Siderata in the garden
The annual use of land for growing vegetables is gradually depleting it. To fertilize the garden and enrich the composition of the soil, siderates are used. These are very necessary plants that are grown for the purpose of further digging and embedding them in the soil to improve its structure, enrichment with macro- and microelements, as well as to inhibit the growth of weeds.
Why do you need to sow green manure
When we dig the soil in the fall, we only harm it. In spring, after the snow melts, it is saturated with water and becomes strongly compacted. It needs to be loosened again.
If you sow green manure beds, then in winter the plant roots will crush under the snow and loosen the soil, and the dry green manure grass will cover the ground and prevent precipitation and melted snow from compacting it.
Siderata should be sown in August so that by the end of September they have increased the green mass.
Two ways to embed green manure in the soil
Siderata include oats, mustard, phacelia, oil radish, rye and other crops.
There are two ways to embed green manure in the soil. First, the siderates are mowed and chopped finely. Then this green mass is buried shallowly into the ground. The second - siderates are simply left in the garden in winter. It all depends on what kind of crop you plan to plant in this garden bed next year.
Oats and phacelia, for example, need to be mowed and the green mass chopped into small pieces for better roasting. Then, using a flat cutter, the ground is loosened. By spring, the grass will not have time to completely overheat, but the roots of the plants will fertilize the soil well. With the help of oats and phacelia, the bed is prepared for planting crops such as beans, strawberries, cucumbers, corn, that is, for large-seeded crops or seedlings.
Mustard, as a siderat, is used in the preparation of beds for carrots, cabbage, parsley, that is, small-seeded crops. It is not dug up in the fall, but in the spring, pushing the dry grass aside, they sow root crops. After germination, rotted mustard is laid out in the aisles, mulching and thus fertilizing the garden.
Green manure is a green fertilizer for your plants. It is food for microorganisms that convert green green mass of green manure into humus. If you plant green manure in the garden, then you will be provided with high yields.