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CORRECT SOWING OF SIDERATS - AGRONOMIST'S ADVICE

For most summer residents, organic matter in the form of manure or humus is becoming more and more inaccessible and expensive every year. But what gardener does not seek to improve the fertility of his plot? Everyone wants to get high yields of vegetable crops.

The application of only mineral fertilizers turns the soil into a dead zone due to the death of earthworms and various beneficial microorganisms that process organic residues in the soil and turn them into humus.

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It is possible to enrich the soil with humus and the elements necessary for plant nutrition with the help of green fertilizers, the so-called green manure. Any herbaceous plant can serve as a green manure, except for weeds that reproduce vegetatively. But in practice, only agricultural crops with different biological properties and sowing dates are used.

Green manure protects the soil from leaching and weathering during the absence of vegetable crops on it. With a powerful root system from a depth of 2 m or more, phacelia, oil radish, rapeseed raise sulfur and phosphorus available to plants into the arable layer zone, thereby increasing soil fertility.

Leguminous plants (clover, vetch, seradella, lupine, beans, peas, etc.) enrich the soil with nitrogen. Rye and buckwheat are good sources of potassium available to plants.

In addition, oilseed radish, rye and phacelia release substances into the soil that inhibit the spread of certain pests, while oats and mustard are pathogens.

You can grow green fertilizers from early spring to late autumn, but you should follow the basic rules for their use.

1. Do not sow crops of the same family one after another in the used area. For example, after oilseed radish, mustard, rapeseed, camelina, colza, all types of cabbage, daikon, radish, rutabaga and other cruciferous vegetables are not planted, as they are affected by pests and diseases alone.

2. Do not get carried away with sowing one green manure crop. They need to be alternated so that the soil is not empty. Within one season, you can quickly restore soil fertility by growing several different green manure crops one after another. Green manure can be grown both before planting vegetables and after harvesting them. For example, after harvesting onions, garlic, cucumbers, zucchini, which greatly deplete the soil, you can sow spring vetch, phacelia, and winter rapeseed. After tomatoes and peppers - mustard.

3. Do not allow green manure to outgrow and seed, mow them before flowering, otherwise, when the seeds ripen, they clog the soil. Young plants are rich in nitrogen, which is quickly released during the decomposition of green mass. In overgrown plants, the amount of nitrogen decreases sharply. And the microorganisms that decompose them consume nitrogen from the soil for their vital activity, thereby impoverishing it at this stage.

4. When choosing a green manure, consider what you want to get from him in the end. To enrich the soil with nitrogen, legumes are sown. If you need to quickly grow a mass for mulching or composting, then fast-growing ones are sown - oilseed radish, mustard, buckwheat.

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Oil radish suppresses the development of nematodes, it is good to sow it as a predecessor for potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes.

When growing a large amount of green mass, the excess is used for soil mulching or composting. The rest is crushed and covered: on light soils - to a depth of 12-15 cm, on heavy loamy soils - 6-8 cm. This will contribute to rapid decomposition, and the organo-mineral layer on the soil surface will make it more water - and breathable.

Reference by topic: Growing green manure in narrow beds: why is it good for the soil - my experience