In the process of growing garden and garden crops it is extremely important to protect the plants from possible natural troubles. Helps in this, in particular, Mulch is a material layer that covers the surface of the earth near growing vegetables and melons, berry bushes, fruit trees or flowers. Those who want to learn more about what mulch is and how to prepare it should get acquainted with the proposed text.
Soil mulching: what is it?
Figuratively speaking, mulching the soil is the way to a rich harvest. In agrotechnical language Mulching means simple and effective soil protection technology that promotes successful plant cultivation.y. But first you need to more precisely determine the concept of "mulch": what is it? Mulch is understood to be a homogeneous material or a mixture of substances of different origin, which, due to the combination of their qualitative characteristics, are suitable for protecting the soil used for growing cultivated plants. Now it is possible, turning to the term "soil mulching", to better understand what it is. Without really knowing what it means to mulch the soil or, if it is simpler what it is to mulch, it is impossible to proceed to practical actions, because there is a danger of irreparable damage to already growing or only future plants.
What are the benefits of soil mulching at the dacha
If we neglect the fact that sometimes mulch is used as a decorative ornament, then its other properties are mainly reduced to protective functions:
- plant root system protection due to the maintenance in the soil of the required level of moisture (to mulch the soil is to retain moisture in it) and acidity, temperature and nutrient medium (including for earthworms, which loosen the soil);
- protection of cultivated plants from hypothermia at low temperatures and from weeds (due to the obstruction of their growth).
In addition, the ground covered with mulch does not harden in the form of a hard-to-penetrate crust, and the growing berry or vegetable crop is protected from contamination.
Types of soil mulching, which materials to use for the procedure (organic and inorganic)
Classical is the classification of mulch according to its composition into organic and inorganic. Despite the fact that compost also has an organic origin, it is sometimes separated into a separate category of mulch. Being extremely nutritious for vegetation, compost also contributes to loosening the earth and prevents its surface from turning into a crust. A number of experts believe, with good reason, that soil sulking can also be called mulching.
Did you know? For mulching, you can even use walnut shells and sunflower seed husks.Organic mulching is almost always considered as the main option, since its result is, in particular, an increase in soil fertility.
Important! Before mulching with sawdust, shavings and bark, the ground should be treated with manure, feces or urea to avoid nitrogen deficiency.
A few words about aspiration, which in this context is meant common grass lawn. Possessing no less usefulness than specially prepared mulch, lawn plants, saving nutrients, are simultaneously a barrier to soil erosion.Further on how to mulch the soil, in more detail.
Use of sawdust
Sawdust perfectly protect plants from attacks of pests, slugs, making it difficult for them to move. Of the undoubted advantages of this material, we note its versatility for use on any soils, excellent air permeability, allowing the soil to "breathe" freely, the density of the coating, as a result of which microorganisms intensively developing in the upper soil layer turn the sawdust into fertile earth mass. Tomatoes and potatoes, always suffering from overheating of the soil, cannot do without sawdust in a dry summer.
Important! Vypryanie plants when sawdust mulching of the soil is prevented by controlling that the sawdust is not tracked.
Hay and straw
They do not like slugs and straw, which as mulch is very good on garden beds. The original 15 centimeter thickness of the straw mulch is then naturally reduced by two thirds. Straw is also a fertile material for mulching between garden rows and also for sheltering the soil where trees grow. For those who lead a large enough household there is no particular problem in where to get straw or hay for mulching. The rest will have to be purchased - good, large-scale agricultural production can realize surplus.
You can use mulching with hay and green mass. in the form of mowed grass and weeded weeds (preferably free of seeds). The features of soil mulching around trees suggest that the protective layer will leave the root neck that requires dryness open. In general, the surface microflora will not cause damage to deeply rooted tree roots. In this regard, plants covering the ground (mulching by sifting), planted in the form of a lawn and capable of easily tolerating the natural shading created by tree crowns, will be very appropriate here.
Did you know? By making a mulching with the use of white clover, you can simultaneously get rid of the weeds and larvae of the May beetle.
The use of peat in mulching
The main function of peat as a mulch layer is protection of soil from wind erosion, from the deterioration of its fertile qualities through leaching of the elements determining these qualities, from unfavorable pathogenic flora. Peat mulch does not require artificial cleaning, going into the soil, it improves its composition. The best is the use of mulch from peat for the good development of raspberry shrubs, constantly requiring moisture, which is so well retained peat. About half a month after rooting in the open ground of the tomato seedlings planted there, the soil is also mulched with peat. Finally, they use the decorative qualities of a uniform peat structure, which makes it possible to make a very attractive dumping.
Technology for mulching with sideratami and mowed grass
Garden grass, including specially grown siderats, due to its location in the open-air heated by the sun, quickly gets rid of most of the moisture it contains. This significantly slows down the decomposition process. Under the onslaught of the autumn rains, it is intensified already in the vegetable garden, which is empty of the harvest. As a result of winter and autumn rotting, by the spring the landlord gets a new natural organic fertilizer for the beds.
Having figured out how easy it is to prepare mulch from grass in the summer-autumn period, I must say that the so-called early-spring greening (immediately after the disappearance of the snow cover) greening with plants capable of very fast growth is also used. Mulching even before the May planting of cucumbers, zucchini or other garden crops that love heat in the open field is done using, for example, mustard (or other green manure), which has time to collect a large amount of greenery, which is skewed and used as mulch (you can add compost). Leaving the roots in the soil and making it possible for the soil microorganisms to “work” with them, after a couple of weeks after mowing the siderate green mass, you can start planting the intended culture. Mulching of cucumbers, late cabbage and other vegetables with green manure will be successful if:
- the ground for planting seeds will be wet and loose, and the seeds themselves will touch it for the most part of the surface (you need to roll a little);
- it will be possible to protect the planted seed material from birds (garden scarecrows are still effective);
- mowing will be done before the siderate blooms and it forms badly decomposing hard stems;
- in the process of mulching will not damage the soil with beneficial microflora.
Important! Non-use of sideratov from one plant family with the main crop will protect the latter from related diseases.
Features mulching film and textiles
Inorganic mulching successfully copes with protective functions if they are not associated with plant nutrition. The inorganics used could be conditionally classified as follows: - black (sometimes colored) film and textile materials, as well as paper and cardboard;
- stones (crushed stone, gravel, pebbles, etc.);
- claydite.
The last two species are of decorative and applied importance, as they are able to perfectly decorate a garden or landscape composition, but they are also able to interfere with periodically necessary earthworks associated with tillage for growing garden and garden crops. Expanded clay also has a weak structure and over time is subject to decay into ever smaller particles.
Black film is often used due to the lack of a mulch preparation process. Attracts its ability to perfectly retain moisture and prevent the development of weeds. It should be remembered that it is, in fact, is a single-use material, coming under the sunlight to the unsuitability of the whole season. When deciding on the use of film mulching, it is necessary to provide for: - the scheme according to which irrigation of the cultivated vegetation will be carried out (drip or through holes in the coating);
- measures to combat slugs that are collected under the film;
- the ability of plants to transfer inevitably increased overheating in extremely hot weather with film mulch.
Important! Covering the film from the sun with a thin straw layer (or hay), you can extend its use for several seasons.Covered with stones, so as not to distort the aesthetic perception, the film still mulch the soil in the rock garden, where it prevents the weeds from growing.
Textile materials made on the basis of polypropylene fiber are becoming more and more common among land users that use mulching. Because of its relative cheapness and excellent quality, including such as the absorption of sunlight, has become widely known geotextiles not giving any chance to survive the weeds that fell under its cover.
Mulching with bark and chips
Chips and bark, especially from birch or oak, have certain limitations in their application for mulching, related to their chemical composition. The transfer of tannins into the soil can slow down the growth of plants. Therefore, on garden beds, other materials are needed, but coniferous plantings (spruce, cypress, etc.), which are not afraid of tannic effect, add noticeably to development due to acidification of the soil on which they grow. For coniferous plants in the interests of improving their nutrition, it is quite possible to annually mulch the soil with compost.
A serious argument in favor of mulching with bark is a combination of good thickness in it compared to almost weightless lightness and an increased content of phytoncides, which clean the environment from unwanted microorganisms and insects. Bark mulch makes it a natural look for a circle around a tree.
When choosing wood chips need to look at the proposed size. Like sawdust, wood waste in the form of chips naturally passes into a state of humus, before successfully coping with the functions of maintaining the necessary looseness and moisture of the soil and stimulating an increase in the microflora required for the plant.
Mulching leaf humus
Fall leaves even without additional treatment can be used to protect the soil. But the prerequisite for this is the lack of trees, from which it fell down, of diseases caused by a fungus, otherwise the entire site may be affected by spores. To avoid this possibility, the foliage is preferred to be used as a component of compost, especially since its nutritional value is beyond doubt. An additional fuse is antifungal processing of the leaves just before they are laid in the compost. Leaf humus, slightly acidic and not a fertilizer, perfectly conditions the soil, contributing to the improvement of its structure. In addition to ripe leaf humus for mulching use and dry, and half rotted foliage.
Use pine needles for mulching
Flower beds are well protected pine needles. In general, pine needles like mulch tend to be used to protect crops that occasionally attack pests en masse (garlic is a well-known representative of such plants). Freeness and naturalness of pine needles (together with it cones, and twigs, and pieces of bark are added to mulch), its ability to make the earth saturated with moisture, breathing well, moderately loose attracts increased attention to it. This attention should be combined with some caution, since such mulch can also lead to agronomic trouble, overly acidifying the soil in the garden or depressingly affecting the development of certain crops.
Excellent results are obtained when strawberry mulching is carried out by such a covering material as needles. In this case, they are saved from acidification by annual top dressing of the strawberry area with wood ash. By the way, during fruiting strawberry mulching is done with pure straw so that the berries do not touch the ground. Manufacturers are very concerned about the fact that there is always something to mulch strawberries, because it is not only tasty, but also increasing its yield leads to a good income.
Features of soil mulching, what you need to know about the agrotechnical procedure
The agrotechnical mulching is based on the compulsory warming up of the soil. An artificial cover over a cold soil (organic or inorganic) will lead to a negative result - a delay in the development of plants. This rule does not apply to potatoes, mulch over which (only organic) do immediately after planting in the ground. For soil mulching two seasons are considered optimal:
1) the main purpose of spring mulching of the heated soil is to protect the plant from overheating and drying, that is, after the completion of the cold pore, you need to wait a bit;
2) in the middle or in the final stage of autumn, mulching of the soil that did not manage to overcool is done mainly to avoid damage or death of the plant from the winter cold. The creation of a protective coating should be preceded by cleaning the soil from weeds (perennial and large) and enriching it with ash, bone meal or other slowly decomposing fertilizers.
The mulch layer does not fit forever - it is replaced as soon as it performs its functions, which, in turn, is connected with the characteristics of the materials used. The ground covered with mulch requires more significant watering, aimed at ensuring that the completely wetted protective layer is on wet ground. From some individualized features of mulching, it can be noted that:
- the area of land mulch under bushes and trees is limited to the diameter of their crown (not counting the gap between the shelter and the trunk);
- garden beds with vegetables and flower beds are mulched entirely in 10 cm (3 cm less can) layer;
- vegetable seedlings are planted in the ground when it is already covered with a film or textiles.
Did you know? The use of mulching is not limited to open space - it is used in enclosed spaces and even for plants grown in pots.
Having found out what mulch is and where to get it, having learned in practice how to prepare mulch, having carried out the entire process of preparing mulch with your own hands, having spent time mulching the soil, the land user can save much on watering and weeding. And the result in the form of a good harvest will remind him of knowingly spent efforts.
