Non-woven covering materials
This is the name for artificial materials that are made from organic polymers and sold in hardware stores. The most popular types of fabric include:
- lutrasil;
- agrofibre;
- spunbond
They are very often used in regions with strong winds, as they have high strength.
Artificial materials have a number of advantages over natural ones:
- Durable.
- They transmit the sun's rays well.
- Prevents pest attacks.
- Resistant to any type of precipitation.
But they also have a number of disadvantages:
- There is no access to the beds for loosening and fertilizing.
- High price.
- When used in winter and severe frosts, they can freeze, become heavy and cause damage to plants.
A bright representative of red potatoes is the Red Scarlet variety.
Look
A gift from Belarusian breeders, the Breeze variety is a tasty and undemanding potato
Look
Lapnik
A popular material for covering crops, which is used to retain heat in beds and retain snow. You can simply cover the plantings with thorny branches or build something like a hut .
The advantages of this shelter method:
- An additional air gap is created.
- Thorny branches repel rodents.
- Protects plants from sunburn with the arrival of spring.
But before using it, you need to evaluate the possible disadvantages:
- Needles that fall from branches contribute to soil oxidation.
- Together with spruce branches, you can introduce pests and diseases into the garden.
Ideal autumn mulch - what is it?
And what will we notice?
In autumn, the forest soil is covered with everything. These are branches, and cones, and bark, and pine needles, and fallen leaves, and wood chips - you name it. Nature connects and combines a variety of materials. And we can do the same. What if we mix leaf litter, grass clippings, shavings, sawdust, pine needles, cones, shredded office paper, small branches, conifer bark, wood chips?
Is it possible to make another “super mixture” of peat, ash, humus and compost? Hooray! We will definitely do it.
Separately, we will add larger material: thick stems of flowers, nettles, tansy, wormwood, reeds (cattails), large branches, boards.
The further procedure is as follows: first, sprinkle the bed with a small layer of peat-compost mixture (if there is one), then - with leaves. And we press everything on top with stems and branches so that it does not blow away with the wind.
Of course, you can go the other way - do not mix everything at once, but distribute the available materials into different beds, depending on what you plan to grow on them.
with a thick (5-10 centimeters) layer of compost, peat or their mixture, lightly covering them with leaf litter on top.
Scatter sawdust mixed with mowed grass in the raspberry patch and on the garlic bed. needles and cones together with ash to mulch strawberries and wild strawberries.
with fallen oak leaves for the winter (oak leaves do not cake, allowing the plants to “breathe” under the cover). Bark , foliage, vegetable tops and small twigs can be used to cover the trunk circles of fruit trees and shrubs.
Sawdust
A good and affordable way for thermal insulation and frost protection. Experienced gardeners do not recommend completely covering plants with sawdust.
It is better to do with mulching or use bags filled with sawdust for insulation, thus creating a durable shelter.
Like all products, sawdust also has a number of disadvantages:
- Wet slips melt and compact, creating a crust that does not allow air to pass through.
- Can oxidize the soil.
- In spring, the ground under the sawdust will take longer to melt.
For winter shelter, it is better to use large sawdust; small sawdust will spray faster and get wet.
High bed for tomatoes
A bed where garlic, carrots or onions grew in the summer can be given over to tomatoes in the spring. In autumn it is worth taking care of its fertility. For each square meter, add 0.5 buckets of well-rotted manure.
Using mineral fertilizers, restore the balance of phosphorus and potassium. Traditionally, gardeners apply superphosphate and potassium nitrate under tomatoes in the fall. The best results are obtained with the Fertika Autumn complex fertilizer.
A pack weighing 1 kg is enough for 20 m². This fertilizer is suitable for any type of soil. Multi-colored granules contain microelements necessary for tomatoes, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. It's easy to add them. Using a tablespoon, fertilizer should be scattered over the surface of the ground (50-60 g per m²) and embedded into the soil using a flat cutter, fork, or hoe.
Peat
Can serve as good frost protection for garden plants. It will not be possible to build a full-fledged shelter from peat, but it is perfect for mulching , although it has a number of disadvantages:
- Oxidizes the soil.
- It quickly absorbs moisture, due to which it becomes compacted and loses some of its heat-insulating properties.
- May form a dense crust that will adversely affect plants.
Snow
Natural and most affordable covering material . Under a thick cover of snow, crops easily tolerate even severe frosts. However, you can only count on such an assistant in regions where the winter is always snowy and there are no above-zero temperatures.
The main and main advantage of snow as a shelter is good thermal insulation.
But there are several disadvantages:
- If it melts, the plants will be left without shelter.
- Easily blown away by the wind.
- It may become covered with a crust of ice, under which the crops will begin to suffocate.
- There is a possibility of falling too late, when frosts are already raging with might and main, and the plants need protection.
5 proven ways to store carrots in winter
Look
The 5 most reliable ways to keep potatoes in winter - we tell you how to store them correctly
Look
Preparing beds for winter, taking into account the characteristics of certain crops
Some varieties of crops have increased requirements for soil composition and quality. For this reason, for their normal growth and fruiting, you will need to first prepare the site.
For example, some of them, if left in one place for a long time, deplete the soil. Therefore, before planting such crops, you first need to feed the soil. For this purpose, you need to add organic fertilizers mixed with ash and compost to the soil. In the fall, dig up the area, get rid of the weed roots, then spread a layer of fertilizer over it and dig up the area again.
But with potatoes you need to do things differently - for a rich harvest of tubers, you will need to loosen the soil as deeply as possible. This result can be achieved not only by adding sawdust, compost and sand, and by deep digging of the garden.
When preparing the soil for growing cucumbers, you must initially disinfect it with copper sulfate. Seven days after the procedure, add compost to the soil and cover it, but not too deeply.
Dry leaves
It is important to understand which foliage is suitable. You should not use leaves of birch and fruit trees . A blanket of leaves protects well from the cold, but still has too many disadvantages:
- The complexity of the workpiece.
- Requires additional protection from moisture.
- In the spring you will have to spend a lot of time cleaning leaves from the garden.
- Caked and too wet leaves can lead to the death of crops.
- Can become a favorable environment for the development of bacteria and diseases.
Therefore, most often leaves are used as additional, rather than primary, cover.
Tillage in a greenhouse
Preparing the soil for winter in a greenhouse and greenhouse is slightly different. The best solution is to remove a layer of soil 7-10 cm thick, in which parasite larvae, pathogenic microorganisms, and fungal spores accumulate, and replace it with fresh soil. Thanks to it, the soil will become healthier.
Attention!
Ordinary soil from the garden will not be suitable for this procedure - pests can also live in it.
You can prepare the soil yourself using humus or manure, wood ash, sand or sawdust. Spread it in the greenhouse in an even layer and treat it with copper sulfate or a solution of potassium permanganate. Then mulch the beds and close the structure.
The soil from the greenhouse should not be scattered around the summer cottage because it contains a large number of pathogenic microorganisms. It is better to pour it in some place on the site and sprinkle it with lime. In the summer, the pile must be carefully dug up, and after a few years it can be returned to the greenhouse or scattered on garden beds.
But if it is not possible to replace the top layer of soil in the greenhouse, then it is necessary to disinfect the soil. To do this, you can choose one of several ways:
- pour boiling water over it and cover with film (hot steam will destroy bacteria and insect larvae). After 48 hours, remove the film and loosen the soil. Repeat the operation twice more;
- water the soil generously with a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate;
- pour the solution with copper sulfate at the rate of 1-2 tbsp. for 10 liters of water;
- sprinkle the soil with bleach at the rate of 100-200 g per square meter and dig to a depth of 20 cm. The exact rate of application of this substance depends on the acidity level of the soil and its mechanical composition;
- spill the ground with a formaldehyde solution (200 g per bucket of liquid) at the rate of 10 liters of the finished product per 1 sq.m. Then rake the soaked soil into a pile and leave for 48-72 hours. Then, for 3-4 days, open all the windows and doors in the greenhouse to ventilate the pungent odor and carefully dig up the area;
- use special biological preparations to disinfect the soil in the greenhouse (Alirin-B, Fitosporin, Fitotsid, etc.).
Pouring boiling water over the soil is an effective method, but it still has disadvantages. The most significant drawback is that along with parasites and pathogens, beneficial microorganisms also die. Therefore, after steaming, the soil must be spilled with a solution of biological products.
In winter, it is also necessary to throw a 20 cm layer of snow on the greenhouse. When the air temperature reaches 8°C, the structure must be disinfected. To do this, you can use a sulfur bomb: before manipulating in the greenhouse, seal all the cracks. Place the products in different parts of the structure, set them on fire and quickly exit, closing the door tightly. The greenhouse will need to be ventilated 72 hours after the operation.
If the structure is glazed, then you can spray it with a solution of bleach or 40% formaldehyde.
Sulfur, bleach and formaldehyde are very toxic, so you need to use a gas mask to disinfect the greenhouse.
Straw
Be sure to use this material if possible . This is a good method for sheltering for the winter; straw will protect perennials from frost and retain heat. It, like spruce branches, is capable of retaining snow, which will become additional shelter.
Has a number of disadvantages:
- Can become a nest for mice.
- It quickly begins to rot, which can cause it to rot and give rise to fungal diseases.
- In spring, the soil under the straw does not thaw for a long time.
What materials to use to cover plantings is up to you to decide. You need to weigh the pros and cons, the availability of funds in your area and the weather conditions in your area.
Features and secrets of autumn mulching
So, let's list all the basic principles of proper mulching in the autumn:
When to start mulching in the fall
Supporters of natural farming argue that it is better not to stop mulching at all, not to remove plant residues from the beds, but, on the contrary, to add, add, and add. But we always remember about pests, who are looking for “winter apartments” just at this time. Are we not creating a home for them with our own hands? In fact, not only pests, but also their natural enemies - entomophages - will overwinter in a large amount of plant debris. Rest assured, they are very voracious. In addition, in soils rich in organic matter, plants become stronger and more resilient. Their immunity and ability to resist pests increases many times over.
However, if you have doubts, if you are just starting to form a fertile layer, or there were too many pests last season, wait to mulch until the first frost. By that time, all those wintering will have settled somewhere. The only disadvantage of this approach is that the mulch will have to be collected in advance and stored somewhere. We like frosts to come after all the foliage has already rotted under the autumn rains.
The layer of mulching material should be thick
The minimum layer of mulch before winter is 5-10 centimeters. And even better - 20 centimeters. Over time, the mulch settles, cakes and is pressed, so we pour it from the heart. Fortunately, there are no problems with the material in the fall.
In early spring, we free the beds from the remnants of autumn mulch.
Due to the fact that during the winter the mulch is compressed and its layer becomes denser, it will be more difficult for the spring sun to warm the soil. Therefore, immediately after the snow melts, we strongly recommend removing all mulch from the beds. You can simply leave it aside and return it to the beds as soon as the ground warms up. Or you can put it in compost and continue mulching with fresh organic matter.
Remember the first fertilizing with nitrogen
Most “autumn” mulching materials are carbon. This includes foliage, bark, sawdust, shavings, branches, and straw. Paper and cardboard also fall into this group. And if, when preparing the mulch, we did not mix carbonaceous materials with nitrogenous ones (grass, bird droppings, manure), in the spring it is important not to forget about nitrogen fertilizing. It will be enough to water the bed with an infusion of weeds, mullein or droppings.
We hope that the idea of autumn (and summer) mulching will find application on your site. Nature itself has been using this agricultural technique to create fertile soils for millions of years. And we definitely have a lot to learn from her.
We wish you success and great harvests!
