Peaty swampy soils story for school. Peat soils, their improvement

Swampy soils most common in the tundra and taiga-forest zones. They are also found in forest-steppe and other zones. Total area swamp soils in the taiga-forest and tundra zones are about 100 million hectares.

Swamp soils are formed as a result of waterlogging of land or peaty water bodies. The swamp process of soil formation is characterized by peat formation and gleying of the mineral part of the soil profile. It develops only under conditions of excess moisture.

Peat formation occurs with the accumulation of undecomposed or semi-decomposed plant residues as a result of poorly expressed processes of humification and mineralization of vegetation. The consequence of peat formation is the conservation of ash nutrition elements. It lies in the fact that nutrients absorbed by plants, due to the weak mineralization of plant residues, do not transform into forms accessible to other generations of plants.

Gleyization is a biochemical process of converting oxide iron into ferrous iron and occurs under the influence of anaerobic microorganisms that remove part of the oxygen from the oxide forms of compounds.

There are three types of mineral nutrition of swamps- atmospheric, atmospheric-ground and alluvial-deluvial. Depending on the type of nutrition and conditions of formation, highland, lowland and transitional bogs are formed, differing both in the composition of vegetation and soils.

Raised bogs are formed from transitional swamps or from direct swamping of land by atmospheric or soft groundwater. Raised bogs are usually located on flat, poorly drained relief elements with poor soils. Content of raised bogs dissolved in water nutrients very insignificantly, therefore, in such conditions, vegetation that is extremely undemanding of nutrients develops.

Lowland marshes are formed in low relief elements, when land becomes swamped with hard groundwater or when reservoirs become peaty. Such waters contain a sufficient amount of nutrients, so grasses, sedges, green mosses develop well in lowland swamps, and tree species include black alder, birch, willow, etc. In this regard, green-moss, alder, and sedge lowland swamps are distinguished and others.

As they develop, lowland swamps transform into other types of swamps. This happens because upper part As peat grows, it gradually breaks away from hard groundwater and plants begin to be nourished by soft atmospheric precipitation. In this regard, the composition of the vegetation changes and the lowland swamp turns into a transitional one.

Transitional swamps formed from low-lying waters or formed directly during swamping of land, when moistening is carried out alternately with hard and soft waters. In terms of vegetation composition, transitional swamps occupy an intermediate position between upland and lowland ones, approaching more closely to upland ones. Transitional bogs, in turn, with further development, are even more detached from groundwater and turn into raised bogs.

The transformation of reservoirs into swamps occurs in stages. At the beginning of swamping, silt is deposited at the bottom of the reservoir, which is brought from the surrounding hills by melted snow water and precipitation. Mixed with this silt is silt that enters the water when the banks erode. As a result of these long-term sediments, the reservoir gradually becomes shallower.

At the second stage, the reservoir is populated by planktonic (suspended in water) organisms, mainly algae and crustaceans. After dying, they mix with silt at the bottom of reservoirs, increasing total weight sediments and further contribute to their shallowing.

Simultaneously with the second, the third stage occurs - the shores and coastal zones of reservoirs are overgrown with vegetation attached to the coastal and bottom sediments. After the plants die, they sink to the bottom, decompose under anaerobic conditions and form peat.

Due to the deposition of peat, a gradual shallowing of the reservoir occurs, vegetation moves further and further from the shore to the middle, which over time leads to its complete overgrowing and peat. Finally, the last, fourth stage begins, when the reservoir turns into a grass or sedge swamp.

Peat formation occurs the faster the shallower the body of water and the calmer the water in it.. The process of swamp formation is widespread in the area of glacial deposits, where there are many small lakes, streams and rivers with slow-moving water.

Soils of lowland swamps have a neutral or slightly acidic reaction, contain a large amount of nitrogen, are high in ash, and have low moisture capacity. The soils of raised bogs, on the contrary, are acidic, contain significantly less nitrogen, low ash, but very moisture-intensive. The soils of transitional swamps have intermediate properties.

Lowland peat has the best physicochemical properties: it has a high degree of decomposition, its ash content reaches 25% or more, the nitrogen content is 3-4%, the reaction is slightly acidic. The phosphorus content is relatively low and varies widely - from 0.15 to 0.45%. All peat soils, poor in potassium.

High bog peat characterized by a lower degree of decomposition, its ash content does not exceed 5%, it is poor in nutrients, the reaction is strongly acidic.

Peat of all types of bogs has a high absorption capacity, but the degree of saturation with bases in lowland peats reaches 70-100%, and in upland peats it does not exceed 15-20%. Peat is characterized by a very high moisture capacity, but it is especially high in high-moor peat - 600-1200%. As decomposition increases, the moisture capacity of peat decreases.

Swamp soils are classified according to two criteria: by belonging to one or another type of swamp, and within one type - by the thickness of the peat horizon. According to the first characteristic, bog high soils and bog lowland soils are distinguished, and according to the second, peat-gley and peat soils are distinguished. In addition, within the type of raised bog soils, a genus of transitional bog soils is distinguished, which are similar in properties to raised and lowland bog soils.

Peat and bog soils are widely used in agriculture: peat - as a source of organic fertilizers, and marsh soils after cultivation - as agricultural land. IN pure form Well-decomposed lowland peat is used as a direct fertilizer. Mossy peat from high bogs is used for bedding in barnyards. Subsequent composting with lime, phosphate rock and others mineral fertilizers improves its quality as a fertilizer.

The most valuable for developing the soil of lowland swamps. After drainage and carrying out cultural and agrotechnical measures, they become highly productive agricultural lands, which are used for arable land, hayfields, and pastures.

Peat soils, their improvement

There is a popular opinion that such soils seem unsuitable for growing vegetables and berry bushes, but after two to three years of development, most garden crops can already be grown on them.

But the approach to the development of each type of peat bog must be individual- depending on what type of swamp was previously in this place.

Peaty soils are very diverse in their physical properties. They have a loose, permeable structure that does not require special improvement. But they all contain little phosphorus, magnesium and especially potassium; they lack many trace elements, primarily copper.

Depending on their origin and the thickness of the peat layer that forms them, peaty soils are divided into lowland, transitional and highland.

Most suitable for growing garden and garden plants lowland peatlands, often located in wide hollows with a slight slope. These soils have good vegetation cover. The peat on such peatlands is well decomposed, so it is almost black or dark brown, lumpy. The acidity of the peat layer in such areas is weak or even close to neutral.

Lowland peatlands have a fairly high supply of nutrients compared to transitional and especially high-moor peatlands. They contain a lot of nitrogen and humus, since plant residues are well decomposed, the acidity of the soil is weaker, and they contain enough water that must be drained into ditches.

But, unfortunately, this nitrogen is found in low-lying peatlands in a form almost inaccessible to plants and can only become available to plants after aeration. Only 2-3% of the total nitrogen is in the form of nitrate and ammonia compounds available to plants.

The transition of nitrogen to a state accessible to plants can be accelerated by draining the peat soil and enhancing the activity of microorganisms that contribute to the decomposition of organic matter by introducing non-ferrous compounds into the soil. large quantity manure, ripe compost or humus.

High-moor peatlands are usually overly moistened, since they have a rather limited runoff of rain and melt water. They are highly fibrous because they do not provide conditions for greater decomposition of plant residues. This leads to severe acidification of the peat, which explains its very high acidity. Such peatlands are light brown in color.

The nutritional elements in high-moor peat, which are already scarce in any peat soil, are in a state inaccessible to plants. And soil microorganisms that help maintain soil fertility are often simply absent from them.

When planting gardens and vegetable gardens on such soils, their cultivation requires large expenses. In order for such soils to become suitable for growing garden plants, lime must be added to them. river sand, clay, rotted manure, mineral fertilizers.

Lime will reduce acidity, sand will improve the structure, clay will increase viscosity and add nutrients, and mineral fertilizers will enrich the soil with additional nutrients. As a result, the decomposition of peat plant residues will accelerate and conditions will be created for growing cultivated plants.

And in its pure form, high-moor peat can practically only be used as bedding for livestock, since it absorbs slurry well.

All types of peaty soils are characterized by low thermal conductivity, so they slowly thaw and warm up in the spring, and are much more often exposed to return frosts, which delays the start of spring work.

It is believed that the temperature of such soils on average during the growing season is 2-3 degrees lower compared to the temperature mineral soils. On peat soils, frosts end later in the spring and begin earlier in the fall. Create a more favorable temperature regime on such soils there is only one way- by draining excess water and creating loose structural soil.

Peat soils in their natural state are almost unsuitable for growing garden and vegetable plants. But due to the presence of a large amount of organic matter in them, they have significant “hidden” fertility potential, all four “keys” to which are in your hands.

These keys are lowering the groundwater level, liming the soil, adding mineral supplements and using organic fertilizers. Now let’s try to get to know these “keys” in a little more detail.

REDUCTION OF GROUNDWATER LEVEL

To delete excess moisture on site and improvements air regime Peat soils very often have to be drained, especially in new areas. It is, of course, easier to do this throughout the entire garden area at once, but much more often you have to do this only on your own site, trying to create your own local simple drainage system.

The most reliable way to arrange simple drainage is to place shovels in grooves two bayonets wide and deep drainage pipes, pour sand on top of them, and then soil.

Much more often in drainage ditches Instead of pipes, they put branches, cut stems of raspberries, sunflowers, etc. They are covered first with crushed stone, then with sand, and then with earth. Some craftsmen use for this purpose plastic bottles. To do this, they cut off the bottom, screw off the plug, make holes in the side with a hot nail, insert them into each other and lay them in place of the drainage pipe.

And if you are very unlucky and you have an area where the groundwater level is very high and it is quite difficult to lower it, then there will be even more worries.

In order to prevent tree roots from coming into contact with these very groundwaters in the future, you will have to solve not one, but two “strategic” problems at once- reduce the groundwater level in the area as a whole and at the same time raise the soil level in the area where trees are planted by creating artificial mounds from imported soil. As the trees grow, the diameter of these mounds will need to be increased annually.

SOIL DEACIDIFICATION

Peat soils come in different acidities- from slightly acidic and even close to neutral (in peat bog lowland soils) to strongly acidic (in peat bog high soils).

Deoxidation of acidic soil means adding lime or other alkaline materials to it to reduce its acidity. In this case, the most common thing happens chemical reaction neutralization. Lime is most often used for these purposes.

But, in addition to this, liming of peat soils also enhances the activity of various microorganisms that assimilate nitrogen or decompose plant residues contained in peat. In this case, brown fibrous peat turns into an almost black earthy mass.

At the same time, hard-to-reach forms of nutrients contained in peat are converted into compounds that are easily digestible by plants. And phosphorus and potassium fertilizers applied to the soil are fixed in upper layers soil, are not washed out of it by groundwater, remaining long time accessible to plants.

Knowing the acidity of the soil on your site, add alkaline materials in the fall. The dose of their application depends on the level of soil acidity and for acidic peat soils averages approximately 60 kg of ground limestone per 100 sq. m. meters of area, for medium acidic peat soils- on average about 30 kg, on slightly acidic- about 10 kg. On peat soils with acidity close to neutral, limestone may not be added at all.

But all these average doses of lime fluctuate greatly depending on the level of acidity, especially on acidic peatlands. Therefore, before adding lime, its specific amount must be clarified again depending on the exact acidity of the peat bog.

A wide variety of alkaline materials are used for liming peat soils: ground limestone, slaked lime, dolomite flour, chalk, marl, cement dust, wood and peat ash, etc.

APPLICATION OF MINERAL ADDITIVES

An important element in improving the physical properties of peaty soils is their enrichment with minerals- sand and clay,- which increase the thermal conductivity of the soil, accelerate its thawing and enhance warming. Moreover, if they are acidic, you will have to add an additional dose of lime to neutralize their acidity.

In this case, clay must be added only in dry powder form so that it mixes better with peat soil. Adding clay in the form of large lumps to peat soil gives little result.

The lower the degree of peat decomposition, the greater the need for mineral additives. On heavily decomposed peat bogs, you need to add 2-3 buckets of sand and 1.5 buckets of dry powdery clay per 1 square meter. meter, and on poorly decomposed peatlands these doses should be increased by a quarter.

It is clear that such an amount of sand cannot be added in one or two years. Therefore, sanding is carried out gradually, from year to year (in autumn or spring), until it improves physical properties soil. You will notice this yourself by the plants you grow. The sand scattered on the surface is dug up with a shovel to a depth of 12-18 cm.

APPLICATION OF ORGANIC AND MINERAL FERTILIZERS

Manure, peat manure or peat-fecal composts, bird droppings, humus and other biologically active organic fertilizers are applied in quantities of up to 0.5-1 bucket per 1 square meter. meter for shallow digging to quickly activate microbiological processes in peat soil, promoting the decomposition of the organic matter in it.

To create conditions favorable for plant growth, it is necessary to add mineral fertilizers to peat soils: for basic tillage - 1 tbsp. spoon of double granulated superphosphate and 2.5 tbsp. spoons potash fertilizers per 1 sq. meter of area, and in the spring additionally- 1 teaspoon of urea.

Most peat soils have a low copper content, and it is in a form that is difficult for plants to reach. Therefore, adding fertilizers containing copper to peat soil, especially on acidic peat soils, has a significant effect. Most often used for this purpose copper sulfate at the rate of 2-2.5 g/m2, first dissolving it in water and watering the soil from a watering can.

The application of boron microfertilizers gives good results. Most often, for foliar feeding of seedlings or adult plants, take 2-3 g boric acid per 10 liters of water (1 liter of this solution is sprayed on plants over an area of 10 sq. m).

Then the peat soil, along with mineral soil, manure, organic and mineral fertilizers and lime poured on top, must be carefully dug to a depth of no more than 12-15 cm, and then lightly compacted. It is best to do this in late summer or early autumn, when the soil has dried out significantly.

If it is not possible to cultivate your entire plot at once, then develop it in parts, but adding to them all at once the entire amount of mineral additives and organic fertilizers indicated above, or first filling them with loose, fertile soil planting pits, and in subsequent years carrying out work on cultivating the soil between the rows. But this is already the worst option, because it is better to do it all at once.

On already developed peat soils, there is a gradual decrease in the thickness of the peat layer by about 2 cm per year due to its compaction and mineralization of organic matter. This happens especially quickly in areas where the same vegetables have been grown for a long time without observing crop rotation, requiring frequent loosening of the soil.

To prevent this from happening, cultivated peat soil in gardens, and especially in vegetable plots, needs annual additional contribution organic fertilizers.

If this is not done, then every year on your site there will be a gradual irreversible destruction of peat (its mineralization), and after 15-20 years the soil level on your site may be 20-25 cm lower than it was before the development of the site began, and the soil will become swampy.

In this case, the soil on your site will no longer be fertile peat, but low-fertility sod-podzolic, and its physical properties will greatly change for the worse.

To prevent this from happening, in addition to everything else that was mentioned above, a well-thought-out crop rotation system rich in perennial herbs must be constantly operating on your site.

In the future, you will have to annually import and apply either a sufficient amount of organic fertilizer (10-15 buckets per 100 sq. meters) or other soil.

And if there is no manure or compost, then green fertilizer can help out. Sow and bury lupine, peas, beans, vetch, sweet clover, and clover.

V. G. Shafransky

“Fifteen years ago I began to develop an inherited peatland plot. This turned out to be not a simple matter (I had to study the relevant literature) and very labor-intensive. I’ll tell you how to drain a swamp at your summer cottage. Maybe the experience I’ve gained will be useful to someone.” This is the letter sent to our website by Gennady Veselov from the Leningrad region. Here is his story.

Peat-swampy areas are rarely cultivated here. At the same time, they can bring good harvests. Naturally, when they are properly processed. The disadvantages of a summer cottage on a peat bog are known. This is the saturation of methane gas in the soil and the lack of oxygen, as well as the proximity to the groundwater surface. Therefore, to the question, a plot on a peat bog - what to do, the answer is with the right decision The problem is simple: enriching the soil with oxygen, getting rid of methane and lowering the groundwater level.

How to drain a swamp at the dacha, where to start? The first summer I had to dig drainage ditches 50 cm wide and 70 to 140 cm deep. They need to be dug with a slope of about 1 cm per linear meter. Brushwood was laid at the bottom of the ditches. I covered the branches with old roofing felt, which I had left over after re-roofing. I laid dry grass on the roofing felt, which I mowed before the seeds appeared, so that the dacha plot would not become overgrown with weeds. This grass was covered with crushed dry peat, and the excavated soil was laid on top to form a small hill. After it settled, almost no bedding was required. The construction of such drainage ditches on a summer cottage made it possible to make the soil looser, get rid of methane gas and lower the groundwater level.

How to drain a swamp to make beds on a summer cottage.

Peat is known to be a source of nitrogen necessary for plant development. But as long as it lies in a compressed layer, there is no benefit from it. However, as soon as it was dug up and crushed, bacteria began to work, taking a breath of oxygen, turning the peat into soil suitable for planting. Of course, we had to work hard here too. After all, in order to receive good harvests, at a summer cottage, draining the swamp is not enough. It was necessary to add clay, sawdust from a cow farm and sand to the soil. For the first few years, we also had to feed our peat bog with mineral fertilizers with added microelements.

Peat retains moisture well and is an excellent mulch. Its top layer (3-5 cm) must be kept dry. This will save your garden from pests and diseases, and your garden from tedious weeding. In addition, peat soils freeze and thaw slowly and do not freeze deeply. Therefore, in our beds on the site of a drained swamp, the plants never froze even during winters with little snow and frost.

Thus, by draining the swamp at my summer cottage, I managed to create fertile soil here in a few years, which is suitable for growing most. Moreover, having improved the area, they planted plum trees, apple trees, cherries, pears, sea buckthorn and chokeberry, which began to produce abundant harvests. So garden plot on a peat bog - this is quite feasible. You just need to put your hands to it.

I probably shouldn’t have decided to title my article that way, but in any business, the most important thing is the mood. Remember the phrase from the famous cartoon: “Whatever you call the boat, that’s how it will float”? Very true. At the end of winter, my husband and I purchased this plot. New. And they moved from the south of the Leningrad region, from heavy, rich clays, to the north of the Vsevolozhsk region, to damp, swampy peatlands.

The contrast was enormous. It is not known why we liked this eight hundred square plot of land in gardening; in winter it was not visible from under the snow. We could only guess: what would we get - a swamp or just a lowland. Or maybe you’ll be lucky and all these young pines grow on dry, mossy sand? Well, of course, miracles don’t happen, and we didn’t get the sand. In the spring, the snow melted surprisingly lazily from our swamp; almost until summer, the old stumps kept pieces of ice in their rotten core. And there's nothing you can do about it.

But how strange: the soul still rejoices. You walk along white moss, it’s squelching under your feet, and your eyes have already looked for a hummock with lingonberries, are already taking a closer look at the limp, last year’s cranberries, are already admiring the blooming wild rosemary bush. And what is the air in our swamp! It smells of pine and pine resin, smells of peat and mushrooms and, of course, blooming heather and wild rosemary.

The site is at the very edge of gardening, securely closed on all sides by young pine trees, the most respectable of which are as thick as a pine tree. There is also one mature spruce and two “centuries-old” pines growing on it. My husband has always loved conifers very much, and in this case I took under my care all the pine trees growing here, all of which will not be affected by future construction, they should fit smoothly into the future garden, and that same cranberry meadow will go under the garden... “Well, agronomist, act!” The main thing, in my opinion, is not to lose optimism and not to part with good mood under the pressure of reality.

When, while making reconnaissance circles around the site, I fell almost waist-deep into a peat-boggy window, I almost immediately decided that there would be a decorative or drainage pond here. The water stood very high, and the heavy rains this year did not help it go away. I kept repeating it like a tongue twister: peat soils are highly acidic, they are water- and air-permeable, they accumulate and retain moisture well, and they contain nitrogen in a form that is difficult for plants to reach.

My husband, with a chainsaw in his hands, was reclaiming the site for the future road and house, and I still wandered restlessly through “our swamp.” I even had a cowardly thought to call the editor: save me, help me! All this talk about drainage, reclamation, deoxidation is certainly good in theory, but in practice it only causes a feeling of confusion. This is as much as eight hundred square meters, and there is ankle-deep water everywhere, well, almost everywhere. After all, an ordinary gardener most often encounters peat in the form of compost or mulch and really respects this material. Peat is capable of the most heavy soil make it loose and beautiful.

What to do if there is no soil? Not at all. Thus, having admired the site from the outside, I began to get acquainted with it from the inside. The husband dug a meter-long pit, and almost at the very bottom there was some kind of dirt, not clay, no, not loam, but some kind of dusty gray sand, more like silt. The chairman of horticulture said that it was supposedly quicksand, but refused to explain its properties in more detail. Water kept oozing from the walls of the hole and, in the end, stopped somewhere thirty centimeters from the surface of the soil. Well, that means the ditches will still work, and that’s good. A green coating on the bare surface of peat indicated not only increased acidity and humidity, but also that this peat is rich in various salts, which, unfortunately, are not available to plants in this form. But how to take them?

What is generally known about peat? It is known that it is formed from incompletely decomposed plants. Plants are prevented from decomposing completely by a lack of oxygen, which, in turn, appears due to excess water. It would seem that it would be easier, dry the swamp and you will get almost black soil, but no! Many marsh plants contain antiseptic substances, phenols, which suppress decomposition processes. Moreover, these antiseptics are able to act both during the life of marsh plants and after their death. An example of this is the well-known sphagnum moss, which is still successfully used in the construction of log houses to protect wood from rotting. In ancient times, sphagnum was even used to bandage the wounded as an antiseptic, and peat mud itself was used to treat skin diseases. Scientists say that swampy areas consume even more carbon dioxide than forests. But despite all the amazing healing properties of wet peat soils, it is not at all easier for a gardener if he is the owner of such a plot.

It’s worth deciding what kind of peat is on my site. It is usually divided into three types: lowland, upland and transitional. If you have the same problem, then you need to make sure what waters feed the peat, what the topography of the area is and what plants predominate on it. The water that feeds the peat varies in degree of mineralization. The poorest waters are precipitation; much more “nutritious” are groundwater, as well as water from rivers and streams. The vegetation of raised bogs is very unpretentious and, therefore, is capable of growing on the poorest peats - these are sphagnum moss, pine, and "rabbit's feet".

But on low-lying “fat” peats, more whimsical ones grow: birch, alder, green sphagnum and other mosses, as well as sedge. If the vegetation on the site is mixed, like mine, for example, then this is transitional peat.

Modern science based on peat offers technologies for producing more than a hundred types of products: from feed yeast to fuel. But in practice, especially for a gardener, all peats are so different in their own way chemical composition, have only one thing in common - their birthplace is a swamp. Of course, peat bogs serve as a natural biological filter; of course, when added, peat can improve the physical and chemical properties of the soil, and can even regulate the balance of humus. But all this happens when it is mixed with other components.

I clarified that the content of mineral forms of nitrogen available to plants from lowland peat is 1-3%, and from high peat - up to 14%. Partially available forms of nitrogen make up up to 45%; the rest is contained in the humic compounds of peat and is inaccessible to plants. All my searches perfect way"activation" of peat did not lead to anything.

I only learned that on a production scale, the peat ammoniation method was used, which not only reduces acidity, but also decomposes polysaccharides. This method involves treating peat with anhydrous ammonia - ammonia water. As a result, the activity of nitrogen compounds in peat increases, and at the same time the activity of humic compounds in it increases, giving it the properties of a plant growth stimulator. This method is now used mainly for the production of peat-ammonia fertilizers and some humic growth stimulants, using special equipment, personal protective equipment and rather toxic compounds.

Of course, it would be great to turn peat into literally living earth, but alas. For a gardener there was and remains only one way to activate peat - composting, preferably with organic fertilizers, and mandatory reclamation work. Air and organic nitrogen are what will make my site truly alive. Of course, I want to, my hands are just itching, to plant and fruit trees, and ornamental bushes, but not allowed. I’ll have to make mounds for planting, but in the meantime I brought in a car of loam, and my husband built me a greenhouse.

When, at the beginning of June, the tomato seedlings in it had just risen and the second cluster began to bloom, a neighbor came to see me, from the same area - a swamp, only across the road. “I don’t know what to do in such a swamp,” she said, “there’s even nowhere to sit, it’s so damp.” I was about to answer her that it wasn’t all that bad, why sit, I would like to look for a way out, but then she went into the greenhouse and, looking around the flowering tomato bushes, said sadly: “And I see, that you have already planted cucumbers." “Yeah,” I responded hesitantly, “but still more tomatoes.”

How much in our lives depends on ourselves, how we perceive this or that, with what mood we get down to business, with what thoughts we grow our garden. Knowledge is extremely important, but the desire to obtain it is much more important. Searching and trusting that everything will work out, it may not be exactly as planned, but it will work out well. But ahead of me I have a garden to build on the hills. There are already thuja crumbs in pots, bought by my husband for the occasion, to plant a thuja alley. White derain and Thunberg barberry with red foliage, cinquefoil and spirea show off. Still in pots, but already there, in the swamp, in the future garden, they are getting used to the microclimate. And they will grow, because peat is like a starting material and it can make great soil. I hope that in winter my plot will look completely different.

I will tell you in detail about all my successes and mistakes, and I hope that there will be more of the former than the latter.

A. Kremneva, agronomist who never loses optimism