Do-it-yourself construction and repairs

How to make the ground soft. How to make the soil loose and rich. Changing the mechanical composition of the soil

Happy owners of dacha acres know well that it is impossible to obtain rich land on a plot without effort. This requires a lot of work. But before you begin the transformation, it is important to determine its initial state. This determines which additives to use and in what quantities. How to make the soil loose and fertile will be discussed in our article.

How to make the soil loose and fertile

Ideally, the natural soil from the site can be taken to an agricultural laboratory, where a full analysis will be done. Its results will show exactly how to optimize the soil in your garden. Unfortunately, such testing is not available to most owners. No problem! Some characteristics can be determined independently, for example, mechanical composition. It is responsible for air and moisture content. You can recognize it yourself if you moisten a small amount of earth with water and form a ball out of it. As a result:

  • the figurine crumbles, which means the soil is sandy;
  • the ball can be rolled into a cord and formed into a ring - the soil is considered clayey.

In the first case, additives are needed to retain moisture. You can loosen heavy soil using coarse sand or bottom peat. Any type of soil will need nutritional supplements; the best ones are organic fertilizers.

Fertilization with manure

Animal waste products contain a full range of substances necessary for plants. That's why making organic fertilizers makes the soil fertile. Any type of manure – cow, pig or horse – is applied to garden and garden crops. Attention! It is important to follow these rules:

  1. Fresh fertilizers can only be applied in the fall to empty areas, where there are no plantings, for example, in a vegetable garden. Manure in this form is an aggressive substance that is dangerous to plants. Therefore, it must be added to the soil in advance, 5–6 months before planting. During this time, it will be converted to a safe state, and nutrients will become available to plants. The additive not only serves as a top dressing, but also acts as a leavening agent for the garden soil.
  2. Rotted fertilizers can be used in the spring, during planting.
  • horse – 5–6 kg;
  • cow - 4–5 kg.

The amount of rotted manure is reduced by half. Pig manure is not recommended to be applied fresh, even in the fall, due to the high content of aggressive nitrogen in ammonia form. The fertilizer must be kept for at least a year until it completely rots. It is better to mix it with horse or cow milk or put it in compost.

Mulching with grass clippings

Can be used with early spring until late autumn. This type of soil fertilization is classified as MDU - slow-acting fertilizers. The use of mulch allows you to:

  1. Make the soil loose and soft in the garden and garden.
  2. Retain moisture by reducing evaporation.
  3. Provide constant feeding thanks to the gradual decomposition of the mulch.

Grass clippings are an effective loosening agent for heavy clay soils.

Planting plants with long roots

Proponents of organic farming recommend improving soil quality with the help of green manure. Plants are sown whose roots contain nodule bacteria that capture and fix nitrogen from the air. Thus, a natural, environmentally friendly fertilizer is obtained. Thanks to the powerful root system, green manure makes the soil crumbly and aerates it. This is especially important for heavy or peaty soils. To improve the structure and fertility of the soil, leguminous plants are most often used, for example, lupine, peas, alfalfa, vetch or beans. Even if your site has fertile soil, it needs to be improved periodically. To make the chernozem loose, it is also sown with green manure. This is more environmentally friendly than adding bulk additives and digging.

Green manure

Improving the soil is not a one-time event. You need to maintain optimal condition regularly. To do this, it is not necessary to purchase expensive fertilizers. You can use plant material that is available at each site:

  • mowed lawn grass;
  • weeded weeds;
  • clipped shoots;
  • wilted flowers, etc.

It's basically garden waste, but you can use it to make effective fertilizer. Experienced gardeners offer useful tips for the preparation of green fertilizers. Here is one of them:

  • capacity large volume, for example, a barrel is filled two-thirds with crushed plant residues;
  • fill with water to the top;
  • leave for a week and a half, stirring daily.

Before feeding, the resulting concentrated solution is filtered and diluted in a ratio of 1:10.

other methods

To improve the structure of heavy soil, the easiest way is to use coarse-grained washed river sand. To make light soil from medium loam, you will need 21 kg/m2. This is about one and a half buckets with a volume of 10 liters. The sand is evenly distributed over the surface and dug to a depth of 20–25 cm, to the full bayonet of a shovel. When preparing a plant mixture for seedlings, sand is almost always used. It is mixed with peat and compost to obtain a light nutrient substrate. Fertilizers that contain calcium are good leavening agents:

  • slaked lime;
  • dolomite flour;
  • ash.

They are added to acidic soils to neutralize the pH level. Sometimes soil optimization on a site is a lengthy and costly process. It’s easier to take fertile soil from manufacturers who mix all the necessary components in advance.

Improve the soil on the site yourself or add ready mixture, everyone decides for themselves. It depends on your financial capabilities and the amount of work.

If you have clay soil on your site and you are asking what to do, then this article is for you and after reading it you will not have to climb the forums and ask experienced gardeners what to do.

Determination of clay soil

The soil is considered clayey if 80% of its composition is clay and 20% is sand. Clay, in turn, consists of particles that fit tightly one to another. Accordingly, this causes problems, since air and water do not pass through such a surface well. The absence of air in it inhibits necessary biological processes.

How to determine soil type (video)

Soils that consist mainly of clay are very inconvenient because their structure is not ideal. They are very compacted and heavy, since the clay itself is poorly drained.

Clay soil freezes quickly and takes a long time to heat up, despite the fact that nutrients are present in greater quantities compared to light soils. Processing clay is very difficult, and plant roots do not penetrate well into such a surface. After snow melts, rains or irrigation, the water remains at the top for a long time and very slowly passes into the lower layers.


Clay soil allows moisture to pass through for a long time

Accordingly, stagnation of water occurs here, which in turn helps to displace air from the layers of the earth, and the soil becomes acidic. When the water in the ground is high, then, in principle, the same processes occur with it. When there are heavy rains, the clay floats, a crust forms on top of the soil, with which nothing good happens - it dries out, hardens and bursts. And if then it rains rarely, the ground hardens so much that it is very difficult to dig up. The crusts that form on top of the soil do not allow air to penetrate, which dries it out even more. Processing becomes even more difficult and blocks form when digging.

Clay soil often contains little humus, and it is mainly located 10-15 cm from the surface. But even this is more of a disadvantage than an advantage, since such soil has an acidic reaction that plants do not tolerate well.

But, fortunately, all these disadvantages can be corrected in a few seasons. We are, of course, not talking about “transforming” heavy soil into light soil. It will also require some effort and quite a lot of material costs from the owner. This work may take several years.

No matter what types of crops you want to improve the soil for, garden plot or any other, the principles of operation are almost the same everywhere.

First, plan the plane on your site so that it is as level as possible, otherwise water will stagnate there. The boundaries on the garden bed should be directed in such a way that it ensures the drainage of excess water.

Before winter it is necessary clay soil dig, but so as not to break the lumps. It is advisable to do this before the autumn rains, otherwise the soil will become even more compacted. In winter, due to water and frost, the structure of the lumps will be better. This will speed up the drying and warming of the soil in the spring. In the spring, the soil needs to be dug up again.

When cultivating such soils and increasing the plowed layers, it is prohibited to turn up most of the podzol. The depth should increase to a maximum of two centimeters, and fertilizers and various lime materials should be added.

In cases where the soil is very dense and difficult to even dig up, it is allowed to add crushed bricks, hay, chopped brushwood or bark. But if you don't have bricks, you can add burnt weeds. They are burned with roots and loose soil, and then added to our soil.

Improving clay soil with fertilizers

Be that as it may, all of the above works well, but the main method for improving clay soil is adding fertilizers. It could be manure or different types peat or compost.

Peat

At first, it is recommended to add manure or peat at least 1-2 buckets per square meter. Make the cultivated soil layer no more than 12 cm, because this promotes the high-quality development of minerals. Thanks to this, beneficial soil microorganisms and earthworms develop well there. As a result, the soil will become loose, its structure improves, and air penetrates there better. This all contributes to the good life of the vegetation.


Humus for fertilizer

The manure that will be added to the soil must be well rotted, otherwise it will be harmful to the roots. Use manure that decomposes quickly - horse or sheep manure.

The peat must be well weathered. If the peat color is rusty, then it is better not to add it. This indicates a high iron content, which can harm vegetation.

Wood sawdust

If you have sawdust that has been sitting for a long time, this can also give a good result. However, you should add no more than 1 bucket per square meter. But this can reduce soil fertility. This is due to the fact that when sawdust decomposes, it takes on soil nitrogen. This can be prevented if, before adding to the soil, you make a solution of urea, the concentration of which should be 1.5% with water. You can also use sawdust that was placed under livestock and moistened with their urine.


Sawdust as fertilizer

Sand and humus

There is also another method - during autumn digging, add river sand to the clay soil. Although it is not easy, it gives a good effect. But you need to know correct proportions, since each type of crop grown requires a different soil composition.


Sand for fertilizing clay soil

In soils such as fine loam, vegetables and many flowers grow well. To achieve this composition, add one bucket of sand per square meter.

Half a bucket needs to be added if you want to plant cabbage, beets, apple trees, plums, cherries or some flower crops such as peonies or roses. They love heavy soils.

It is necessary to add sand and humus to clay soil regularly - at least every year over the years. This is all because the plants will take the humus, and the sand will settle, and the soil will again become unfavorable.

As practice shows, after five years of such work, the soil will turn from clay to loamy. The thickness of the layer will be about 18 cm.

Fertilizer from green crops

Annual green crops that are used as fertilizer produce a good effect.

They are usually sown after harvesting vegetables or potatoes, and in the same season they are dug up for the winter. In August you can also sow winter rye and dig it up in the spring. Such crops have a positive effect on the soil, and it is enriched organically. But the main thing is that this way the clay soil is loosened.


Creating loose soil

If the soil has very little organic matter, sowing perennial clover is a good solution. It is regularly mowed without collecting the grass. Clover roots die over time and cause beneficial influence on the ground. After three years, it is better to dig up the clover to a depth of 12 cm.

Earthworms also loosen the soil well, so it is advisable to populate them there. If you have any empty areas, you can plant them with ground covers. They prevent the soil from drying out, overheating and increase the level of organic matter.

Soil liming

If you have heard about such a method as liming the soil, then this is done only in the fall. This is done infrequently - once every 5 years. Lime deoxidizes the soil and thereby has a beneficial effect on it. Calcium, in turn, increases soil fertility, as it allows water to penetrate deep into the clay. Basically, this method, like most others, loosens heavy soil well.

But the question arises, in what dosages to add alkaline materials? It depends on the amount of calcium in the soil, the level of acidity and mechanical composition. In autumn you can fertilize with ground limestone, slaked lime, dolomite flour, chalk, cement dust, wood and peat ash.

Enrichment with lime has a beneficial effect on both heavy and light soils. The heavy ones turn into more loose ones, and the light ones, on the contrary, become coherent. Also, the effect of microorganics is enhanced, which better absorbs nitrogen and humus, which improves the nutritional value of plants.


Clay soil can produce crops, but it requires work

To find out what type of soil you have, do a simple experiment - Squeeze a handful of soil in your hand and moisten it with water. Knead the soil until it resembles dough. Try to make a “donut” with a diameter of 5 cm from this handful. If it cracks, then you have a su clay soil If there are no cracks, you have clay soil. Accordingly, it needs to be put in order.

How to make the soil loose

How to practically make the soil loose and prepare it for mulching with sawdust? How to water such mulch?

I have already talked in the comments about the importance of preparing the soil before mulching, to increase its looseness by adding gravel and sand. But I thought it was better to see once than to read many times. I found several photos as an example of such soil preparation in a school of seedlings. At one time, I specially took a photo of preparing the soil for sawdust mulch in a school of seedlings, where the soil is inevitably dug up every year. So, in order to obtain Active mulch and active plant nutrition, it is necessary to ensure a flow of oxygen to the roots, including for the “combustion” of the mulch.

It’s like in the case of a fire stove: wood will burn more efficiently if you provide “blowing”. That is, access to oxygen for combustion. And the more oxygen supplied, the more intense the combustion.

It's the same with sawdust. The only difference is that combustion is not thermal, but enzymatic. The breakdown occurs through enzymatic oxidation of organic matter. For oxygen-type oxidation, oxygen is needed. And the greater its supply, the more effectively the mulch is used.

And now step-by-step types of work to improve soil looseness.

This is the preparation of rows for plowing with a cultivator (photo 1, 2, 3). In photo 3, the dark substrate is fruit pulp, instead of peat, also for looseness (it decomposes for a very long time, like peat). Gray color is gravel with sand, fraction up to 20 mm.



Mixing sand with soil, cultivator (photo 4).


Then the formation of ridges (rows) for planting seedlings (photo 5).


Planting seedlings (photo 6).


And the last stage is mulching the seedlings with sawdust (photos 7, 8).



In this way, I prepare rows for all crops where active irrigation with sprinkling and sawdust mulch is expected: for raspberries, strawberries, grapes (even more), for seedlings of apple trees and other crops, for a school of seedlings, etc.

If there is no sawdust, you can use any other type of organic matter. Sand and gravel are added to clay soils. On the contrary, clay (loam) is added to sandy ones. But the order is the same!

A little more about watering such areas mulched with sawdust. Watering only by sprinkling, and only with cold water, directly from a well or well. Below are some photos for clarity.

Something about the saturation of water with gases, in this regard. The water itself will become saturated with oxygen when a drop of rain water flies through the air. And the longer it flies, the better. And the smaller the drop of rain. And the lower the water temperature.

My water temperature from the well and well is +4°C. It is this kind of water that can dissolve gases in itself as much as possible, that is, it acts like a sponge, saturated with gases as much as possible and completely.

And a compressor is not needed at all. Irrigation by sprinkling with cold water is needed as it happens in nature! The highest oxygen content is at the level of plant leaves, that is, in the ground layer. And the rain will absorb as much oxygen as the plant roots need and to oxidize the mulch. If only the soil also had oxygen in the air. Otherwise, it will evaporate from the water and will not be absorbed by the roots. Just according to the law of gas solubility. That is, proportional to the partial pressure of gas in the soil air (percentage ratio at a certain atmospheric pressure in the area). And in the soil, oxygen is always the limiting factor. Hence all the results.

And the gardener’s primary task is to provide oxygen (and CO2) to soil air and soil water! And there may be several methods for solving these problems. Just like in nature itself. From simulating the movements of earth-moving animals (creating loose soils, laying air ducts) to sprinkling with cold water.

Thus, the higher the “rain” drop scatters, the better. And this can only be achieved when the spray nozzle is located above 1-1.5 meters, that is, above the plant crown. But to make it convenient to serve.

This is how watering is organized at one of the sites. Water intake from the well by two household pumping stations of 800 and 900 W of power. The main line is from the PV pipe D-32, the supply to the volutes and pendulum sprinklers (directional action) is from the PV pipe D-20. One pump provides one volute, or 3 pendulum sprayers. The snail's capture zone is a circle with a diameter of 10 meters. Others 8 x 1 meter (each).

And this is what it looks like. The pumping stations themselves (photo 9). Directional sprinklers (photo 10). Watering snails in different places of the site (photo 11, 12, 13). A deep-well pump can also be used. If the water intake is from a well. I hope everything is clear in the photo and no further explanation is required?




I dug the well myself. For this I filled in concrete rings, building one over the other, reinforcing. And he took out the soil from inside. The rings, under their own weight, go into the ground to the required depth, down to the aquifer. The formwork was made collapsible and reusable. Everything looks like this (photo 14).


Almost in summer, pumping stations work all day long, on days when there is no rain. These are two plots of 10-15 acres of irrigation. Moreover, the layer of sawdust mulch throughout the entire area is from 5 to 15 cm, and it is not so easy to wet it. That is, paired snails in one place are watered for about one hour. The capture area is approximately 8 x 4 meters. Two pumps are working in the nursery. When drawing water from a well, and one pump from a well, in the mother garden.

Conventional pumping stations 800 W each. The volume of water supplied per minute is 30 liters. But the water consumption may be less. I watch how the sawdust mulch is soaked. And it is better to wet it using fractional rather than one-time watering. Then the water consumption is much less. To do this, I simply switch the watering areas with taps, alternating them after about 15-20 minutes. For example, in nursery and school I need intensive training. Therefore, thanks to Active mulch, I maintain a high level of plant nutrition. Accordingly, due to the intensity of irrigation.

More photos: after cultivation, mixed soil with sand and gravel:


Preparation of rows before cultivation-mixing:



After cultivation, mixed soil with sand and gravel:

Storage seedlings before planting in the school:


View of the site from the height of the 2nd floor

In the garden of mother plants, this regime is 2 times lower. And accordingly, in the same area there are no longer two, but one pumping station. And this is quite enough.

I foresee objections regarding the water temperature: you cannot water with cold water, especially flowering plants. The answer is simple. How does rain water your plants? Is it really “under the root”? Or maybe you use an umbrella to protect flowering plants from the rain?

Moreover, the temperature of rainwater is close to cold. And nothing happens to flowering plants? It is so?

But seriously, I specifically showed in the photo that sprinkler nozzles (tips) are different. Both circular and directional action. These are watered in a strip (1.5-2 meters wide, and 4 meters in each direction). Circular ones capture a circle with a diameter of 10 meters or more (depending on pressure).

I just turn it on and water everything without thinking...

It is MUCH worse for raspberries and strawberries if they are overdried than if they are wetted by sprinkling... Then, in general, even a single overdrying will cause a sharp drop in the yield.

Moreover, cold water will not cause harm if it is a small drop of rain... And not from a bucket at the root. The difference, however?!

These are, perhaps, the main points of soil preparation, mulching and watering. If you have any questions, will I try to answer?

Aleksandr Kuznetsov

11.01.2015

Next article

Other works by Alexander Ivanovich on the page

Happy owners of dacha acres know well that it is impossible to obtain rich land on a plot without effort. This requires a lot of work. But before you begin the transformation, it is important to determine its initial state. This determines which additives to use and in what quantities. How to make the soil loose and fertile will be discussed in our article.

How to make the soil loose and fertile

Ideally, the natural soil from the site can be taken to an agricultural laboratory, where a full analysis will be done. Its results will show exactly how to optimize the soil in your garden. Unfortunately, such testing is not available to most owners. No problem! Some characteristics can be determined independently, for example, mechanical composition. It is responsible for air and moisture content. You can recognize it yourself if you moisten a small amount of earth with water and form a ball out of it. As a result:

  • the figurine crumbles, which means the soil is sandy;
  • the ball can be rolled into a cord and formed into a ring - the soil is considered clayey.

In the first case, additives are needed to retain moisture. You can loosen heavy soil using coarse sand or bottom peat. Any type of soil will need nutritional supplements; the best ones are organic fertilizers.

Fertilization with manure

Animal waste products contain a full range of substances necessary for plants. This is why adding organic fertilizers makes the soil fertile. Any type of manure – cow, pig or horse – is applied to garden and garden crops. Attention! It is important to follow these rules:

  1. Fresh fertilizers can only be applied in the fall to empty areas, where there are no plantings, for example, in a vegetable garden. Manure in this form is an aggressive substance that is dangerous to plants. Therefore, it must be added to the soil in advance, 5–6 months before planting. During this time, it will be converted to a safe state, and nutrients will become available to plants. The additive not only serves as a top dressing, but also acts as a leavening agent for the garden soil.
  2. Rotted fertilizers can be used in the spring, during planting.
  • horse – 5–6 kg;
  • cow - 4–5 kg.

The amount of rotted manure is reduced by half. Pig manure is not recommended to be applied fresh, even in the fall, due to the high content of aggressive nitrogen in ammonia form. The fertilizer must be kept for at least a year until it completely rots. It is better to mix it with horse or cow milk or put it in compost.

Mulching with grass clippings

Can be used from early spring to late autumn. This type of soil fertilization is classified as MDU - slow-acting fertilizers. The use of mulch allows you to:

  1. Make the soil loose and soft in the garden and garden.
  2. Retain moisture by reducing evaporation.
  3. Provide constant feeding thanks to the gradual decomposition of the mulch.

Grass clippings are an effective loosening agent for heavy clay soils.

Planting plants with long roots

Proponents of organic farming recommend improving soil quality with the help of green manure. Plants are sown whose roots contain nodule bacteria that capture and fix nitrogen from the air. Thus, a natural, environmentally friendly fertilizer is obtained. Thanks to the powerful root system, green manure makes the soil crumbly and aerates it. This is especially important for heavy or peaty soils. To improve the structure and fertility of the soil, leguminous plants are most often used, for example, lupine, peas, alfalfa, vetch or beans. Even if your site has fertile soil, it needs to be improved periodically. To make the chernozem loose, it is also sown with green manure. This is more environmentally friendly than adding bulk additives and digging.

Green manure

Improving the soil is not a one-time event. You need to maintain optimal condition regularly. To do this, it is not necessary to purchase expensive fertilizers. You can use plant material that is available at each site:

  • mowed lawn grass;
  • weeded weeds;
  • clipped shoots;
  • wilted flowers, etc.

It's essentially garden waste, but can be turned into an effective fertilizer. Experienced gardeners offer useful tips on preparing green fertilizers. Here is one of them:

  • a large capacity container, for example a barrel, is filled two-thirds with crushed plant residues;
  • fill with water to the top;
  • leave for a week and a half, stirring daily.

Before feeding, the resulting concentrated solution is filtered and diluted in a ratio of 1:10.

other methods

To improve the structure of heavy soil, the easiest way is to use coarse-grained washed river sand. To make light soil from medium loam, you will need 21 kg/m2. This is about one and a half buckets with a volume of 10 liters. The sand is evenly distributed over the surface and dug to a depth of 20–25 cm, to the full bayonet of a shovel. When preparing a plant mixture for seedlings, sand is almost always used. It is mixed with peat and compost to obtain a light nutrient substrate. Fertilizers that contain calcium are good leavening agents:

  • slaked lime;
  • dolomite flour;
  • ash.

They are added to acidic soils to neutralize the pH level. Sometimes soil optimization on a site is a lengthy and costly process. It’s easier to take fertile soil from manufacturers who mix all the necessary components in advance.

Whether to improve the soil on the site yourself or add a ready-made mixture is up to everyone to decide for themselves. It depends on your financial capabilities and the amount of work.

The presence of loose, fertile soil on a plot is one of the main conditions for obtaining a rich harvest. It is important to understand that “loose” soil is well-structured, porous soil. To have such qualities, you should not always rely on natural processes; it is better to use some fairly simple techniques from experienced gardeners. With these little tricks The soil in the garden will always be loose.

Soil structure

Soil structure is its ability to break down into small pieces. Well-structured soil easily breaks down into small grains measuring 0.25-10 mm. The same definition applies to the concept of “loose soil”.

Soil structure includes 4 main components:

  • mineral base (50−60%);
  • organic matter (10%);
  • air (15−25%);
  • water (25−35%).

Loose soil is porous, it allows moisture and air to pass through well, so plants take root and develop better. Light loamy soils have almost ideal performance.

To check the condition of the soil in your area, it is enough to conduct a small test: take a small lump of dry earth in a shovel, toss it, catch it again with a shovel, and then examine the size of the parts into which the soil has crumbled. If they are more than 10-15 mm, then most likely the site has heavy, poorly structured clay soil, which requires some correction of the composition by the gardener.

Lineup changes

To transform clay soil into loose soil, you will need river sand, which must be evenly distributed over the surface. For 1 m² you will need 24 kg (about 15 l) of sand. After this, the soil should be dug up to a depth of 20–25 cm.

It would be useful to attract “helpers” to the site - earthworms, which in the course of their life activities loosen the soil well. In order for these invertebrates to settle on the site, it is enough to place a small compost heap on the territory or mulch the plants with organic materials (for example, rotted compost or dried mowed grass). You can also prepare a special infusion:

  • place the roots, stems and leaves of dandelions with a total weight of 1 kg into a container;
  • fill them with 10 liters of water;
  • leave to infuse for 10-14 days;
  • strain;
  • dilute with water in a ratio of 1:10.

Apricot Alyosha

This infusion should be watered over the soil, avoiding beds with beets and cabbage.

Manure and humus are not only excellent fertilizers, but also soil loosening agents. Fresh manure should be applied 6 months before planting. For example, this can be done in the fall after digging, distributing fertilizers over empty areas. The rotted product can be applied in the spring.

Fertilizer rate per 1 m²:

  • cow - fresh 4−5 kg, rotted 2−2.5 kg;
  • horse - fresh 5−6 kg, rotted 2.5−3 kg.

Humus, consisting of peat and rotted manure, can be further enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. This will significantly increase the effectiveness of humus both as a top dressing and as a leavening agent.

Humus needs to be distributed over the surface (20 kg will be needed per 1 m²). Then clay soil should be dug up, going 15-20 cm deep, and sandy soil, going 30 cm deep.

Another effective and at the same time safe method is mulching the soil with mowed grass. Mulching will retain moisture in the soil and protect it from the formation of compactions and crusts after watering and precipitation.

You should start mulching heavy clay soil in June, when it warms up well. The cut grass needs to be dried a little and then laid out in a layer of 7-8 cm. In the fall, the mulch should be dug up along with the soil, which will lead to the formation of humus.

You can also make fertilizer from grass clippings. Other plant material is also suitable for this purpose - leaves, flowers, weeds, tops. To prepare fertilizer, you need:

  • fill 2/3 of the barrel with chopped plant material;
  • fill with water (to the top of the barrel);
  • cover the barrel with film, making several holes in it for gas exchange;
  • leave to infuse for 7-10 days, stirring daily.

Pros and cons of high-yielding Khabarovsk apricot

The resulting mixture must be filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. After this, you can water the beds. The solution will quickly be absorbed by plants, protect their roots from pests and diseases, and also reduce the acidity of the soil and make the soil softer.