Land preparation for seedlings. How to prepare the soil for seedlings - advice from experienced gardeners

From early spring, gardeners and summer residents begin their hectic activity associated with sowing and germinating seedlings. It is not so easy to get healthy and strong shoots that are easily adapted in the open field and will please you with a good harvest in the future. The main condition for their growth, and therefore the basis of the future harvest, is a properly selected or self-prepared land.

Soil for seedlings: we prepare with our own hands

Some novice vegetable growers do not think about how to properly prepare the soil for growing seedlings, but simply take the land from the garden and sow seeds in it. What is their disappointment when the long-awaited shoots do not appear or grow slowly. And by the time of the transfer to open ground they are still fragile and weak. Such plants will most likely not survive the stress associated with planting in beds and will die within a few days.

Before you start taking action, you need to responsibly approach the question of how to prepare the land for seedlings with your own hands.

At correct application biological preparations, they not only destroy the pathogenic flora, but also accelerate the growth of seedlings.

Chemical disinfection of soil

Chemical disinfection of the soil for seedlings is best used only in exceptional cases. As with biologics, it is important to follow the instructions here. Some of these drugs not only destroy pathogenic flora, pathogenic bacteria and fungi, but also inhibit plant growth.

Potassium permanganate is considered the most harmless, but also ineffective method of chemical disinfection. It eventually turns into potash fertilizer.

When disinfecting the soil for seedlings with mechanical or by chemical means, we deprive it not only of pathogenic flora, but also of beneficial bacteria. They can be restored by adding to the soil ("Risotorfin", "Azotobacterin", "Phosphorobacterin"). Some gardeners use ordinary yeast for this purpose.

Purchased soil mix. How to improve the quality of finished land

It is worth noting that all of the above procedures for preparing and disinfecting the land for seedlings are not suitable for "lazy" gardeners. Self-cooking substrate takes time and effort. It is much easier and faster to buy a ready-made composition for sowing seedlings. Those who choose this option should be aware of the existing pitfalls.

Unfortunately, manufacturers do not always conscientiously write true information on the packaging. It happens that, choosing a package with the best composition, you get poor peat-based soil. When planting seeds in such a composition, there is a high risk of being disappointed with the result. Seedlings will either not sprout at all, or even if shoots appear, they are unlikely to meet expectations. Therefore, you should not be overly economical in this matter, but choose products from well-known companies.

Even if you have such a poor-quality peat-based mixture, try to fix the situation yourself. To do this, you need to mix it with garden soil, previously disinfected. How to disinfect the land for seedlings, we considered earlier in our article. Next, be sure to check the resulting substrate for acidity, and if it is above the norm, we correct this problem. Reduced by adding chalk or Since such a soil mixture lacks its own nutrients, additional mineral fertilizers must be applied.

It is necessary to approach the issue of preparing the land for seedlings very seriously and scrupulously. Experienced gardeners know that the correct composition of the soil is 80% of success in growing seedlings.

Before sowing seeds and planting seedlings, soils are prepared for planting by certain methods. It is necessary to start planting plants after performing certain actions. Soils in middle lane Russia, as well as in Siberia and the Urals, are characterized by great heterogeneity. Their mechanical composition is determined by the following features:

• clayey the soil in a dry state is hard, and in a wet state it is viscous, sticky, smears heavily, easily rolls into a ball or rolls into a thin tourniquet that bends into a ring without breaking. When processing it, lumps are formed;
• dry loamy the soil is ground into an inhomogeneous powder. Under the magnifying glass, grains of sand and dust particles are visible. When moistened, it becomes viscous, rolls into a ball, rolls into a tourniquet, which breaks into a ring when bent;
• sandy loam the soil in a dry state is easily rubbed between the fingers. It is dominated by sand, visible to the naked eye. A ball of moist soil rolls with difficulty, does not roll into a tourniquet;
• sandy dry loose soil. A solid mass of grains of sand is visible. A ball of moist soil does not roll;
• gravel, or cartilaginous , the soil, along with clay and sandy particles, contains fragments of cartilage ranging in size from 3 to 10 and crushed stone larger than 10 mm.

The most suitable for vegetables are light and medium loams, floodplains and cultivated peatlands, where there is a lot of organic matter (humus).

The soil for all vegetables is carefully cut. In a continuous way, they are processed in autumn and spring. Autumn plowing (or digging the soil) is preferable, especially for sowing early vegetables. It begins after harvesting and after removing the remains of tops and roots. Before this, fertilizers are scattered on the site in an even layer.

When digging with a shovel, the layers of the earth are turned over so that the upper, more sprayed, layer is at the bottom, and the lower structural layer is on the surface. In autumn, clods of earth are not broken and the surface is not leveled, so moisture is retained more. The depth of the main processing is 22-30 cm.

In the spring, it is important to start preparing the soil for planting crops in a timely manner. The goal is to retain as much moisture as possible. When digging heavily moist soil, it is difficult to achieve its good cutting. And the delay in processing leads to withering. Therefore, in the spring you need to monitor the condition of the soil daily. Here are the simplest ways to determine its moisture content.

Dry soil is dusty. The hand does not feel the coolness of the mass. The damp soil does not dust, slightly cools the hand and smears, but the sheet of filter paper attached to it does not get wet. Moist soil feels wet, water does not ooze from it, but a sheet of filter paper gets wet quickly, and wet oozes water when squeezing.

They start tilling the soil when the soil is prepared: it is still damp, but no longer sticks to the shovel, crumbles into small lumps. The soil should be prepared without long breaks so as not to dry out the earth. This is especially important for early vegetable crops.

When digging in the spring, you need to choose roots and shoots from the soil weeds as well as pest larvae.

Having dug up the site, experienced gardeners immediately bring the soil to a finely cloddy state (lumps 1-10 mm in size). They loosen it with a rake and level the surface with their back side.

Areas with severe clay soil, as well as those intended for late crops or fertilized before sowing, are dug up again to a depth of 14-16 cm, carefully cut with a rake or a threshing machine. On the prepared plantation, plots and passages between them are marked out or ridges are made, and then vegetable crops are sown or planted without delay.

In order not to overdry the land, it is necessary to prepare as much area every day as the gardener is able to sow on the same day.

handle peat soils follows after thawing of the upper layer to a depth of 10-15 cm.

A mandatory method of pre-sowing soil preparation is rolling. To do this, use a special wooden skating rink, an ordinary board, a rammer. Rolling evens out the surface of the plot, ensures the placement of seeds at the same depth, promotes the influx of moisture from the lower layers of the soil to the seeds, guaranteeing their best germination and rapid germination.

In the conditions of Russia, the bed culture of vegetables is very effective. On heavy, waterlogged, cold soils, the ridges warm up faster in spring, which is especially important when growing early and heat-loving vegetables. The layer of soil raised above the surface of the earth becomes looser, physical and Chemical properties and plants grow better. On the beds it is more convenient to sow and care for plants.

In low, swampy areas of the ridge, it is better to cook in the fall in order to sow vegetables in the spring. early dates. True, in a dry summer, the ridges need to be watered more often, but the labor costs pay off. high yield. On the ridges, gardeners get better and early vegetables. Experiments have shown that the yield of cold-resistant crops (carrots, beets, early cabbage) in the beds increases by 2-13, and heat-loving crops (cucumber, tomato) by 27-32%.

With a flat terrain, it is recommended to place the ridges from the southeast to the northwest or from the south to the north. At the same time, they are evenly illuminated and warmed up by the sun, this ensures the same development of plants. In the beds, placed in the direction from east to west, plants on south side develop faster, which leads to uneven ripening of the crop.

In gardens located on slopes, it is better to make ridges across the slope, otherwise they are destroyed by excess water runoff in spring and heavy rains.

The size of the ridges depends on the configuration of the site, the depth of the arable layer, and other conditions. It is most rational to make them no more than 90-100 wide, 16-25 cm high, and no more than 10 m long. The width of the furrows-tracks should be 25-30 cm. water. Heat-loving crops(cucumber, zucchini) are sometimes placed on ridges, at the base of which manure is laid. Warm narrow ridges are obtained. The top of the ridges is leveled and seeds or seedlings of vegetable crops are placed.

Fig, fig, fig tree - these are all names of the same plant, which we strongly associate with Mediterranean life. Anyone who has ever tasted fig fruits knows how delicious it is. But, in addition to a delicate sweet taste, they are also very healthy. And here's what interesting detail: it turns out that figs are absolutely unpretentious plant. In addition, it can be successfully grown on a plot in the middle lane or in a house - in a container.

Quite often, even experienced summer residents face difficulties in growing tomato seedlings. For some, all seedlings turn out to be elongated and weak, for others, they suddenly begin to fall and die. The thing is that it is difficult to maintain in an apartment ideal conditions for growing seedlings. Seedlings of any plants need to provide a lot of light, sufficient moisture and optimum temperature. What else do you need to know and observe when growing tomato seedlings in an apartment?

Delicious vinaigrette with apple and sauerkraut- vegetarian salad of boiled and chilled, raw, pickled, salted, pickled vegetables and fruits. The name comes from a French vinegar sauce, olive oil and mustard (vinaigrette). Vinaigrette appeared in Russian cuisine not so long ago, around the beginning of the 19th century, perhaps the recipe was borrowed from Austrian or German cuisine, since the ingredients for the Austrian herring salad are very similar.

When we dreamily touch bright seed bags in our hands, we are sometimes subconsciously sure that we have a prototype of the future plant. We mentally allocate a place for him in the flower garden and look forward to the cherished day of the appearance of the first bud. However, buying seeds does not always guarantee that you will eventually get the desired flower. I would like to draw attention to the reasons why the seeds may not sprout or die at the very beginning of germination.

Spring is coming, and gardeners have more work to do, and with the onset of heat, changes in the garden are happening rapidly. Buds are already beginning to swell on plants that were still sleeping yesterday, everything literally comes to life before our eyes. After a long winter, this can not but rejoice. But along with the garden, its problems come to life - pests and pathogens. Weevils, flower beetles, aphids, clasterosporiasis, maniliasis, scab, powdery mildew- the list can be very long.

Breakfast toast with avocado and egg salad is a great start to the day. The egg salad in this recipe acts as a thick sauce that is seasoned with fresh vegetables and shrimp. My egg salad is quite unusual, it is a dietary version of everyone's favorite snack - with Feta cheese, Greek yogurt and red caviar. If you have time in the morning, never deny yourself the pleasure of cooking something tasty and healthy. The day should start with positive emotions!

Perhaps every woman at least once received a blooming orchid as a gift. It is not surprising, because such a lively bouquet looks amazing and blooms for a long time. Orchids cannot be called very difficult indoor crops to grow, but not fulfilling the main conditions for their maintenance often leads to the loss of a flower. If you are just getting started with indoor orchids, you should find out the correct answers to the main questions on growing these beautiful plants in the house.

Lush cheesecakes with poppy seeds and raisins, prepared according to this recipe, are eaten in my family in the blink of an eye. Moderately sweet, plump, tender, with an appetizing crust, without excess oil, in a word, just like mother or grandmother fried in childhood. If the raisins are very sweet, then granulated sugar can not be added at all, without sugar, cheesecakes will be better fried and will never burn. Cook them in a well-heated frying pan, greased with oil, over low heat and without a lid!

Cherry tomatoes differ from their large counterparts not only in the small size of the berries. Many varieties of cherry are characterized by a unique sweet taste, which is very different from the classic tomato. Anyone who has never tasted such cherry tomatoes with their eyes closed may well decide that they are tasting some unusual Exotic fruits. In this article, I will talk about five different cherry tomatoes that have the sweetest fruits of unusual colors.

I started growing annual flowers in the garden and on the balcony more than 20 years ago, but I will never forget my first petunia, which I planted in the country along the path. Only a couple of decades have passed, but one wonders how different petunias of the past are from today's many-sided hybrids! In this article, I propose to trace the history of the transformation of this flower from a simpleton into a real queen of annuals, and also consider modern varieties unusual colors.

Salad with spicy chicken, mushrooms, cheese and grapes - fragrant and satisfying. This dish can be served as a main dish if you are preparing a cold dinner. Cheese, nuts, mayonnaise are high-calorie foods, combined with spicy fried chicken and mushrooms, a very nutritious snack is obtained, which is refreshed by sweet and sour grapes. The chicken fillet in this recipe is marinated in a spicy mixture of ground cinnamon, turmeric and chili powder. If you like food with a spark, use hot chili.

The question is how to grow healthy seedlings, all summer residents are concerned in early spring. It seems that there are no secrets here - the main thing for fast and strong seedlings is to provide them with warmth, moisture and light. But in practice, in a city apartment or a private house, this is not so easy to do. Certainly, everyone experienced gardener there is a proven way to grow seedlings. But today we will talk about a relatively new assistant in this matter - the propagator.

The variety of tomato "Sanka" is one of the most popular in Russia. Why? The answer is simple. He is the very first to bear fruit in the garden. Tomatoes ripen when other varieties have not even faded yet. Of course, if you follow the recommendations for growing and make an effort, even a novice grower will get a rich harvest and joy from the process. And so that efforts are not in vain, we advise you to plant high-quality seeds. For example, such as seeds from TM "Agrosuccess".

A task indoor plants in the house - decorate your home with your appearance, create a special atmosphere of comfort. For this we are ready to take care of them regularly. Care is not only watering on time, although this is also important. It is necessary to create other conditions: suitable lighting, humidity and air temperature, make the correct and timely transplant. For experienced flower growers there is nothing supernatural in this. But beginners often face certain difficulties.

Tender cutlets from chicken breast with champignons to cook simply according to this recipe with step by step photos. There is an opinion that it is difficult to cook juicy and tender cutlets from chicken breast, this is not so! Chicken meat contains practically no fat, which is why it is dry. But if you add to chicken fillet cream, white bread and mushrooms with onions, it will turn out awesome delicious meatballs that both kids and adults will love. In the mushroom season, try adding forest mushrooms to the minced meat.

It is usually customary in the spring to once again dig up the garden and the garden, wrapping the layers of the earth. I am against this concept, so I will not talk about how to dig. A bad deed is not a smart one. If you decide, out of habit, to ruin your breadwinner by digging, you can do it without advice.
I want to talk about how to prepare the soil for planting without using a shovel or cultivator.

How to ensure looseness of the soil?

Of course, it is better to take care of the looseness of the soil in the fall. But if suddenly, for some reason, you decided only at the beginning of the season that you would stick to Organic Farming and, you will no longer dig, then you can catch up, albeit partially.

As soon as the snow melts, it is necessary to immediately sow the entire sown area with green manure.

Oats and rye well loosen the soil with roots to a great depth. And phacelia and white mustard, although they do not have deep roots, they give an abundant green mass, which can then be used as mulch.

• For heavy soils that silt or cake during the winter, I would advise sowing oats or rye.
• For lighter soils, sand or sandy loam, it will be enough to sow phacelia, vetch, mustard or oil radish.

To prepare the soil for planting green manure seeds in the ground, there is no need to dig up the garden. It is enough to sleep it with a regular glander or use Fokin flat cutter. It is necessary to deepen the seeds only 0.5 - 2 cm deep into the soil.

You can sow/scatter seeds on uncultivated soil and only then dredge the area. When Sapa will break upper layer soil to a depth of 5 cm, part of the seeds will mix with the soil and hide under it. There is no need to try to deepen all the seeds. Then you can level the soil with a rake if necessary. If the spring is dry, then after sowing green manure, the garden must be watered.

After a week or two, friendly green shoots should appear. It will be great if they get ahead of the emergence of weeds, leaving them no chance and room for development. When green manure plants reach a height of 20 - 25 cm, they can be mowed, leaving root system rot in the soil.

In the beds where it is planned to plant seedlings of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and other heat-loving vegetables, green manure does not need to be touched until the vegetables are planted. Until time X, when it will be necessary to plant seedlings in the ground, the greenery will develop to such an extent that it will cover the fragile seedling sprouts from the scorching sun, wind and bad weather, and also protect them from sudden frosts.

It is necessary to plant seedlings in holes dug directly in green manure, around the sprout of seedlings it will be necessary to free a place with a diameter of 10–15 cm from green manure. You can cut or pull out green manure plants and mulch the soil around the seedlings with them. When the sprouts cultivated plants get stronger and develop enough, green manure will need to be carefully cut with a flat cutter.

The green manure roots left in the soil will not only help to loosen the soil to a sufficient depth, saturate it with air, make it water and moisture permeable, but also rotting, saturate the soil with nutrients. So there will be no need to add manure to the soil.

How to improve soil fertility?

In addition to sowing green manure, soil fertility can be increased in another way. Moreover, the method that I will now describe works more efficiently in combination with green manure crops.

Meet Effective Microorganisms

You probably guess that the soil is not a dead substance, that microorganisms live in it, which break down organic matter, help plant roots breathe and receive nutrients. But there are also microorganisms that harm plants. The balance of these two forces depends only on you.

Digging up your garden, preparing the soil for planting, you inevitably reduce the amount of useful flora and fauna that dies from sunlight and air as you turn the layers of earth.

After several years of applying the wrong agricultural practices, the amount of useful microflora becomes so critically small that even the introduction of tons of fertilizers and manure does not bring the desired result. And all because there is simply no one to split these fertilizers and manure into elements available to plants.

My recipe for increasing soil fertility is to replenish the population of beneficial microorganisms in the soil in time.

In stores for gardeners and gardeners you can find such drugs: "Emochki", "EM-1", "Baikal-1", "Emochki-Bokashi", "Oksizin" or other analogues.

At the very beginning of the summer season, before sowing green manure, or even during sowing or immediately after, it is necessary to introduce effective microorganisms into the soil. To do this, you can buy drugs in liquid form. According to the instructions on the package, the contents must be diluted with water in a certain proportion. The resulting solution should be sprayed all over the soil or poured from a watering can. If you use a sprayer, the consumption will be much less.

Effective microorganisms come to life, multiply, and begin to process all the organic matter that is in the soil. The roots of cut green manure will also be recycled.

When you sow or plant the main crops, then nutrients will already be ready for them, which, moreover, will be in a form available for assimilation by plants.

How to protect yourself from diseases and pests?

Spring has just begun, and it is necessary to take care of preserving the health of your future harvest now. You should not wait for the appearance of pests or signs of disease on your plants, it is better to prevent all this.

Perhaps you thought that I would now tell you how to poison the bear and the larvae of the cockchafer. But you were wrong. I am not a supporter of the use of chemical insecticides and other drugs that poison the soil, and with it our future harvest. Any problem can be dealt with by using biological preparations.

Meet:

• Metarizin- an effective biological product based on a fungus that destroys the bear, larvae of the May beetle, wireworm and other pests living in the soil. He does this gradually, during the season, but for a long time - for several years.

Metarizin can be applied directly to the soil in early spring, along with any other biological products or fertilizers. The unique composition of the drug includes sodium humate, which increases soil fertility and at the same time develops immunity from diseases in plants.

• Agrozin- the preparation improves the structure of the soil. If the soil is treated with Agrozin before or during planting, the plants will quickly grow, and then give a wonderful bountiful harvest.

It is possible to introduce Metarizin and Agrozin into the soil at any time. The preparations are diluted in water, then they can be sprayed on the soil or watered from a watering can. The use of these drugs is the key to your peace of mind for several years. Yes and good harvests will not keep you waiting.

In conclusion, I would like to note that all of the above measures for preparing the soil for planting seeds or seedlings work well in combination. Green manures, Effective microorganisms and biological products will provide you with a bountiful harvest of organic food, and you will not spend extra time for the fight against annoying pests and the introduction of manure or mineral fertilizers into the soil.

True gardeners mentally spend spring training vegetable gardens since winter. And they do it right. It is during this period that you can safely draw up a plan for sowing. Remember what, where it grew, and. This concludes the moral preparation.

Do not rush and start active work as soon as the snow melts. You need to wait for the sun to dry the soil a little. Your exit to the garden should not be accompanied by kneading dirt. That is, the earth should be moist, not wet.. If there are shrubs and trees on the site, you need to free them from winter protection. Cut off the remaining dry leaves.

All debris that could appear during the winter is removed from the garden. Next, when average daily temperature will rise, and the air will become warmer, you can start pruning plants. In the same period, work on the ground begins. Contributed organic fertilizer, and the garden is dug up, only the blocks are already carefully broken. Preparing a garden in the spring is a difficult job, but very important.

Preparing the garden for planting - fighting weeds

One of the main tasks of all gardeners is. They really need to be fought, because, growing, they, in the literal sense of the word, pull all the juices from our plants. Unfortunately, the fight against them never stops. But you can alleviate your fate if you dig in the spring.

Many people prefer to first demarcate the beds, and then prepare them for planting. This method makes life a little easier, since you do not have to dig up excess earth intended for paths. But, on the other hand, the growth and rooting of weeds is allowed, which will then be much more difficult to fight.

Having made the decision to lay out new beds, be prepared for increased difficulties. The creation of a bed is carried out in several stages:

• determine the boundaries of the garden;
• we dig the site deeply, check how strongly the soil is compacted;
• carefully loosen and fluff the ground;
• we strengthen the borders of the beds.

The border marking is very nice and an interesting activity especially for creative gardeners. Options - a lot. Some are limited to the usual trampling of tracks - it's boring and not practical. The beds, fenced with all kinds of building elements, look much more interesting. In addition, it is much more pleasant to work in such a place.

Preparing the garden in the spring - adjusting the microclimate

Do not be lazy and make every effort to prepare the garden. The site must be located in an open sunny area. Plants need to be protected from the north winds. To this end, with north side you can put up a small fence. Soil fertilization is a prerequisite. If you want the earth to feed you, feed it first.