Principles of organic farming in practice

For seven years now, following the commandments of N.I. Kurdyumov, B.A. Bublik, N. Zhirmunskaya, Yu.I. Slashchinin, I have adhered to the principles of organic farming and “don’t dig a garden.” And I was not disappointed!

I divided my six-acre plot concrete path into two equal parts: southern- vegetable garden, northern- garden. Along the southern fence- raspberries on trellises in three rows.

The vegetable garden was divided into sixteen stationary beds 1-1.2 m wide, and the beds were slanted- at an angle of 120° (or 60°) to the central track. I made furrows (more precisely, paths) between the beds 30-40 cm wide, not lower, but in some places higher than the beds themselves.

Fenced the beds flat slate, tiles, boards. The paths were covered with sawdust and chopped branches of various trees. Branches go especially well on paths walnut, chopped with a hatchet into pieces 1-3 cm long.

I made exactly the same beds and paths in the garden part of the site. Only the beds turned out wider (up to 2 m) due to the fruit trees.

Garden- vegetable garden... This is conditional, since in one garden bed 8 gooseberry bushes are planted in one row, in another garden- 11 honeysuckle bushes of seven varieties, on the third- 12 columnar apple trees of six varieties, on the fourth- 10 columnar pears. Another garden bed- two-plane grape trellis. And five garden beds are equipped with permanent wire trellises for cucumbers, tomatoes, cowpeas, and climbing beans.

Two garden beds are occupied by two-plane grape trellises. On the remaining garden beds (there are ten of them) I placed fruit trees and berry bushes. In the garden beds, between the trees, I grow vegetables and green crops. In the circles around the tree trunks I grow catnip, oregano, peppermint and field mint; Aniseed lofant grows under unabi and sea buckthorn, and under an old pear- Echinacea purpurea. In the spring, I plant dwarf marigolds, nasturtiums, beans, golden mustache (fragrant colliasis) and some indoor plants in the free spaces in the tree trunks.

Fruit trees, all in a row, I bend them hard, pinch them and thereby form cup-shaped crowns. I've been doing this all summer. That's why I don't have trees taller than two meters. I have unabi bushes and Dahurian sea buckthorn higher than fruit-bearing apple and pear trees. And I raised two gooseberry bushes in standard form to a height of two meters.

I brought out uncovered grape varieties onto grape trellises. Under the grape trellises, located from south to north, I plant beets, dill, spinach, chard, onions, asters, and sorrel.

And in the fall of 2005, I planted black currants under the grapes. This is not in the recommendations of N.I. Kurdyumov. Apparently, the mutual influence of grapes and currants has not been studied. In such cases, I remember one of the orders of Peter I: “Do not adhere to the rules like a blank wall, for the rules are written there, but there are no times or occasions.”

And such a planting of black currants, in my opinion, is very good: in the morning the sun illuminates the currant bushes, in the midday heat they are covered with grapes, and in the evening- again in the sun. I don’t use chemicals: the currant bushes are planted with garlic and winter onions, the soil is mulched with a thick layer of rice husks all year round.

One question remains: how will summer watering of currants affect grapes?

Once in July, I very well watered, with fertilizing, one grape bush on the gazebo, as a result, I lost 70% of the harvest due to cracking of the not yet ripened berries.

So, over the course of seven years, I brought at least 10 truckloads of manure and humus and 3 truckloads of sand to the site. I used a cart to carry a lot of different organic matter and a lot of ash. Every year, each grape bush receives a bucket of ash, and fruit trees, berries and ornamental shrubs are not deprived of it.

As a result, my plot became ten centimeters higher than all the neighbors. Each bed has its own soil, its own acidity. To the cucumber bed- more fresh manure for the tomato plant- a little humus and a lot of mulch, mostly cardboard, and for carrots- a lot of sand, a lot of nettle mulch.

Until 2003, manure was fermented using the Baikal-EM-1 working solution (1:100), beds and tree trunk circles in spring and autumn I treated it with the working solution "Baikal-EM-1" (1:1000), and since the fall of 2003 I have been using only my own EM, prepared using the technology of N.I. Kurdyumov and Yu.I. Slashchinin. Every year from March to October I have a barrel with a solution of my EOs, which I use for watering and for composting organic matter.

I compost all kinds of organic matter directly on the beds along with the rest of the mulch. Compost pits I only use it for breeding worms. After the rain, these worms crawl out onto the asphalt!!! And I them- in a jar and on your site.

There are also questions regarding mulching.

I planted two grape seedlings in the yard, and then the yard was concreted, leaving “trunk circles” with a diameter of 30-40 cm around the seedlings. It turns out that it’s concrete- is this mulch?

I covered the sea buckthorn tree trunks with a thick layer of fine gravel with sand and humus. Is this also mulch?

Ruberoid, polyethylene films different- is this mulch material?

What about then: “Mulch- is it some kind of decomposable organic material covering the surface of the soil." (N. Zhirmunskaya)?

And another question: how many buckets of mulch, for example, rice husks, or even better humus, are needed to fill with at least an 8-centimeter (and some recommend 10 cm, or even 15 cm) layer? square meter surface of the bed? What if the whole garden bed? What if there are all the beds (I have 28 of them)?

I know... I mulch all my plantings - they call it “total mulching”. And only organic matter: manure, compost, humus, sawdust, hay, straw, weeds, rice husk. I collect leaf litter and weeds from neighbors, nettles- in ravines, straw- on the edges of fields, cardboard boxes- from the market, from shops.

I mulch the raspberry fields with corn and sorghum straw every fall. All year round I mulch strawberries, honeysuckle, gooseberries, currants, and all other shrubs- from hyssop and rue to vitex and unabi, all columnar apple, pear and cherry plum trees. All year round, the tree trunks of pome and stone fruits are lightly mulched.

Perennial grasses in the spring easily penetrate a 1-3 cm layer of mulch. I plant garlic and winter onions (sets and selections) directly in the mulch around the berry bushes. Around honeysuckle and all columnar onions, I plant only winter or spring onions, because when harvesting garlic, the roots of trees and shrubs are severely damaged.

In the summer, I feed pome and stone fruit trees and seedlings, berry and ornamental shrubs, all garden and flower crops with my EM compote, infusions of nettles, legumes, chicken droppings, and silicon pebbles. I combine fertilizing with watering. At the end of July I stop fertilizing with infusions, but I pour EM compote on everything composted until November.

In the fall, after abundant watering with an EM solution, I cover individual beds with cardboard, which I press onto the soil with something heavy so that the wind does not blow it away. By spring, microbes and worms process the organic matter under the cardboard and partially eat the cardboard.

Every autumn I clean the trunks of old trees from dead bark, and in early spring I coat the trunks and skeletal branches with a creamy water mixture of clay and mullein, to which I add a little ash and copper sulfate.

I don’t use any chemicals on the site. No fertilizers, no poisons. I only add nitroammophoska to the EM compote- 200 g for every 200 liters. I use bitoxibacillin against the Colorado potato beetle. I used an ax to combat the curling of peach leaves... I haven’t “sprayed” Bordeaux mixture for five years.

But the most important thing: for seven years now I have not dug beds either in the fall or in the spring. I don't bother my assistants- microbes and worms. I don’t step on the beds, I don’t trample them myself and I don’t allow guests. This is the main law in my area, even for a two-year-old grandson.

I only loosen the non-mulched areas of the beds after watering or rain, shallowly- up to 5 cm

As the main garden tools I use large and small Fokin flat cutters, potato and garlic “planters” made according to Fokin’s description and slightly improved, a pitchfork and a shovel for working with organic matter. Another sickle. With a bayonet shovel I just dig planting holes and dig up potatoes.

I don't need a rake on my property. They and all sorts of other hillers and rippers, hoes and hoes can easily be replaced by Fokin flat cutters. I only use a rake to collect trash on the street in front of the house and leaf litter from neighbors. I don’t collect my leaf litter on the site at all. He “gets lost in the mulch.

More about tools: I try to attach pitchforks, shovels, rakes to rectangular cuttings. I'm trying to get rid of round handles and handles. I believe that a tool should be first of all convenient, and then beautiful. Therefore, I was surprised by one article about the “improvement” of the Fokin flat cutter. One craftsman “modernized” a flat cutter: he replaced the handle, which was rectangular in cross-section, with a round one. It’s good that this note appeared after the death of V.V. Fokin. His invention is a specially curved piece of iron made of good steel, screwed with two bolts to a handle that is rectangular in cross-section.

I understand that everything can be “modernized” ad infinitum... I suffer from this myself. V.V. Fokin did not write that it is convenient to use the handle of a flat cutter to measure, for example, the width of beds or the distance between currant bushes if centimeter marks are applied to it every 5 or 10 cm.

Stationary beds make it easier for me to rotate vegetable crops, joint plantings, provide consistent landings. In each bed I have 5-6 crops growing at the same time. I learned to combine them according to planting dates, growth, and their mutual influence.

There are no problems with crop rotation, since I use green manure: oats, barley, wheat, beans, fenugreek- that is, cereals and legumes. I gave up rapeseed, they love it very much cruciferous flea beetles. I also gave up alfalfa.- My chickens don't particularly like her greens and hay. But it was tempting: seven cuttings per season from 2-3-year-old alfalfa.

"Grass grows on the paths and everywhere possible..."- write K. Malyshevsky and N. Kurdyumov. And everywhere, wherever possible, I have a variety of greens, legumes, marigolds and calendula growing. But grass on the paths is unacceptable to me, especially in the morning, when there is dew or after rain,- the indoor slippers that I wear around the property almost all year round get wet quickly. I don't have any dirt.

And if plantain, dandelion, celandine or chamomile appear in the beds, then for me they are not weeds if they do not interfere with vegetables. I call weeds spinach-raspberries, fennel, chervil, crazy cucumber, which reproduce by self-seeding, as well as tomatoes, watermelons, zucchini, pumpkins and even cucumbers, the seeds of which fall into the beds, often into raspberries and under currants, with manure and from the chicken coop. If I grow only yellow and black tomatoes in the garden beds (these are “cultivated”), then red ones (“wild”) grow by self-sowing.

I try to explain to my friends and neighbors: if compost from legume residues is a high-quality fertilizer, then why not make an infusion of legumes for fertilizing? And if nettles are recommended to be infused as an excellent top dressing, then why not compost it? Why not mulch potato, carrot, onion and other plantings with nettles? On the slopes of ravines, nettles grow into 2-meter thick thickets before flowering. Take a sickle- and forward...

Most of my neighbors, unfortunately, don’t understand me and chuckle. My site is called a park, and I- Michurinets. But I don’t take offense at them, I forgive them when they cannot distinguish okra from castor beans, lagenaria from cowpeas.

It’s a shame when in the fall all the plant residues are piled up- and for matches. And then it’s even worse: all the organic matter goes through the fence, into the street, and there along with the leaf litter- into the fire and into the ashes- into the garbage disposal.

S. Kladovikov , Krasnodar region

We applied certain techniques of natural farming on our personal plot, when they still lived in the city in their house. Then there were some successes in certain cultures. But it was not possible to achieve a full harvest, due to a lack of attention and, most importantly, as I understand now, due to a lack of integrity in understanding the issue of agriculture.

And only when we began to “apply the whole range of natural farming techniques” did we begin to get a more or less full-fledged harvest of vegetable crops in our garden. I will repeat my thought: individual techniques work on their own, but full-fledged results can be obtained by applying the entire complex of developments.

We cultivate only the top 5-7 cm of the soil, i.e. we don’t dig the ground! Digging, as well as rotation of the layer during mechanical plowing, leads to mixing of soil layers. And then the aerobic (breathing) soil microorganisms of the upper layer are buried deep in the soil, and the deep anaerobic (non-breathing) “residents” are placed on top, this leads to the destruction of both. When digging, many worms are also “cut off”. So why dig if this destroys the main “miners” of the soil (microorganisms and worms), which form the fertile humus of the soil. Digging also disrupts the natural porous structure of the soil. There is only one answer: DON'T DIGGING! We cultivate the soil with a Fokin flat cutter and hoe. If desired, you can use a garden fork to “loose” dense areas without turning over the ground.

Cover the soil with mulch(a thick layer of organic matter), this allows you to retain valuable moisture in the soil in the summer, prevents the growth of “weeds”, acts as a fertilizer, promotes the activity of soil microorganisms, and also protects the soil from freezing in winter. As you can see, there are many “pluses”. The meaning is the following: in nature, the soil is always covered! For example, in a forest with leaves, in a meadow with plant debris. We do the same. All our beds are covered with hay, wood chips, sawdust, cardboard all year round; we use everything we have at hand!

We use green manure plants. Green manure - fast growing plants with a developed root system. We use it for structuring and deep loosening of the soil. Some of them enrich the soil useful substances(legumes). Green manure tops are incorporated into the soil as fertilizer or used as mulch. For example, my mother talks with delight about her experience of planting mustard (green manure) in the garden, immediately after harvesting. He says that in the spring these beds, even without digging, have surprisingly loose and fertile soil.

Mulched beds go into winter in this form.

Crop rotation. Every season we change the place where crops are planted, i.e. we change the purpose of the beds. Why? Because plants, in the course of their life, produce substances that are poisonous for the same crop, i.e. this is how plants fight competitors of their own species.

Mixed plantings. We try to plant different crops together. We are moving away from monoculture, with all its disadvantages (competition, pests). Different plants have roots of different lengths, peak at different times, and require different nutrients. Therefore, they do not compete, but often contribute to the creation of favorable conditions for their “neighbor.” There are very successful classic combinations: onions with carrots; marigolds planted next to cabbage repel pest butterflies; phacelia mixed with potatoes reduces the population of the Colorado potato beetle, etc.

We do not use any synthetic fertilizers, poisons, growth accelerators, etc. These additives disrupt the natural balance and are poisons for all living organisms, including humans.

The use of natural microorganisms and fertilizers. We liked using homemade fertilizer and making an infusion of herbs. It’s simple, fill a 50-liter barrel with water, put plant tops in there, more nettles, a little wormwood, any herbs you want... Place it in the sun. After a few days (readiness is determined by the pungent smell), an infusion of natural microorganisms and herbal extracts with nutrients ready. It must be used additionally diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. By watering our beds with this solution, we noticed a noticeable increase in the plants; they began to look stronger and healthier.

What are the benefits of using these methods?

First, healthy living soil is formed: structured, with many soil channels. In the beds under mulch, the soil is loose, soft, moist, even on hot, dry days it is teeming with life, a huge number of microorganisms, insects and worms. This year we practically didn’t water our beds; it all came down to watering and fertilizing several times a season. From year to year the soil becomes more fertile and the layer of humus increases! And then the essence of farming is fully revealed (making land!)

Secondly, there is less work: no digging, no watering. We weed much less, because there are fewer weeds. And we have a different attitude towards weeds, they are more “employees” of the garden, more often they don’t interfere, at least until they obviously start to crush them.” cultivated plant" There are fewer pests, which means less hassle associated with them.

Thirdly, we get full, healthy, delicious fruits, which are well stored due to the absence of diseases in them.

As well as a decrease in sown areas with a constant increase in the quantity and quality of the harvest!

We don’t destroy weeds, we control them. In moderation it does not interfere.

— We try to use stable, time-tested plant varieties. Zoned, folk selection and from trusted suppliers. We do not use hybrid seeds; we create our own seed fund.

— To cultivate virgin soil for future beds, we used a “chicken tractor.” In the summer, chickens live and graze on virgin soil in a mobile pen, eat vegetation, fertilize the soil, and partially loosen it. Then we move the chickens further, and on the prepared soil we loosen 5 cm, mulch and the bed is ready.

— Holzer recommends constructing natural reservoirs and water reservoirs on the site. Lake or pond. They will help improve the level groundwater in the area, humidity during the dry period, stabilize the temperature during short-term frosts. That is, reservoirs create favorable conditions for gardening. So last year we dug a pond and a lake on the estate.

— We create different microclimatic zones on the site. Next to the reservoirs, protective earthen ramparts (ridges) 1.5 and 3 m high were built from the excavated soil.

Now, on the terraces, slopes of ridges (especially the southern slope), and coastal zones, warm or humid, windless favorable conditions have been created for the growth of appropriate plants.

Season 2013

The first beds on the estate began to be planted in the fall of 2011, and in 2012 they continued to increase the area under crops. We have a large plot - 1.5 hectares. In the first year of development, the question arose: where is the best place to locate the vegetable garden? We need to find the zone of greatest vegetation. That is, the place where the vegetation is most lush, tall, strong grass. Vegetables will grow beautifully there too.

In the past gardening season of 2013, we set the task of providing ourselves with the basic vegetable crops for the summer and root vegetables for the winter, in order to eliminate the purchase of vegetables as much as possible. We have prepared several new beds; we are making the beds stationary, with passages between them. The peculiarity of our site is that it is located on virgin soil, a former hayfield. There are gullies running through the estate that collect flood waters. Lowland, the place is quite wet, there are mature trees along the ravines on the site. The vegetable garden was located next to summer kitchen and home, in the area of ​​permanent residence of people.

We have our own observations: in Bashkortostan last years hot and dry, with virtually no precipitation in the second half of summer. Therefore, beds with root crops located in partial shade (sun in the morning, shade in the afternoon) gave the best results, since they did not dry out in the heat.

In spring and autumn, planting continued on the estate fruit bushes and trees, planting hedges along the border of the site.

This year we tried to implement all the Natural Farming methods recommended above in a comprehensive manner. And it “worked” - the harvest was obtained and they worked with interest. We observed all stages of plant germination, since we live on the estate all the time.

All summer we ate cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, new potatoes, and carrots. For the winter we prepared pumpkin, turnips, potatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, and rutabaga. And we received all these gifts without much trouble.

The son demonstrates the summer harvest.

Our daily diet now includes dishes made from our own vegetables! We receive great pleasure from the gifts of the earth. And the most important thing is that work in progress for the future, because the soil is becoming more and more fertile and ready to produce high yields.

Albert Ibatullin,
settlement of family estates (village) “Chik-Elga”,
Republic of Bashkortostan

Virgin soil processing. In the first year, in advance (or in early spring, as soon as the snow has melted) we cover with mulch up to 50 cm; we mainly use hay. In May, we rake the mulch to the side and hoe the top 5-7 cm and loosen it. If necessary, use a pitchfork to “loose” dense areas. That's it, the soil is ready! We use mulch again in this bed.

Transplanting. We spread the mulch, make a hole, and plant a bush. We move the mulch tightly around the stem, in a thick layer of 20-30 cm. Watering is not necessary; as a rule, it is damp under the mulch. Feed with herbal infusion two or three times in June, then observe, if it is damp under the mulch, there is no need to water.

Planting seeds. The bed is already covered with mulch 15-20 cm thick. We spread the mulch in rows and make furrows. Press the mulch (hay) well between the rows. We sow. Even if the furrow dries out, the spaces between the rows under the mulch are moist.

Planting large seeds. Garlic, onion sets, beans, beans, peas, sunflower. We dig through the mulch and stick in a seed.

Potato. We plant under hay, directly on the surface of the ground, or even on a layer of mulch. Cover the top of the tubers with a thick layer, and as they sprout, add mulch again around the bushes.

Weeds. There are few weeds in the treated soil under the mulch, but you need to monitor them so that they do not grow too much. If you feel that they are starting to interfere with your plantings, cut them back with a flat cutter or by hand and leave them right there as mulch.

Autumn tillage. After harvesting, we cover the beds again with mulch. If desired, you can first loosen the soil with a flat cutter.

Organic farming on garden plot should be considered as an alternative to intensive gardening, in which it is often used unjustifiably a large number of fertilizers and pesticides. Of course, the yield of an intensive garden will be higher, but at what cost? It’s no secret that in order to get a decent harvest, you need to carry out chemical protection measures several times a season. This means that plants are doomed to accumulate compounds that are toxic to humans, and, in addition, cause irreparable harm environment, bees and bumblebees die, soil microorganisms and birds suffer.

The practice of organic farming means that only natural fertilizers- manure, compost, leaf humus and other organic matter, as well as wood ash.

In the fight against diseases, the use of the most important principle rotation of crops. Attracting birds and beneficial insects that feed on these pests into the garden helps control them.

Weeds are destroyed not with the help of herbicides, but through competent agrotechnical measures, mulching and proper crop rotation.

When starting to create and arrange a garden, we must remember that the key to success is a respectful attitude towards the land. It should be noted that this is by no means “dirt” in which hands and clothes get dirty, as some people think. Soil is a living organism, the habitat of microorganisms, protozoa, fungi and soil fauna. This is a complex biological system, a storehouse of mineral and organic elements from which plants draw strength to produce a harvest. If treated properly, the soil can maintain its own fertility.

Causes of pollution and depletion of fertile soil layer

Depletion of the fertile soil layer leads to chronic crop failures, problems with pests and plant diseases. Soil fertility directly depends on the presence of humus in it, the main soil component, its organic part, which is formed as a result of biochemical transformations of animal and plant residues. It is in humus, which combines with soil minerals, that all the necessary nutrients are found flora. With the help of saprophyte microorganisms, symbiont fungi and soil fauna, the process of soil formation occurs.

The reasons for soil depletion lie in the fact that, unfortunately, man rather unceremoniously invades the complex processes that take place in the upper soil horizons. Constant digging disrupts the microbiological balance of soils. Unwise use of pesticides kills all living things, including beneficial soil flora and fauna. Constant use mineral fertilizers leads to salinization of the soil, due to which the plants are eventually unable to obtain nutrients. Pollution and depletion of the soil leads to the fact that practically nothing grows on the site except weeds.

It is well known that organic fertilizers are better integrated into food chains microorganisms living in the soil, while supplying plants with all nutrients. To do harm, you have to try hard. There is practically no overdose, the excess is eroded and washed away by precipitation. Therefore, the use of organic matter at all stages of crop cultivation is becoming increasingly preferable.

The basic techniques of organic farming, that is, literally making the land, come down to three main techniques: composting, using green manure plants and mulching.

Types of organic fertilizers in natural farming: they are...

Is it possible to do without mineral fertilizers? To avoid mineral fertilizers or reduce their use to a minimum, you need to use organic matter. All the main elements necessary for the normal development of plants - nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium - are contained in manure and compost. Bird droppings, peat, and bone meal can also be successfully used as organic fertilizer in natural farming. Has always been an excellent source of microelements wood ash. All types of organic fertilizers are safe for both humans and soil microorganisms.

Organic fertilizers include manure, compost, humus, bird droppings and much more. Our ancestors did not have any fertilizers at their disposal, except for stove ash and manure. This universal fertilizer, which not only contributes to increased productivity, but also improves the structure and fertility of the soil, has been used since ancient times in agriculture. He was still taken through the snow, on a sleigh (the word manure itself comes from this) to the fields. But even now no one has canceled the use of manure. You know how tasty and large potatoes grow “on manure”!

What is the best manure and litter for the garden as an organic fertilizer?

What is the best manure for the garden and what are the rules for using this source of micronutrients?

Any manure, except pig manure, is suitable for the garden plot.

The trouble is that the almost complete disappearance of cattle from private farms in rural areas, the reduction in the number of horses has led to the fact that now organic fertilizer manure, especially horse manure, has become an almost unaffordable luxury. Where there are many gardening partnerships, and farms in the area, it’s happened once or twice, getting a manure truck is a great success. In recent years, private stables have begun to appear in our country, which inspires timid hope that horse dung will finally become more accessible to the gardener.

Bird droppings and their uses. This is a very concentrated organic fertilizer made from manure, so it must be used with caution. From pure dried bird droppings, which is commercially available, make liquid fertilizers. To do this, add water to 500 g of dry droppings in a ten-liter bucket. When the contents of the bucket turn into a homogeneous substance, this concentrate must be diluted with water at the rate of 1:20 (for example, dilute 0.5 liters in 10 liters) and water the plants at the roots with this working solution (but do not spray them!).

Is it true that you can bring mole crickets with cow dung? Yes, such a threat exists. Cow dung has its own problems. Only rotted manure can be used. If you bought fresh manure, leave it to “ripen” in some secluded corner of the garden, but be careful - mole crickets love to make nests there and successfully winter in a warm environment and in huge quantities multiply. Therefore, by the time the manure is ready, there is a danger of the mole cricket spreading throughout the garden. To avoid this threat, it is better to purchase and store manure in plastic bags, where it will also ripen perfectly, but is inaccessible to mole crickets.

Which manure is better to use as fertilizer: fresh or rotted?

How to use manure correctly. Manure has three degrees of maturity. It is good to add fresh manure to the beds when digging the soil in the fall. There he will reach the desired condition by spring. Otherwise, you may burn the plant roots. In spring it can be used to create warm beds, walled up to a depth of up to half a meter, covered with branches, large plant debris, etc. Slowly decomposing, it will release additional heat, which allows you to grow cucumbers directly in open ground. Manure that has been sitting for a year (no matter in your garden or somewhere else) can already be used in greenhouses, when setting up beds in the spring, when planting potatoes and tomatoes. Therefore, the answer to the question of which manure is better: fresh or rotted, will depend on the goals pursued by the gardener.

Manure aged two years, in fact, has already completely rotted and turned into humus. To keep it in working condition, it’s a good idea to shovel the pile, try not to overdry it, water it if necessary, and be sure to cover it with film. This is done to protect against weeds and maintain a certain humidity. Dry manure loses more than half of its beneficial properties.

Another way to use manure as fertilizer: place a barrel in the greenhouse, fill it halfway with manure and fill it to the top with water. The gas that will be released during fermentation will accelerate the growth of plants in the greenhouse. But keep in mind - the aroma in the greenhouse will be specific!

From a concentrated infusion taken from the same barrel, you can prepare a solution for liquid feeding during the first half of summer. To do this, it must be diluted 10 times (1 liter per ten-liter bucket). Water at the roots, being careful not to get on the leaves. In smaller concentrations (1 cup per bucket), manure infusion is successfully used to combat powdery mildew.

In addition, it is very useful to use manure when preparing compost, layering it with plant residues and kitchen waste folded for composting.

Personal experience of an experienced gardener

How do most gardeners sow in their garden beds? Usually, “how everyone does it” and how convenient it is for the owner of the site. It would be better to sow the way the plants need it! This is the principle of organic farming - to do as in nature. It turns out that it turns out to be much more effective. Yields become higher and work becomes less! Do you doubt that this is possible? Check it out in the new season!

Typically, the planting process looks like this: digging up the soil - leveling the surface of the bed - cutting grooves - sowing (laying) seeds in them - filling the grooves with earth from their side walls - watering.

As a result:

Too much effort is spent, since digging is a very labor-intensive process;

The fertility of the soil is lost (its air-water permeability is disrupted, since the porous structure of the earth created by channels and voids formed in place of already rotted roots and worm passages is destroyed;

Soil microorganisms that process plant residues into food for plants die;

The grooves cut for sowing have variable depths, as a result of which the seeds also fall at different depths. This leads to their germination and inhibition of weaker late shoots by earlier ones;

The rows of sprouted seeds are tortuous. Because of this, the width of the row is different, and it is larger than that of an even stitch. As a result, weeding becomes difficult. This happens because it is impossible to cut (even with flat cutters) straight narrow grooves, and also due to the displacement of seeds already in the ground when watering them after planting;

Few gardeners know that plants grow better if the seeds (as in nature) are placed on dense, naturally porous soil, and a loose, loose “blanket” (mulch) covers them on top. Then provided best conditions for plant growth, because in the dense underlying soil, due to the capillary effect, soil moisture constantly flows to the seeds (it’s not for nothing that the soil is compacted with windrows before sowing wheat); and air constantly flows from above (through the mulch).

How to ensure the same conditions? You can repeat a theory a thousand times and not convince anyone. I will tell you about my experience, which I have been using for many years.

1. I don’t dig up the soil, but only loosen it 5-7 cm with a Fokin flat cutter (without bending my back and with much less effort).

2. I combine this loosening of the soil with proactive weed control, as long as the plants being grown do not “interfere” with this. It is known that with regular mowing (or mowing with a hoe), weeds degenerate; just mow them before planting 2-3 times, coming to the dacha once a week, so that there are significantly fewer weeds. At the same time, I spend no more than 10-15 minutes on such a “passage” of a ten-meter bed with a Fokin flat cutter.

3. I water the loosened bed... before planting.

4. Then I press grooves in the damp soil with one or 2-3 slats, nailed together with cross members. The distance between the slats is equal to the distance between future rows of plants and slightly greater than the length of the blade of a small flat cutter. This allows me to later (in front of the grass) loosen and weed the rows with one movement of the flat cutter underground along the rows.

5. I flood the grooves with a solution of biological preparations “Siyania-2” or “Vostok EM-1” in a concentration of 1:1000 (tablespoon per 10 liters of water) - to restore soil capillarity, increase its fertility and sanitize it from pathogenic microorganisms.

6. I sow seeds in grooves pressed by slats.

7. I fill them with compost - and... don’t water them!

At first glance, this technology takes longer. And you re-read it again. How much benefit there is in this technique, and how much we did “at the same time”: we mowed down the weeds with a flat cutter, compacted the rows for sowing, and introduced EM-useful microorganisms into the soil...

As a result, we get what we were striving for - the seeds lie “in line” and at the same depth, on a solid, moist bed, covered on top with “loose” compost, which also has plenty of nutrition! And the fight against weeds is made easier - they are weakened in advance. And I suppress the remaining ones, covering them in the spaces between the grown plants with a layer of mulch of 5-7 cm so that light does not pass through it. Chopped grass is used as mulch. In addition, as the grass decomposes, it feeds the plants + there is no need to water frequently, since moisture evaporation is reduced + there is no need to loosen the soil under the mulch (a crust does not form after rains and watering).

Conclusion: less work, and higher yields. That's what you need!

Observe nature

Finally, I want to remind you of the wise advice: “trust, but verify!” Adapt to the conditions of your site!

On my “sand” I water the bed before pressing the grooves, and on clay soil This technique can lead to clay sticking to the rail and uneven grooves. In this case, it needs to be moist in advance, but not sticky.

Use any advice wisely! And even better - learn from the “smartest” - from nature! Check with her, copy her - she is wiser than any adviser!

If you liked this material, then we offer you a selection of the most the best materials our site according to our readers. You can find a selection - TOP about existing eco-villages, family estates, their history of creation and everything about eco-houses where it is most convenient for you

Are you still fighting weeds and pests in your dacha, earning yourself sciatica? But adherents of organic farming prefer to be friends with nature rather than fight. But in order to live the same way, you will have to start with a radical change in the way of thinking about the purpose of agriculture, about what the “correct” garden is.

Organic farming as a branch of agricultural technology arose from the end of the 19th century, and rumors, disputes and discussions around this method of cultivating the land still do not subside. There are also many approaches and theories within the adherents of this direction of agriculture. But the essence is the same: organic farming is, first of all, a careful, gentle attitude towards nature, maintaining the natural balance and ecosystem, avoiding mineral fertilizers and pesticides.

Organic farming has many interchangeable definitions and synonymous terms: natural, ecological, biological, nature-conforming, life-giving agriculture.

Basic principles of ecological farming:

1. Refusal to plow, dig up the earth. This is believed to maintain a healthy balance of the soil ecosystem. And healthy soil means healthy plants that can resist diseases and pests.
2. Growing environmentally friendly products. Complete refusal to use mineral fertilizers and pesticides. Methods of controlling weeds and pests come down to prevention and the use of herbal and folk methods.
3. The ground should always be covered with vegetation. Fast-growing crops, planted after the main crops on temporarily empty land, are widely used here.
4. Less labor intensive processing of a plot or dacha with larger and best result. Farming is pleasure, not hard work.

Natural Farming Guru

“Curb your ardor, gardener!” - with these words, as a rule, the famous author of many books on biological farming, B.A., begins his address at lectures to gardeners. Bagel. In the traditional idea of ​​a “proper” vegetable garden, many summer residents see such an exemplary vegetable garden: ideal, even beds and rows of crops, not a single weed, and it is also a lot of hard work.

All these myths are debunked by fans of organic farming. They believe that work does not have to be slavish and exhausting. And it is much more useful for both humans and nature to maintain the natural order of things in the ecosystem. “Spy” on nature, learn from it, apply the acquired knowledge and observations at your summer cottage.

Advice. If you decide to leave traditional farming for natural farming, we recommend reading several books on the topic for inspiration: “One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukooka; "Agrarian Revolutionary" Sepp Holzer; “About a vegetable garden for the thrifty and lazy” Bublik B.A.

So, Sepp Holzer has 45 hectares of land and cultivates it alone with his wife with a minimum of agricultural equipment: he has only one tractor. B.A. Bublik believes that steel has no place in the garden and refuses shovels, hoes, does not even loosen the soil with a pitchfork, but plants “under a stick”, watering only with ice water (not higher than 9 degrees). And the well-known author in Russia of many works on natural farming, G. Kizima, preaches three “don’ts”: don’t dig, don’t weed, don’t water.

Practice natural farming in spring and autumn

You can switch from traditional to organic farming at any time of the year. One of the main techniques of biological farming is avoiding deep digging of the soil. It is believed that raising a layer of earth more than 5 cm thereby disturbs the ecosystem. The land eventually becomes poorer and lacks beneficial microorganisms, beetles, worms, etc. Which subsequently leads to the need to use mineral fertilizers, which are harmful to both nature and humans.

Natural farming allows you to get environmentally friendly vegetables and fruits

The soil for sowing the crop is not dug up, but slightly raised using a fork (ideally no more than 2.5 cm). Some farmers don’t even use pitchforks, but plant “under a stick.” That is, they stick a stick into the ground and plant seeds or seedlings in the place where the hole formed. After sowing, the ground is mulched with straw, sawdust, peat, rotted compost, etc.

Advice. To plant plants “under a stick,” you can use a shovel handle or another stick that is convenient for working in length. To do this, the end is sharpened into a cone, which will stick into the ground. For convenience, you can also make a handle at the top of the stick, and a limiter pedal at the bottom.

Due to the active use of mulch, which prevents moisture from evaporating, watering is done much less frequently. Mulch is also one of the main ways to control weeds. But it is better to use mulching on proven crops: potatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes. There are plants that do not favor mulching, preferring open and hot soil: corn, watermelons, melons.

With the help of mulching, virgin soil is cultivated. To do this, prepare the beds in the fall as follows:

1. Mow the grass.
2. Cover with manure: horse, chicken.
3. Lay a layer of mulch, for example straw, in a layer of 30 cm.
4. In the spring, remove the layer of mulch, pick out the remaining weed roots with your hands and plant seeds or seedlings.

You can also cover the beds with dense material, for example: roofing felt, pieces of linoleum. It is useful to cover the layer of mulch with a film on top - this will speed up the process of overheating and rotting of the weed in virgin soil.
All of the above actions can be used at the dacha, both in spring and autumn.

Green manure is our everything

One of the agricultural practices that is an integral part of biological farming is planting green manure on temporarily empty land. According to many farmers, these crops are the best natural fertilizer. For these purposes, fast-growing and micronutrient-rich plants are used, such as:

• legumes;
• mustard;

• clover;
• rapeseed;
• spring rape;
• rye.

Green manure can be planted in spring, summer, and autumn. In the spring, fast-growing and frost-resistant plants such as mustard, rapeseed, and phacelia are planted. They are sown very early and grow until it is time to plant the main crop. Then the green manure is mowed with a flat cutter several centimeters below ground level, and the main plants are planted in the soil prepared in this way. Tops and stems can be used as cover for beds with crops.

In autumn, rye and mustard are most often sown. Sowing is done after harvesting the vegetables. Rye is harvested at the end of autumn, cutting off the stems at the base. And the mustard goes under the snow. In the spring it is cut with a flat cutter and the main crops are planted.

Organic farming is environmentally friendly cleaner production based on respect for nature and human health. There are many techniques and methods of natural farming. But, in any case, each site is individual. There are no absolutely identical areas in terms of soil composition, microclimate, or list of crops planted. What fans of organic farming never tire of repeating is: “Listen, look closely at your land, at your plants. And apply the acquired knowledge in practice. We must always trust nature, every day.”

Natural farming: video