Not in nature large areas occupied by one species.
There is always a mixture of herbs in the meadow
, in the forest - not only different breeds trees, but also shrubs, grasses, mosses.
There is a lot of information on this topic on the Internet... I'll just share my experience...
First of all, you need to choose the main crop, then select a neighbor that has a beneficial effect on the main plant. Over the years I have planted together tomatoes and basil and lettuce... peppers and beets... corn and cucumbers or beans. Tall plants will protect shorter ones from direct rays of the sun and create more space for them. favorable microclimate. You still need to be more careful with corn... it’s better to plant it separately for seedlings or cucumbers... one year I planted corn and cucumbers at the same time, but the cucumbers didn’t sprout... I had to replant them, but the corn was already growing. ..and it grew and grew... as a result, the cucumbers remained small and underdeveloped in the shade of the corn thickets.
It is worth planting aromatic herbs nearby that repel pests. You just need to make sure that they don’t drown out the main culture. Plant marigolds, calendula, and nasturtiums scattered throughout the vegetable garden. Last year we had an aphid invasion... and only one young seedling was spared by it. It was a pear with calendula and other herbs growing under it...
Consider the timing of crop ripening. If you harvest one crop early, it is worth finding a replacement plant for it. You can't leave the ground bare. It is mulched and green manure is planted. When choosing crops, you should pay attention to reducing competition between them. Plants with deep root systems will get along better with those with shallow roots; species with low nutritional requirements will not interfere with those who need a lot nutrients; tall, spreading crops will protect those that like light partial shade from the sun.
Only the neighbors' water needs should be similar.
For example, early cabbage will simply be great next to celery
Just don’t confuse it - exactly early varieties cabbage... as soon as we harvest the cabbage in mid-July... celery will spread throughout the entire bed and will continue to grow until September-October, depending on the climate.
The most popular neighbors in the garden
Tomato - basil... tomato - parsley... tomato - salad
Early cabbage - celery... cabbage - marigolds... cabbage - nasturtium
Carrots - onions... carrots - garlic
Potatoes - beans...
However, do not forget that advice is just advice, and not a command for action... using this table you can choose the most convenient combinations for yourself.
This year I decided to keep new statistics for myself in Google spreadsheets... I'll see what comes of it, starting from the seeds for now...
And in my treasured notebook I have already noted for myself that this year I will plant together:
Eggplant + Vigna (Chinese beans)
... Carrots + tomatoes + basil (I won’t change my observations)
... Corn + pumpkin + cucumbers
... Broccoli + cucumbers + peas
... Pepper + beets (this also remains unchanged for me)
... Leek + beets
... Onions + beets + carrots
... Early cabbage + celery.
I’ll be sure to show you in the group what came of it
Don't be shy - share your experience!!! How do you combine plantings?!... What conclusions did you draw for yourself?!... Maybe you have the opposite bad experience combining plantings?!... Be sure to write about it, any experience you have is simply necessary for each of us
This danger awaits almost any gardener - everything seems to be fine and the harvests are big, but... it’s boring.
It's boring to grow the same thing in the same beds year after year.
But there is a way out!
I started experimenting with combined plantings, and the result exceeded my expectations. Firstly, the garden has become much more colorful and interesting. Secondly, plants actually protect each other from pests. And the most important thing is that from one bed I now get a harvest of 3-4 crops with less labor. Having tried it once, I simply don’t want to go back to the old monoculture beds.
However, I would not say that the yield from combined plantings has increased significantly - by approximately 10-20%, when compared with traditional rows.
And this is due to the fact that plants are less sick and affected by pests, that is, more healthy, undamaged fruits remain. True, they are much tastier than traditionally grown ones.
Check it out for yourself! Tomatoes growing next to parsley or celery have a brighter and richer taste. Cabbage next to dill suffers less from cabbage cutworm or white moth. Basil, growing close to sweet peppers, makes its flesh more juicy and especially crunchy.
And these are just some examples. When you get into a creative impulse, you want to plant three, four, five crops together. Moreover, choose them so that they replace each other throughout the season.
The most interesting thing in such a garden is designing the plantings. I’m doing this right now, while I have free time. For more than 10 years now, I have been using two tables as a guide: compatibility (which crops are friendly with each other) and crop rotation (what to plant after what). I compiled them myself, summing up information from all possible sources.
I immediately determine which crops and in what quantities need to be planted.
For our family of 3 people, 10-15 heads are enough early cabbage, but you need a lot of leaf lettuce: we grow about 30 bushes, removing up to 0.5 kg fresh leaf every day. If you do conveyor planting, then you need to sow 10 bushes with a break of a week.
We eat eggplants not only fresh, but also dry them for the winter, so I plant about 40-50 plants.
A sufficient amount of green beans, not only for food, but also for freezing, is provided by 4-5 varieties of bush beans (15-20 bushes each) and a couple of climbing varieties (10-15 bushes each). Here a lot depends on preferences in preparing for the winter. But don’t plant a lot of what you only consume fresh! If you don’t eat it, it’ll be a shame to throw it away.
An example is chard.
For a family of 3 people, you don’t need more than 4 bushes.
Having planned the amount of harvest, I draw a plan of the site. I indicate what grew in what beds last season. And then, using a crop rotation reference table and a list of necessary vegetables, I determine where the main ones will grow. I plan the plantings so that one or two more crops fit nearby. I select which ones from the compatibility reference table. This is how the planting plan gradually emerges.
Many plants help each other resist insects and are more resistant in certain pairs. These are potatoes and beets, carrots and onions, cabbage and dill, corn and cucumbers, spinach and tomatoes or tomatoes and cabbage, strawberries and garlic, eggplant and beans.
I also use more complex combinations. For example, cucumbers grow quite successfully after cabbage. If you install a trellis in the middle of the bed, then on both sides of the bed you can sow carrots and plant onions on the turnip. I’ve been growing this well-functioning trio for ten years now! The main thing is to sow carrots in time and grow cucumber seedlings ahead of time.
Another option: I plant winter onions or garlic along the edge of the bed in the fall, and stepping back 10 cm from it, I sow carrots. My beds are stationary, with trellis posts installed, so I do this on both sides. I leave the middle free: later I will plant cucumber seedlings here.
Third option: I sow radishes along the edge of the garden bed. When the time comes to harvest it, I make a selection and plant seedlings of early cabbage.
By the end of June, the cabbage is harvested, and in the second half of July you can sow daikon. I remove it and plant winter garlic.
And there are also beds where in the spring I sow lettuce along the edges. But so that pepper seedlings can be planted later between its bushes. At the same time as the peppers (in May), I sow spinach in the center of the bed, also in double steps. And at the height of the salad crop harvest, I plant tomato seedlings in the center, and sweet peppers between the salad. When leaf crops They will come off, I just cut them at the root. And at the beginning of autumn, I plant winter shallots between the peppers - they will give fresh greens at the beginning of spring.
Of course, these are just a few examples of combining vegetables in garden beds.
But even they will be enough to make the time spent on the site more interesting. And by the way, such beds require less care. After all, part of your routine work will be done by the plants themselves! They will scare off some insects, knocking them off their path to " dining table”, or spoil their appetite, forcing them to leave the beds. For example, the Colorado potato beetle avoids beds with eggplants and beans planted together. A trellis of climbing asparagus beans at the border of a plot works as a camouflage net, reliably protecting the same eggplants from alien Colorado potato beetles. Basil and flowering dill attract a lot of pollinators, whose larvae clean cabbage and peppers of aphids. And this is just one of the advantages!
In addition, combined plantings allow plants to create a special microclimate (like lettuce and sweet pepper seedlings), shade each other from the midday heat (cucumbers and corn), and rationally distribute moisture and nutrition (winter garlic and carrots).
By intelligently organizing watering, I immediately provide moisture to 2-3 crops. I make sure to mulch the plantings - this can significantly reduce the number of waterings and weedings. Often caring for my beds consists of timely harvesting and planting other crops to replace those that bear fruit. Beauty!
You begin to fully feel like a creator who doesn’t just plant tomatoes and onions, but creates his own unique symphony of plants, and everyone has their own, special one.
Organic farming Today, from a little-known movement, it is turning into a full-fledged movement for conscious, rational and responsible gardening. Calling to work in accordance with nature, and not contrary to it, this approach allows you to save energy and resources, and enjoy every minute spent on your site. And grow high-quality, environmentally clean harvest in your garden without hassle, forgetting about watering, weeding and even digging. The smart-lazy approach is the basis natural farming, revolutionizing the idea of your own vegetable garden and garden.
Every summer resident dreams of rich harvests that do not require extra effort. And the concept of a “lazy” garden is increasingly becoming part of our everyday life. But the very principles that make it possible to simplify the process of growing your own crops remain, if not a mystery, then something akin to science fiction for many. A hassle-free garden that does not require weeding, watering or even digging is not a myth or an impossible dream, but a reality. But to achieve results, it will be necessary not only to radically change the approach, but also to reconsider ideas about traditional farming methods.
The basis of the “lazy garden,” as the principle of organizing your own garden and vegetable garden based on the laws of organic (or natural) farming is often called, is a responsible approach and respect for nature. And there is no point in making the mistake of thinking that you can do nothing at all, but still get an excellent result: it is not lazy gardeners who achieve success, but intelligently lazy gardeners. The ability to competently distribute resources, minimize all labor-intensive work and effectively use the entire area of your small plot is not only a reality, but also the only the right approach. And organic farming isn't just for those who don't have the time or energy for "regular" gardening. This is a whole philosophy and a special approach to gardening and vegetable gardening, accessible to everyone, regardless of age, knowledge and experience - to those who want to live and create in symbiosis with nature, and not just use and deplete its resources.
Focusing on getting the maximum from the soil and not harming nature, organic farming uses natural mechanisms for restoring soil fertility, carefully analyzing the laws of their renewal. And the perception of soil not just as a resource, a medium for growing plants, but as a living organism with a unique ecosystem, any intervention in which leads to an irreversible imbalance, radically changes the perception of the very process of growing cultivated plants.
Following the laws of nature itself, without interfering or destroying, but only helping it to the best of our ability and knowledge, organic farming teaches us:
After all, you also need to learn how to relax in the country, and not work every minute. And sometimes it is much more difficult to rebuild the way of thinking and perception than to master new methods.
Organic farming allows you to abandon all the most complex, labor-intensive components of classical gardening and horticulture - the fight against unwanted vegetation, regular watering and soil cultivation.
Organic farming is based on three principles:
Instead of digging, active and deep cultivation of the soil, organic farming calls for conservation natural environment soil and just maintain and improve it, maintaining air and water permeability, without harming the original inhabitants of the soil, using natural means for renewal and restoration and creating a high-quality humus layer.
To fight with weeds it is better not by the most ineffective method - complete weeding, but by their systematic oppression, considering the “main enemies” of any summer resident as one of the valuable natural resources.
The most labor-intensive and resource-intensive component of caring for your garden is perceived as inevitable. But if you reconsider the approach and do not enrich the soil with water, but store it in it, then you can forget about watering.
Of course, organic farming is not only about avoiding watering and fertilizing. In everything, from measures to protect plants from pests and diseases to the issue of fertilizing, you should “listen” to nature and rely on natural mechanisms of protection and self-regulation, which cannot be invented more effectively. A hassle-free organic garden is a healthy garden that produces strong, resilient plants. Natural agriculture has its own approach to the selection of seedlings, seeds, tubers, selection of plant communities, compliance with crop rotation and crop rotation, and to sowing or planting, individual, respectful of the characteristics of the crops themselves.
Unfortunately, about natural farming in Russian Federation is still known to few. We often have it in a new, sometimes even innovative or alternative approach. Although the essence of natural farming is not the invention of new technologies, but a return to the roots, attention and respect for nature and its laws, which everyone knew about hundreds of years ago. With technological progress, in just a hundred years, the ability to grow crops in accordance with nature and without harming it gave way to new methods, which led to catastrophic destruction and depletion of soils. For decades, “scientific” but unnatural farming methods were dominated and introduced by agricultural scientists, and the original, age-old traditions and practices of creating a garden without the hassle were practically lost.
Adherents of traditional agricultural technology are convinced that organic farming methods are of little use in private gardens and gardens and require large resources and costs. But in practice, the opposite is true: even on your 6 acres, you can be convinced that natural farming opens up gardening from a completely new side. On small area much simpler:
The exciting process of learning the laws of nature and starting to work in accordance with them opens the way to responsible farming and new ways to organize your own garden without hassle.
The laws and methods of organic farming have been applied in practice by the main expert in this field, Galina Kizima, for more than 55 years. Being the author of more than a hundred books, manuals and articles on smart and successful gardening and horticulture, Galina Aleksandrovna Kizima is a frequent guest on television and radio, a renowned practitioner who modestly calls herself an amateur gardener. Even her opponents listen to her opinion.
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A complete and accessible guide will show you how to put into practice the principles of natural farming and get environmentally friendly, healthy and record harvests of your favorite vegetables, berries and more, forever forgetting about digging, weeding and watering for a real garden without the hassle. And it will help you rediscover the pleasure of your favorite hobby.
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When engaged in gardening and gardening, many farmers are faced with the problem of lack of space, as well as sometimes inexplicable incompatibilities between different plants. Which, in turn, leads to a decrease in yield and various diseases that impair plant growth and the quality of the resulting fruit. Mixed plantings of vegetables, the schemes of which are drawn up taking into account all the features, can solve many problems.
Allelopathy is a science that studies the influence on each other and the ability of them to coexist together. Neighborhood of vegetables in a greenhouse and mixed plantings determined taking into account the influencing factors. Every plant secretes through its leaves and roots various substances, which, when released into the soil, can either be absorbed by other plants or cause harm to them.
Some species tend to stimulate the growth of accompanying plantings and have a protective effect on them from pests, but at the same time they can also be oppressive. Besides the obvious, there is another reason to create mixed plantings - to save space.
It is very important when drawing up a plan for future plantings to consider:
These parameters should form the basis of the garden planting strategy to obtain the highest results from each meter of area. Drawing up a plan begins with studying the characteristics of the site and the characteristics of each individual meter of land. Schemes of mixed beds (planting vegetables in a garden bed, as is known, vary in purpose) must be drawn up taking into account all climatic and agrotechnical parameters of the soil.
Advantages of mixed plantings:
Alternation of crops with different requirements for nutrition and soil composition allows you to avoid partial or complete depletion of the land and the destruction of any individual elements nutrition needed by plants.
Planting vegetables together can improve the quality of life of neighboring crops and can also affect the taste and nutritional value of the fruit.
Mixed plantings of vegetables, their arrangement patterns and the principles that guide the gardener when composing them are based on simple knowledge. In practice this method There are such concepts as a companion plant, or accompanying one, as well as the main crop. The main plant is the target of planting, and the satellite plant is used to fill gaps and produce larger yields.
In the role of accompanying plants, aromatic green fertilizers are more often used, a number of which can benefit their neighbors. The main crops are usually vegetables and are slow-ripening, small-sized specimens, with fast-ripening species in between.
This tactic is very effective. While the main culture is slowly growing and developing, the accompanying culture has time to grow, making room for sufficient development of the main one. That's what it is main principle drawing up a plan and diagram of mixed plantings.
In order to organically fit into your plan various mixed plantings of vegetables and their arrangement on the site, you need to know the properties of each plant and its compatibility with others. It is convenient to consider the properties inherent in individual garden crops in the form of a table. Mixed plantings of vegetables in the garden must be made taking into account the needs of each crop.
| Name of culture | Good neighborhood | Undesirable neighborhood O |
| Basil | All crops, especially tomatoes and lettuce | Ruta |
| Eggplant | Beans, thyme | - |
| Beans | Cucumbers, potatoes, spinach, corn, radishes, buckwheat and mustard. If beans act as the main plants, then lavender, rosemary, yarrow, oregano, and borage will be good neighbors for them. | Any garlic, wormwood, marigolds |
| Grape | Corn, potatoes, radishes, beans, radishes, rye | Onions, soybeans, barley, cabbage |
| Peas | Goes well with carrots, rice, various salads, cucumbers, turnips | Onions, garlic, tomatoes |
| Cabbage | All varieties are excellent neighbors for bush beans, salads, buckwheat, celery, beets, borage, carrots, and spinach. | Does not go well with grapes and strawberries |
| Potato | Gets along with legumes, cabbage, radishes and various salads. Potatoes will help in repelling pests: tansy, marigolds, nasturtium, coriander | It is highly not recommended to plant sunflower and celery next to each other. |
| Strawberry | It is good to plant spinach, sage, and parsley nearby. The mutual influence with beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, peas, and soy is especially favorable | Cabbage |
| Corn | All cultures | Beetroot, celery |
| Onion | The best combination with beets, strawberries, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, spinach | Beans, peas, legumes, sage |
| Carrot | Peas. Loyal to the neighborhood with potatoes, onions, lettuce | Dill, fennel. Also, there is no place for it under an apple tree, as the root vegetables will be very bitter |
| cucumbers | Good companions for beans, beans, beets, garlic, onions, radishes, spinach, as well as dill and chamomile | Undesirable proximity to tomatoes, since their maintenance conditions are very different |
| Pepper | Basil | It's hard to get along with beans. A bad neighbor for him and fennel |
| Parsley | Pairs well with strawberries, peas, tomatoes, asparagus, salads | - |
| Radish | Salads, beans. Radish plantings can be combined with tomatoes, onions, parsley, garlic, strawberries and peas | Planting next to hyssop is highly discouraged, as this imparts great bitterness to the fruit. |
| Turnip | Goes well with peas | Doesn't go well with mustard and asparagus at all. |
| Beet | It is an excellent companion for cabbage, radishes, radishes and salad. Next to the beets you can also place beds with garlic, strawberries, celery, and cucumbers | - |
| Celery | White cabbage. Feels great next to cucumbers and tomatoes, soybeans, beans and peas | Neighborhood with corn, parsley, potatoes and carrots is extremely undesirable |
| Tomatoes | They go well with basil, celery, parsley, spinach and beans. Planting next to cabbage, corn, garlic, carrots, beets is neutral in its influence | Do not place next to kohlrabi cabbage, fennel and dill, potatoes, eggplants |
| Pumpkin | A responsive neighbor for peas and beans. Coexists favorably with corn | Next to cabbage, cucumbers, salads, onions, carrots |
| Beans | Friendly with almost all cultures | Onions, fennel, garlic, peas |
| Spinach | All cultures | - |
| Garlic | Friendly neighborhood with tomatoes, beets, strawberries, carrots, cucumbers | Negatively affects the taste of peas, beans, cabbage |
Today you learned about what mixed planting of vegetables is. Schemes for their composition are created taking into account the preferences of each individual plant, as well as the conditions of its maintenance, which should be the basis for calculating future beds. The use of such a progressive method provides many advantages, which are especially important to take advantage of when striving to obtain maximum benefits and big harvests from each square meter area.
I have my own house and personal plot 7 acres. We have been using the garden for 20 years. So, in last years I began to notice that the earth was becoming heavy, water- and air-tight, and the harvests were getting poorer and poorer. In the fall, it became a shame that so much effort, time and money had been invested, and the result was almost zero.
Something had to be done, but I didn’t know what. That’s when B.A.’s book fell into my hands. bagel “Vegetable garden in a new way. The revolutionary method of “doing nothing.” This book changed my whole thinking and allowed me to take a new look at cultivated plants, on weeds, on pests, on the soil and in general on mother nature. In nature, everything is interconnected: one with another, another with a third, and so on along the chain. And then I looked on the Internet, saw a lot of interesting, smart, instructive things, and in the spring I decided to implement the basic principles of organic farming in my garden.
With the onset of spring, my husband and I divided the garden into “Right” beds – 90 cm wide and 8 m long(although the length can be arbitrary), row spacing is 60 cm. The width of the bed should be such that you can reach the middle with your hand, because you cannot step on the ground either when planting or when weeding.
The row spacing should be wide to provide the plants with good air exchange and illumination, since scientists have long proven that plants are taken from the soil in the form nutrients only 30% of the required energy.
We also chose a width of 60 cm because of its convenience when mowing with a lawn mower. The brought soil and compost were poured onto the top of the beds and everything was mixed together with garden soil. The beds turned out to be slightly raised, but not high. Several beds were fenced wooden planks– there wasn’t enough material for everything.
One bed contained 4 rows for planting seeds of onions, carrots, beets, and radishes. I planted seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and cabbage in two rows in a checkerboard pattern. Vegetables were planted according to the principle of “good neighborliness”, i.e. compatibility of cultures. For example, onions along with carrots and beets (along the edge of the bed). In general, beets are considered an “extreme” crop; their place is at the edge of the garden bed. She planted tomatoes with peppers, cabbage with celery and beets.
Combined plantings are good because the plants (at least three species) do not oppress neighbors, but help each other.
Further, following the principles of organic farming, I mulched the plantings, but did this only when seedlings began to appear (late spring - early summer). Mulched with mowed grass, but always dried a little in the shade. The mulch was watered with a solution containing effective microorganisms and water was poured on top again. Beneficial microorganisms begin to work when established warm weather with an air temperature of at least 25°.
Throughout the summer, I added more and more mulch (about once every one or two weeks). Ideally, the mulch layer per season should be at least 5 cm.
And with potatoes we did this: the bushes came up after the first weeding and hilling by the whole family mulched with straw and hay. Of course, we had to work hard, but then throughout the summer we no longer weeded, and the Colorado potato beetle appeared much later and in smaller numbers. The area under potatoes was small, about 4 acres. The strawberry bed was also mulched with mown grass, where clean berries were then collected, and there were no rotten ones at all. Weeds grow through the mulch, but very little. To avoid them altogether, you need a dense layer of mulch of at least, as I said, 5 cm.
Mulching is especially important in hot weather, but in rainy weather you need to be careful, as the mulch can rot, especially on heavy soils.
And yet it has many more advantages: protecting the soil from drying out, reducing labor costs for weeding, enriching the soil due to the decomposition of organic matter by soil microorganisms and bacteria.
Separately, I would like to dwell on ways to control pests and diseases in organic farming. To combat pests, I planted plants in the beds that repel them. For example, next to the cabbage I planted marigolds, hyssop, sage and a lot of dill.
White butterflies circled and circled over the cabbage, but I never noticed any pests on the leaves. I added basil to the tomatoes and peppers, which not only repels insects, but also improves the taste of tomatoes and the structure of the soil. I planted onions and carrots close to each other because onion fly repels carrots, and carrots repels onions. Wormwood repels many pests, especially the Colorado potato beetle. I have several wormwood bushes growing in my garden in different places, but to the side, not in the beds. With the help of wormwood, I saved eggplants from the striped pest. In the summer, when all my flowers bloomed spice plants and the flowers, there was such beauty in the garden, and the smell was amazing!
I fertilized only once, in the spring, and only foliar. IN next season We plan to use our own solutions and fertilizers.
In the fall, we plant the vacated beds with green manure (white mustard). The use of green manure is another principle of organic farming. They enrich the soil with macro- and microelements, their long rhizomes loosen the soil and increase the humus layer of the soil.
When using organic farming, the land before winter should always be covered with greenery and in no case bare.
And in conclusion, I want to say: in order to carry out “perestroika” in the garden, my husband and I had to work a lot, but the whole family is very pleased with the results of this work! In addition, next season there will be much less work, since the beds will already be permanent, all that remains is to loosen them (up to 5-7 cm) and plant the plants.
If you follow the principles of organic farming, the humus layer in the garden bed will increase every year, as a result of which the yields will increase significantly, and (most importantly!) they will be absolutely clean from an environmental point of view.
Dear gardeners, switch to organic farming! It really works - tested practical experience. Believe me, it's very interesting process, after all, Mother Nature has long taken care of everything for us, we just need to watch her and try to disturb her as little as possible!
I really love experimenting in the garden. I take a plastic bag for a sandwich measuring 20x30 cm, without unfolding it, put 1 tbsp on the left edge. l. (with a heap) of prepared moistened soil, then I place a seedling in the middle of the lump of earth, and on top another 1 tbsp. l. soil, and I roll everything up in the form of a roll - I “swaddle” the seedling, like swaddling a baby. I wrap the edge of the bag (you can tighten it with an elastic band). The leaves of the seedling should protrude above the film.
I put the formed rolls in a kiwi container (you can use a cake container), 13-15 bags fit. In short, in three containers I got 42 seedlings, and they all fit on one windowsill. I place the containers themselves in small trays from semi-finished products.
Then, when the seedlings grow up (after several weeks), you need to unroll the rolls again and add 1-2 tbsp. l. land. Regular care: watering, lighting.
The seedlings grow remarkably well, and by the time they are planted in open ground I have healthy and strong tomato seedlings with an elongated root system.
With this method of picking, the most important thing is that you do not get injured. root system when transferring to permanent place, and the root tip is not pinched, which contributes to further growth roots deep down where the plant finds more moisture and will not depend on watering.
Having planted my tomatoes in two rows in a checkerboard pattern in a narrow box bed, I mulch them with hay and straw (but not fresh!). A bed with ripening tomatoes looks so beautiful that it’s simply impossible to describe! And the harvest is so large that until the New Year, my whole family eats fresh tomatoes.
By the way, this picking method is very well suited for apartments where there is little space for seedlings, and much less land is used. You can pick other vegetables and flowers in this way. Try it, you will definitely like it. It really works!
The most interesting thing about organic farming is that increasing soil fertility can be transferred to a constant and almost autonomous mode of operation. And another article - the best for that confirmation.
It's not like that, guys...
At the beginning of my gardening journey, I used the experience of my parents, that is, I first dug up the entire vegetable garden, and then created beds up to a meter wide, leaving 30-40 cm gaps between them. Then, of course, I struggled with weeding the plantings, taking out all the grass torn out of the site. But every year it became clear to me that I was doing something wrong, because the work was constantly being added and added.
This became especially noticeable after I started growing seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers on my own. At first, I only bought it at the market, but when I was once cheated there with the varieties, I decided that now I had to take this matter into my own hands (now I have already compiled a pretty good garden collection, but every year I test one - two new varieties or hybrids).
When I was finally convinced that there was no longer any possibility of doing agricultural technology in the old way, I began to study the works of advanced gardeners. The one that made the greatest impression on me was the Meat Tlider. Thanks to his articles, I fully realized that the wisest thing to do is to abandon the “nomadic” beds, replacing them with boxes installed in once and for all selected places, thereby eliminating trampling of the earth, which leads to deterioration of its structure. But at the same time, I left the width of the beds themselves as usual (about a meter), but increased the passages to 70 cm.
Practice has shown that if you fill the surfaces of the beds with organic matter in the fall, then under this “coat” by spring you can get moist and loose soil, which you don’t have to dig, but simply loosen it with a hoe.
But where can you get so much mulching material? I began to grow green manure before winter, collect leaf litter along the clearing along which I walk to my plot, and stopped disdaining weeded weeds. Why wear them? compost heaps? It is wiser to leave it in place, increasing the thickness of the mulch layer, which will serve as extra food for various worms, bugs, fungi and microbes. In addition, in the ground “under a fur coat” the passages made by worms and empty
you are from rotten organic matter through which water passes with air and nitrogen dissolved in it. In other words, soil fertilization occurs almost “automatically”! It is generally accepted that nature independently creates 1 cm of humus in about 100 years. If we help her, then this process can be accelerated significantly.
Correct timing
My next step was to switch to ridge planting of potatoes, which also saved me from the need to shovel the entire area of the plot. By creating parallel trenches 10 cm deep and a spade bayonet wide at intervals of 70 cm, the soil only has to be laid to the right of them. Very convenient and economical. I called this method of planting “under the sloth”. Using the same method, I now plant corn (the distance between the rows of this crop is 1.2 m, and between the rows I place cucumbers or pumpkins), sunflowers and climbing beans. The only difference is that I don’t dig trenches for these plants, but loosen strips of earth 30 cm wide.
As for cucumbers, I came to the clear conclusion that in the southern regions they should be grown in three periods. And only so!
First, I plant the seedlings in the greenhouse between April 25 and May 1 and get a good harvest in early July. I plant the second batch of cucumbers with seeds in open ground on May 15, and they give me their fruits from mid-July to mid-September. And I plant the third wave of cucumbers in mid-August, which allows me to enjoy the green ones almost until the end of the season. At the same time, cucumbers of the first and second terms can be either varietal and hybrid, or parthenocarpics. But the third term - only parthenocarpic. The fact is that by September 1, figs ripen, the flowers of which simply ooze with nectar, and therefore bees, flies and hornets race to them, pollinating the cucumbers at the same time. At the same time, I note that cucumbers can be grown from stepchildren, but their survival rate will be worse than that of tomatoes.
A week before planting cucumbers and tomatoes, I water the beds well and immediately cover them with film, pressing it tightly to the ground along the entire perimeter. Under it, the moist soil warms up well, and the evaporation of moisture is practically eliminated.
When planting, I use hydrogel, which I carefully place in the holes around the plants, which allows me to forget about watering for 10 days.
It is also important that when watering, water can turn barely hatched seeds upside down in the soil, and then they will certainly die. To prevent this from happening, after planting I always compact the soil slightly. And if the weather is hot and windy, then I do all the watering only through non-woven material stretched over the beds, and from a small watering can and in small portions.
I urge all readers to dig as little as possible. Do not destroy its structure! Don't walk on it unless necessary. Take care of her. Switch to simple loosening with a depth of no more than 5 cm. After all, even in Soviet time Agronomist T. Maltsev proved in practice that no-till cultivation is the most promising and correct. Deep loosening deteriorates its structure and leads to overgrinding.
After rain or irrigation, such land turns into a swamp with the formation of a soil crust when it dries. And I also urge all gardeners not to get carried away with weeding: do not keep the soil bare, something should always grow on it! After all, vegetation reduces soil temperature and significantly delays water evaporation. Mulching is shading the soil. Take care of this in advance. I wish everyone health and good luck in their dacha and personal work. And human happiness!
V.A. GIANTS. Sochi
I am glad for those who strive to live with the times, for those who are mastering the new science of agriculture, for those who are not afraid to admit their mistakes and are looking for new ways to communicate with the earth without sacrificing nature. But in almost every issue there are also letters that are simply upsetting.
About traditions...
Why can't people see their mistakes? Why don’t they feel guilty before future generations? They are destroying the earth, leaving no chance to restore its fertility and create a sustainable balance in nature! Moreover, without thinking, they also harm the health of themselves and their loved ones. Who exactly do I mean?
And those respected gardeners who are engaged in the “traditional” (or even worse, “old-fashioned”) way of running their farms. Do you think I'm being too categorical? Yes, I myself worry about these fellow summer residents! But still, let's think about it in detail.
So, what do people usually mean by “traditional farming”? Here's what:
suitable digging of soil with a shovel in autumn and spring, weekly weeding in summer, application of mineral fertilizers, as well as treatment of plantings in gardens and vegetable gardens chemicals protection from diseases and pests. But can this really be called a tradition? Yes, one of the main agricultural tools of the peasants was the plow, but who said that they plowed their gardens from top to bottom?
They did this selectively and plowed shallowly, without disturbing fertile layer. But the main thing is that before this they transported manure to the plots, embedding it in the ground.
It will be objected to me that at that time everyone had a large farm, and no one had any problems with the presence of such organic matter. And I don’t deny it, I just want to draw your attention to the fact that digging itself is not only pointless, but also harmful.
Go ahead. After the Great Patriotic War There were devastated villages and villages in which there was no livestock or poultry. To speed up development Agriculture, a number was adopted forced measures. Forced! In particular, chemists developed and implemented mineral fertilizers, thereby sharply increasing the yield of almost all crops.
But the whole point is that the “mineral water” only replenishes chemical composition soil, and its balance is constantly disturbed. But the amount of humus from adding chemicals does not increase. Moreover, it is gradually decreasing! As a result, the land is increasingly depleted, plants, due to a lack of one or another nutrient, grow frail (at first glance this may not be noticed) and therefore become easy prey for pests and diseases. If you have depleted soil, increase its fertility, but not with the help of “mineral water”! Yes, of course, it will not be easy, you will have to work hard and be patient, because the earth needs time to recover. But almost any soil can be cured; don’t believe that there are “lazy” gardens! Get away from old stereotypes. I was wrong?
...and about innovations
Many summer residents often think that natural and organic farming- It is the same. But in fact, no. In the first case we're talking about about coexistence different plants on a certain unit of area, and each of them performs its role. For example, tall ones shade short ones from the sun and protect them from the wind, wild ones attract beneficial insects, helping to get rid of pests for their cultural neighbors, etc.
Organic farming means running your own farm using waste products of flora and fauna. Here our helpers will be not only the plants themselves, but also everything that can move: from the simplest microorganisms to lizards and birds. I understand how difficult it is to evaluate, understand and accept all this.
Moreover, having taken the first step and not receiving good result, many return to their usual methods. But everyone must go through this difficult and long path, because each generation must contribute to the restoration of the fertility of the earth.
My dears, try to start with a simple thing: sow the plots with green manure in the fall, do not leave the soil bare anywhere - neither in winter nor in summer. In the spring, simply loosen it shallowly, cutting off the grown grasses, and mulch your plantings with them, covering the beds from the sun, winds and showers (they wash humus deep into the ground). And the covered soil will always be moist, which will create a favorable climate in the area.
Believe me, at one time I also stood at a crossroads, and not everything worked out for me at once. And even now I am looking for more and more new ways to get closer to nature. But I haven’t been digging or weeding for five years now, I just cut the grass and use it as mulch. Every autumn I fall asleep with leaves trunk circles trees and shrubs.
I don’t burn the branches left after pruning, but I process them with a chopper and scatter the resulting sawdust in the garden. I bury all food scraps (as well as paper and cardboard collected over the winter) in the garden at the beginning of the season. I water all plants without exception with infusions of herbs and chicken manure, I spray with baking soda, infusions of garlic, birch tar, and practice treatment with whey and vermicomposts. And all my plantings survive the winter without loss, even if there were frosts of -30°, and in the summer I always remove good harvests, even if the heat was 40°. That's it!
: GROWING EARLY ZUCCHINS IN MOBILE...
