Natural agriculture in the garden from A to Z + VIDEO
Contents ✓
- ✓ NATURAL AGRICULTURE REALITY OR FANTASY?
- ✓ PRESCRIBED BY NATURE
- ✓ IN HEALTHY SOIL HEALTH AND PLANTS
- ✓ CHEMISTRY REST
- ✓ HEALTHY PLANT ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIC
- ✓ MANURE NEEDS TO BE APPLIED CORRECTLY!
- ✓ PERMANENT LINES
- ✓ WITHOUT OVERLOAD
- ✓ DIGGING MEANS DESTROYING!
- ✓ "I CHANGE A SHOVEL FOR A FLAT CUTTER"
- ✓ TRUST THE NATURE - REFUSED TO SMOK
- ✓ TAKE MULCHING
- ✓ GROW GREEN FERTILIZERS
- ✓ PRACTICE UNDERGROUND SOWING AND LANDING
- ✓ RESTORE THE ECOSYSTEM AT YOUR PLOT
- ✓ BREEDING RAINWORKS
- ✓ BIOLOGICAL EQUILIBRIUM AT THE SITE (EXPERIENCE OF ALEXANDER NATURAL)
- ✓ MULCH AND SIDERATES
- ✓ COMBINED LANDING
- ✓ COMBAT ORGANIC INSECTS
- ✓ Fighting with wheatgrass
- ✓ HOME GUMIREACTOR
- ✓ BREAD FEEDING
- ✓ NATURAL AGRICULTURE - BEGINNING. VIDEO
- ✓ NATURAL AGRICULTURE IS SIMPLE - VIDEO
NATURAL AGRICULTURE ON A PLOT WHERE TO START?
NATURAL AGRICULTURE REALITY OR FANTASY?
Natural, or as it is still not quite rightly called, natural agriculture has firmly entered our culture today. And we are only glad for this, because nothing can be more important for health than environmentally friendly products grown by our own hands. However, like all good things, this idea was picked up by businessmen who want to make money, who offer naive summer residents to literally forget everything they knew about farming before, and also throw away the shovel habitual for gardeners and buy flat-cutters and inefficient, with a mark-up from adherents of natural farming, but fertilizers and means of protection praised by them.
The very essence of natural farming is very close to us and, on the whole, it is true. But what is wrong is that such simple methods as mulching or sowing of green manure, which are also used in traditional agriculture, are presented as innovations.
On the other hand, I really feel uneasy when I see how cleanly it is being raked in our gardens and parks of foliage, exposing bare soil, which, having lost its natural mulch, quickly withers and petrifies. Plants begin to suffer from a lack of moisture and nutrients.
They should have returned with leaf litter, enriching the soil, but rise up in the form of smoke from fires, poisoning the air. This state of affairs is indeed incorrect and irresponsible. In many European countries, foliage is forbidden to burn. It is cleaned only where it really interferes (on sidewalks and roads), and composted, then sent to garden centers in the form of ready-made compost for plants.
Subsurface plowing with its replacement by surface cultivation was also invented for a long time, but not everywhere it is appropriate and took root. And here, too, agricultural intensification played a negative role. There was a lot of free and fertile land in those days, therefore the State Planning Commission was simply carried out at the lowest cost.
But at the same time there is nothing harmful in digging up the compacted soil, planting organic matter into it, or making a hole or ditch with a shovel for planting seedlings and seeds. Attempts by organists to prohibit the use of a shovel look like illiterate fanaticism, which they memorized and pass from mouth to mouth like a prayer.
In fairness, it should be noted that the same chemical fertilizers, so desperately rejected by the organists, do not do any harm at all when applied correctly.
Indeed, it would be ideal to use only environmentally friendly methods and means for plant protection. But, unfortunately, this is not always realistic and justified economically, and very often ineffective. In the conditions of an amateur site, it is somehow still possible to observe such often multiple treatments. But on large areas, the appropriateness of their use is often a big question.
But they can and should be applied, which is why we publish the experience of various authors, whose opinions are completely opposite. And this is quite natural. After all, there is a certain middle ground, in which you can use chemicals and biological products, depending on the appropriateness of their use in each case. That is how I see the future of agriculture in the coexistence and unification of resource-oriented technologies, and not in the pursuit of fanatical views, that something is harmful and bad, and that something is impossible, but good. Indeed, often, having heard advice about new organic thinking, gardeners simply lose their crops, relying on the effectiveness of organic remedies, or simply make banal mistakes in the development of new agricultural technology.
There are no ready-made recipes, because the conditions cannot be the same. And this, focusing on someone else's experience, should be remembered in the first place. It is this kind of experience that can be taken as a basis that this article is devoted to.
© Author: Denis TERENTYEV, biologist, agronomist.
Natural agriculture primarily means the rejection of the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, the respect for soil and nature, and the receipt of healthy food.
The propaganda of natural farming can even be called partly a kind of cult similar to religion. Since, in order to master all its methods, you need an understanding of the processes occurring in the soil. Organic farmers consider a personal plot from the position of its integrity and individuality. Therefore, in organic farming, more attention is paid to principles, rather than to individual agricultural practices.
So, do not wait in the first year that by starting to apply organic methods, you will immediately achieve a positive effect. At first, it is enough just to reduce the use of pesticides and wait until a natural ecosystem appears on the site.
For natural farming to be truly cost-effective and beneficial for both sides of the soil, on the one hand, and the farmer, on the other, a number of rules must be adhered to. If you thought that. scattering the beds on the plot of mulch, you already began to engage in organic farming, then you were deeply mistaken. To really begin to engage in organic farming, it is necessary to clearly fulfill the following conditions:
1. OPTIMUM AND CONSTANT HUMIDITY
Humidity for natural farming is perhaps one of the most important conditions. After all, if the soil becomes too dry, it becomes much denser than normally moistened soil. Life in dry soil practically freezes, the decomposition of organic matter stops. Conversely, with an excess of moisture in the soil, everything begins to choke. And in general, with an excess of moisture in the soil, the process of siloing, known to everyone, begins. In the same way, we are kvasim for winter. If sauerkraut is very to our taste, then this is by no means the case with plants that have to live in such an environment. So the first condition of organic farming is optimal and constant humidity.
2. IN THE SOIL A SYSTEM OF AIR CAVITIES AND CHANNELS RELATED TO THE ATMOSPHERE MUST BE PRESENT
To begin with, let's figure out why we need oxygen in agriculture in general and in organic in particular. We already know from school that oxygen is the basis of life on Earth. There will be nothing without oxygen. Well, why did we decide that the vital processes of the essential bacteria, microorganisms, and worms will continue in the soil when there is no air, and together with air and, accordingly, oxygen? And that's not all. Without oxygen, a number of very important chemical reactions, which are also necessary in organic, and not only agriculture, cannot take place. The conversion of nitrogen into digestible forms (nitrification) does not occur, acids that dissolve phosphorus, potassium and other trace elements do not work. And, finally, without subsurface cavities and canals, the water we need to comply with the first paragraph will not be able to get into the soil. Move on.
3. SUMMER SOIL SHOULD BE ALWAYS COOL AIR
Here, many may have a counter-question: why should the soil be colder, because we constantly think how to warm the soil so that shoots appear faster? Everything is absolutely correct. No one says that the soil should be below freezing. Just the temperature of the soil should be below air temperature. And precisely because of this, we will be able to create the optimal temperature regime for plants, in which nitrifying bacteria can function normally, and dew can collect in the soil on the walls of the channels, which gives twice as much water as rain.
4. EXCESS OF COAL ACID (HCO3) FOR DISSOLUTION OF MINERALS
Carbonic acid is formed by combining carbon dioxide and water. Without carbonic acid, the subsoil does not release nutrients into the solution. And for this to happen, combining water and carbon dioxide, the first three points of the conditions must be completely present in the soil.
It is precisely when all four conditions are met that the best environment for plant roots is formed, which in turn leads to a several-fold increase in the yield of all crops, without exception. This can be achieved using a number of simple tricks: you should constantly mulch the soil and forget about deep digging and plowing the land forever.
Are you completely satisfied with the results of your work in the garden? It’s rare to meet people who would really be satisfied with their crops and who would not be too overworked on the ground! But this does not mean that they are not: there are such people, and there are more and more of them every year. They were able to break away from the usual stereotypes and norms of doing homestead farming and as a result began to receive stably high, outstanding crops.
The plants have a great hidden potential, much greater than we are accustomed to imagine, based on everyday practical experience.
The Guinness Book of Records tells about the extraordinary possibilities of our well-known vegetable crops. According to the Guinness, the heaviest documented beet in the history of the Earth had a mass of 13 kg, zucchini 48 kg, cabbage 52 kg, and melon pulled all 118. The pumpkin’s record circumference reached 3, 63 m, and onion - “only” 66 cm Imagine ?!
Now try to imagine a cucumber stretched out at 1, 83 m and a “three-meter-tall” carrot. The world's tallest tomato bush has grown to 16, 3 m, that is, higher than a 5-story house! As for the yield from the bush, for example, for potatoes it amounted to 233 kg, and for tomatoes for the season -5 pieces!
Of course, all these vegetables, the “King Kong” of the plant world, are more food for thought than food: you can hardly eat that. what was grown to please the Guinness Book of Records. But vegetables grown with love by our caring hands can really be a guarantee of their high quality!
See also: What is the "technology of natural farming" and reviews about it
PRESCRIBED BY NATURE
The goal of any gardener is to grow crops of the highest quality and quantity. But why not everyone succeeds? Indeed, the potential capabilities of plants, as shown by scientific research and practical experience, are so great that against their background real results seem incredibly modest to us. One of the main reasons for failure is usually called poor soil quality. At the same time, it is generally accepted that "soil poverty is not a vice of the farmer."
In order to prevent "soil depletion due to the cultivation of vegetables", in old manuals for gardeners and gardeners, it is most often recommended to use mineral fertilizers as the main special measures. It is believed that their greatest advantage is that they consist of easily digestible mineral substances by plants and are in the form most accessible to them. Thus, in its benefits and effects on plant organisms, mineral fertilizers can be compared with artificial vitamins that doctors prescribe to increase the immunity of the human body. But organic farmers consider the recommendations to use chemical “vitamins” for the soil to be unreasonable, instead of using organic matter intended for it by nature itself. Here is a simple analogy. Try to completely remove vegetables and fruits from your diet, and instead use only synthetic vitamins. How long will you stretch on them?
But this is exactly what we do with our garden if we deprive it of its organic matter of the natural fertility of the soil, the source of its vitality.
FARMER FUND
Many gardeners after harvesting carefully remove all organic matter from their plots. They burn, considering unnecessary garbage, what is the basis of nutrition for the soil. Thus, the natural mechanism for restoring the fertility of the earth, provided by nature itself, breaks down. But the level of soil fertility can be compared with the current bank account, which it is advisable never to withdraw completely. If you do not take special measures, the annual cultivation of vegetables can lead to rapid depletion of the soil. Depleted land is sick, it is not able to give a full crop.
A logical question arises: is it possible by natural means to affect the quality and quantity of crops? Of course, it is possible by creating conditions for plants that would stimulate them to increase productivity and improve crop quality. The healthy lifestyle of our vegetable crops, their balanced diet and “positive habits” are a guarantee of obtaining truly full-fledged fruits. In addition, the first step towards the beginning of a new life using the methods of natural farming is the simplest and most effective. It consists in mulching and brings such benefits that most of us, due to our experience and beliefs about agricultural labor, are even afraid to dream about.
Nevertheless, nature allows us to realize all our (even the wildest) garden dreams. What we advise you!
IN HEALTHY SOIL HEALTH AND PLANTS
Chemistry does not solve the problem of diseases and pests, because it makes no sense to deal with the consequences, but the causes of all our garden misfortunes must be eliminated. From the point of view of organic farmers, the main mistake of the adherents of traditional chemical farming is that they constantly struggle with the consequences of their inattentive attitude to the soil, instead of listening to the advice of nature itself. take care of the soil as befits the source
rich, full-fledged crops. Not an eternal (because meaningless) fight against pests, diseases and weeds, but constant care for improving soil fertility is required for us in the cultivation of truly full-fledged crops.
That there were no problems.
It seems unusual that the main thing is not a plant, but the soil. Organic gardeners believe that if the soil is in a good, healthy state, then all other problems will be solved by themselves, that is, healthy, productive plants will grow on it. But here it is necessary to clarify that when we talk about healthy, productive soil, we mean what exactly is called “living soil”. An organic gardener considers the soil to be a living organism and cares for it in the same way as he would care for any pet. Living soil is a kind of domestic animal, and it essentially needs the same conditions of existence as any animal: food, water, air, light, heat, etc.
Healthy soil is an indispensable condition for the growth of healthy plants, which are naturally resistant to diseases, pests and other adverse environmental factors. “Feed the soil and it feeds your plants!” this is the main rule in organic farming. It makes no sense to feed the plants if the soil is hungry and even more so if it is sick. Edward Faulkner (Plowman Madness) in this regard
CHEMISTRY REST
For people with small plots of land (summer residents, gardeners and small farmers), natural farming is a real way to grow organic food. As experience shows, the transition to this type of management is not particularly difficult for them and pays off more than in the very near future. “Chemical addiction” is more likely a diagnosis of farmers cultivating vast tracts of land. And then, judging by the example of Western farms, which switched to the rails of organic technologies, this problem is fixable for them. Its elimination is facilitated by the refusal to grow monocultures and plowing the land with a turnover of the reservoir.
At present, the list of techniques traditionally used in personal plots by summer residents and rural residents is quite extensive: agricultural, chemical, physical, mechanical and biological. But, unfortunately, it is precisely the biological method that many of us for some reason do not take seriously. Nevertheless, it deserves much more trust, because, according to experts, in small household plots the biological method of protecting plants from pests and diseases can completely replace the chemical one!
Organization of work at sites in organic farming is based on the principles of natural ecosystems. Experience shows that artificially created ecosystems (they are also called agrobiocenoses) allow gardeners and gardeners to solve the problems of soil fertility and the control of harmful organisms by the biological method, resorting to the help of numerous inhabitants of our site. Well, as for chemistry, in this case we have no choice but to “dismiss her under the article for gross systematic violations of the law of natural ecosystems”!
HEALTHY PLANT ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIC
In organic farming, we fertilize throughout the year. Measuredly. Leisurely. As these or other organic materials "float" into our hands.
Organic fertilizers trigger soil self-healing processes. This is their main difference from chemical (mineral) fertilizers, which, on the contrary, acting on the basis of the drug, destroy the integrity of the biochemical and physical processes of soil formation. Organics and mineral water are two different things; their purpose is different from each other, like heaven and earth. If mineral fertilizers are intended to feed plants that lack nutrients as a result of “exhaustion and fatigue” of the soil, then organic fertilizers are needed to nourish soil living creatures. That she herself fed our plants.
“One of our innate traits is the ineradicable feeling that we can help plants, that they cannot grow without us. This seems strange, but we can’t help a plant in the natural environment with anything. So, in an artificial environment you just need to copy the natural. " And a little quote from this book: “It seems ridiculous to research.
Organics is a living environment for healthy plants and at the same time something like a restaurant where the plants feed. The microorganisms in it, like some other soil workers, are “cooks” who process organic substances and “prepare” inorganic ones from them, as well as “waiters” who deliver these delicious and healthy dishes right to the customer’s feet. Directly to the roots of our favorite plants.
MANURE NEEDS TO BE APPLIED CORRECTLY!
In modern regenerative agriculture, manure has ceased to be considered an ideal option for replenishing land with organic matter. The introduction into the soil of this most famous and most popular organic fertilizer in our time is quite a problematic and sometimes risky act. In order not to be unfounded, I want to give a few arguments confirming this idea. So, 8 facts are not in favor of manure:
1. Fertilizing land with manure is a very time-consuming process, especially considering the high average rate of application of this fertilizer, about 3 centners per hundred.
Is it possible to grow healthy plants. mimicking the conditions where all plants are healthy. This is the same as advising the mother to investigate whether it is possible to breastfeed her baby .... It took me seven years to free myself from the usual view of the soil. It turned out that it was enough to introduce organic matter into the surface layer of the soil so that almost all the difficulties disappeared, as if by magic. ”
2. The high cost of manure and the relatively high cost of its transportation.
3. Fresh manure is toxic material (about 60% of the seeds of vegetable crops, as a rule, die if unripened manure is introduced into the soil immediately before the elk).
4. During storage, the value of manure as fertilizer is lost (for example, for 3 months of storage, nitrogen loss in it exceeds 50%).
5. The presence of a huge number of weed seeds (1 ton of manure may contain more than 10 million seeds that maintain high germination).
6. Often illegal immigrants of various kinds hide and travel in manure, for example, such as Khrushchev and Medvedka.
7. If the manure is fresh, then it always contains pathogenic microorganisms removed from animal organisms, and many of them pose a direct threat to human health.
8. And, finally, this fact: in our time, not all manure can be considered environmentally friendly fertilizer. Often it contains harmful chemicals, and more recently, genetically modified components have been added. The fact is that over the past half century, the entire system of keeping animals raised for commercial purposes has changed dramatically, and therefore manure is now not the same as it was before. Our grandfathers and grandmothers could safely fertilize the land with them; they received it from their own cows, pigs, horses and birds. Then they fed their animals with what grew on their land, and then there was no talk of chemistry or GMOs.
Of course, you can and should use manure to fertilize the site, but only if you are confident in its quality. Manure is a classic organic fertilizer. Compared to mineral water, it has a long-term positive effect on the soil, improving the living conditions of soil inhabitants and increasing the fertility of the land due to the nutrients available in it.
By the way, in addition to traditional composting, for the "cure" of manure, you can use the enzymatic drug Oksizin. It is made on the basis of natural raw materials by fermentation of sugar beets, does not contain components harmful to humans and the environment. Nevertheless, any chemistry can envy his abilities: in just 3 weeks he turns fresh manure into a full-fledged organic fertilizer without pests, pathogens and weed seeds. Contrary to the catchphrase “the promised 3 years are expected”, in this case you do not have to wait 2-3 years until the manure ripens itself.
AUTUMN LEAVES
Burning fallen leaves means not doing business. It’s the same as squandering the “gold and currency reserves” of nature. After all, leaves are also a full crop!
Even if they are, as is commonly believed, “foci of a primary infection,” you still should not rush to destroy them in the fall. Indeed, at this time of the year, pests and diseases do not pose any danger to the garden. The fallen leaves are needed by nature in a special quality - this is the winter “shawl” of the earth (winter mulch for the garden). And if you are still afraid to leave them in the garden, then put them on a compost heap, so you get the perfect fertilizer for the garden. And even if, after composting, pests and diseases of the garden remain in the garden, they are safe.
It seems that everyone knows and understands this. And whenever they talk about it in the circle of gardeners and gardeners, everyone starts to nod understandingly. But here comes another autumn and again this valuable fertilizer burns in the bonfires ... Luxurious outfits of autumn nature, her wealth, which she is generously ready to share with us, are on fire again.
When the leaves burn, the manuscripts of Nature of the genius author burn, who created the greatest work called Life ...
See also: The application of natural farming technology in a conventional garden
WEED IS A FLOWER GROWING AT THE SAME PLACE
There is nothing superfluous in nature, each plant, like any living organism, occupies its own ecological niche, and is called a weed because of its inappropriate location, where the planted culture prevents us from growing. Weeds should be tackled so as not to violate the integrity of our garden as a combination of species growing on it. It is necessary to create agrocenosis, in which all plants contribute to the development of each other.
Weeds are also a source of organic replenishment in the garden. They are raised by Mother Nature herself in order to heal her open wounds on the body of the earth, which appeared as a result of our management.
If your life goes on in an endless fight against weeds, then this information is for you! Installation on a sterile garden without a single weed is a relic of our dark past, hopeless from endless garden everyday life. From almost nothing, people made "problem number 1." But, as they say, there is a way out of every, even hopeless, situation, or even two. For example, mulching the beds or sowing some green fertilizers, such as buckwheat, as well as pea-oat and vetch-oat mixture, can solve this problem easily and naturally. Under the reliable cover of a thick layer of organics and live mulch, weed growth almost stops.
Weeds benefit more than harm. Do not burn weed weeds: they must become a breeding ground for our cultivated plants. After all, the grass in the garden does not grow just like that: the earth itself grows it and it does it for a specific purpose in order to create humus. Therefore, weeds can rightly, without exaggeration, be called soil orderlies. The soil loves when the cut plants, both weed and cultivated, are immediately laid out on the beds as mulch. And if their presence in the garden is nevertheless for some reason undesirable for the gardener (for example, due to the presence of weed seeds, infection with late blight or other infection, or the presence of pests), then it would be good to compost them. Compost is a favorite treat of the soil!
LEAVING A PART OF UNPAID NATURE
Under the influence of the ideas of eco-settlers, it has now become fashionable to leave a small plot of land in your garden or garden where wild plants characteristic of the area would grow. Of course, there is no place for quarantine weeds. However, the benefits of such a natural oasis on the site are obvious.
Firstly, local plant species and animals are preserved here, among which there are garden protectors, for example, lizards, hedgehogs, populations of useful arachnids and insects, such as black fast-running ground beetles, ground beetles, ladybugs. So many spiders, unpleasant to many, spread their web of hunting networks in the garden area where the human foot does not step, catch a lot of flying pests. It is useful in such a plot to put a bunch of brushwood in it hedgehogs can make their nest.
Flowering weeds attract insects pollinating garden plants.
If the land on the site has long been cultivated, then you will have to create a site of wild grass on it yourself. To do this, you can take seeds from wild plants, and it is better to transplant them immediately with a lump of soil from wild places to your garden. You can populate the site with wild plants at any time of the year. They are very resistant to adverse conditions, so for successful survival they will be quite enough to water during planting.
The main thing is to achieve such a diversity of species that they constantly bloomed and attract beneficial insects. Among specific examples, various types of wormwood, tansy, wild carrots, quinoa, burdock, nettle, wild sorrel should grow on the natural site; you can dig bushes of various medicinal plants outside the city or plant them with seeds and plant seedlings. Since childhood, the beloved dandelion, which looks great on the lawns, is a weed.
Appearing in the garden, this plant will take away moisture and nutrients. However, growing in the aisles of the garden, it will brighten up its rapid flowering. The yellow flower baskets themselves can be eaten, many pets love dandelion. Or, for example, shepherd’s bag, it is a useful medicinal plant, young rosettes of this plant can be used as food for salads. And there are many such examples. Therefore, weeds should be friends. After all, they have many useful properties, many of them have important medicinal value and are suitable for food.
Often, cultivated plants can also pass into the category of weeds due to their aggressive self-seeding or rapid growth. Popular spicy aromatic plants, such as mint, lemon balm, tarragon, grow rapidly, capturing a vast territory. Not inferior to them in distribution and garden violets, poppies, aquilegia, cuffs, garden acid and phlox. Liana plants (wisteria, ivy, mountain clematis, etc.) add a certain color to the decoration of fences, verandas, but over the course of several years they can grow so much that they will already bring a lot of worries. Periwinkle and geranium are excellent ground-blooded plants. But if you do not limit the freedom of their growth, then they will quickly supersede your crops.
Nevertheless, meadow and forest grasses and flowers are considered classic weeds. They are a real storehouse of unique and healthy plants. Firstly, they are edible and rich in vitamins and minerals: quinoa, nettle, strawberry spinach, and chafing. Secondly, useful! How many of them are medicinal plants. Thirdly, they are beautiful: bindweed, various types of violets, sour.
The weeds are edible: quinoa, nettle, choking, forest buzzard.
Some weeds are a green fertilizer: clover, nettle, clover, alfalfa. They improve the quality of garden compost.
PERMANENT LINES
The construction of ridges on which the human foot will not step is the simplest and most natural way of organizing work on a personal plot. A decrease in the density of the earth by 10% leads to an increase in yield by 20-40%. According to the system of voids, canals and passages, the root system develops faster in plants, which positively affects the early harvest. The void system provides roots with air, it maintains an optimal balance of air and moisture, which eliminates rotting of the roots in frequent rains.
Adhering to the principles of rational "urban planning", you can significantly increase the yield of vegetable crops without much difficulty.
How to increase the fertile layer on the site? A few years ago, there was only one “correct” answer to this question: to dig and the deeper the better! Recently, many people have been able to verify in practice that this very logical advice is actually not as effective as it seems. Nature has its own logic: "To deepen the fertile layer of the earth, you need to raise the beds!".
Permanent beds (sometimes called permanent) consist, as a rule, of two rows of the main culture. At first glance, this method of garden planning may seem extremely uneconomical, since reducing the number of rows in the beds to two, we double the number of paths in the garden. It seems to us that by increasing the number of paths, we are reducing the useful landing area. But this is not so, because the paths between the beds are the same row spacing, they differ from the usual row spacing only in that we walk along them more. Vegetables in such beds are much more productive compared to those that huddle in the usual 3-4 rows. Plants in the extreme rows always feel increased attention to themselves, they are always the first, in the foreground. On two-row beds, each outer row is the first row. Plants in these rows are less susceptible to disease, and also. when we deal only with extreme plants, it’s easier for us to deal with pests.
Permanent beds are created once and serve forever. They do not need to be dug. They do not need a mineral water. Plants that are fortunate enough to grow on them receive more light and moisture than those that grow in a traditional garden. Here who was not lucky in this case, it is only weeds: in such beds they become more accessible and vulnerable.
Try to determine the length and width of the permanent beds so that everything is rational: paths at right angles, convenient approaches for watering the garden and harvesting, etc. The recommended width of the beds is from 70 cm to 1 m. This is the bed, to the middle of which you you can easily get your hands on it. As for the width of the paths, here the main criterion is this: a garden trolley freely moves along the main path, and vegetable crates easily become in the “inter-rows”, this is somewhere around 70 cm.
If we want to get rich, full-fledged crops without chemistry and hard work, we must turn our garden into a continuous compost pile, on which plants would always feel comfortable and healthy. Our plants are that. what they eat means our task is to provide them with an abundance of organic matter. Dispose of all unnecessary organic materials that you have in the row spacing throughout the year, starting in the fall.
Create an oasis for your garden crops in constant narrow beds that would never be "stepped on a man’s foot." And the plants, feeling themselves the full owners of these outstanding beds, will generously thank you for your attention.
WITHOUT OVERLOAD
Deeply sowed in our minds, the attitude that “without digging, well, no way!” Blinds the eyes of millions of people. And this despite the fact that digging the garden is not so easy work. It requires physical strength and, as you know, takes a lot of health. It’s sad, but true: thousands of people as a result of the “battle for the harvest” left their own health on it, “digging” for heart attacks and problems with the spine. And it is unlikely that they managed to solve the problem of soil fertility in such a traditionally grandfather way! If we are forced to put our own health on the altar of victory, is this not a signal that we are doing something wrong? Do we need victory at such a high price?
You may think that mechanized tillage is much more effective than "melee". But this is not so. If we take into account the final, long-term result, and not the momentary benefit, then in fact the use of heavy equipment does the soil more harm than good. Since the advent of the plow, no one has yet been able to convincingly prove the feasibility of plowing the earth with a turnover of the reservoir. But for some reason, in this way it is customary to cultivate the land in our country. But in Europe and America for many years such a technique has not been produced: "Why let it out to your own detriment?" And in one of the Canadian agricultural universities there is a poster: "One German who invented the plow did more harm to the planet than all Germans did during World War II."
The main creators of soil fertility, as you know, are soil animals, but digging for them is a real natural disaster. It destroys the natural habitat of beneficial microorganisms, insects and earthworms, constantly "making" the soil. In a matter of minutes, the digger turns their house into ruins, which they carefully erected for several months. And weathering and dehydration (soil degradation processes that always go hand in hand with digging) complete their dirty deed and practically do not leave “stone on stone” from their home. Many soil inhabitants die as a result of life-threatening conditions for them in upside down land. who manage to survive, once again forced to start from scratch. They are deleted from the process of creating soil fertility.
DIGGING MEANS DESTROYING!
A dug up garden is like a city completely destroyed. Do not think that this is just a metaphor: all soil inhabitants can fully live and work only at certain soil levels. Each garden is a kind of high-rise building, with the only difference being that it is built not up, but down, or, more precisely, deep into the garden. During the season, the soil inhabitants erect a whole city of high-rise buildings on our site and carefully build the infrastructure in it ...
The dug up garden is a city in ruins. Where can its unfortunate inhabitants find time and energy in order to create a “national product” of the soil state, which we call fertility? There is nowhere to live! Therefore, all these garden residents, the “townspeople”, who suffered as a result of the unreasonable human activities, rush to restore their destroyed houses. And not always they have enough time to cope with their misfortune. When digging is carried out in the fall, most homeless microorganisms will die in the coming winter from frost, and in the case of spring plowing, general mobilization will not help them either: the bulk of the community, the "bulk" of surviving microbes, will helplessly die in early summer under the sun and in the absence of moisture ... Remember: digging the earth, you destroy someone’s world!
If we rely on years of scientific research and centuries-old observations, we cannot help but come to the conclusion that the plowed land loses its fertility every year. Because humus, the basis of soil fertility, is not created by simple mixing of the earth, it accumulates under the influence of many natural factors, and it takes 1 to 100 years for nature to accumulate a fertile layer of earth 300 cm thick. But in order to destroy it, a person with a shovel needs only a few minutes. Let's think about this fact! If we are reluctant to deal with a constant, stable decline in soil fertility, we must learn rationality from nature. And it’s not thoughtless to turn the earth “upside down”, as is common with many of us.
IF NOT TO DROP, THEN?
Digging requires a lot of effort, time, and often additional material costs. Even the most zealous advocates of traditional agricultural technologies, diligently doing the old-fashioned thing that is generally not worth doing, are also forced to agree with this.
The question is, why complicate your life with a split if you can not dig? Moreover, surface (plane-cutting) tillage naturally leads to the restoration of biotic bonds as close as possible to environmental conditions, and thus automatically solves a good half of the problems associated with numerous pests and various diseases that arise as a result of digging.
See also: A garden for organic farming - my advice and feedback
DEEP PENETRATION
If you look closely, it turns out that it’s not so superficial this is our “surface treatment”! When we stop digging, we have the opportunity to cultivate the earth even deeper than the length of the shovel bayonet (about 30 cm). Neither a shovel, nor even a plow can compare as a "deep dig" with the roots of cultivated plants and weeds growing on our site, not only much deeper than "digging", but also with the benefit of the earth! As an illustration, we give an example from the book “Life in the soil”: “Root systems of plants have a very strong effect on the chemical composition and physical properties of the soil, its permeability to water and air, on the formation of humic substances and their distribution. The roots are involved in the decomposition of minerals in the soil, supply the majority of soil microbes and animals with organic matter ...
The soil layers closest to the root, the so-called rhizosphere, serve as an arena of violent microbiological activity of bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and microscopic animals ... Microbes are attracted not only by organic substances secreted by the roots, but also by the roots themselves, living and dying. And animals are not indifferent to the microbes themselves, with which they feed. ”
So, if we do not want to deal with a constant, stable decline in soil fertility, we must learn rationality from nature. And do not mindlessly turn the earth "upside down"!
"I CHANGE A SHOVEL FOR A FLAT CUTTER"
The solution to the problems associated with the destruction of the fertile layer of the earth due to "deep digging" lies, of course, on the surface. The transition to surface tillage is the main, primary condition in organic regenerative agriculture. As the experience of many thousands of people caring for their garden using organic technology shows, the Fokin manual plane cutter is best suited for this. Its main (but not the only) advantage is that it allows you to work without much interference in the internal world of the soil.
"ONE AND A half EARTHCOPE"
By abandoning unnecessary and harmful shoveling of the earth, you can increase your efficiency by at least one and a half times. It is not only about the time when others are digging, and you are not, but also about when others will be forced to eliminate the consequences of their inattentive attitude to the earth. After all, to you, unlike them. it will no longer be necessary to fertilize, water, fight weeds, diseases and pests. By preserving the conditions that are natural for the life of soil organisms at the site, you will thereby create the most favorable regime for vegetables growing on the site.
TRUST THE NATURE - REFUSED TO SMOK
This activity is for those who are looking for extra work for themselves, because digging is not only difficult, but also inefficient. Fortunately, this labor service, which millions of gardeners have condemned themselves for many years, is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Today, more and more people realize that plowing (in the literal and figurative sense of the word) is not so necessary as it was recently charged to us. So, if you want to make your life easier and win, feel free to switch to surface tillage. For example, my garden has not been digging for several years, however, it is always dug up. Numerous soil animals help me in this, for which farming and digging is their natural direct duty. The purpose of life.
TAKE MULCHING
Many gardeners often complain: how much time and effort they have to spend on providing themselves with consistently high yields of vegetable crops — what are the only cost of watering and weeding!
Meanwhile, there is one uncomplicated crop of vegetable crops, which is very reliable agrotechnical of which only watering and weeding are worth it! Reception worthy of application in every garden plot, without exception. It helps many people over the years significantly reduce labor costs, while increasing productivity. It's about mulching (sheltering) the soil.
Thanks to mulching, we can create a comfortable living environment for our cultures in our climate. At least, with well-covered beds of your week-long absence from the garden, vegetables will not be noticed even in the heat of July. With its help radically (once and for all!) There is no need for loosening the soil. You will never need to fluff up the earth again if you cover it with mulch. In addition, a thick layer of mulch almost stops the growth of weeds. It is the most reliable shelter for soil in the beds, protecting it from negative attacks of the atmospheric front. Mulch provides food and shelter to the soil inhabitants, who are happy to enrich the soil with nutrients necessary for the functioning of healthy plants.
Without mulch, this means either without a crop, or without rest. The only option so that with the crop, and without much difficulty it is only with mulch!
GROW GREEN FERTILIZERS
Any gardener can plant siderata on his plot. They save both time and effort, since they solve several problems at once: heal and protect the soil, increase fertility, and even by attracting beneficial insects to the site and releasing certain substances (phytoncides), they reduce the number of pests. It is also important that siderata is a light fertilizer: introduced seeds, and there is no need to tear, dragging manure in large quantities. In this case, most of the concerns associated with increasing fertility are taken by nature itself.
Reference by topic: Organic farming on the site and increasing fertility - great tips
PRACTICE UNDERGROUND SOWING AND LANDING
Winter sowing allows you to get decent crops while reducing labor costs. Firstly, landing is done in late autumn or winter, when there is no intense seasonal load, because of which, as always, there is not enough time. Secondly, winter crops require minimal watering. Nature itself again takes care of this in the early spring. And thirdly, winter plants get excellent hardening. They are healthier compared to those that were planted at the usual time, which means that they do not require special care associated with the treatment of diseases and pest control.
DELEGATE AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY
Entrust the protection of your garden to “professionals” and you will again save a lot of time and effort.
Who in nature inhibits the reproduction of insects? The answer is obvious: other insects, birds and animals. If they weren’t, no chemistry would save us! .. Judge for yourself. The ability to reproduce harmful insects is enormous. For example, a single female aphid aphid weighing less than 1 mg reproduces so many offspring that, provided it was fully surviving after 4-5 months, it would weigh 800 million tons (and the strength of insects, as you know, in their quantity!). And the descendants of one housefly, if they were not prevented from breeding, would have flooded the entire globe with a layer of flies more than 5 meters thick within 14 months. There are many more such frightening examples. The number of pests is relatively rarely out of control, because in nature it is restrained by the so-called natural enemies.
RESTORE THE ECOSYSTEM AT YOUR PLOT
"How everything is running!". Provided that an ecosystem has been launched on the site, 90% of all garden problems are solved without our participation on their own. The remaining 10% are not problems as such. Because the ecosystem garden can successfully resist the adverse effects of the external environment, such as drought, water-wind erosion and pest attacks. Such
"The miracle of agricultural art" is called permaculture, the eternal, continuous development of the garden, to the typy of natural plant communities, which does not require constant energy expenditure on the part of man. Permaculture includes the following elements: multi-tiered green spaces, a wide variety of species and varietal composition of plants (including wild ones), the presence of perennials and some other elements.
The right start is half the battle. The first step towards restoring the ecosystem may be to plant a hedge. If you enclose the entire site or at least one of its sides with two or three rows of ornamental and berry bushes around the perimeter, you will create the most favorable regime for your faithful allies in raising rich crops without the chemistry and hard work of birds, small mammals and useful insects. An indisputable fact that the hedge reliably protects the garden from the invasion of six, four and two-legged uninvited guests.
However, do not forget about the main thing: not the external form of the garden. and the internal content of the personality of the farmer determines the stability of the infield to adverse factors. The identity of the farmer is the center of a closed ecosystem, its soul. Try to consider in this philosophical postulate a practical component that can help in the process of land reform in your area. After all, the garden is a mirror of the soul of the farmer, which means that it largely depends on the person’s inner world, on his awareness and approach to work on earth.
The purpose of worms in nature is to constantly create land and feed our plants. By passing organic waste through themselves, they enrich the soil with their own enzymes, as well as micro and macro elements that our plants need so much. Thus, worms turn biomass into biohumus-living earth.
Earthworm excrement, the so-called coprolites, is a concentrate of essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium. With a sufficient number of earthworms in the soil, the need for mineral fertilizers disappears. Moreover, in coprolites, these nutrients are in the most accessible form for consumption by plants. Plants easily and quickly absorb the nutrients that enter the soil from the body of worms, because they are in an easily digestible biologically active form.
Plants do not feed on organics; they feed only on minerals dissolved in water. And these substances produce worms.
Moreover, worms not only feed our plants, providing them with micro and macro elements, but also create optimal conditions for the growth of healthy plants with stable immunity. They disinfect the soil: they destroy the pathogenic microflora and cleanse it of toxic substances such as radionuclides and heavy metals.
Worms reduce the acidity of the soil, alkalizing it inside your own body. They are doing a great job turning the earth into a porous structure. This land has a perfect air and water balance that cannot be reproduced with a shovel or plow. Nutrients are best distributed both in the upper layers of the soil and throughout the entire depth. Plant roots feel at ease in such land, nothing prevents their healthy growth and nutrition.
Contrary to the idle opinion of some inhabitants, worms cannot bite off a piece of a living plant and thereby harm the plant (they don’t even have teeth). They process dead plant organics, swallowing it with the earth. Worms are harmless, they do no harm to the plants growing on our beds, and bring only benefit. Therefore, there should be many worms on the site. Lots of.
The number of worms per site depends on many factors. The presence of organic materials has the most beneficial effect on their growth. In addition, they are extremely sensitive to the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides. And they are massively killed when digging ...
BREEDING RAINWORKS
There are many types of earthworms. There are also special commercial species that are recommended for cultivation for agricultural purposes. The most famous red California worms and "prospectors". But we still recommend that you pay special attention to breeding the most common earthworms that already live in your garden.
It is generally accepted that ordinary earthworms are not as productive as commercial ones. But not everything is so simple. Local earthworms are more resistant to negative environmental factors, and therefore require less attention from us and
care. They do not die in the winter. They are most adapted to environmental factors, which means they are the most powerful. They have the highest genetic potential, capable of producing the maximum level of childbearing in a minimum amount of time. In addition, they are completely free.
In any homestead, subject to some simple conditions, a very sharp increase in the worm population can be caused during one garden season. The effect of this will persist and even intensify every year.
In order for the worms to feel more comfortable on our site, you do not need to do anything special and complicated. Here are some simple tips:
1. Refuse the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides. The fertilizer produced by the worms will be more than enough to meet the needs of all crops growing on the site. The vermicompost fertilizer produced by worms is not inferior, and in some respects it significantly exceeds mineral water. This is a natural fertilizer that no chemistry can compete with. Mineral fertilizers are fatal to worms, as are poisons. If there is a need to use pesticides, then it is better to use their biological counterparts.
2. Refuse digging. When digging a site with a turnover of the formation, the soil structure is disturbed, it experiences a deficit of moisture and air, which negatively affects the life process of all soil inhabitants. In addition, worms, having appeared on the surface as a result of digging, become easy prey for predators. Instead of digging the ground, it’s easier, faster, and better to plant it with some green manure.
3. Constantly replenish the beds with organic matter. Mulch as much as possible. Mulch is an ideal environment for living and the most favorable place for the successful work of our “workaholics”. It will also help maintain optimal humidity. Despite the fact that the earthworm has as many as 5 hearts, it does not have a single lung: it breathes skin and dies quietly with a lack of moisture (that is, it simply dries).
OUR HEROES
Earthworms are almost omnivorous, but they may experience weaknesses for certain types of food. At one time, Charles Darwin observed the formation of special eating habits and preferences in earthworms. They can even develop into a passion for gourmet food, so changing the eating habits takes some time and gradualness.
The best way to solve this problem is to provide earthworms with the greatest variety of food. When all kinds of organics are plentiful, worms become less pretentious and less picky about food choices. Glutton Earthworm with a capital letter. But the irrepressible appetite of the earthworm is a habit that is useful in every respect. He works tirelessly every day and, mind you, does it completely free. For the food!
A true hero of labor, he works almost the whole year, and only in late autumn moves to the lower layers of the earth, where, hibernating, they peacefully winter until the new labor spring.
An important feature in the cultivation of garden worms is the following fact: the rate of their natural resettlement is not more than one meter per year (and this despite the fact that they can overcome such a distance in just one minute in search of food!). This means: worms are not very disposed to migrations, they are more prone to a settled lifestyle. They are as if attached to the house and want their children to be born in this house in which they were born.
Since worms do not reproduce very quickly under adverse conditions, they need our help and protection. But when creating favorable living conditions with plenty of food, one worm per season can acquire more than a hundred descendants. Each of them in a month grows up and enters into a violent labor activity.
Worms marry throughout the season. True, in summer their activity decreases markedly if the soil dries up. Therefore, one of the primary tasks of the gardener should be to maintain high soil moisture.
The lifespan of an earthworm is quite long, it can live more than 10 years. But “maybe” does not mean that he will live, because few worms die by their death. Not all of them have such a tough antipathy, like some of us. Earthworms are loved by many for many animals and birds. Earthworms are a favorite treat. They like to eat moles, hedgehogs, numerous birds, including domestic hens, so there are many lovers of worms. But they also have one real enemy - this is a short-sighted gardener who has no idea about the role that earthworms play in the cultivation of large healthy crops.
On a plot with traditional farming technology, the whole life of an earthworm turns into a struggle for survival.
See also: Improvement of soil (organic farming)
INTELLIGENCE
Earthworm is considered a sacred animal in many nations. Moreover, these unusual, not quite familiar animals have signs of intelligence! They can make decisions and make informed
a choice. The presence of intelligence in worms is confirmed by numerous scientific experiments. So, in one of their studies, scientists cut paper in the shape of triangles, and, imagine, worms never made a mistake with choosing the smallest angle. They always pulled a triangle into the hole, clinging to it from the thinnest end.
Worms cannot be blamed for the lack of logic: of course, the easiest way to draw a triangle into the hole is from the side that is thinner. But how do the worms calculate this very thin angle, because it can hardly differ from another acute angle, especially when the sheet lies on the surface of the earth and its view is difficult?
We hope this fact will help you take a fresh look at our old familiar earthworm and, if you do not fall in love with it, then at least simply improve your attitude to it.
THE MAIN ROLE
Worms play a major role in the decomposition of organics. For nature, they are simply irreplaceable. If without human participation the soil can maintain itself in perfect balance and increase fertility, then without the participation of worms, no, definitely not! They dig and fertilize the earth. But their absence on the site cannot be compensated by either a shovel or fertilizer. Because it is worms that make the earth. Real farmers they are. But not us.
Man is not a farmer, but an assistant farmer or even an apprentice. And the real master of agriculture is he the earthworm. Our duty is to help the professional in every way and not interfere with him.
The worm is the main character on the invisible front of the struggle for the crop. Sometimes we really have to fight for the crop, especially if we violate the laws of nature as a result of our economic activities. Farming is a complex and at the same time very delicate process. This function is best handled by our many little friends, worms. Since we cannot compete with worms by definition, it means that our task is not to interfere and, if possible, to promote them.
Worms do all the dirty work for us. And they make it better than us, because they fulfill their natural purpose. They are plowmen, they are breadwinners and plant lovers, their nannies and healers. They do not just make land, they make it very high quality. Let them help you with this!
BIOLOGICAL EQUILIBRIUM AT THE SITE (EXPERIENCE OF ALEXANDER NATURAL)
If you look closely at the untouched plots of land, it is surprising how a large number of plants get along here, completely different in species. It seems that competition is not visible. For years, everything has been growing in peace and prosperity. What is the matter? Why can't we, so smart, create biological balance in our summer cottage? The answer lies in ignorance of the simplest questions, why a person becomes the most important pest for himself. So, an American farmer receives about $ 1500 worth of products from a hundred square meters of land, and we do the same amount of harm to ourselves.
Soil fertility is created by living creatures (these are billions of soil bacteria, amoeba, microalgae, worms). Their biomass per hectare of virgin chernozem is 20 tons. This is the live weight of 50 cattle. Imagine which herd works in the soil and constantly fertilizes it.
In plants, as much carbon accumulates as it enters in the form of carbon dioxide. You could say carbon monoxide is the main food for plants. They take carbon dioxide not only from the air, but also from the soil, where it accumulates as a result of the respiration of microorganisms and worms. In fertile land, carbon dioxide is tens of times more than in the atmosphere. Therefore, we must protect this treasure, and not reduce it by meaningless digging and plowing. Soil biota lives in a thin layer of soil 5-15 cm. It was this layer that created all life on land.
When a layer of earth turns around, all the carbon dioxide so needed by the plants disappears into the atmosphere. Anaerobes (microorganisms that do not need oxygen for respiration) are on top and die, and aerobes (microorganisms that need oxygen) die in the depths without oxygen. And without bacteria, plants are doomed to starvation. In addition, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides permanently destroy soil bacteria and thereby reduce fertility. As a result, we doom ourselves to knowingly low yields. This is a small digression - and everyone should know about it.
RESCUE MYCORISIS
Now recall the structure of the roots of the plant. The wide branching of thin (suction) and thicker (penetrating) permeates the underground space in all directions. In compacted soil, free root sprouting is very problematic. That is, the root system is poorly developed from here, and another reason for the decline in productivity. In loose earth is another matter entirely. But the trouble is, the possibility of absorption at the roots is still limited. Thin hairs penetrate into slits with a thickness of 20 microns, the main roots penetrate into slits with a thickness of 150 microns. The absorption of water and nutrients takes place in a zone of 1 mm around the root hair. That's why we
so we fight for an increase in the size of the root system. The more powerful the root system, the more microorganisms settle on it. They do their job. The products of their livelihoods block the paths for small nematodes, thereby protecting our crop already at the beginning of the growing season. Slowly sugar accumulates on the roots. The plant does not need them for nutrition. They need mushrooms. So on the roots a useful symbiotic mycorrhiza begins to develop, that is, mycelium (not all fungi are harmful, many of them, as we see, are useful). Mushrooms develop their hyphae throughout the dungeon. They penetrate into much thin gaps and passages with a thickness of 1 μm, which plant roots cannot do.
After colonization, mycorrhiza fungi show their most important ability, namely communication. That is, the ability to create complex ecological systems that allow many plant species to survive and compete. Mycorrhiza has no chloroplasts and therefore it does not have the ability to independently produce carbon derivatives. For the formation of fruiting bodies and the continuation of the genus mycorrhiza, it takes 40% of the synthesis from plants. But in return gives water and nutrient solutions. Mycorrhiza is a powerful pump. In fact, it is a continuation of the roots of plants. Due to mycorrhiza, root nutrition increases by 15 times.
Such a symbiosis of plants and fungi becomes possible only on loose, untidy soil. Where, in gratitude for sharing, mushrooms supply plants with moisture and nutrient solutions from a considerable depth in any drought. On the interaction of fungal mycorrhiza and plants, one of the principles of non-spilled natural farming is based. It is clear that in the first year it will be impossible to implement this on your site, which has been constantly dug up. But a little time will pass and the process will start on its own. Labor and physical costs will be reduced.
MULCH AND SIDERATES
Of course, it is not possible to refuse completely irrigation in all conditions, because in the upper layers of the soil there is a lot of living creatures, for which water is so necessary for life. And, saving the situation, we carefully lay the mulching layer. But there are many disagreements on this issue. But basically the rule applies: the larger the mulching layer, the better. I managed to visit the northern oasis with a 40-year history of creating biological equilibrium in a personal plot of 40 acres, 2000 kilometers north of Donbass. It has everything: potatoes, tomatoes, any vegetables, melon, garden and even a vineyard, where 40 kg of berries are collected from the Pleven bush. And most of us still live by the principle: "until the thunder strikes ..."
Watering must be carried out on the hottest days, as worms die when humidity is below 20%. A. By the way, mushrooms still work. Organics at the same time need to be added constantly. To reduce costs, we sow green manure. Their selection is very wide. From spring crops to perennial. It is important not to make a mistake so as not to harm. It all depends on the predecessors.
Even when planting, it should be borne in mind which weeds hindered the most before. If it is wheat grass, then it is better to plant tomatoes in this area after 2 years. And as a green man we plant white mustard here. It destroys seedlings of annual weeds, wheatgrass roots. Leaves without wireworm, late blight. The earth becomes loose, soft, cleaned. Such a neighborhood can not withstand the Bears and the Colorado potato beetle.
But, unfortunately, mustard suppresses mycorrhiza in its area. That is why, after mustard, crops with a superficial root system, such as a cucumber, should be placed. And after the cucumber tomatoes. But as the English writer Oscar Wilde once said, "if you know what you can’t, but you really want it, then you can." You can slightly sow the siderata of the cabbage family on tomato beds in order to prevent late blight. Radish, oil radish will not be a hindrance. These cultures absorb iron derivatives, thereby leaving phytopathogens without nutrition.
It is better to combine mustard sowing with pea sowing. It turns out two in one. With the help of developing nodule bacteria, the pea root system accumulates nitrogen in a form accessible to plants. And flowering mustard attracts up to 200 species of pollinating insects. Among them, even the enemies of a pea pest fly in. As a result, the pea grain remains intact. And pollinators perform their function. I recommend growing tomatoes in one place for at least three years.
In a word, it is not necessary to waste in vain forces and resources on digging the soil and excessive irrigation. And create favorable conditions and allow the restoration of the land. You can speed this process up a bit.
COMBINED LANDING
Combined planting is the ability to rationally use the land and obtain an additionally determined part of the crop during the growing season. Moreover, no competition and struggle for survival.
Here is a simple outline. In early spring, before planting seedlings on grooves, 60 cm across the main garden bed are sown with radishes, and after 2-3 weeks, sow carrots between the radish strips (on the day of sowing radishes, a cloth bag with carrot seeds can be buried in a damp ground for a better start).
By the end of May, we release the garden from the radish by the absorption method. If we use the Maslov method for seedlings, the distance can be increased. With the usual 2-row pattern, a placement of 60 × 80 cm is obtained by itself.
After the carrots, we sow the garlic bulbs and sow the whole bed with oats. The stalks of tomatoes that have given the crop, cut off the ground. Do not tear anything, do not pull. A bed of oats overwinters. The earth has become loose over the winter, does not need digging. The stalks of oats were killed, it makes no sense to touch them soon they won’t (they cross over like a natural mulch).
In the spring, when the shoots of garlic hatch, we again plant radishes between their rows. He is now in our place of carrots. After the radish, place the tomatoes again. On the centerline, it’s not a sin to sow basil. Tomatoes and their lovers are friends with him. The entire area along the perimeter is sown with tall marigolds. Between beds it is possible to sow undersized marigolds. I think so. There is no need to talk about the benefits of these colors.
The second autumn is coming. We remove bushes of tomatoes, basil, flowers. We determine the seeds for storage, organics for mulch or in the humi-reactor. Again we sow oats (barley is also possible). In winter, the beds go with a garlic single-tooth.
Third spring. Garlic has risen. You can use it for any purpose. It is best until mid-May to realize it young. Between the rows of garlic sow salad. After garlic, we plant tomatoes and basil.
Third fall. After harvesting tomatoes and basil, we sow oats. In the former salad rows we place onions on the greens for spring consumption, and in the former tomato rows we prepare the grooves for planting parsley for the winter.
Everything is simple. Now we are waiting for a favorable moment.
COMBAT ORGANIC INSECTS
Nobody in our village has ever managed to grow crops without pest control. One of the most voracious tomato eaters is a scoop. It looks like an ordinary caterpillar, but, unfortunately, getting rid of it is not easy at all. Her appearance resembles the film "Hello, I am your aunt." The Colorado potato beetle against her is just a child. I generally baffled him and practically do not notice at home.
A scoop with appetite absorbs almost all crops: eggplant, corn, peppers, beans, onions, potatoes, cabbage, sunflower. Tomatoes are a special treat for her.
I concluded that the inept management of agricultural enterprises on the land has recently contributed to its spread. One of the farms on the territory of our village council on an area of 140 hectares could not get rid of ragweed from year to year. And after the sunflower was placed on that field, a cotton scoop appeared there in the fall. You can imagine the crop is almost ripe. Ground means for chemical treatment should not be called in, and it is also impossible from the air. She should have warmed herself up in Central Asia. And where is she going to get away from us now - there is no end to work here, but how much feed.
Scoop is of different types: winter, cabbage, garden, cotton, pine. Winter scoop works from morning to night on cereals, cabbage reduces the yield of vegetables, the gardener is fond of greenhouse farming, cotton lives in open ground. But by “mistake” each of them can be confused (it works more at night) and turn out to be purely by chance not at his usual table.
The larva of the scoop winter in the soil in the form of a chrysalis, and at the beginning of summer butterflies come out, which begin their trial departures in a few days. Butterfly lays eggs on tomato stems, leaves. On day 3, caterpillars appear. They do everything in 2-3 weeks, whatever comes in their way. Having finished with the green parts of the plants, the caterpillar gets to the fruit. It completely absorbs the pulp of tomatoes and does it with great pleasure. A real foodie. And how culturally he eats. No champing is heard.
But only later we notice how the remnants of the fruits begin to rot. Generations of this evil spirits succeed each other throughout the summer, and sometimes they will capture autumn (if the autumn is golden). For this reason, the struggle with the scoop is significantly difficult, but possible.
In the afternoon, the butterfly hides in the soil, and at night begins flying. People call it a night lamp for this. Among the folk remedies for fighting a butterfly, there are several for scaring away. These are decoctions and infusions of wormwood, burdock, chamomile, dope, yarrow, milkweed, and potato tops. Laundry soap should be added to the infusions to ensure adhesion of the infusions on the leaves.
For butterflies, you can hang pheromone bait, which is filled with fermented kvass. Actofit can be used from biological preparations.
In untouched, natural plant lands, life-giving microorganisms prevail over pathogens, and therefore everything is fragrant and generously fruiting. But when we turn over an earthen lump while digging, we not only swap aerobic and anaerobic leaders, destroying the mass of both, but also destroy the natural channels supplying the soil inhabitants and plants that laid them with air and moisture. The soil
as a result, it does not loosen, but compacts and its fertility falls. That is, in the war of mushrooms, microorganisms, the basic principle again appears: do not dig.
Fighting with wheatgrass
Glades of perennial weed - wheatgrass are both a refuge and a feeding trough for a large number of wintering insects. In small areas, in settlements, it is dangerous and expensive to use chemicals. It’s easier to cover the entire nursery as much as possible. That is, make it dark. Any opaque materials are suitable for this purpose: roofing material, thick cardboard, slate. And if you can arrange tracks of flat wild stone or concrete, then this is generally aerobatics. Over time, here we get forever clean land.
After removing temporary shelters, while the root system has not dried up, the wheatgrass roots can be used as medicinal raw materials. There is very serious information that a combination of equal proportions of dandelion, wheatgrass and burdock roots provides a powerful healing tool for all age groups. The last message that dandelion root infusion suppresses cancer cells in 48 hours is generally sensational.
Each grower needs to allocate a plot for growing medicinal plants. Many, by the way, are already seriously engaged in this. A visit to a pharmacy is similar to a trip to a jewelry store. Prices aren’t just surprising, they just knock down. Pensioners of free drugs will not wait so we all will die healthy.
The use of marigolds in the garden practically protects against many unwanted guests. You can add asters and calendula. Our beds will become not only beautiful and attractive, but also cozy, and homely, and so close. And most importantly, clean, healthy and safe to eat.
HOME GUMIREACTOR
At the height of summer, all garden crops need top dressing. Therefore, we’ll talk about the “chemical plant on the site” necessary for each gardener, declaring a boycott to all “Styrene” without exception: Gorlovsky, Rivne, and Severodonetsk.
A gumreactor is not so much a device as the fertilizer technology itself. Gumireactor is a universal modernized reactor for the preparation of working solutions for various purposes (for top dressing, soil improvement, foliar treatments). In it you can prepare mixtures for pest control of the garden, vegetable garden and vineyard.
A few years ago, we got a Japanese drug that does not have chemical artificial components. HB-101. This is a completely natural (according to the manufacturer) highly purified biological growth stimulator, restoring the immune system of plants. It was distinguished by a high concentration, since it was used in limited doses of about 1 g per 1 liter of water for the garden and 1-2 drops per 1 liter of water when treating seeds onion before sowing and planting. The concentrate was made from mixtures of extracts from Himalayan cedar, pine, cypress, and plantain. The mineral composition was represented by such a set: sodium, calcium, iron, magnesium, silicon. A little embarrassed by the warning that the drug is incompatible with urea and oily substances. But it worked really efficiently. Plants literally came to life before our eyes. Seedlings of pepper on the windowsill for 2 months formed an ovary. And then it was not on sale and material shortcomings forced to look for other ways to solve pressing issues.
The decision was made after I accidentally found the development of one institute. Take, for example, the yarrow known to everyone as common medicinal herb. Its mineral composition (mg per 100 g of product): zinc 3, 48; magnesium 116; sodium 80; iron 8, 2; potassium -1618; calcium 606; nickel 1, 07. Impressive, isn't it? And this means that we do not need to go to the Himalayas or to Siberia to fell cedars and pines. And how much forest you need to fill up to provide everyone with fertilizer from these trees! And so my idea of a home chemical plant arose.
I call my humidactor horizontal, because it is an enameled bathtub with 150 liters of water. Uncoated steel containers are not suitable, as trace elements will come into contact with the metal. For this reason, all mixtures should be made in plastic barrels or buckets. Their volume is not of fundamental importance, since a little solution may be needed. I take water for herbal infusions only from a well from a 12-meter depth. Because I believe that water from the water supply is "dead" water. It is treated with chlorine. And even as drinking does not represent value. I am silent about the fact that chlorine is a halogen and it displaces my brothers in a number of iodine and fluorine, and we wonder where the tooth enamel went. Another plus of its well is the increase in prices for tap water.
Herbal infusion is a very valuable type of fertilizer, it is applied under the roots of plants, and is also used as a means for the prevention and control of pests. They spray the aboveground part of the plants at the right time. It is best to place the reactor in the warmest sunny place. Then faster passes the fermentation of the composition. My reactor is in the greenhouse. Fermentation produces a lot of carbon dioxide, which is good nutrition for greenhouse plants.
Preparing an herbal infusion is easy. For this, we put the necessary plants in any container. To accelerate the processes of fermentation of the grass, you must first grind it. We do the laying without tamping. Fill the tank completely and fill it with water. We close all this with a lid and stir the solution periodically.
After 10-14 days, the infusion is ready. The liquid ceases to show signs of fermentation. Before use (for spraying) the infusion must be filtered. In the midst of summer, every 2-3 days the infusion needs to be tested. The test is carried out on aphids. on the fungi. If the effect is weak, add more herbs. An accurate description of the full composition and doses. I think it’s not worth offering, since each gardener has a different set of available herbs, a different type of soil. The most correct way is the one that everyone chooses for himself.
The main set of herbs for infusions: nettle, comfrey, tansy, horsetail field. wormwood, plantain, dandelion. For example, if such aphids do not take, then you need to add wormwood. And add until you achieve the desired result. For yourself, you need to firmly understand that herbal infusions are priceless green fertilizers. After all, the infusion we received is not only a set of minerals and trace elements. It also contains vitamins and essential oils.
For example, the same yarrow contains more vitamin than rosehip and currant; in terms of the content of vitamin PP, it is also not inferior to rosehip and currant. Yarrow essential oils are a strong antiseptic and are represented by 47 components. Therefore, let everyone continue to study the theory on their own and determine which herbs to feed and which pests to destroy. After mastering this technique, you will go further on your own path, but in the end you should come to the conclusion that you want to have oily soil of saturated black color and at the same time loose, friable. So that the plants grow well, do not get sick,
quickly entered fruiting and yielded a good crop without nitrates, pesticides, herbicides and hormones.
By the way, in order to accelerate the process of fermentation of herbs and reduce the time of fermentation of the herbal solution, you need a conventional aquarium compressor.
BREAD FEEDING
Recipe 1. The bread crusts collected during the long winter months are placed in a bucket. You can fill it to the brim, add water and crush it with oppression so that the crusts do not float. Fertilizer is kept for a week on a bench. After an unpleasant odor comes from the bucket, this whole mixture is taken out into the barn.
When the yeast ripens (it seems to me that this is real mash), the liquid is drained and diluted three times with water, and the thick mass is thrown into the compost. But it seems to me that after such a procedure, jokes were born about naked (without feathers) geese or drunk pigs.
Recipe 2. An 8-liter bucket is filled in half with slices of bread, poured with water and a plate is placed on top of the dish upside down along the diameter of the bucket.
To prevent slices of bread from floating up, they put oppression (large pebbles or whatever). For a week all this is warm, and then the fertilizer is filtered through gauze and 3 liters of water are added.
Recipe 3. A barrel without the upper part is filled with one third of manure, and the rest of the volume is covered with any weeds. They put a couple of loaves of bread and pour water. During the season, use this mixture of 1 liter, diluting 10 liters of water.
Recipe 4. Rusks fall asleep in a milk can. Pour with warm water, tightly close the lid and put for 2 weeks in a warm place.
The solution should ferment. After that, the mixture is diluted with water 1: 1 and used as top dressing.
Recipe 5. 4 loaves of bread soaked for 2 days in a 15-liter bucket. Then squeeze through cheesecloth. Dilute 1 liter of infusion with 10 liters of water and begin to feed the tomatoes. Seedlings after 10 days are transformed: it becomes powerful, luxurious, brilliant.
It should be noted that:
1. For top dressing, use only brown bread. Now he still needs to be looked for so that he is the real one, and not painted over.
2. I think, as an alternative to bread, you can use a mixture of rye and wheat flour plus its own yeast-free yeast.
3. Such top dressing, carried out by me on blackcurrant, caused an increase of up to 20 nerds, and there were no zero shoots without top dressing.
4.2 pomegranate seedlings grown from seeds this year according to the recipe 5. gave out 3 stems up to 40 cm high.
HOW TO MAKE BREAD FEEDING
You can feed tomatoes two weeks after transplanting seedlings. Grandmother in the evening, after driving off a herd of cows, went to the skit (as they called vegetable beds below, on the banks of a small rivulet). She took water directly from the river and abundantly watered the tomatoes under the root and added fertilizer. After 10 days, the procedure was repeated. Good results were observed during the formation of the ovary, when the second brush faded and a third flowering brush appeared. On tomatoes planted in holes with seeds (a variety, it seems, in honor of Talalikhin), 65 fruits ripened on one plant at the same time in September. Quality and taste were at the highest level.
They say that bread is the head of everything. The experience of our grandmothers proves that this is true.
Reference by topic: Eco-farming and growing of pure vegetables
NATURAL AGRICULTURE - BEGINNING. VIDEO
NATURAL AGRICULTURE IS SIMPLE - VIDEO
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Calendar of works at the dacha and garden in June
- Preparing fruit trees for winter
- Re-planting vegetables - how and when?
- How many seeds should I buy for planting vegetables in my garden?
- How to choose the seedlings of the bookmark (planting) for your garden
- Multi-tree (tree-garden) with own hands
- Propagation of plants in bags instead of cups
- Prevention of diseases and pests on vegetable plants - shelter, sun protection, etc.
- Works in August in the garden, vegetable garden and flower garden
- Farming organic or semi-organic - my reviews (Nizhny Novgorod)
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