SNOW IS THE BEST PROTECTOR AGAINST FROST
The first thing a hobby gardener should take care of is the owner land plot- this is about the snow cover at the dacha throughout the winter. Observations and work experience on the site have established that snowfall for plants is the best natural defender from frost. Usually, in the first half of winter, the layer of loose snowfall reaches 30-35 cm, and in the second half it increases to 60 cm and reliably protects the roots of plants in the soil from strong and deep freezing during frosts at -30 ... 45 ° C. In our northwest region the temperature of soil freezing under snow usually does not drop below -6 ... 8 ° C. Here we have snow blizzards, a habitual phenomenon in winter, and it was possible to observe that around trees and significant shrubs, rather deep funnels are formed, not filled with snow, reaching the very surface of the earth. Alas, not every gardener is worried about this.
Now about another very common advice - to trample snow near the trunk of a tree. Ten years ago, a controversy began in the press on this issue, which has not subsided until now. I will allow myself a few general provisions... Nobody disputes that the snow "blanket" is the best covering material for the root system of a tree, a trunk and its large branches. Already a 20-centimeter layer of loose (precisely loose!) Snow is able to protect plants even in frost in
-20 ° C, I have tested it in practice. It has also been checked that at an outside temperature of
-45 ° C soil temperature under a 150 cm thick snow cover did not fall below -6 ... 8 ° C. Undoubtedly, snow is a natural insulating layer between the outer atmospheric air and soil. But here it is necessary to note one condition - in order to perform this task, the snow must be loose. Something like it happens in the forest. There snow falls and falls, accumulating a loose layer, which remains loose until spring.
And what is happening on our sites? In winter, we walk around the site a lot without much need. Due to the small size land area our plantings are thickened (whether we like it or not) and, of course, the roots fruit trees, shrubs also penetrate under the paths. Supporters of trampling snow cite as an argument the position that, they say, it is more difficult for rodents (in this case, mice) to make their way through a compacted layer of snow to the tasty bark of fruit trees.
It seems to me that the situation is exactly the opposite - it is much more convenient for mice to dig holes in a dense layer of snow than in a loose one, which deprives them of support. This is proved by the following example. Vegetable growers who preserve vegetables in the winter noticed that if potatoes and root crops are placed in a storage facility in loose sand, in a decent layer of it, then mice do not penetrate there. Probably because their movement in the free-flowing layer is difficult. So I stopped trampling snow in my garden. But here every gardener decides for himself.
I. Krivega
Newspaper "SADOVOD" No. 2, 2012

Each type of soil is characterized by a certain temperature dynamics during the growing season and at different depths. The greatest temperature fluctuations are observed at the soil surface. With depth, its fluctuations decrease. Daily temperature changes completely attenuate at a depth of 40 ... 50 cm. Annual temperature dynamics depends on natural area... So, in chernozems in the winter months at a depth of 30 ... 40 cm, the temperature drops below 0 ° C; in June-August, it reaches its maximum value, and then decreases again by winter.

At great depths, the annual temperature fluctuation is very insignificant. The depth of soil freezing in winter time depends on the strength of the snow cover. Under the snow, the soil freezes to a shallow depth, and in snowless winters or when the snow is blown off by the wind, the soil can freeze to a depth of 0.7 ... 0.9 m and more. That is why snow retention is carried out not only to accumulate moisture in the soil, but also to retain heat.

In the northern and northeastern regions of the country, in the "permafrost" zone, only upper layer soil. In connection with the industrial development of the northern territories, more and more attention is paid to the agricultural use of these lands. Here it is advisable to carry out thermal reclamation and agrotechnical methods to improve thermal conditions soil. When selecting land plots for agricultural land, it is necessary to take into account the properties of soils, their granulometric composition, relief and hydrothermal conditions of the area.

The heat balance of the soil consists of the radiation balance ( T b) consisting of the incoming solar radiation as well as reflected and emitted radiation; turbulent heat flux associated with heat exchange between the soil surface and air ( T to); heat spent on physical evaporation and transpiration of water ( T t); heat transfer between soil layers ( T p). The equation heat balance soil provides for the algebraic equality of the values ​​of different flows:

T b + T k + T t + T n = 0

Types of thermal (temperature) soil conditions. There are permafrost, long-term seasonally freezing, seasonally freezing, non-freezing types of soil thermal regime.

The permafrost type is widespread in the Euro-Asian polar and East Siberian permafrost regions. In the permafrost zone, the average annual temperature of the soil profile is negative. Freezing reaches permafrost.

The seasonally freezing type is typical for areas with a predominance of a positive average annual temperature of the soil profile. The soil freezes to a depth of at least 1 m, but the soil does not freeze to permafrost.

The seasonally freezing type is characterized by a positive annual temperature; there is no permafrost, soil freezing lasts no more than 5 months.

The non-freezing type is expressed in the southern regions, where soil freezing is not observed.

Regulation of the thermal regime of soils. There are agrotechnical, agrometeorological and agrometeorological methods for regulating the thermal regime of soils. Agrotechnical methods include rolling, combing, leaving stubble, mulching; to agro-reclamation - irrigation, drainage, arrangement of forest belts, drought control; to agrometeorological - the fight against frost, measures to reduce the radiation of heat from the soil, etc.

Rowing promotes better soil warming, enhances heat exchange between air and soil, and increases plant resistance to frost. As a result of rolling, the average daily temperature rises by 3 ... 5 ° C in a 10-centimeter layer below the compacted layer. When mulching (covering the soil surface various materials) the reflectivity of soils decreases. For example, black mulch helps to reduce soil albedo by 10 ... 15%. A white coating is used to reduce excessive heating of the soil.

Forest belts contribute to the accumulation of snow, thereby reducing negative temperatures in the soil, the wind speed decreases and thereby the vertical exchange of the surface air layer with the atmosphere decreases. This is accompanied by a decrease in air temperature in the interband space during the day and an increase - at night. Irrigation reduces the reflection of radiation by up to 20%, which increases the flow of heat energy to the soil. The application of organic fertilizers increases the temperature of the soil.

Curtain crops of tall plants (corn, sunflower, etc.) create a "greenhouse effect" accompanied by an increase in soil temperature. In areas with a lack of heat, this technique is used to increase the yield of vegetable crops.

Experienced gardeners who seriously care about the fertility of the soil in their plots think about what needs to be done for this, or, conversely, what is better not to do. Previously, it was believed that after the holiday of the Intercession (October 14), all manipulations with the soil should be stopped, and this warning has very reasonable ideas. Soil with a disturbed structure, and digging for some time violates the system of water and air channels, freezing (freezing) can be susceptible to wind and water erosion. In this regard, slopes are an area of ​​increased risk.

Freezing soil in winter

Gardeners often rejoice at the freezing of the soil, believing that the pests are dying and will not bother the next season. This is so, but they perish and beneficial insects so it won't solve the problem.

Most of Russia's soils freeze during the cold season:

• soil moisture turns into ice,
• the earth hardens (cemented) and acquires the properties of a monolithic body.

The speed, depth and duration of soil freezing directly depend on the air temperature, the thickness of the snow cover and the degree of soil moisture. The relief of the site also affects this process. On average, our soils freeze to a depth of 20-40 cm in the south of the country and 200-250 cm in Siberia (more about and features). The duration of the period of seasonal freezing varies, respectively, from 1-2 to 6-8 months.

What you need to know about soil freezing

1. This process is natural and damages the soil only if its structure is disturbed.
2. Freezing of the soil to a great depth without snow cover or with a lack of it has a bad effect on cultivated plants that winter at that moment.
3. Freezing of the soil stops all microbiological processes, but physical processes can occur, and they must be taken into account.
4. Freezing and thawing processes can be accelerated and slowed down.

Preparing the soil for winter

1. Do not disturb the soil cover on the eve of constant frosts. Digging, garbage collection from the site must be carried out before frost.
2. Do not leave the soil open (no vegetation). The best way- hold (eg mustard) after harvesting the main crop.
3. If there is little snow, you need to try to keep it on the soil surface (more about).
4. Take care of drainage. Needs to be cleaned or organized drainage ditches to drain excess water.
5. Resume work on the soil only after complete thawing and without the risk of freezing again. Make sure that the soil has really thawed completely, otherwise, any work you will damage its structure.

Additionally about autumn preparations soils for winter and the next season, read the articles:

Thawing soil after winter

The thawing of the soil in the spring should ideally take place in the same sequence as it was frozen. This can be prevented by the uneven distribution of heat over the surface due to its unevenness and being under different angles to the heat source. Also, the soil surface can absorb less heat due to light reflection. The accumulated moisture on the surface prevents the penetration of heat into the interior. It is recommended to spend in the spring.

By correcting these points, you will be able to at an earlier date.

We briefly familiarized ourselves with the main soils of our country. But one should not think that the soil cover of the USSR, like everything else the globe, remains unchanged.

Soil properties depend on climate, vegetation and other factors. But these reasons themselves do not remain constant on earth. So, the climate on earth has changed many times, the relief and vegetation have changed, animals and the breeds from which soils are formed have changed.

In the north of the USSR, in the Arctic, where there are no forests now and where only mosses, scanty grasses and shrubs develop, we find deposits in the ground coal formed from lush forest vegetation. In Siberia, the corpses of mammoths have been repeatedly found under snow and ice. These, like some other signs, show that our Arctic many thousands of years ago there was a different, warmer climate, different than now, vegetation and other animals. Then a cold snap set in here. And at present, Soviet scientists are observing a new gradual warming in the north.

So, the reasons on which the formation of soils depends change over time, which means that the soils themselves change.

Soil life throughout the year... However, it should be noted that, even with a constant climate, continuous processes occur in the soil, leading to its change.

To explain how this happens, let us describe the life of the soil throughout the year, taking at least the podzol zone as an example.

Have you ever been in the forest or in the field somewhere near Moscow or in the regions of Smolensk, Kalinin, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl and others in early or mid-March? At this time there is still a lot of snow, but at noon the sun begins to warm up like a spring. On a quiet day, you can ski without a shirt and sunbathe. Sit down (of course, dressed) at the edge of a forest or at a ravine covered with snow, observe the nature. Snow melts from the surface, is saturated with water, compacted, and sits down. On a quiet day, you can hear it rustle. Take a handful of snow with your hand and peer into it; you will notice small black insects running around: these are scorpion flies - the harbingers of the coming spring. There is already life on the surface of the snow, and the soil under it in the fields is still bound by a frozen layer, and all living things in it sleep like winter.

In the forest, especially in deciduous, more snow accumulated during the winter, and it lay on the forest floor of grass and leaves. Under such a cover, the soil is warmer here, and therefore it freezes less than in the field, and sometimes does not freeze at all. In this case, life in the forest soil does not stop completely in winter: remove snow and leaves from such soil in the cold, and you will see earthworms wriggling in the frost.

At the time being described, the collective farmer is in a hurry along the sled route to complete the removal of manure, compost, lime, ash and other fertilizers into the fields, and, fearing the loss of nutrients, he piles the manure into large heaps, and mineral fertilizers coverings protects against erosion and washing with water.

The days go by. The road turns black, and in a week or two, the first thawed patches will appear on the slopes and hills - the favorite places of the wonderful herald of spring - the lark.

Rooks have already arrived - these are as noisy as birds useful to the farmer. The remaining snow is now darkened, wet, thickened, pressed to the ground. There is water in the lowlands. Jumping wagtail, which, as they say, "breaks the ice with its tail." On streams and rivers, the ice has turned gray, swollen, in places on the streams it plays in yellow and purple tones. Soon it will open it, swell it up and carry it away with melt water.

There are still frosts at night, but the sun overpowers them every day. Thawed patches are growing; streams make noise; thaws the soil from the surface. Life awakens in her. The soil smells especially like spring now. This smell depends on the secretions of special radiant fungi that live in the soil and are called actinomycetes.

Melt water washes the soil, dissolves various nutrients, humus and salt, which we talked about earlier. Part of the water flows into the lowlands, wets the remnants of the snow and, freezing here at night, can form a harmful ice crust. Collective farmers bypass the fields, drain excess water from the lowlands, directing it into ditches to protect the precious arable layer from washout and erosion.

On the mezhniki, at the edge of the forest, along the ditches, the trunks of the willow turn red, and it fluffs up its heads. The thicket of forest trunks, especially the aspen and birch forests, also glowed with greenish-purple tones. Snow melts in the forest, but there are less water flows here than in the fields: the snow melts more slowly in the forest. Trees protect it from the sun. And the soil is thawed here. She takes water well and rinses with it.

By mid-April, and sometimes even earlier, we say goodbye to the snow without regret. It clings to ravines and northern slopes. He comes to the aid of the "young" spring snow, carried by the April severki, but still the days of snow are numbered. The first bright, hot rays of the sun will destroy him. It will lie for a few more days in deep cracks or under a steep northern canopy, covered with an old, mossy spruce, and still melt.

In the depths of the field soil, a frozen layer may remain for another week or a week and a half, and on its surface life is already imperiously manifested. The soil dries up slightly. Winter wakes up. Now willow blossoms and smells exciting. On the steep slopes, the mother-stepmother is gilded, the clover and the cuff are cut, and by the end of the month the lungwort and corydalis turn purple. Occasionally motley urticaria and yellow lemongrass flicker in the air. The first bee appears, followed by the bumblebee.

In the forest - the hubbub of birds. In late April - early May, the cuckoo called for the first time. There, both the snowdrop and the fragrant violet (in clearings and in open woodlands) have already started to grow, and wolf's bast, and chickenpox, and the first leaves of the dream, the clefthoof, the canopy, and the moss, and the reed grass, and dozens of other plants, which in May will develop and smell fragrant under its canopy.

The ants moved in their heaps, the hedgehog woke up and was carrying last year's leaves on the needles. Snipe, capercaillie and black grouse are gnawing. Rooks hustle at their nests. At dawn one can hear the exciting trills of a robin, finch, thrush, repel.

Our northern is inexpressibly good at this time, early spring... She is on the ground, and in the transparent, still cold air, and in the sky, through which endless rows of birds are screaming to the north day and night, and a woodcock in the evenings and in the morning.

The fight against winter crops is hastily going on. In the mornings (in the frost), timothy and clover are sown to them. Selective plowing begins: plowing plowed fields, where the soil has swollen and compacted; raising fields for spring crops, not plowed since autumn; introduction of manure, compost, ash and other fertilizers before sowing; liming of fields where it is planned. And the better the farmer is prepared in winter, the better his inventory is, the more fertilizers he has, the more boldly he takes depth on the podzolic soil in order to quickly cultivate it, in order to overcome the natural infertility of the podzolic horizon as soon as possible and create in place of its deep, structural, fertile arable layer.

The soil is still cold. Its inhabitants, including bacteria that assimilate nitrogen from the air and form ammonia and nitrate, are just awakening. And the weeds are no longer asleep and strive to seize the best lands, take them away from the cultivated plant. Here and there, wheatgrass, wood lice, rape - "yellow danger" - and others appear, drying up the soil and taking away nutrients from cultivated plants... Until they took away the power, the task of the collective farmers is to destroy them by all means: sometimes by timely and cultivated plowing, sometimes by peeling, sometimes by weeding by hand.

Now, as they say, the day feeds the year.

In late April, early May - feeding winter crops, sowing early spring crops - oats, carrots, beets, peas and others, and after them wheat, and potatoes, and other crops of our fields.

The first May thunderstorms were already thundering. The soil was washed with spring rain, warmed up and dried up somewhat. She "breathes" warm spring air. All its inhabitants are gaining strength and in a hurry to live. Plants dismember the soil with their roots and capture more and more of its thickness, seeking to obtain the water, air, and nutrients necessary for themselves. The roots secrete various acidic products and dissolve the mineral part of the soil with them. Bacteria live, multiply, decompose parts of previously dead plants and animals, turn them into humus, die themselves, decay. Some of them enrich the soil with nitrogen, others, if the soil is poorly processed, damp and cold, take the saltpeter away from the plants, decompose it, while the released nitrogen again flies into the air and is thus uselessly lost for plants.

Rains fall on the soil, wash the soil particles, form a soil solution, which partly nourishes the plants, partly goes beyond the root layer.

Day after day, warm waves are sent to the soil, coming to the earth with the sun's rays. A change in temperature, as well as humidity, accelerates the weathering of soil mineral particles and the formation of humus. The soil lives full life, and with it together - on it and in it - plants live. Fragrant bird cherry blossoms in the forests and speaks of the end of spring.

Already in May, couples were raised, sowing of buckwheat, sowing and planting of vegetables was completed. In June, except for fallow fields, all the fields turn green, and above all they stand as a green wall, winter crops - wheat, rye - come out into the tube and bloom.

The meadows were decorated in a colorful outfit. Here you can find white-bush, and a fragrant spikelet, bent grass, pike, timothy and foxtail, bonfire, hedgehog, clovers, white daisies, purple bells, red resin and carnation and many other flowers that make our northern unfading meadows so beautiful.

Now "dawn converges with dawn"; the lark is singing incessantly; dergach and quail scream at night; the nightingale is singing its song. The last days a cuckoo groans in the forest. One involuntarily recalls the words of the poet: “Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo! High rye will ripen, you choke on an ear - you will not cuckle ... ”(Nekrasov). And a man in labor has freedom, for the day is long. Weeding, feeding, and sometimes watering is in progress different cultures, persistent cultivation of fallow fields is being carried out in order to free the land from weeds, to structure it, to accumulate more food for winter crops, to preserve moisture for them. Preparations are underway for mowing and harvesting.

July is the greatest flourishing of soil life, the beginning of the harvest. The air smells of ripe rye, cut grass. The soil is warmer than ever in a year. More frequent rains replenish the moisture reserve in it. Bacteria, soil fungi have thrived, earthworms, a lot of all kinds of insects and their larvae and diggers, if a person could not destroy them (mice, moles, etc.). All this moves, eats, breathes, multiplies, dies, decomposes some organic residues and creates others. Highest development the roots of almost all plants also reached. In podzolic soil, due to the sterility of the podzolic, whitish horizon, most of them are collected in the arable layer. But individual roots, along wormholes and cracks, go into the soil to a depth of 50, 100, 200 and more centimeters.

Under the influence of all living things, with a change in temperature and humidity, under the influence of man, the soil also changes every day. No sooner have nutrients formed in it than plants and invisible inhabitants of the soil consume them. But plants, bacteria, and fungi, in turn, as we described above, contribute to the enrichment of the soil with humus and various nutrients.

Especially a lot of them accumulate in fallow fields, where there are no food consumers - plants. For example, saltpeter in a pair in July is tens and hundreds of times more than it was in the soil in April. A lot of steam and moisture. All this is saved for winter crops, which will be sown in the first half of August after two pairs and pre-sowing treatment.

In August, the days become noticeably shorter and the dawns are cooler. The lark, the most stubborn singer of the fields, fell silent, and in the forest the bird noise ceased even earlier. The feathered guests brought out their chicks and now they are feeding them, mulling and gradually preparing for departure.

From dawn to dawn, field work is going on: harvesting spikes, oats, buckwheat, early garden crops... The potatoes have already bloomed, the fleshy roots of beets and rutabagas have already poured, cabbage has curled into the heads of cabbage.

In the second half of August, for the first time, light frosts-matinees sometimes visit the soil and, as it were, urge the owner to hurry up with field work. Gradually, the soil also cools, and the tension of life in it weakens. The roots of the harvested plants decay. Earthworms and insects penetrate deeper into the soil, less often appearing on the surface; soil fungi and bacteria become less mobile and vital. And although there will be more warm days and "Indian summer" with a cobweb, all living things in the soil are gradually preparing for winter.

Frosts became more frequent in September. The tops of the potato tops have turned black. Often in the morning cabbage glistens with frosty hoarfrost. The collective farmer catches clear days in order to dry dry potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, beets, to finish the second mow of clover in the summer.

And when the harvested fields are empty, when they cut off the most frost-resistant crop - cabbage, when greens develop with fresh emeralds of winter, when autumn plowing falls in dark squares, the life of the soil will gradually freeze in October.

Under the canopy of the forest, under a warm litter of leaves, needles, moss and grasses, it will last a little longer, but the breath of autumn inevitably bursts in here too.

The feathered guests fell silent long ago and flew away. The "bonfires" of aspen, birch, maple and lindens lit up. A dry leaf falls to the ground. The forest is losing its former beauty. The time has come about which the great Pushkin said:

“It’s a sad time, charm of the eyes!
Your farewell beauty is pleasant to me.
I love lush nature wilting,
In scarlet and gold-clad forests. "

In November, the soil will be covered with a frozen crust and will fall asleep under the snow until spring. Now it will only move water in a vaporous form from the warmer lower layers upwards, and ice will accumulate in its surface horizons.

So, day after day, month after month, the soil lives for years, continuously changing its properties, passing from one stage of development to another. We have described the life of podzolic soil throughout the year. But if you trace it not for a year, but for many years, especially in those places where a person touches the soil less, such as, for example, in a forest, then it can be noted that the soil, changing its properties over time, becomes different. The medium-podzolic soil, undergoing daily washing out, leaching, over the years turns into a highly podzolic and podzol - the most sterile, the most washed-out soil. And podzol (it usually occurs in flat, closed-flowing places) is gradually swamping. The roots of plants on such soil do not go deep into the podzolic, whitish, barren layer. They spread near the soil surface, forming a dense sod. Water hardly penetrates down through the compacted turf. It, accumulating on the surface, prevents air from entering the soil. The soil lives an "abnormal" life: it "suffocates", swamps. On it the forest disappears, meadow grasses disappear, sedges, reeds, reeds appear, then moss. Instead of a forest, a swamp forms a meadow.

Man intervenes intelligently and imperiously in the life of the soil.

By cultivating and fertilizing the soil, draining swamps, irrigating deserts, etc., in a few years, before our very eyes, a person remakes the soil, adapting it to his needs. In the USSR, as we have already noted, the alteration of the soil should go in only one direction - this is the path of a continuous increase in the fertility of socialist fields.

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Healthy, fertile soil is the key to the successful growth and development of all plants. The yield and quality of vegetable products, the susceptibility of flowers to diseases and pest damage depend on the condition of the soil. It is possible and necessary to lay the foundations for the success of the new gardening season now, in the fall, by thoroughly preparing the soil for winter. Experts of the Austrian Union of Consulting Companies in the field environment"Die Umweltberatung" reveals the secrets of farming, as well as advice on how to avoid the most common mistakes, so that your garden and next year surprised, delighted and delighted with its beauty.

Do not use fresh manure!

Fresh provides too high a concentration of nutrients in the soil. Distributed in countryside the practice of applying manure in the fall is likely to lead to decay processes due to oxygen deficiency, as well as to the emergence of substances that damage the roots. And such plants serve as bait for root pests. The path of animal manure to garden beds and flower beds lies only through composting. At the same time, you should pay attention to the fact that in straw manure the proportion of material intended for composting does not exceed 50%. Horse manure, hare manure, and bovine manure containing straw bedding are particularly suitable.

Consultant Elisabeth Coppensteiner from Die Umweltberatung recommends spreading compost over the soil surface in the spring. If there is not enough compost, apply it directly to the planting holes. improves soil structure and loosens it - fresh manure it is completely optional, and there is nothing to do with mineral fertilizers either.

Leaves are suitable for composting, garden scraps and even food waste (peel of vegetables and fruits)

Fertilizing in the fall is ineffective!

In the fall, plants stop growing and no longer absorb nutrients. When fertilizing in the fall, nutrients are washed out into the surface and groundwater... After harvest, it is best to sow (field lettuce, Persian or Alexandrian clover, lupine, etc.). These plants not only improve soil structure, but also prevent soil erosion and siltation after rains. On the roots of flowering green manure (clover, lupine, beans) nodule bacteria settle, capable of assimilating nitrogen from the air. Thanks to this, green fertilizers additionally enrich the soil with nitrogen. Siderat can be sown both in spring (beans, field lettuce, etc.) and in summer (phacelia) before planting major crops or as catch crops.

Blooming rapeseed field. Rapeseed as a green manure is sown after harvest.

Mulching improves soil quality

The soil must be protected from the effects of weather conditions (wind, sun, rain). Heavy rains drumming on the surface of the earth, which leads to compaction, silting and erosion

soil. The soil becomes hard and cracks, the activity of soil organisms is limited.

Mulching is covering the surface of the earth with various organic materials (chopped straw, sawdust, fallen leaves, etc.), which rot in the soil, forming humus. Unlike bare soil, mulch-covered soil has many advantages: mulch increases humus content, reduces moisture evaporation, inhibits weed growth, creates favorable conditions for soil dwellers, as a result of which the soil becomes looser and does not clog after rains. Mulching improves the air and water permeability of the soil.

In winter, the soil should also be covered with mulch or green manure plants. At the end of winter, the remaining, not yet rotted leaves can be removed and compost added. For mulch, it is preferable to use material from your own garden! Mulch (http://www.?h=%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%87%D0%B0) from fresh bark consumes nitrogen from the soil during decomposition, and also slightly acidifies her. In addition, it happens that mulching bark purchased in plastic bags may contain a large number of fungicides.

Digging the soil

According to Austrian experts, the autumn digging of the soil leads to a violation of the soil structure. Soil organisms that prefer oxygen-poor, dark habitats move to the surface and vice versa. It is enough in the spring to loosen the soil superficially with a digging pitchfork. The exception is getting hard clay soil... Mulch, compost or green manure plants stimulate soil biological activity. Soil organisms by their activity recreate a stable, granular structure fertile soil- without human intervention.

Easily soluble mineral fertilizers do not lead to the desired success

Plants absorb too much dissolved nutrients. Excessive plant growth provokes an increased susceptibility to pathogens and pests. The endurance and quality of the plant (taste, storage capacity) decreases.

Compost or commercially available organic fertilizers(for example, horn shavings), on the contrary, decompose slowly under the influence of soil organisms, and therefore release nutrients less rapidly. And plants, in turn, are evenly supplied with nutrient salts.

Translation: Lesya V.
specially for the internet portal
garden center "Your Garden"

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