The goal is to retain as much moisture as possible. When digging heavily moist soil, it is difficult to achieve its good cutting. And the delay in processing leads to withering. Therefore, in the spring you need to monitor the condition of the soil daily. Here are the simplest ways to determine its moisture content.

Dry soil is dusty. The hand does not feel the coolness of the mass. The damp soil does not dust, slightly cools the hand and smears, but the sheet of filter paper attached to it does not get wet. Moist soil feels wet, water does not ooze from it, but a sheet of filter paper gets wet quickly, and wet oozes water when squeezing.

They start tilling the soil when the soil is prepared: it is still damp, but no longer sticks to the shovel, crumbles into small lumps. The soil should be prepared without long breaks so as not to dry out the earth. This is especially important for early vegetable crops.

When digging in the spring, you need to choose from the soil the roots and shoots of weeds, as well as pest larvae.

Having dug up the site, experienced gardeners immediately bring the soil to a finely cloddy state (lumps 1-10 mm in size). They loosen it with a rake and level the surface with their back side.

Plots with heavy clay soil, as well as those intended for late crops or fertilized before sowing, are dug up again to a depth of 14-16 cm, carefully cut with a rake or a threshing machine. On the prepared plantation, plots and passages between them are marked out or ridges are made, and then vegetable crops are sown or planted without delay.

In order not to overdry the land, it is necessary to prepare as much area every day as the gardener is able to sow on the same day.

Peat soils should be cultivated after the top layer has thawed to a depth of 10-15 cm.

A mandatory method of pre-sowing soil preparation is rolling. To do this, use a special wooden skating rink, an ordinary board, a rammer. Rolling evens out the surface of the plot, ensures the placement of seeds at the same depth, promotes the influx of moisture from the lower layers of the soil to the seeds, guaranteeing their best germination and rapid germination.

In the conditions of Russia, the bed culture of vegetables is very effective. On heavy, waterlogged, cold soils, the ridges warm up faster in spring, which is especially important when growing early and heat-loving vegetables. The layer of soil raised above the surface of the earth becomes looser, physical and Chemical properties and plants grow better. On the beds it is more convenient to sow and care for plants.

In low, swampy areas of the ridge, it is better to cook in the fall in order to sow vegetables in the spring. early dates. True, in a dry summer, the ridges need to be watered more often, but the labor costs pay off with a high yield. On the ridges, gardeners get better and earlier vegetables. Experiments have shown that the yield of cold-resistant crops (carrots, beets, early cabbage) in the beds increases by 2-13, and heat-loving crops (cucumber, tomato) by 27-32%.

With a flat terrain, it is recommended to place the ridges from the southeast to the northwest or from the south to the north. At the same time, they are evenly illuminated and warmed up by the sun, this ensures the same development of plants. In beds placed in the direction from east to west, plants on the south side develop faster, which leads to uneven ripening of the crop.

In gardens located on slopes, it is better to make ridges across the slope, otherwise they are destroyed by excess water runoff in spring and heavy rains.

The size of the ridges depends on the configuration of the site, the depth of the arable layer, and other conditions. It is most rational to make them no more than 90-100 wide, 16-25 cm high, and no more than 10 m long. The width of the furrows-tracks should be 25-30 cm. water. Heat-loving crops (cucumber, zucchini) are sometimes placed on ridges, at the base of which manure is laid. Warm narrow ridges are obtained. The top of the ridges is leveled and seeds or seedlings of vegetable crops are placed.

Autumn is just approaching and the harvest is not yet fully harvested. There is still a little time left and the beds will remain completely empty. So it's time to prepare the site for the upcoming season. This is done in order to prepare the soil, to provide it with the necessary elements for better cultivation crops next year and, accordingly, so that the harvest is rich and healthy. But what kind of procedures and activities need to be carried out, we will describe in this article.

Preparing the beds in autumn

The soil loses its unique properties every year, allowing it to grow strong vegetation and harvest fruits at the end of the season. That's why she needs our help. Regular application of fertilizers with substances such as potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus help to make up for the lack of these elements. We do not see this deficiency, but we will be able to understand what it is, only by the condition of the plants.

Autumn is the optimal period to enrich the depleted soil with various top dressings and fertilizers, which cold period absorb and absorb. And when you start planting and sowing horticultural crops in the spring, they will be able to get good nutrition, since during the winter the fertilizers were processed by the soil into the form necessary for vegetation.

In order for organic matter to take the form necessary for perception by vegetation, it takes some time. That's exactly why, in order not to wait for spring and when everything is processed and it is autumn that needs to be introduced into the soil. Over a long cold period, the elements will decompose into components and will be ready to feed crops and seedlings by planting.

But fertilizers should not be applied thoughtlessly. It is necessary to take into account a number of nuances, namely the condition of the soil, the quality of the soil. And also plan ahead for future plantings, because the same complementary foods are not suitable for all plants, so take this into account and build on all of the above in order to choose the right nutrient medium.

Fertilizers should not be applied thoughtlessly

Now let's go directly to the consideration of the proposed topic in more detail, consider each nuance.

Why is it necessary to prepare the ground in advance?

Gardeners often ask this question, because there is spring and then, before planting vegetables, you can prepare the land. But it's not really right move thinking. Because, as we have already said, fertilizer needs time for cultivated plants to consume it for their growth. And in the spring there is already a lot of trouble: prepare the seeds, grow seedlings, prepare holes for planting and plan the days for planting seedlings in the ground. Agree, this is a very laborious process, and you can simply not have time to do everything.

Preparing the soil in advance

That is why the autumn preparatory work is very important. Having spent a little more energy in the outgoing year, you can pay more attention to the planting work itself, because the site will be completely ready to grow a new crop. So do not be lazy, and you can slowly plan your actions with the advent of spring.

How to properly follow the order of preparation

Preparation should begin with clearing the site from the remnants of tops, weeds and other vegetation residues. If they are healthy, then lay them for aging in compost pit, then you can use it to improve the quality of the soil. If necessary, chalk or slaked lime can be added to such fertilizers to normalize the acidity of the soil. If they show signs of disease, it is better to burn them outside the territory.

We prepare beds for each vegetable separately

We have reviewed common features how it is necessary to prepare for planting plants in the winter: feeding, coating, moldboard digging, layering the soil in the plots with an increase in their level. But these are just general recommendations. But our task is not so much to find out the main recommendations, it is to competently cultivate a site for each individual type of vegetable crops. And all this is also carried out after the harvest, namely in the autumn.

Preparing a place for planting herbs

Dill and other greens also cannot be planted anywhere to get a good harvest. They will successfully grow in a place freed from cabbage, tomatoes and onions. But do not plant spicy herbs on the plot from under carrots, parsnips and celery.

Place for planting herbs

Good illumination of the sowing area is also important, it will also be well warmed up. In autumn, cover the place planned for greenery with coniferous branches so that the snow lies there longer, so the land will be more fertile. Check the pH balance of the area. After all, vitamin bushes grow poorly on high acidity. Add lime or chalk to normalize the acidity level.

These plants do not require special preparation. Dig up the bed no deeper than 23 cm, be sure to add 2-3 kg of rotted manure per 1 m 2, 25-20 g of ammonium nitrate, 8-10 g of potassium sulfate, 10-12 g of superphosphate for the same 1 m 2. With the advent of spring, you will just need to loosen the soil well and arrange holes for sowing. It is also necessary to thoroughly shed the plots with water at the rate of 2-3 liters per 1 m 2 and compact the soil a little so that the seeds do not “drown”. Sowing holes should be 2 cm deep.