Are you still fighting weeds and pests in your dacha, earning yourself sciatica? But adherents of organic farming prefer to be friends with nature rather than fight. But in order to live the same way, you will have to start with a radical change in the way of thinking about the purpose of agriculture, about what the “correct” garden is.
Organic farming as a branch of agricultural technology arose from the end of the 19th century, and rumors, disputes and discussions around this method of cultivating the land still do not subside. There are also many approaches and theories within the adherents of this direction of agriculture. But the essence is the same: organic farming is, first of all, a careful, gentle attitude towards nature, maintaining the natural balance and ecosystem, refusing mineral fertilizers and pesticides.
Organic farming has many interchangeable definitions and synonymous terms: natural, ecological, biological, nature-conforming, life-giving agriculture.
Basic principles of ecological farming:
- Refusal to plow, dig up the earth. This is believed to maintain a healthy balance of the soil ecosystem. And healthy soil means healthy plants that can resist diseases and pests.
- Growing organically clean products. Complete refusal to use mineral fertilizers and pesticides. Methods of controlling weeds and pests come down to prevention and the use of herbal and folk methods.
- The ground should always be covered with vegetation. Fast-growing crops, planted after the main crops on temporarily empty land, are widely used here.
- Less labor intensive processing of a plot or dacha with larger and best result. Farming is pleasure, not hard work.
Natural Farming Guru
“Curb your ardor, gardener!” - with these words, as a rule, the famous author of many books on biological farming, B.A., begins his address at lectures to gardeners. Bagel. In the traditional idea of a “proper” vegetable garden, many summer residents see such an exemplary vegetable garden: ideal, even beds and rows of crops, not a single weed, and it is also a lot of hard work.
All these myths are debunked by fans of organic farming. They believe that work does not have to be slavish and exhausting. And it is much more useful for both humans and nature to maintain the natural order of things in the ecosystem. “Spy” on nature, learn from it, apply the acquired knowledge and observations at your summer cottage.
Advice. If you decide to leave traditional farming for natural farming, we recommend reading several books on the topic for inspiration: “One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukooka; "Agrarian Revolutionary" Sepp Holzer; “About a vegetable garden for the thrifty and lazy” Bublik B.A.
So, Sepp Holzer has 45 hectares of land and cultivates it alone with his wife with a minimum of agricultural equipment: he has only one tractor. B.A. Bublik believes that steel has no place in the garden and refuses shovels, hoes, does not even loosen the soil with a pitchfork, but plants “under a stick”, watering only with ice water (not higher than 9 degrees). And the well-known author in Russia of many works about natural farming G. Kizima preaches three “don’ts”: don’t dig, don’t weed, don’t water.
Practice natural farming in spring and autumn
You can switch from traditional to organic farming at any time of the year. One of the main techniques of biological farming is avoiding deep digging of the soil. It is believed that raising a layer of earth more than 5 cm thereby disturbs the ecosystem. The land eventually becomes poorer and lacks beneficial microorganisms, beetles, worms, etc. Which subsequently leads to the need to use mineral fertilizers, which are harmful to both nature and humans.
Natural farming allows you to get environmentally friendly vegetables and fruits The soil for sowing the crop is not dug up, but slightly raised using a fork (ideally no more than 2.5 cm). Some farmers don’t even use pitchforks, but plant “under a stick.” That is, they stick a stick into the ground and plant seeds or seedlings in the place where the hole formed. After sowing, the ground is mulched with straw, sawdust, peat, rotted compost, etc.
Advice. To plant plants “under a stick,” you can use a shovel handle or another stick that is convenient for working in length. To do this, the end is sharpened into a cone, which will stick into the ground. For convenience, you can also make a handle at the top of the stick, and a limiter pedal at the bottom.
Due to the active use of mulch, which prevents moisture from evaporating, watering is done much less frequently. Mulch is also one of the main ways to control weeds. But it is better to use mulching on proven crops: potatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes. There are plants that do not favor mulching, preferring open and hot soil: corn, watermelons, melons.
With the help of mulching, virgin soil is cultivated. To do this, prepare the beds in the fall as follows:
- Mow the grass.
- Cover with manure: horse, chicken.
- Lay a layer of mulch, for example straw, in a layer of 30 cm.
- In the spring, remove the layer of mulch, pick out the remaining weed roots with your hands and plant seeds or seedlings.
You can also cover the beds with dense material, for example: roofing felt, pieces of linoleum. It is useful to cover the layer of mulch with a film on top - this will speed up the process of overheating and rotting of the weed in virgin soil.
All of the above actions can be used at the dacha, both in spring and autumn.
Green manure is our everything
One of the agricultural practices that is an integral part of biological farming is planting green manure on temporarily empty land. According to many farmers, these crops are the best natural fertilizer. For these purposes, fast-growing and micronutrient-rich plants are used, such as:
- legumes;
- mustard;
- clover;
- rapeseed;
- spring rape;
- rye.
Green manure can be planted in spring, summer, and autumn. In the spring, fast-growing and frost-resistant plants such as mustard, rapeseed, and phacelia are planted. They are sown very early and grow until it is time to plant the main crop. Then the green manure is mowed with a flat cutter several centimeters below ground level, and the main plants are planted in the soil prepared in this way. Tops and stems can be used as cover for beds with crops.
In autumn, rye and mustard are most often sown. Sowing is done after harvesting the vegetables. Rye is harvested at the end of autumn, cutting off the stems at the base. And the mustard goes under the snow. In the spring it is cut with a flat cutter and the main crops are planted.
Organic farming is an environmentally friendly production based on respect for nature and human health. There are many techniques and methods of natural farming. But, in any case, each site is individual. There are no absolutely identical areas in terms of soil composition, microclimate, or list of crops planted. What fans of organic farming never tire of repeating is: “Listen, look closely at your land, at your plants. And apply the acquired knowledge in practice. We must always trust nature, every day.”
Natural farming: video
27.01.2018
The whole truth about organic farming
The triumph of reason or notes on organic farming.
A few words about fashionable organic (it’s natural, it’s also ecological, it’s natural) farming... In lately everyone suddenly decided to eat like our grandfathers, great-grandfathers and other ancestors, including Neanderthals - environmentally friendly, having first fed nature with nature (manure - the lawn). Lovers of organic vegetables, having swallowed the city smog (almost the entire periodic table of D.I. Mendeleev), get to their summer cottages, not at all on an organic (live) horse. And there, having kneaded cunningly chopped dandelions and manure purchased for a lot of money in special fermentation vats (there are hardly more cows in the country than honest officials) and, having conjured a couple of days over the stinking potion (chufir - chufyr), they pour this stray under the unfortunate plants. After which, having made a salad of sour tomatoes (there are no sweet eco-tomatoes) and boiled sausage (from cellulose, soy and flavorings), they sit down to read a newspaper made of chlorine-bleached paper (in the paint of the letters - iron cyanides, sulfochromates, resins, aluminum hydroxide, barium sulfate etc.) about the latest news from a clean eco-world.
This is only a small part of human contact with modern world. How can you say, sitting in a leatherette chair, that chemistry is evil, and mineral fertilizers are evil squared? Although, a school botany textbook popularly explains (so that even sixth graders understand it) that PLANTS ARE NOT ABLE TO ASSOCIATE ORGANIC MOLECULES. Higher plants themselves synthesize organic substances from simple mineral components. But the knowledge gained in school lessons is forgotten with age and everyone (organic farmers) begins to feed their plants with manure, compost and other organic substances. And they firmly believe that this is correct, environmentally friendly and even healthy for the body and the entire garden as a whole. This is, to put it mildly, not true.
Almost all organic matter that enters the soil is exposed to microorganisms - fungi, bacteria, algae, etc. These microorganisms decompose (in other words, eat) organic substances into mineral components (90 - 97% of the soil consists of mineral components) . And these mineral nutrients are absorbed by the plants. This is where all lovers of organic farming are obliged to joyfully exclaim: “Aha!” And explain condescendingly, they say, this is what was meant - to feed with organic matter, since it all decomposes so well. And no chemistry!
In fact, for a plant there is no difference between a bag of ammonium nitrate purchased at the local store and ammonium nitrate formed in a manure heap. They even have the same formula (chemical formula). This is also true for other elements of the periodic table. But! In order for organic matter to break down into nutrients for plants, it is necessary TIME. And the plant, at different stages, requires different nutrients in different quantities. Even an excess of one element (for example, phosphorus) will not compensate for the deficiency of another element (for example, potassium). Therefore, plants grown using organic farming THEY CONSTANTLY EXPERIENCE A LACK OF ONE OR OTHER NUTRITION ELEMENTS. And, lack of nutrition leads not only to a decrease in the commercial quality of the fruit (taste, size and keeping quality are lost), but also to a weakening of the plant. As a result, the plant loses resistance to diseases and is more often attacked by pests.
If a stunted, bitten plant is environmentally friendly and modern, then it turns out - hello, the Middle Ages (in the Middle Ages there was a lot of tension with fertilizers and pesticides, as well as with selection)!
But, soil is not only a lifeless substrate, but also the habitat of a huge number of organisms, and all of these organisms participate in one way or another in the life of plants. Earthworms aerate, moisten and mix the soil, nitrogen-fixing bacteria process atmospheric nitrogen into forms acceptable for plants, etc. Therefore, organic matter makes the soil alive (after all, soil inhabitants need something for breakfast, lunch and dinner). And living soil, teeming with microorganisms, is a constant nutrient background for plants. But only in the background! And in order to get a rich and healthy harvest, the plant must be constantly supplied with the nutrients it needs. This is what mineral fertilizers are for. Exclusively for this purpose, and not at all in order to stuff a person with chemistry. Therefore, organic farming is a mockery of plants, your own body (research from the University of Minnesota shows that the likelihood of contracting salmonellosis from vegetables grown in an organic field is three to five times higher than the risk of infection from conventional vegetables) and common sense.
Only the right decision issue of plant nutrition - ORGANOMINERAL AGRICULTURE. When both organic and mineral components are added to the soil within reasonable limits.
The great Russian scientist, academician Dmitry Nikolaevich Pryanishnikov absolutely accurately noted: “You cannot compensate for a lack of intelligence with an excess of fertilizers.” It makes no sense to pour (bury) mineral fertilizers into the soil, which are by no means cheap, in quantities greater than what the plant requires. And it also makes no sense to bury tons of manure in the soil (except to please the weeds). Manure (if you are lucky enough to purchase it) is a wonderful organic fertilizer. Especially horse manure. But any manure has its downsides. Serious disadvantages. First of all, this is that manure is the most favorable environment for the habitat of all kinds of microorganisms. Bacteria, fungi, algae and others multiply in manure many times faster than the most active rabbits. Unfortunately, not all bacteria are equally beneficial. For a huge number of pathogenic flora, manure is a home. The second disadvantage of manure is weed seeds. They can be stored in a manure heap for decades, patiently waiting for the moment to joyfully sprout in your garden bed. What to do? First, water the manure pile with a 0.05% solution copper sulfate(5 g per 10 liters of water). This will destroy the fungal flora (in particular, late blight) and some bacteria. After some time it will be necessary to spill the manure pile biological drugs containing strains of beneficial bacteria (Fitosporin-M, Baikal-EM, Compostin, etc.). At least this will partially restore the microflora.
But the most popular and useful organic fertilizer that is formed in excess on a personal plot is compost. A compost heap solves several garden problems at once.
Firstly, All plant residues in the garden are recycled: tops, leaves, small branches, weeds, etc.
Secondly, plant recycling food waste: cleaning, bread, leftover culinary preparations.
Thirdly, improving the structure and fertility of the soil on your site.
Fourthly, part of the mineral fertilizers that you added to the soil to feed the plants throughout the season is returned back to the beds along with the compost. Even if in the form of organic matter, the beneficial microflora of the soil will process the organic molecules of the compost into a mineral state acceptable to plants. Total benefits and savings!
How exactly to prepare high-quality compost? It seems that there is nothing simpler - throw everything into one pile, and then nature will sort it out. This is not entirely true. Good, high-quality compost will never be obtained from this method. Actually exists huge amount methods for making compost, as in industrial scale(here the emphasis is on quantity and volume), and in “home” conditions (here quality should prevail). For personal subsidiary farms specialists draw complex diagrams of the structure of the compost heap, layouts of compost bins, the composition and temperature of each layer of compost. All this is wonderful, if not for one thing, BUT. In reality, rarely does anyone stick to sophisticated schemes and complex designs. And they simply dump all the waste and leftovers into one big pile, raking out the lower layers from time to time. Unfortunately, this method produces compost of extremely low quality, “stuffed” with pathogenic microflora and perfectly preserved weed seeds. Unfortunately, real life on the site does not always allow you to pull out weeds before they are seeded, as required by wise instructions.
In fact, only three conditions are important for making compost: humidity, temperature and oxygen (air). Let's consider them in practical implementation.
Humidity. Maintaining uniform humidity in a compost heap is possible only by limiting evaporation. Old, leaky barrels are ideal for this purpose. But, if for some reason you do not work at a factory for the production of barrel containers, then you will have to put together a box from boards (slate, plywood, concrete slabs, etc.). The bottom of the box is not necessary - only the walls. If the box is wooden, then the inside can be lined with plastic film (“used” for a season in a greenhouse) so that the boards do not rot. The main purpose of the box is to reduce evaporation of the compost heap and aesthetics (the absence of ugly piles of rotting tops). The size of the box, suitable for a standard plot of 6 acres, is 1 x 1.5 m, height 1 meter. You need to make two of these boxes. The first year you fill one box with all the waste from the garden (thin branches from autumn or spring pruning of shrubs and trees are placed at the bottom of the future compost heap). Throughout the next season, the compost matures and becomes structured remarkably well, and in the meantime you use the volume of the second box. The most important thing to retain moisture is that the compost heap in the box (barrel) must be covered. And it doesn’t matter what you use for these purposes: plastic film (preferably black), oilcloth from the dining table, an advertising banner of your favorite party - as long as this coating does not allow water to pass through.
Temperature. The temperature in the compost heap will increase automatically as soon as you complete simple requirements by humidity (see above). Rotting processes (and this is the only way to prepare compost) always occur with the release of heat.
Oxygen (air). It will certainly end up in the pile if you add new portions of plant residues to it during the first season. In addition, in a humid environment rich in organic matter, worms appear (and reproduce) in large numbers, which perfectly aerate (and process) the substrate.
With this in a simple way preparing compost (just add it and water it) the weed seeds simply do not survive (too damp and hot). Beneficial bacteria destroy spores of pathogenic fungi. All minerals and organic substances remain in the substrate. To speed up the preparation of compost and improve its characteristics, it is advisable to add the drug Fitosporin-M (or Baikal-EM, Compostin, Tamir) to the compost heap according to the instructions on the package. These biological products (bacterial strains) help speed up the decomposition of organic matter, and the beneficial microorganisms themselves displace pathogens. By the way, the presence of a second box (two-year cycle) greatly simplifies the preparation of compost. The time that needs to be spent on mandatory mixing of the compost heap during an annual cycle can be devoted to other matters (or relaxation).
There are two nuances that it is advisable to observe when using this method of preparing compost:
Never add animal waste (bones, skins, half-eaten kebabs) to your compost heap. The smell of meat attracts rodents (rats and mice) - not the most useful and pleasant neighbors in the area. Plastic components (plastic bags, candy wrappers, etc.) can only be added if you intend to form your compost heap for more than 100 years (the average decomposition period of polyethylene).
Armed with an ordinary bayonet shovel, chop each added portion of plant residues. This action will supply the underlying layers of compost with oxygen and will allow you to obtain a more “finely ground” compost suitable for everyone gardening work(from mulching to filling planting holes).
There is also a simple and radical way to destroy autumn tops (tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage stalks, dahlias). Something that burns poorly is a pity to throw away...
In place of the future cabbage, onion, pumpkin-squash or beet ridge, a shallow (about 30 cm) ditch is dug into which all the available tops are dumped. The tops are crushed with feet. Then, urea is evenly scattered over the layer of trampled plant residues (200 g per 1 square meter). This concentration of urea is extremely unpleasant for insect pests (they die from it). In addition, when cellulose decomposes, rotting plants take nitrogen from the soil, and by adding urea in considerable quantities, we kindly provide the tops with the necessary components for the desired chemical reaction. After the urea is scattered over the surface of the tops, 5 g of copper sulfate (0.05% solution) is dissolved in 10 liters of water and this mixture is poured over the entire thickness of the plant residues. Liquid consumption - at least 10 liters per 1 m2. In this way, you will protect the future ridge from fungal and bacterial diseases that have accumulated in the tops over the season. Next, the ditch with filled and tucked tops is simply filled with earth that was removed earlier. The soil layer must be at least 20 cm. The necessary fertilizers for the crop are applied to the ridge, which is planned for the next season (autumn filling). That's all! A wonderful ridge, rich in organic matter and a complete mineral complex, will be ready for you next spring. Buried plant debris will turn into green fertilizer in the spring, something between silage and compost, and will gradually supply new plants with nutrients. And everyone will be fine!
As you can see, common sense dictates that it is more correct and profitable to use ORGANOMINERAL AGRICULTURE. Healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy people - these are the advantages of this species economic activity. The rationality of this method has long been proven by scientists and is used by all literate people.
Old-timers remember that in the Soviet Union, they had never even heard of any organic farming. So where did this vital teaching about pure products and a grateful land come from?
The monster is loud, mischievous, huge, yawning and barking. / Radishchev /
Organic farming and eco-nutrition tightly tied to it (these are links in one chain) were invented in the West (this is not the machinations of an external enemy, this is really so...). In 1924, a certain philosopher (!) Rudolf Steiner began giving lectures on the topic of biodynamic farming. Their meaning was that it is not the plants that need to be fed, but the earth. And the plants, they say, will take from there what they need. There (in the teaching) there were still the beginnings of delirium about the relationship of plants with the cosmos, which later poured down on the heads of consumers like a blessed rain lunar calendars. Steiner died in 1926 (was it really the environment that ruined him?), and until the 40s, organic farming did not bother people's heads. During World War II in England, a whole galaxy of government officials developed the concept of mineral-free plant nutrition. This is understandable, there is a war going on, the island (Great Britain) is under blockade, everything is for the front, everything is for victory! Chemistry - for the needs of war. It is surprising that after the war, theoretical and practical research in the field of organic farming continued. Although, what can I say, even alchemy lasted for several centuries until it finally mutated into astrology.
And then businessmen got down to business. In 1972, the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) was founded in Versailles. The goals are modest - to plant your ideas and conquer the whole world. The meaning is simple - organic “environmentally friendly” vegetables and fruits simply have to cost more, because human health, a return to “roots”, a clean earth, a grateful planet and other blah blah blah. In fact, such a high cost of organic products is due to the low efficiency of their cultivation. Large volumes of products cannot be obtained organic methods housekeeping. The low quality of an organic product requires large advertising investments, which also affects the final price. It took a couple of decades to promote a new product, and since the early 1990s, global markets related to organic agriculture have been growing by 20% annually. In the United States, the market for organic farm products increased from $1 billion in 1994 to $13 billion in 2003 (Wikipedia). And there is nothing surprising about this. It’s just that since the 90s, all over the world (not excluding Russia), the level of education has been rapidly falling. General education that makes people think and analyze. In the era of “developed” democracies, it is much easier to manage an illiterate population, which means that conveying any crazy idea to the population is not particularly difficult. And if serious people in expensive suits they convey some idea from the TV screens in a well-trained voice, you inevitably begin to believe them. And no one thinks about the fact that all these people have an acting or fashionable management education... After all, they speak beautifully, not like scientists, who are not interesting to listen to because they don’t understand.
Thus, a profitable project with environmentally friendly nutrition is gradually conquering the planet. But producers of mineral fertilizers are not upset about this, because mass production of agricultural products is controlled by professional agronomists, and they have studied plant biology. Agronomists use both mineral and organic components to obtain a rich (profitable) and healthy (also profitable) harvest.
By the way, the average life expectancy even in the 19th century, with exclusively organic farming (and nutrition, accordingly) was only 30 - 40 years. So, lovers of natural farming - welcome to the Stable Middle Ages.
Well, something like this))))
If you do gardening, do it wisely!
Deep plowing and digging reduce the activity of natural microorganisms, destroy the soil structure and reduce its fertility.
The earth needs to be loosened no deeper than five centimeters using a homemade flat cutter or Fokin flat cutter. This kind of loosening of the soil is quite enough to prepare the soil for planting vegetables, aerate it, and reduce the number of weeds.
The composition and structure of the soil created by previous plantings is not destroyed, the activity of worms and microorganisms living in the soil remains the same.
Be sure to mulch the soil
Organic mulch very well saturates the soil of the site with minerals much needed for plant growth, and also improves its composition, promotes the reproduction of earthworms and other soil organisms.
The content of vermicompost gradually increases in mulched soil. Covered soil is protected from overheating in the sun, and, accordingly, from rapid evaporation of moisture, hypothermia and erosion. Straw, leaves, sawdust, hay, etc. are suitable as mulch.
Maintain crop rotation
Crop rotation, or simply put, alternation, changing crops, helps maintain soil fertility and significantly reduces the number of diseases and pests.
All annual crops should not grow in one place for the second year in a row - this is the simplest crop rotation scheme.
Complex systems include ten-year rotation patterns of vegetable and fruit crops.
Crop rotation can be carried out according to one of two principles: alternate families or groups of crops (leaf, fruit, root crops) at minimal plan shifts (usually three to four years).
Make warm beds
The beds are made directly on the compost heap, while still warm - heat is released during the decomposition of organic matter. The temperature of a warm bed is two to four degrees higher than the temperature environment. This makes it possible to plant plants ahead of schedule. Direct composting on beds with raw organic matter provides the following advantages:
- there is no need to spread ready-made compost over the beds
- carbon dioxide is used completely by plants, while in finished compost its share is significantly lost
- mulch function is performed
- humidity and temperature of the beds are regulated
Note to the gardener:
Green manures are divided into families: legumes, cruciferous and cereals. Legumes enrich the soil with nitrogen.
These include lupine, vetch, peas, soybeans, lentils, sweet clover, sainfoin, clover, and alfalfa.
Cruciferous vegetables (mustard, oilseed radish, rapeseed, rapeseed) saturate it with sulfur and phosphorus.
Grain green manures sprout quickly: wheat, rye, barley, oats, granary. They enrich the soil with potassium and suppress the growth of weeds.
When sowing green manure, observe crop rotation, this way you will saturate the soil with different microelements.
Organic farming – reader responses (transferred from comments)
Over the past 3 years, I have been learning natural farming with interest. We have a training center in Voronezh, where I go to lectures on this topic - very informative! I put a lot of knowledge into practice at my summer cottage.
Soil blanket
Our dacha is located on sandy soil with high acidity, so we have to reduce it. I add humus and chemicals – the bare minimum. My natural farming started with mulching. As soon as the first grass grows in the area in April-May, I begin to create a blanket. Any grass can be used as mulch, but medicinal grass is preferable.
Around the holiday village there are a lot of nettles, yarrow, wormwood, tansy, celandine, dandelions, burdocks, etc. And there are all sorts of weeds growing in the garden. In the evening I go out on my bike to pick up grass. I cut it with scissors, pack it into large bags, my husband and granddaughter help me. I bring it to the site, lay it out along the edges and between the rows of the strawberry beds, then along the garlic “plantation.”
After a day or two, the mulch dries out and settles. I add a new layer, and so on several times. As a result, the mulch layer reaches 5 cm or more. There is no need to weed - weeds do not grow through the mulch, moisture is retained. Then I mulch other beds with grown plantings. And so all summer. The main thing is to use herbs before they bloom.
The benefits of mulching are obvious. Over the summer, the mulch layer dries out, rots and useful humus is formed. There are much more worms in the ground. The soil does not dry out and does not overheat from the heat. In the fall, I work the remaining mulch into the soil, preparing it for winter sowing.
Natural fertilizers
I use mustard as green manure. She especially loves her potato beds. But we need to try other green manure plants. Oil radish, a plant of the legume family, is highly praised. The main thing is that the earth does not remain bare! After all, in nature something always grows on it, which means that in the garden it needs to be provided with approximately the same conditions.
Spring is early today. Already on March 28th I sowed some carrots. When I was preparing the bed, I noticed that there were a lot of worms in the soil. So my land is alive!
And now a little about feeding plants. I chop up medicinal herbs (and just any weeds) and fill buckets and old flasks with it. I add humus, mullein, ash, add water, cover with lids and put in a cool place for a week. The proportions are all by eye.
When the composition begins to ferment, the smell is very strong and unpleasant, so I put the containers with fertilizer away. And after a week, I filter the infusion and throw the plant residues into the compost. After this, I dilute the fertilizer - 1 liter per 10 liters of water. I water all the plantings with this solution. I do this once every 2 weeks. When you first feed, you can also add 1 tbsp. l. urea per bucket of water for green mass growth. And then you won’t need any artificial additives - only everything natural. Effective - proven!
On top
We fell in love with the raised beds. Every spring we make more and more of them. They are fenced with boards and slate. There is a lot of information on how to make them. I have been preparing material for these beds all winter. This cardboard boxes from pizza and pies, newspapers (modern printing inks are less toxic than before). I have plastic trays on the radiator under the kitchen window. In them I dry coffee, tea, egg shells, onion and garlic peels, and citrus peels. I compact the dried material into boxes and take it out to the dacha, so as not to litter the apartment. And in the spring I put it all in a compost container or on high beds, which will also be warm in the first year (due to the active process of rotting). I use these beds for planting cucumbers, green crops, Chinese cabbage, early tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
Little tricks
I even learned to dry potato peelings in my apartment in a shoe box under the kitchen radiator. In the spring, I dig dry potato peelings around the currant bushes. Productivity increases noticeably, and pests decrease. But cucumbers, onions and carrots are very fond of tea and coffee. I pour them into the furrow and then sow the seeds.
It is often written that beds for spring sowing and planting are prepared in the fall. I’m not particularly smart about this. In the fall, I scatter humus around the garden. I add mature compost under bushes, flowers and trees. And I do this as late as possible, after the onset of cold weather. I pour it directly onto the grown green manure. So our earth, insulated, goes into winter. And in the spring I loosen the soil early and retain moisture. This is my natural farming.
Organic eco-farming – summer residents share their experience
"Vulgar" summer resident
Everyone always called my site ideal. And I was proud of it. Kept it almost sterile clean. Weeds, waste - everything goes into compost. She dug up the earth both in spring and autumn, removing everything down to the last speck. Beauty. And suddenly I began to notice that my land was slowly beginning to resemble asphalt - after watering and rain, it began to float and crack (photo 1), the harvests were not encouraging. And what surprised me most was the disappearance of the worms: the main thing is that the neighbors have them, but I don’t have a single one. And until then I was at a loss until I came across a book about organic farming. This is where my eyes opened - by removing all the organic matter from the site, I simply starved my worms to death. And by digging up the soil with manic persistence in spring and autumn, I also destroyed beneficial microorganisms living in its different layers.
Dear summer residents, don’t do like me! There is only one harm from such purity. For my own wet nurse, the earth, I was worse than a fierce stepmother.
And for five years now I have been behaving exactly the opposite. Now, from all the nearby landfills, I bring weeded weeds, mown lawn grass, and vegetable waste to my site (I only don’t take tomato and potato tops). I cover the beds and the passages between them with all this goodness. I periodically water them with a solution of fertilizer based on humus and a diluted tincture of fermented grass (1 liter per 1 bucket of water). These tools perform a dual function. Firstly, it provides good feeding, and secondly, the process of biomass decomposition is accelerated. My vegetables really like this mulch, and the underground inhabitants are happy and well-fed.
Since about August, I haven’t laid anything out on the beds - it won’t have time to rot. Instead, I start filling the compost pile.
Actually, I have two of them, I use them in turn: I hammer one, and “unpack” the other, ready from last year. We have a large park area next to our dachas, so I put a large amount of leaves in the compost, sprinkled with earth and vegetable waste; there are also a lot of them in landfills in the fall.
One day, a summer resident I knew, seeing me carrying this “product,” snorted: “Ugh, how vulgar!” And I want to shout: “Long live landfills!” Well, where else can you get so much organic matter? Your own is a drop in the sea. Don't judge me, I actually benefit from them.
Organic cycle
The second cure for my depleted soil was green manure. I don’t dig up the earth anymore. As soon as some bed is free, without removing the half-rotted mulch, I scatter the plant seeds and cover them with a hoe. If it’s dry, I make sure to water it – this way the grass will sprout faster and grow more green mass. Once I sowed rapeseed in two plots: I watered the seeds in the one near me, and I was lazy in the one farther away. As a result, on the first everything was thickly overgrown, on the second - barely. And if it weren’t for such a comparison, I would already be screaming that they sold me low-quality seed.
I sow the garlic bed with mustard, and when the time comes to plant its neighbor, it has already grown by 10-15 cm. Then I make holes right along it with a peg and throw garlic cloves into them, covering them with compost. With such planting, 80% of the mustard continues to grow (as can be seen in photo 2). With the onset of cold weather, I fill this bed with leaves. Early spring I leave everything in the same form: under the weight of the snow the foliage will settle, and the garlic will easily pass through it. But since the ground under the leaves does not warm up immediately, the plants sprout a little later than their neighbors. True, this does not affect the harvest, but weeds do not grow under such mulch. Sometimes I water it, and by autumn almost all the foliage is rotted, and my garlic is beautiful (photo 3)!
After harvesting it (in mid-July), I plant sprouted potatoes in this bed. Last year, on October 19, frost hit and killed the tops. But potatoes are the size chicken egg I dug almost a bucket. Such “youth” are good for planting - the variety rejuvenates.
After harvesting the main potatoes, I cut shallow grooves and sow them with rye. Having harrowed it with a rake, I water it. In winter, the area becomes a green carpet (photo 4).
Another secret: after harvesting early vegetables, I sow the plots twice. First I sow fast-growing phacelia and mustard. In September, I chop their juicy greens with a shovel right on the spot, kicking them to the ground. After this, I trim the “pancake” of earth with chopped grass and turn it over. And after that I sow winter rapeseed or rye there and close it up with a hoe. I definitely water it if it's dry. And the grown greenery holds back the snow.
In spring, rapeseed and rye continue to increase their green mass. A week before planting any crop, I again chop the greens and turn over the earthen “pancake”. And where the phacelia and mustard have gone into the winter, as soon as the snow melts, I scatter mustard over the phacelia, and phacelia over the mustard. The soil at this time is still damp, and green manure has time to grow before the main plantings. I cut furrows for onions right along them, dig holes for tomatoes and peppers and pour compost and ash into them.
Green manure and vegetables grow together until there is waste in landfills. Then I trim the green manure, leaving it in place, and fill it with waste. And then read it first. This is the cycle I have in my garden. The main thing is not to pull out the green manure with its roots. The more dead roots left in the soil, the more porous it becomes. I even leave the root systems of tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and flowers before winter. The beard of small roots is processed by worms over the winter, and the large part is easy to pull out of the ground in the spring. Now let me sum it up.
You won't be able to beat your head
- Mustard. It sprouts and grows quickly, heals the soil, wireworms don’t like it, it attracts bees, but you don’t need to sow it thickly, otherwise there won’t be fluffy green mass.
- Winter rapeseed. It increases fertility as well as manure, prevents the growth of weeds, and enriches the soil with phosphorus and sulfur. You need to chop it before flowering, otherwise it will become very tough.
- Rye. It fluffs up the soil very well, enriches it with potassium and nitrogen, and suppresses weeds. It is not worth planting in one place every year, because wireworms may appear.
- Phacelia. It is unpretentious, grows quickly and decomposes in the soil, suppresses weeds best of all, expels wireworms, and withstands frosts down to -7°. It blooms for almost a month, the aroma is honey. The bees are simply crazy about it, which is important for all crops blooming in the country. When seeds begin to form, I sometimes cut it off and put it in the place I need, where it crumbles and begins to grow again.
- Beans and peas. I also sow the excess of these legumes as green manure. They enrich the soil with nitrogen. Peas can be sown immediately after the snow melts, and beans are heat-loving.
These are my observations. And since I carry out all the work at an accelerated pace (thanks to the same landfills and park area), I can brag. Now I have a lot of worms - large, fat ones, my soul rejoices looking at them. The land has improved noticeably. The top layer is coarse, the color has even become darker. And the harvests are encouraging.
By the way, I do not agree with those who consider organic farming to be easy work. Not digging is only a quarter of the battle.
A large amount of mulch is needed. You need to sow green manure, incorporate them into the soil, etc. It seems to me that someone who doesn’t actually do it speaks about ease. I wish everyone great harvests.
Organic harvests
We are for organic farming, and our goal is to obtain an environmentally friendly harvest. Therefore, we try to select natural fertilizers and means of protection against pests and diseases.
Zucchini abundance
We do preventive treatments against diseases at least twice a month. We alternate between different drugs. We use exclusively biological fungicides: Fitosporin, Fitop-Florz-S, Alirin, Gamair (the last two are mixed after dilution according to the instructions). They contain beneficial bacteria that prevent the development of pathogenic microflora. We use it immediately, because working solutions prepared on the basis of beneficial bacteria cannot be stored. If it rains, repeat spraying. We feed the plants with a “cocktail”: add soft humine potassium fertilizer diluted according to the instructions to a solution of chicken manure (1:20) or vermicompost (zucchini especially needs potassium at the time of fruiting).
Despite all efforts, at the end of July, initial signs of powdery mildew were noticed on the bush of the new variety Patio Star. To prevent it further development, sprayed the plant with the anti-stress drug Stimul and treated it with fungicides every 10 days for prevention.
Of the new products this year, I especially liked the portioned zucchini. Many people are familiar with the situation when, during cooking, large zucchini fruits do not go away entirely and then often wither in the refrigerator. But Portioned zucchini got its name for its compact size - it is a one-time fruit. In addition, it is very productive and disease resistant. In our opinion, it still has a drawback - it shoots long lashes, but we did not pinch them.
And not only the little blue ones
We grow eggplants of different varieties and hybrids - it’s much more interesting.
We feed them (usually at least twice a month) with the same “cocktail”, spray them with any anti-stress drug (Ecogel, Zircon, Narcissus, Stimul, Eco-pin - they can be used on all crops twice a month, alternating root and foliar processing) and add Fitoverm for prevention, because Eggplants are often damaged by spider mites. Such feeding is especially important during the fruiting period. We regularly carry out “green” operations: we clear the stems from the stepsons, we form the plants into three stems. We don’t delay harvesting, because the more often you pick the fruits, the more fruits will set. Now, at the end of August,
when the nights become cold and excess moisture promotes the development of fungi and bacteria, we intensify care, because if measures are not taken, the eggplants will begin to get sick. Spraying with biological fungicides began to be done weekly, and the beds with plants were covered with white non-woven material.
Tomatoes until autumn
When tomatoes ripen en masse in a greenhouse, many summer residents lose their vigilance, because here it is, the treasured harvest, just have time to collect it. But, if you want to extend fruiting until late autumn, continue to care for your plants regularly. Since August, we have been treating the bushes weekly against diseases with any biological fungicide, alternating root and foliar treatments. Twice a month we spray tomatoes with an anti-stress drug. During fruit ripening, the need for potassium increases sharply. Therefore, once at the root, water the tomatoes with infusion of ash. Once a week we fertilize the plants with the already known “cocktail”, but at this time chicken droppings Instead of 1:20, we dilute it 1:60 to reduce the nitrogen rate to a minimum, but we give potassium according to the instructions for the drug.
Marina RYKALINA and Vitaly DEKABREV
Transforming the earth through organic methods
I also want to tell you how I came to organic farming and how my land was completely transformed in three years. I live in a village - a house and 27 acres of land: 24 next to the house (the land here is light, sod-podzolic), and 3 acres separately, 300 meters away, under a steep hill, where there is heavy loam. Previously, when they plowed with a horse, they made the beds right away, and the soil did not have time to dry out. Four years ago I asked to plow the garden and cut the ridges by Saturday (by connecting two ridges together, we get a garden bed).
Due to circumstances, the owner of the tractor plowed on Tuesday. At clear weather and a temperature of 20° by Saturday all the ridges had turned into large hard clay blocks. How to break them? It’s a pity to break the flat cutter; the teeth of the garden fork broke off. There’s nothing to say about the arms and back... It would be much easier to dig with a shovel, but what’s done is done. Remembering all the obscene words I knew, I said that the tractor would not enter my garden again.
Wheatgrass, nettles, and euphorbia climb from the boundary through the furrow into the beds. It is much easier to remove them with a hand cultivator than with a flat cutter or fork. I used a shovel only to compact the edges of the ridges, but now I’ve stopped doing that too. I form the beds with a flat cutter, raking the soil from the furrows, and leave the edges loose. Somehow, while working, I didn’t even notice, but as I climbed the hill, I felt that my back didn’t hurt! My forearms were tired from unaccustomed use, and only because the soil was very dense in the first year. I immediately advertised the manual cultivator to everyone I knew: for a bad back, it’s just a godsend! You only need to bend down to pick up the roots of the weeds, but there are fewer and fewer of them every year.
In general, I made a garden bed and planted everything. In August, after removing the onions, I sowed mustard and oats. And having removed the carrots, beets, radishes and cabbage, I left the entire leaf in place - and so everything went under the snow. In the spring, there was a little mustard straw and cuttings from cabbage leaves in the garden bed, everything else was eaten. When I pulled out the cabbage stalks (and in the spring they come out easily), they swarmed on the roots earthworms, and not one at a time, but in groups of several pieces.
I loosened the bed directly with the straw using a cultivator. The ground became softer, the teeth easily entered the soil without special effort, and I completed it much faster than the previous year. In the summer I sowed oats and mustard again and again left everything under the snow. And by the third spring the soil was already so soft and loose that there was no point in loosening it! Using a flat cutter, like a hoe, I lightly chopped the mustard straw, cut off the weeds in the furrows - and that’s it, the bed was ready.
The soil when cut resembles a sponge, porous. I have never seen so many worms in the beds, except perhaps under a pile of manure. There is no crust, no floating earth. The area dried out very quickly, although there is a swamp nearby. I haven’t applied manure for more than three years, but the soil fertility is not decreasing – on the contrary! From a planted bucket of onions (family) 8-10 (!) buckets grow, and carrots and beets have only one drawback - they are too large. This year the cabbage heads did not fit into the bag, but it was quite big – it was from a feed bag.
I’ll admit right away: I don’t pamper my plants with special care. I never water onions, carrots, or beets. Cabbage - only in the holes when planting, and I cover it with dry soil on top.
Only tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse receive liquid fertilizing. IN open ground I water only cucumbers (the bed is covered on top of the soil with film or black spunbond) and young apple trees. The rest all survives on its own. I cover tomatoes and zucchini with mown grass, strawberries with newspapers and a thin layer of sawdust on top. By the way, this is what saved it from freezing in the snowless autumn of 2014, when frosts hit -17°. The neighbors' strawberries were all frozen.
Compost maturation is a long process. In addition, during the winter the contents of the box or pit freeze and thaw quite late - somewhere around mid-May. To speed things up, pour plenty of warm water over the compost, but never boiling water! If you urgently need to defrost the compost, sprinkle ash on top and water it three times a day. hot water. Cover with film or burlap at night.
Neither thick nor empty
I would also like to tell you how I grow vegetables. The bed is long, more than 30 m. After loosening it with a flat cutter or cultivator, it is smooth and loose. I don’t level it with a rake; I use a flat cutter or a slate to make furrows along the ridge. The first one is closer to the edge, retreating 3-4 cm. I sow carrots into it, not densely, with a seeder, after 3-4 cm. If two seeds fall somewhere, I leave them: they won’t grow so huge. Having retreated 30 cm, I make the next furrow, then two more after 25-30 cm. I add a little ash into them and plant onions.
The distance between the bulbs is 15 cm if small, and 20-25 cm if large. I plant the seedlings in the outer furrow. The bed is wide, but I weed it, loosening it with a small flat cutter on a long handle. I leave the grass in place: it dries out very quickly, single stems take root (I will remove them during the next weeding before lodging the feather). When the onions begin to turn yellow, somewhere in the first ten days of June, in rainy weather I sprinkle salt (not thickly). If the tips of the feathers turn very yellow, you can add a little urea to the salt - the feathers begin to actively grow.
I harvest when the neck dries, and the sets when they fall down. And immediately I sow mustard and oats. I make furrows with a flat cutter, scatter the seeds, level them: if you sow on top and harrow them with a rake, the birds will peck. I pre-soak the oats. Carrots and seedlings remain in the garden. I throw mustard seeds between the onion bulbs, they sprout, grow and by the time the onions are harvested they reach a height of 15-20 cm. They grow even more in September.
In the furrow where the seedlings grow, I sow beets with seeds. It’s also not a lot: where two or three sprout, I leave it - the root vegetables will not be so large. I prefer varieties with small tops, such as Detroit, Pablo - they have thin skin, without ringing, sweet, juicy. I also sow radishes in the furrow - they grow better than in the garden. I plant cabbage at one end of the bed, alternating with onions every other year, and swap carrots with onions.
Where green manure is not sown, I leave vegetable tops there for the winter. Under the cabbage in the holes I put half a handful of dolomite flour, a pinch of superphosphate, and a little ash. I water and plant seedlings in the dirt. I sprinkle dry soil on top, and that’s it - there will be no more watering. But you will have to treat the cruciferous flea beetle. And any of chemicals: Ash doesn't help. Countless hordes attack and instantly suck the juices from the tender leaves of the core.
Salad onions, no problem
This is how I grow my garden. The longest job is weeding in a carrot row, where I pick out blades of grass with my hands. I don’t go close to plants with a flat cutter so that...
I don’t treat carrot and onion flies with anything, there are no wormy carrots, and several nests on onions may be affected, but this is a drop in the bucket.
In addition to family onions and sets, I have been planting seeds for several years now. I sow the seeds on March 8-12 in half-liter tall plastic containers or 0.5 liter plastic cups. I sow them 1-2 cm apart from each other, so they can be seen better in the snow, and sprinkle them with earth. Before germination I put it in a dark place. When loops appear, I remove the lid from the container and place it on the windowsill. I plant it in the garden around May 9th. I look at the forecast so that there are no frosts in the coming days - then they are no longer scary.
I make furrows, water generously and lay out the roots in the mud. I try not to bury the onions, which are the size of a match head, too deep. If the weather is hot, I water it several times. The care is usual - weeding, loosening, the bed is well fertilized, so I don’t feed it with anything. I remove it in September, when the neck becomes soft and the feathers fall down.
The bulbs grow weighing up to 600 g. There is only one drawback: you need to eat everything within three months - the onions are so juicy that they cannot be stored for a long time. What we don’t have time to eat, I give to friends. Even his grandson, when he was three years old, asked: “Yuba, give me Yuka!” (He hasn’t pronounced the letter “L” yet). And he ate it raw, to the horror of his mother, who doesn’t eat onions at all.
I highly recommend that all summer residents grow Exhibition. The fly doesn’t touch it, there’s no hassle with it, you just need to spend a little more time on planting than on sowing, and that’s all.
Please note: the container for onion seedlings should not be too shallow, the depth should be at least 10-12 cm. When planting, you can trim the roots and feathers, although you don’t have to do this, it still grows well. But it’s better to buy good seeds. Over the years I have bought Dutch ones: germination is excellent. But this year I was somehow on the lookout and bought it in a simple white bag. It hasn't grown at all! It seems to taste similar, but the onion itself is not so large, and the color of the outer scales is darker.
And now my wish to all summer residents: do not be afraid to part with a shovel! You don’t have to waste tons of land; spare the land, your hands, and your back. I only use a shovel to dig planting holes for trees, and, as you can see, nothing bad has happened: the yields are not decreasing.
Vera KNYAZEVA, Voronezh and Nadezhda Nikolaevna Teplyakova, Tambov
: Crop rotation and cucumbers So, your story...
Evgeniy Sedov
When hands grow out the right place, life is more fun :)
Content
Human health directly depends on nutrition. Eating foods with GMOs or grown with the use of pesticides and fertilizers leads to irreversible consequences for the body. Modern agronomists propose to turn to the experience of our ancestors, to make the basis agriculture natural farming.
Organic farming - what is it?
Ecological farming differs from traditional soil cultivation by its gentle approach to natural ecosystems existing in nature. The use of pesticides and deep cultivation has become detrimental to the land, reduced fertility, disrupted the natural cycle of substances, and negated the benefits of worms and microorganisms. Eco-farming is based on the awareness of the free interaction between soil, plants, animals, and organic residues, while humans should play the role of a helper, not a pest.
Organic Farming Basics
The principles and basics of organic farming are easy to understand and are as follows:
- The earth is a living organism, the structure of which should not be disturbed. Intensive cultivation of the arable layer, excessive digging, loosening, mineralization, and other agricultural work are very labor-intensive and lead to high material costs with low efficiency. Natural farming on a farm or garden plot leads to minimal costs, while allowing for a good harvest every year.
- Mulching is the main method to improve soil quality, create favorable conditions for the natural system. Mulch is straw, sawdust, hay, fallen leaves, roots and trimmed weeds - everything that covers the beds on top protects the black soil from excessive evaporation of moisture, erosion and hypothermia.
- Reasonable feeding, which is designed not to destroy beneficial microbes and fungi that utilize organic matter, but to give them the opportunity to multiply, suppress pathogenic bacteria, fix mineral elements, and process everything that can serve as natural humus.
Agriculture according to Ovsinsky
The initiator of parting with the classical method of digging up a vegetable garden was the Russian scientist I.E. Ovsinsky, author of many scientific works, agronomist by training. Farming according to Ovsinsky is an ideal way to allow the earth to recover itself without interfering with the natural course of nature. As evidence, the innovative breeder in 1899 wrote the work “A New System of Agriculture,” in which he argued for minimal plow intervention in the soil structure, which ensures an environmentally friendly environment and the production of high-quality, safe products.
Organic farming - Kizima method
Galina Kizima can be considered a modern authority on the benefits of organic farming. Having received her PhD degree, the woman seriously took up issues of increasing productivity through the correct approach to soil cultivation practices. Organic farming using the Kizima method has become widespread and is described in books and articles. The basic principle of her garden is the three “don’ts”: don’t weed, don’t dig, don’t water. The author introduced the concept of a “smart” garden bed into use, personal experience proved the effectiveness of her method.
Organic farming - beds
Create conditions for plants in the beds similar to those existing in wildlife, the agricultural technology of natural farming is called upon. The goals of the method: improving the quality and volume of the harvest, preserving natural fertility while saving time and effort. To bring this idea to life, the following are used:
- gentle loosening of the top 5-7 cm of soil in spring and autumn;
- exclusively for use in the garden organic fertilizers, including compost, manure, humus, green manure, as well as microbiological developments;
- biological products, agricultural products that protect plants from pests and diseases.
Organic farming - where to start
The question of when and where to start organic farming is increasingly asked by rural residents and owners of garden plots. The answer is encouraging: transfer your household farming to a completely new system, known as “organic beds”, can be used at any time of the year, but the most suitable is considered autumn period. In practice main task agriculture will be the rapid restoration of the upper fertile layer, the correct selection of means of protection, the maintenance of the natural ecosystem, and its preservation in this state through elementary actions.
Natural farming in the garden plot - practice
Periodic, deep digging is not acceptable if your goal is organic farming in the country. The desire for perfect soil cultivation spoils the soil, has the opposite effect on it, making it heavy, dry, lifeless, hard as stone. As practice shows, this can be avoided using certain techniques:
- divide the area into small beds, depending on the species composition of the plants that will be planted;
- try to cover the soil with natural, organic materials, since bare soil is unprotected and less fertile;
- Regularly mulch the soil to a depth of at least 10 cm, which will reduce the growth of weeds, protect plants from pests and exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and ensure long-term retention of moisture in the soil.
I have always dreamed of providing my family with safe food that does not contain unnecessary chemicals or pesticides. And I found a way! Organic farming allows you to grow large, high-quality crops. Today I will tell you how to start growing completely organic vegetables and fruits on your own plot.
When choosing plants for natural farming, remember that monocultures run the risk of not taking root. This means that you should not plant only one type of vegetable crop in one bed. Try to organize mixed plantings and remember another subtlety of organic farming.
You cannot take the first seeds you like. The fact is that some crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.) need difficult care and constant care. They are susceptible a large number diseases and are an excellent treat for pests. Therefore, when choosing seed, think about whether the vegetable or fruit tree will survive on your site.
Give preference to plants that are disease resistant and survive in harsh conditions. These traditionally include garlic, potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, onions, zucchini and eggplant. Experienced vegetable growers believe that other vegetables can be grown, but there is no need to rush if this is your first season with organic farming.
Organic farming in the country: methodology
The best time to start changing your farming method is late summer and autumn before the first frost. You can start in the spring, but traditionally the redevelopment of the garden occurs at a later period. Plan in advance what your plot will look like and what you will plant. When the time is right, take action.
Selection of land and its cultivation
It is important that the soil on the site is sufficiently loose and breathable. For the garden bed, choose a sufficiently lit place and fertilize the soil with manure or chicken droppings even before the land was transferred.
First, loosen the soil using a fork; digging up the bed is not necessary, but it is advisable.
The optimal width of the bed is 40 centimeters, and maintain a distance of at least 2 times greater between each bed. After forming the beds, clear the weeds from the rows using a flat cutter. Be sure to mulch the row spaces. Dried grass, peat, and sawdust are suitable for this.
Please note that you need to start natural farming with a miniature garden bed and gradually expand. Follow these and the following tips, and then you will definitely be able to grow strong, fruitful plants.
Planting green manure
Green manures are plants that help increase productivity and supply the soil with essential microelements. They function as living mulch, accelerate the vital activity of flora, suppress weeds and attract beneficial insects with their bright colors.
Typically, green manure grows quickly and protects the plantings from winds and direct sun rays. The role of green manure in natural farming is usually performed by:
- Sweet clover, clover;
- Peas, rapo;
- Mustard and beans;
- Lupine, phacelia;
- Common alfalfa and buckwheat.
Feeding
To successfully engage in organic farming, special attention pay attention to fertilizing. The optimal solution in terms of action and cost is compost fertilizers made from large excrement cattle, horses, and also bird droppings. The fact is that it is impossible to use chemical compounds with this management method.
Feed the plant in small quantities. Especially when it comes to slow-growing flora: it itself can resist infections and dangerous insects.
If you overfeed, you may accidentally burn the sensitive root tips. This will lead to death or serious illness of vegetables or fruit and berry plantings. If you over fertilize, unwanted pests may appear. You can also watch an instructional video that lists all the suitable fertilizers.
Rotation of plantings
All gardeners and gardeners are aware that if you grow the same plants in the same beds, the yield will drop noticeably. Harmful microorganisms accumulate in such a place.
They impair fruiting and are a great danger to the crop: microfauna lives in plants and reproduces there. Therefore, change the plants in the beds every summer season, unless, of course, they are perennial.
It is worth creating a special table where you will record data for each year. This is necessary, since some plantings (eggplants, pumpkins, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes, watermelons, bell peppers) suffer from the same infections. Find out in advance whether your plants are susceptible to this phenomenon and distribute them in a safe manner.
There are two crop rotation schemes: alternation of groups (leaf, fruit, etc.) or families. The choice depends entirely on your preferences.
Plant care
If you want to see beds full of fruits, you need to invest some effort in care. Be prepared that plants without chemical fertilizers will need more attention than their treated counterparts. Here is a list of mandatory manipulations when cultivating organically and small tips.
Weeding
Organic farming in the country requires mandatory weeding of the beds: sometimes even green manure does not save you from the appearance of weeds. Remove weeds as they appear. Do not delay under any circumstances, because weeds attract pests, suck out nutrients from the soil and press plants to the ground.
Watering
- Give the plant enough water. It needs fluid for proper growth and metabolism;
- Water under the trunk. Wet leaves attract dangerous insects and are more susceptible to viruses, fungal diseases and infections;
- Apply water using a hose, attach it directly next to the base of the plant;
- Remember that it is not recommended to spray plantings even in hot weather. Especially if the mode you choose is sprinkling or fog.
Mulching
Organic mulch saturates the soil with minerals. This stimulates the vegetation of your plantings, helps to increase the population of earthworms and other inhabitants of the beds, which are beneficial. In mulched soil, the percentage of vermicompost constantly increases.
Sensitive roots are protected from solar overheating or reverse processes. Hay, leaf litter and straw are usually used as mulch in garden beds.
As you can see, growing a successful crop is not that difficult. Just listen to the advice and don’t be afraid to try hard for tasty and healthy vegetables for the rest of the year.
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