Depending on our needs, but rather on the needs of the plants we want to grow, we can influence the quality of the soil in the garden by using the optimal amount of fertilizer. One of the common mistakes is fertilizer "by eye", which can lead to unnecessary consequences. In order to reduce the risk of making a mistake, it is necessary to establish the type and characteristics of the soil on which the plants will be grown, that is, to make a soil sample.

In order to get accurate results, it is best to take a sample of the earth and give it to a special laboratory for analysis. Unfortunately, you will have to pay for such an analysis, so many decide to independently determine the characteristics of the soil. The following are tips on how you can perform simple tests yourself.

Soil types

The first element that can be set is the soil type. It can be light, medium or heavy soil. In order to determine the mechanical composition of the soil, take a soil sample (no more than 1 tsp), moisten with water and make a ball out of it. If the ball does not work out, then this means that the soil is sandy. If it works out, then roll it into a cord. It does not roll out - the soil is sandy. If the cord turned out, try to roll it into a ring. The ring did not work out - the soil is light loamy. If the ring is obtained, but it cracks and breaks heavily, the soil is medium loamy; the ringlet slightly cracks - the soil is heavy loamy. Finally, if the ring takes any shape, the soil is clayey.

Also, the type of soil can be determined by rubbing a handful of earth between your fingers. The table and photographs below will help in determining the characteristics of the soil.

soil type	Soil features	Application in horticulture
The soil is heavy, clayey	After rubbing, it stains fingers a lot, when wet, it is easy to sculpt (you can sculpt various shapes from it)	Rich in nutrients and moisture. Unfortunately, it is very dense, poorly breathable and difficult to cultivate. It is not recommended to use such soil in its pure form.
The soil is medium, sandy-clay.	After rubbing, the presence of sand is felt, the fingers are slightly dirty, when wet, thick rollers can be made from it, which are easily torn.	Well absorbs and retains water, moderately loose and "breathable", warms up well. It is the most fertile.
The soil is light and sandy.	Easily crumbles, not plastic, does not contaminate fingers, even when wet, does not lend itself to modeling.	The main advantage is good air throughput. Water does not linger in it, which results in quick drying. Nutrients are easily washed out. Such soil can be improved by adding organic fertilizers.

Soil acidity

The next feature of the soil, which must be established before using the fertilizer, is its acidity. The pH factor of a soil indicates its acidity or alkalinity. Neutral pH = 7. If the value is higher than 7, then this means that the soil is alkaline, and if less than 7, then the soil is acidic. The level of soil acidity affects the solubility of minerals and their access to plants, as well as the variety and population size of organisms living in the soil. Most garden plants require soil with a pH of 6.2-6.8. However, there is a fairly large group of plants that need more acidic soil.

In order to independently determine the pH of the soil, you will need a special kit for such studies, consisting of a test flask filled with a solution that changes color after mixing with the soil. We fill the flask with earth, the amount of which is indicated in the instructions (for example, & 襴), after which we shake vigorously to mix with the solution. Then, you need to wait until the earth settles to the bottom of the flask, and the solution turns into the appropriate color. According to the resulting color of the solution, we determine the acidity in the instructions.

Attention: the pH factor is not a constant indicator, therefore, for research, several soil samples should be taken from different places in the garden. In addition, such studies should be carried out regularly, especially after artificial changes in the composition.

If it turns out that the soil is too acidic, then it can be limed or enriched with organic matter containing limestone (for example, mushroom earth). If the soil is very alkaline, then you can lower the pH by adding more acidic soil or a mixture of it with peat, or also use manure containing sulfur.

Plants to help determine soil type

In determining the characteristics of the soil, the study of plants growing on the site can also help. Daisies, odorless daisies and white clover grow in barren and poor soils. The appearance of these plants suggests that it is imperative to regularly feed with complex fertilizers.

If a large amount of woodlice, nettle, field mustard, small-flowered galinzoga or minuartia is observed on the site, this indicates that there is a lot of nitrogen in the soil. When fertilizing, then only the manure in which this element is absent should be used.

The appearance of horsetail, coltsfoot or creeping buttercup indicates that the soil is wet and heavy. In this case, it is recommended to loosen the soil, as well as mix it with sand.

For the successful cultivation of vegetables, cultivation of flowers or fruit trees, it is important to know mechanical composition of the soil of the site. The choice of plants or seeds, recipes and a set of methods for cultivating the land will depend on this indicator.

How to determine the mechanical composition of the soil?

Take a handful of earth from a depth of 5-10 centimeters, knead it in the palm of your hand and download it into a "sausage" or "patty". If the soil is dry, dampen a little to make it easy to do. And now we study the lump and draw conclusions.

You can calculate a more accurate composition of the soil with the simplest experiment: pour a handful of earth into a narrow and tall glass dish, fill it with water and let it settle well. When the soil begins to settle, sand will first fall to the bottom, and a layer of pure clay will fall on top. Measure the height of the precipitate that has formed with a ruler. We take this indicator as 100%. Now it is very easy to calculate the ratio and find out the mechanical composition of the soil by the height of the sediment of sand and clay.

• Clay > 80%, sand< 20% - почва глинистая.
• Clay 60-80%, sand 20-40% - heavy loam.
• Clay 25-60%, sand 40-75% - light loam.
• Clay 5-25%, sand 75-95% - sandy loamy soil.
• Clay< 5%, песок >95% - sandy soil.

What follows from this? When developing an undeveloped land plot for a vegetable garden or garden, this information will come in handy. Strongly sandy, heavy clay, stony soils and upland peatlands in their initial state are practically unsuitable for agriculture. Additional processing will be required to improve the properties of the land.

How to find out the acidity of the soil?

Calculate soil acidity You can use litmus paper. Break your site conditionally into areas measuring 10 by 10 meters. In the center of each such square, make holes 25 cm deep. From each hole, from the wall, take a thin slice of soil. Now mix each sample of the earth well, add a little water - just to moisten the soil. Now take a handful of earth from the sample and squeeze it in your hand along with the indicator strip. Then compare the color of the paper with the scale.

If the paper turns red, the soil is acidic, pink is medium acid, green is close to neutral, yellow is slightly acidic. Of course, this analysis may not be academically accurate, but it will still give you an idea of ​​the acidity of the soil in the area.

Here is another simple method for determining acidity. Take 3-4 leaves of cherry or blackcurrant, add a glass of water, brew and cool it. Dip some soil into this infusion. If the water turns red - the soil is strongly acidic, it turns pink - moderately acidic, becomes light green - the acidity is almost neutral, if it turns green strongly - then the soil is slightly acidic, and turned blue - neutral.

Also pay attention to the weeds that grow on the site. Sorrel, horsetail, sedge or moss love acidic soil. A sign of weakly alkaline soils is field mustard or quinoa. And on neutral soils, clover, nettle, coltsfoot feel great.

Can you change soil neutrality?

Most garden and horticultural crops prefer neutral soil. Therefore, acidic soils can be limed, and alkaline soils can be acidified. To deoxidize the soil, you can use chalk, lime flour or lime - slaked and quicklime. Wood ash is also suitable for these purposes, it acts effectively and gently. However, you need to know that once the problem is solved only for a short time, because the reaction of the soil is constantly changing.

In any case, this information will be useful, as it will help you understand why some plants grow poorly or give low yields.

Ukraine is a unique, the only place in the world where the width of the black soil zone with a maximum thickness reaches 500 km! Ukrainian chernozems are mostly not acidic. This guarantees the natural high quality of crops - horticultural, horticultural, cereals and many ornamental crops. Let's love, appreciate and protect our land that feeds us.

We wish you rich and good harvests.

Soil composition. How to improve soil fertility? What soils are best garden ?

What is the mechanical composition of soil? This concept refers to the ratio of mineral particles of different sizes.

According to the mechanical composition of the soil are divided into several groups: light (sandy and sandy loamy), medium (light and medium loamy) and heavy (heavy loamy and clayey). Sandy loamy soils easily pass water, but retain it poorly, and this is not very good for plants, since nutrients from the surface layers, in which the root system of plants is located, are washed away into the deep layers of the soil.

But the advantage of such soil is that it warms up quickly, which means that you can start processing it and planting seedlings in the spring quite early. Sandy loamy soils can and should be improved by increasing the ability to retain moisture, as well as increasing their fertility.

For gardeners, the mechanical composition of the soil on which it is planned to set up a garden is very important. Any soil consists of a mixture of organic and mineral substances. But at the same time, the amount of organic matter, even in fertile soil, most often is about 10%. The remaining 90% remain with minerals.

Loamy or sandy soil is best for planting a garden. If you do not understand the types of soil at all, it does not matter. You don’t have to be an expert at all to determine the type of soil in your own garden plot. In order to find out what type of soil is in your area, you need to take a small lump of earth and roll it into a cord. Next, this cord must be bent into a ring. If it is impossible to make a ring - the soil crumbles in the hands - then it is sandy soil. Sand cannot be rolled. Sandy loamy soil rolls into a cord, but crumbles when bent into a ring. You can make a ring out of light loam, but it will fall apart into several parts. If the soil is composed of medium or heavy loams, then the bent ring will have cracks. And only clay rolls into a cord and bends into a ring without cracks.

❧ There are indicator plants. One of them is a small northern orchid, otherwise called a lady's slipper. It grows only in soils rich in calcium.

Having found out the composition and type of soil in your garden plot, you can begin to improve the fertile soil, if necessary. Sandy or sandy loamy soil to improve water-retaining qualities is best diluted with a loamy layer of 20-30% of the volume of the soil to be improved. Heavy loamy and clayey soils, on the contrary, require the addition of sand with a volume of 30-50% of the soil volume.

If it is difficult to estimate the total volume of the site and the fertile layer of soil on it, then do it easier. You can calculate the required amount of sand or clay to improve soil properties as follows. Sanding (adding sand) or claying (adding clay) of the soil is carried out at the rate of 30 kg per 1 m 2. Next, the soil is dug up to 20-25 cm and thoroughly mixed together with the additive.

As for clay soil types, they have the lowest quality properties. Such soils contain little air and a lot of moisture. When dried, a hard crust forms on their surface.

To improve the physical properties of clay soils, it is necessary to fertilize the soil with organic fertilizers at the rate of 6-8 kg per 1 m2. If the soil has an increased acidity, then it must be additionally limed.

Loamy soils are the "golden mean" between sandy and clay soil types. But this does not mean that they do not need periodic replenishment with nutrients.

Often gardeners think that if the soil is poor, then it is necessary to add as many different fertilizers as possible to it. This is an erroneous opinion. If a large amount of fertilizers, especially mineral fertilizers, immediately gets into poor soil, then an excessive concentration of nutrients occurs, and this is very harmful to plants. Therefore, it is best to increase the fertility of light soils by applying organic fertilizers to them.

Of course, it is difficult to determine by eye which nutrients the soil lacks. The most complete and professional assessment of the agrochemical properties of soils can only be given by chemical analysis in laboratory conditions. Speaking about the usefulness of such an analysis, it should be mentioned that for relatively little money you will receive complete information about what nutrients the soil in your garden has, and what it lacks.

If, after checking and the analyzes done, it turned out that there is no fertile soil layer on your site, then you will have to import this soil, and in the future to constantly maintain its quality.

Despite the fact that peat is considered one of the most effective and inexpensive types of fertilizers, it cannot be used as a fertile layer on the site. Peat can be used only as an additional top dressing of the soil. Peat is a valuable organic fertilizer, and not an independent substrate for plant growth.

The use of pure peat as the upper fertile layer of the earth leads, after a short time, to the fact that plants planted directly in peat begin to weaken, get sick and, in the end, die.

Peat in its pure form can only be used for growing plants in greenhouse conditions, but special agricultural techniques will be used. In addition, in greenhouses and greenhouses, peat is subject to regular replacement as soon as its fertile properties are depleted.

Therefore, in a garden plot, pure peat should not be used instead of a fertile soil layer. It is better to purchase fertile soil ready-made or make it yourself by mixing sand, peat or compost and mixing these components with the soil on the site.

Despite the fact that peat is an excellent fertilizer, it is not black soil. It is mistakenly called chernozem because of the rich black color of the substrate. Although real chernozem is a mineral soil, there is little organic matter in it - about 10%. The only thing that unites peat and black soil is color, otherwise they have little in common.

Peat is a completely organic substance, it is light in weight and easy to work with. Within two years of using peat on the site, only its positive qualities appear, and only then - and negative ones.

Outwardly, peat looks very diverse; it can also be sold under a variety of names. For example: peat soil, peat-land mixture, peat-sand mixture, humus, floodplain land, etc. In fact, all this is ordinary dug low-lying peat. It should be used only as an organic fertilizer and nothing else.

But as for the fertile layer of soil and soil, they do not have such a bright black color. The soil is usually dark in color, slightly darker than normal agricultural soil. Its mass exceeds the mass of peat twice.

To get a rich harvest of any crop, it is important to apply the necessary fertilizers in a timely manner and monitor the acid indicator. A number of cultivated plants are demanding on acidity. The addition of special substances allows you to adjust the pH and create optimal conditions for growth and fruiting.

What is soil acidity

Soil acidity is a chemical indicator that reflects the reaction of soil and rocks. Classify the soil by acidity as follows.

If you have the opportunity to conduct a chemical analysis in the laboratory, take advantage of this. Order also a soil analysis for the content of various elements. Knowing the acidity of the soil is necessary for the selection of adaptive crop varieties and carrying out measures to adjust the acidity. You can conduct your own analyzes and observations that will allow you to determine what type of land your garden belongs to.

How does soil acidity affect tomatoes?

Tomatoes are a whimsical crop for soil quality and care. The main measures to take care of them are:

• timely watering;
• loosening;
• feeding.

But if you want to get a rich harvest, you should consider that tomatoes grow and bear fruit perfectly on soils with neutral acidity.

Important!

It is necessary to ensure that the pH of the soil under the tomatoes is in the range of 5.5 to 6.5.

To determine the type of soil, you should use one of the methods of self-assessment of the soil or take soil samples to the laboratory.

How to determine acidity

A reliable and reliable way to determine soil acidity is laboratory analysis in a special laboratory. To do this, collect soil in a clean container. It is advisable to take samples in dry weather. If you plan to evaluate a large area, it is necessary to excavate the earth in several places. Containers are labeled with numbers.

To determine the acidity with your own hands, there are a number of devices and methods:

• using a special device;
• according to the fauna growing on the site;
• with the help of chalk;
• using a litmus indicator.

There are also several folk recipes that will help analyze which category the soil belongs to in the tomato growing area.

With the help of a special device

With the development of technology, manufacturers offer to purchase pH meters of various brands that will determine the acidity of the soil in a matter of seconds. These are compact devices with a set of various functions. To conduct the experiment, the pH is immersed in the soil with a special end and indicates the acidity to the nearest tenth. Depending on the modification, this can be a scale or a digital display.

A number of devices have memory functions, as well as a built-in hygrometer, with which you can also determine the level of natural soil moisture.

By the appearance of plants on the site

About acidic soils on the site can be concluded from a visual assessment of useful crops that grow in the beds. Plants are deficient in minerals and nutrients, which inevitably affects their appearance.

Pay attention to the ridges with beets. Red veins on beet leaves signal high acidity. The uniform green color of the leaves and red petioles indicate a neutral soil reaction. Coloring beet tops in red shades means acidic soils. The culture itself prefers an alkalized environment.

In beds where garlic, cabbage, onions or beets grow beautifully, neutral soil. A rich harvest of radish cucumbers, eggplant, peas, zucchini, potatoes means they grow on slightly acidic soils. Parsley, carrots, sorrel grow remarkably in acidic areas.

By the weeds

Having determined which weeds most often grow in your beds, you can draw a conclusion about the nature of the soil in the garden:

• thickets of nettle, couch grass, burdock, clover, field bindweed, alfalfa testify to the alkaline reaction;
• bellflower, daisies, horsetail, plantain, horse sorrel, cinquefoil, wood lice, creeping buttercup, mint prefer acidic soil.

Areas where weeds of a certain type grow abundantly should be treated with appropriate fertilizers.

With the help of chalk

Another way to independently determine the acidity of the soil on the site is the use of chalk. Take the usual school and grind it. Ordinary whitewash is also suitable without adding any substances to it.

Land samples about 3 tbsp. l is placed in a glass transparent bottle or jar, poured with warm water 5 tbsp. l and add crushed chalk 1 tsp. From above, a fingertip or a rubber glove is pulled over the neck. The contents of the jar are mixed by gentle shaking. Filling with the volume of a glove or fingertip means an intense reaction between the ingredients. Emission of gas when mixing earth, chalk and water means an acidic reaction.

The acidity of the soil is easily determined using a litmus indicator. Specialized stores sell ready-made kits with prepared paper strips that are impregnated with special reagents.

To determine the acidity index, a scale is provided in the kit, where by the intensity of the color you can find the color match of the experimental litmus paper. The kit provides several dozen paper elements (usually 50-80) for determining acidity at home.

To find out what acidity the soil is in your area, follow these steps:

• make a fence of land in several places;
• make a recess not only from the surface, but also in the recess;
• place the taken samples in containers and mark;
• take each material and place it in a piece of bandage or gauze;
• Immerse the wrapped soil in a container of distilled water. The volume of water should be 5 times the volume of the earth sample. That is, if you analyze 1 tbsp. l of soil, then the distillate should be at least 5 tbsp. l.;
• leave the sample in the liquid for 5 minutes. This is necessary for the reaction of dissolution of substances in the soil in water;
• lower the litmus paper from the set into the experimental container for 2-3 seconds;
• remove the indicator and wait for the reaction to occur naturally.

Litmus paper can be colored pink, orange, yellow or greenish.

It is interesting!

The method for determining soil acidity is based on an elementary method for conducting a reaction, familiar to us from school chemistry lessons. The orange color of the indicator means an acidic reaction, yellow - slightly acidic, greenish color - neutral.

Based on the results obtained, draw a conclusion about what measures need to be taken to achieve the desired acidity. Among gardeners, a set of litmus papers "Rottinger" received positive reviews. The indicator products of this brand allow you to conduct the most accurate experiments.

Folk methods and means

If it is not possible to determine the acidity of the soil in the laboratory, as well as the impossibility of conducting experiments using litmus papers or a special device, use folk methods:

• visual assessment of soil layers. For the experiment, it is necessary to dig a hole 25 cm deep. An ordinary bayonet shovel is suitable for this purpose. Examine the walls of the hole. If there is a layer of white color, there are acidic soils in the analyzed area;
• estimates of water in the drainage. Find depressions in your area or inspect drainage channels. Rusty water and an iridescent film on the surface of the liquid indicates a strongly acidic reaction;
• using currant or cherry leaves. For your own experience, take 4-5 leaves of a shrub and pour 200 ml of boiling water. Wait for cooling. Then lower the soil into the liquid (at least 2 tbsp. L). The color of the infusion will change. Pink color will mean an acidic reaction, blue - alkaline, greenish - neutral;
• with vinegar essence. Take regular 70% vinegar and pour it on the ground. Hissing and emitting a whitish haze will show an alkaline reaction. Bubble formation indicates neutral acidity. Adding water and a pinch of baking soda to vinegar, then pouring it onto the soil, where foam forms after absorption, indicates that the soil in this place is acidic.

Simple and affordable reagents that every summer resident has will help determine whether lime is required for tomatoes to reduce acidity or not.

Chemical Methods

It is possible to independently conduct experiments using homemade litmus indicators. To make them:

• take red cabbage leaves;
• chop the leaves or grate on a special grater;
• boil the chopped material in boiling water for 30 minutes;
• cool the contents;
• soak strips of plain white paper in the resulting cabbage broth;
• Dry the soaked strips at room temperature.

As a result of the activities carried out, you received self-made indicators, with the help of which it is possible to determine the reaction of soils in different parts of the territory. To determine the acidity of the soil in gauze, place it in a container with a small amount of water, leave it for 5 minutes, and after removing it, immerse your own litmus papers. A pink color indicates an acidic reaction.

Conclusion

Growing tomatoes and other crops that prefer neutral soils in acidic soil is not practical. The root system of tomatoes develops poorly. The main leads and roots hardly absorb useful substances and minerals from the soil.

Plants are deficient in nitrogen when grown in acidic soils. In soil with high acidity, the concentration of dissolved iron, manganese and aluminum is increased. There is a protein deficiency. All this together creates unfavorable conditions for the full growth, flowering and fruiting of tomatoes.

To reduce the acidity of the soil, liming should be carried out. This procedure is best done in spring or autumn. Lime must be carefully crushed. The powder is applied to ridges with pre-harvested crops and pulled out weeds. Then carry out digging. The soil must be dug up to a depth of at least 20 cm. This will ensure the penetration of lime to a depth. Tomatoes and other crops that prefer neutral soil will gratefully respond with full growth and a rich harvest of juicy and environmentally friendly fruits.

A garden can be arranged anywhere and on any soil. But it is better, if there is a choice, for growing vegetables to allocate a well-lit area with loose soil, easily permeable to water and air, and at the same time sufficiently moisture-intensive, i.e. able to reliably retain water in its particles.

A characteristic component of the soil is humus, or humus, which is formed as a result of the decomposition of organic matter. The humus contains all the main plant nutrients, the amount of which determines the degree of soil fertility. The more humus in the soil, the more fertile it is. Soil fertility on the site must be constantly increased by proper agricultural technology, the application of organic and mineral fertilizers.

How to determine the chemicalesky and mechanical composition of the soil?

The ideal option is to take several soil samples in different parts of the site and take them to the laboratory for analysis. But this is not always possible: this service is quite expensive, and the laboratory may be far away or it will take a long time to wait for the results. In this case, the site itself, plants, the experience of our grandparents will help.

The mechanical composition of the soil

The mechanical composition of the soil can practically be determined by rolling wet soil between the palms:

If, when rolling, the soil takes the form of a stick or sausage, which does not crack when rolled into a ring, then clay soil;

If cracks form on the bend or the sample breaks - loamy soil;

From sandy and sandy soils it is impossible to roll a stick and make a ring.

Sandy and sandy loamy soils are called light and warm: they warm up faster and are easy to process. Clay and loamy soils are called cold and heavy.

The best soils for growing garden and horticultural plants are loamy and sandy. They are quite water-intensive and air-intensive, their fertility can be improved by the systematic application of organic and mineral fertilizers.

Sandy and clay soils without prior cultivation cannot provide a high yield of horticultural plants.

sandy soils have a slight water-holding capacity, their moisture capacity is low, soluble nutrients are easily washed out. Due to the high air permeability of sandy soils, organic matter in them quickly decomposes, so that it is impossible to achieve stable fertility on such soils simply by applying even large doses of manure, compost and other organic fertilizers. The applied organic fertilizers quickly (in 1-2 years) are mineralized, and nutrients are washed out by precipitation into groundwater.

Sandy soils can be improved by artificially creating a fertile layer. For these purposes, a special agricultural technique is used - claying. It consists in the fact that in the area where garden crops are supposed to be grown, a layer of clay or clay soil 5-6 cm thick (5-6 buckets per 1 m) is poured, it is carefully leveled, and then a layer of loamy, sandy loam, peat or soddy soil taken from the side. The layer of bulk soil should be at least 20-25 cm, so that when digging with a shovel, a layer of clay and sand is not turned out. Gradually, the fertile layer is increased to 30-40 cm. The clay does not decompose and has good water-retaining properties; the applied organic and mineral fertilizers are not washed out.

Clay soils strongly bound, difficult to process. Their aeration is poor, in the spring the surface of such soils coalesces, forming a crust. Clay soils dry out late. Such soils also need to be cultivated, that is, they need to be made looser and less cohesive. For these purposes, a technique called sanding is used. Ordinary quartz sand is added to the soil. It is brought in for plowing or digging the site. Clay soil mixed with sand becomes close to loamy in terms of physical and mechanical properties. The introduction of manure, peat, sawdust makes it more loose and air-intensive, which favorably affects the growth and development of garden and vegetable plants.

The chemical composition of the soil

The chemical composition of the soil can be defined as follows:

Pour a lump of earth with vinegar, if it “makes noise” - alkaline soil;

From the vertical walls of the hole, the depth and width of the bayonet of a shovel, cut off thin layers of earth over the entire depth and mix it well; moisten with rain or distilled water and squeeze it in your hand along with litmus paper. If the paper changes color to red, then the soil is strongly acidic, pink - sour, yellow - subacid, green-blue - close to neutral, blue - neutral, green - alkaline.

Soil acidity can also be identified by weeds that grow on the site. typical plants acidic soils: horsetail, small sorrel, pikulnik, mint, plantain, belous , heather. On the slightly acidic and neutral soils are growing odorless chamomile, garden thistle, creeping couch grass, field bindweed.

But keep in mind that there may be more than one type of soil on the site (which is more likely with a large area, but is not excluded in a small area). Garden and vegetable plants react differently to soil acidity. In relation to the acidity of the soil, they can be divided into 4 groups:

I) plants that do not tolerate acidic soils and require a neutral or slightly alkaline reaction of the soil environment - black, red and white currants, cabbage of all kinds, table beets, etc .;

II) plants that need a slightly acidic and close to neutral reaction - beans, peas, rutabaga, cucumbers, onions, wild roses, etc.;

III) plants that tolerate moderate acidity - raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, turnips, radishes, carrots, pumpkins, tomatoes, etc.;

IV) plants that tolerate high acidity - sorrel, potatoes, etc.

For most horticultural and horticultural crops, the optimal pH values ​​​​are 5.5-6.5, i.e. soil should beslightly acidic to almost neutral .

For neutralization acidic soils spend them liming. To do this, use slaked lime, ground limestone (limestone flour), cement dust, lime tuff (key lime), lake lime (limestone), ground chalk, dolomite flour, defecation (waste from sugar factories), shale and wood ash. Most often, fluff lime is used for liming soils in garden plots, wood and shale (pulverized) ash, spring and lake lime from local lime fertilizers.

Lime is applied in autumn or spring for digging the soil once every 6-8 years, after which the acidity of the soil is again determined and, if necessary, liming is carried out. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that fluff lime cannot be applied along with manure, as this leads to a loss of nitrogen (in the form of ammonia). They are buried in the soil separately. The lime material should be spread evenly over the soil surface.

tillage

tillage is divided into the main (autumn plowing or digging), pre-sowing (spring harrowing or cultivation) and inter-row (plant care).

Required autumn soil digging following the harvesting of a particular crop. At the same time, organic and part of mineral fertilizers are closed up. The best results are obtained by early digging of the soil (August-September), since during this period it is still warm, loosened soil accumulates moisture and nutrients well, weed shoots appear that need to be destroyed. The depth of digging should be consistent with the depth of the fertile soil layer, so as not to turn the infertile subsoil to the surface, which can reduce the yield of the crops grown. The soil is not cut, but left for the winter with a ridged surface to ensure a better accumulation of autumn and winter precipitation. Pupae and eggs of pests located in the lower layers of the soil, when digging, fall into its upper layers and die during the winter.

Spring tillage in developed areas, it consists primarily in loosening the surface layer of soil in order to destroy the soil crust formed during the winter. This is especially important on clay and loamy soils. Loosening prevents excessive evaporation of moisture and rapid drying of the soil.

Character post-processing depends on the mechanical composition of the soil and the crops grown. On sandy and sandy loamy soils, sowing or planting of early cultivated crops is carried out after loosening and leveling the soil, without digging it. Under late sown and planted crops, the soil must be dug up, and before that, emerging weeds are constantly loosened and destroyed.

On clay and loamy soils, sowing and planting of all crops is carried out after the spring digging of the soil, since it becomes very compacted during the winter. Digging should be carried out at 3/4 of the depth of autumn, so as not to turn out the top layers of soil buried in autumn with weed seeds. Following this, the soil is loosened, its surface is leveled, and especially carefully for sowing small seeds of vegetable crops. Sowing them in roughly cut and unleveled soil will give uneven and sparse shoots.

Mulching- one of the most effective methods of caring for plants during their growing season. It is available to every gardener. Its essence lies in the fact that the aisles and rows of plants are covered with humus, composts, non-acidic peat, fallen leaves, unseeding weeds, sawdust, shavings, as well as thick paper (preferably from paper bags, the so-called kraft paper). Do not use newsprint, as vegetables can become contaminated with lead from ink.

It is difficult to enumerate all the benefits that you will receive by applying the mulch: it reduces the evaporation of moisture from the soil surface, it does not form a crust under it and there is no need for loosening; the fluctuation of soil temperature during the day and night periods decreases; protects the soil from erosion, inhibits the germination of weeds. If humus, peat and other organic fertilizers are used as mulch, then the plants do not need to be fed, since the nutrients are gradually delivered to the plants with water.

The technique of using mulch is extremely simple. After the rows are marked, mulching materials are scattered in the aisles with a layer of 4-5 cm. As the plants grow, this layer must be increased and can be brought up to 5-7 cm. Paper mulch is laid out in the aisles, sprinkled with soil.