Most Effective Ways To Restore Depleted Soil

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

9 effective ways to restore the fertility of depleted soil

The fertility of the garden soil is the key to obtaining a plentiful and high-quality harvest. When the soil becomes scarce, the crops growing on it begin to grow poorly, hurt, and be affected by pests. In order to prevent such complications, the gardener should take care to make the land more fertile. There are several effective ways to do this.

Composting

With prolonged cultivation of garden crops in one place, a thinning of the fertile layer of the earth occurs. This process proceeds especially quickly if the summer resident neglects the application of fertilizers. Plants take from the soil the nutrients they need for development, while it becomes scarce.

To restore fertility to the soil will help to enrich it with compost. Consumption rate - 3 buckets per 1 m². Decomposed organic waste is brought in during the digging of the site. They need to be repaired 10 cm deep.

Thanks to compost, the quality of the "tired" soil improves - it becomes heavier and more nutritious. This method of combating soil depletion allows you to increase the thickness of the fertile layer, saturate it with all the mineral substances necessary for cultivated plants.

Planting siderates

An effective way to increase the fertility of garden land is to use the so-called green fertilizers. We are talking about sowing green manure plants on the site. Such crops are rich in nitrogen, starch, proteins.

The most popular green manure plants among summer residents are rye, lupine, oats, rapeseed, mustard, and sunflower.

Sowing siderates in order to increase soil fertility is preferable in the autumn. Gardeners sow such crops from the end of August to the end of September. Sowing begins after the harvest is harvested.

Before the crops of green manure plants begin to bloom, they are mowed and left on the surface of the earth for the winter. As they decompose, they will saturate the poor soil with valuable nutrients.

Experienced gardeners choose green manures taking into account the garden crops that they plan to grow after them. If the summer resident expects to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants on the site, it is advisable to first sow it with lupine. It is desirable to break up carrot or beetroot beds where rape was previously grown. The soil on which the mustard grew is best suited for planting potatoes. This plant not only enriches the soil with nutrients, but is also an excellent prophylactic agent in the fight against nematodes. They can sow aisles to protect already growing crops from pests.

Liming

To increase the yield of crops growing on acidic soil, summer residents carry out liming. The soil is often acidified due to watering with soft water, the introduction of certain fertilizers.

To reduce the acidity index and increase the fertility of the earth, the introduction of:

• slaked lime (consumption rate - from 0.2 to 0.5 kg per 1 m² of the site);
• wood ash (0.2-0.4 kg per 1 m²);
• dolomite flour (0.3-0.5 kg per 1 m²);
• chalk (0.2-0.7 kg per 1 m²).

Crops such as beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, pumpkin should not be planted immediately after liming. This procedure, which allows you to normalize the acidity of the earth, should be done 1 year before planting these plants.

Mulching

Mulching garden land with freshly cut grass, straw, sawdust, compost or tree bark is an effective way to increase its fertility by decomposing organic matter, retain moisture in it, and prevent the growth of weeds. A layer of mulch will also help prevent further soil erosion.

Experienced gardeners are advised to be careful when using organic matter. Abuse of it will negatively affect the condition of the plants.

It is advisable to mulch the soil after watering, weeding, loosening and fertilizing.

Sand application

To improve the quality of heavy clay soil, gardeners use a simple technique - they add river sand. Do this in the process of digging a site.

The approximate amount of sand per square meter is 1 bucket. The required amount is carefully scattered over the area in an even layer.

Soil treatment with larvicides, ovicides, fungicides

Infection with pathogens and insect pests leads to a decrease in soil fertility. If the land is not disinfected before planting garden crops, they will get sick and give a meager harvest.

Treating the site with insecticides - larvicides and ovicides - will help to destroy the eggs and larvae of pests. The latter also help against pests such as ticks.

The use of preparations with fungicidal properties is an effective way to disinfect the soil, destroy fungi and bacteria that are dangerous to plants. Among the effective means can be seen EM-drug, Alirin B, Fitosporin-M. They water the soil in the process of loosening it.

Digging the earth

To rid the garden land of the larvae of harmful insects, summer residents use a deep digging of the site. Heavy clay soil especially needs it. This technique will also contribute to the improvement of its structure.

They dig up the garden in the autumn, before the cold weather sets in. Digging depth - at least 10 cm. It is enough just to dig up clods before wintering without turning them over or breaking them with a shovel. During the winter, they will freeze through and due to this, they will acquire a looser structure. And the larvae caught on the surface of the earth will be pecked by birds that have flown onto the site.

Watering the soil with boiling water

Summer residents save the soil affected by the fungus using boiling water. When a red plaque appears on the surface of the soil, characteristic of a fungal infection, they abundantly water the infected area of the garden with hot water.

Thanks to such heat treatment, it is possible to destroy not only fungal spores, but also harmful insects with larvae, and weed seeds. Heat treatment of the soil is applicable for greenhouses and greenhouses. It is difficult to steam a large area.

Population with earthworms

You can improve the quality of garden land by populating it with earthworms. They thrive on organic soils. By their activity, the worms will restore the fertility of the earth. They will loosen it, increasing air permeability, contribute to the faster decomposition of introduced organic baits and their processing into vermicompost.