Preparing the vegetable garden for spring planting: how to properly prepare the beds

In order for the vegetable garden plants to produce good sprouts and yields and be resistant to diseases, it is necessary to prepare the soil. Spring planting requires fertilized soil with a homogeneous, loose structure. This will increase fertility, air permeability, allow you to keep moisture in the ground longer.

Before sowing, it is important to properly plan and prepare the layout of the plot to provide convenient access to the plants. Types and shape of beds depend on the climatic conditions of the region, the size of the vegetable garden, the type of planted crops, other factors.

 

When to start preparing for spring planting

Start preparing the vegetable garden should not always be in early spring - the timing depends on the average temperatures in the region. Most often in the central strip, work begins in April. In warm southern regions, preparatory procedures can fall on March, and in the north delayed by May.

It is necessary to be oriented on the following indicators:

complete snow descent, the establishment of constant temperatures above 0 ° C;
sufficient deepening of moisture in the soil (the foot should not go into the ground more than 1 - 2 cm).
Each crop for planting or sowing has optimal temperature indicators of soil warming at the level of rooting. Prepare the soil for cold-resistant plants (dill, parsley, lettuce, onion, radish) can be prepared when the soil at a depth of 7 - 10 cm reaches +5 ° C. At +6 - + 8 ° C prepare beds for cabbage and root crops, heat-loving crops require values above +10 ° C.

 

Checking the readiness of the soil

Before you prepare the beds in spring for planting, check the condition of the soil - its maturity. You can do this in two ways:

A clod of earth is squeezed in the palm of the hand. If at the opening of the hand it crumbles, the soil is ready, if it stays stuck together - you need to wait.
The compressed lump of soil is thrown from a height of 1.5 meters. If it disintegrated into parts when hitting the ground, the soil is mature, if it flattened into a solid piece, it is too early to start work on soil preparation.
When checking, it is necessary to take soil from the subcrustal layer - at a depth of 7 - 10 cm. Mature soil does not stick to your hands, does not stick to your shoes. If the soil is scattered into very small parts, it is overdried - before sowing, the beds are watered.

Pay attention! Accelerate the heating of the soil before planting can be done with your own hands. To do this, the site is closed with a black film, the edges of which extend beyond the boundaries of the beds by 10 - 15 cm. The cover is fixed along the contour. Another way - watering the soil with hot water with the addition of 1 g of manganese per 10 liters of liquid. Fertilizers (manure, compost) also warm up the soil well, additionally fertilizing it. Organics are introduced into specially prepared wells, trenches.

Soil preparation

The first stage of preparing beds for planting in the spring is the removal of roots, haulm, leaves, other organic residues from the site. If the soil was overcultivated and fertilized in the fall, cleaning is combined with harrowing. On the upper surface of the soil pass rakes, breaking the hard crust. This will help to eliminate debris, weed rudiments, and also reduce moisture evaporation, so that the earth does not dry out.

Leftover organic debris can be thrown away, shredded to make mulch, or dumped in a compost pile to decompose. It is recommended to do mulching of beds in the spring. This will additionally fertilize the soil, reduce or eliminate the problem of weed overgrowth.

Another method of weed control and a good way to loosen the soil - planting siderates after the descent of snow. It is enough to deepen them into the ground by 1 - 2 cm. To do this, seeds are scattered on the top layer of the soil and passed with a sapa or a flat-bed planer. Then the site is harrowed with rakes, in dry weather watered.

On heavy soils it is recommended to sow oats or rye, on light sandy - mustard, oil radish, vetch, phacelia. Sprouts of siderates appear in 7 - 10 days. When the grass reaches a height of 20 cm, it is mowed.

Digging and loosening the soil

Digging of the vegetable garden is carried out if it was not done in the fall. The depth of soil cultivation is up to 15 cm. If there are a lot of weeds with deep-rooted root systems on the plot, digging with a turnover of the layer is necessary. It is also recommended if pests were detected in the previous season - for example, click bugs, May beetles.

 

During the turnover of the layer there is a change of habitat of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. This negatively affects soil fertility and plant resistance to diseases.

On sandy, soddy, depleted soils it is better to carry out digging without turnover of the layer to a depth of 10 - 12 cm. Then loosening is carried out. This procedure can be an alternative to digging, if the soil is not clogged with rhizomes, every year siderates are planted.

Loosening to give uniformity to the top layer of soil is carried out to a depth of 6 - 10 cm. For this purpose, a ribbed trowel, rotary cultivator, star roller is used. The loosened surface is leveled with a rake.

How to improve the condition of the soil in the beds

Fertile, sufficiently moistened and fertilized soil will improve the quality and quantity of future crops. In addition to planting siderates, it is recommended to plant useful microorganisms in impoverished soil (including as a result of deep digging with turnover of the layer). They help to break down organic fertilizers, increase and facilitate access of air, nutrients to the roots of plants.

To populate the microflora, biological fertilizers are used (for example, Baikal, EM-1). The solution is applied according to the instructions when we prepare beds in the spring. Spraying the site can be combined with planting siderats.

Fertilizing the soil

To saturate the soil on the plot with useful substances, to get a good harvest, you can use fertilizers. Treatment of the soil with additional components is combined with its digging. For feeding, one of the types of fertilizers is chosen:

• organic
• mineral

Organics include manure, humus, compost. These compositions are introduced during digging or before planting, sowing the site. In the second case, compost is filled with individual wells (up to 40 cm deep) or trenches along the beds. Organics can be mixed with a small amount of complex fertilizers (about 1 tablespoon), ash (1 - 2 cups).

For introduction under digging for a plot of up to 30 square meters, about 10 liters of compost is used. Underlying or fresh manure (7 - 8 kg per 1 square meter) is recommended for gourds, potatoes, cabbage. For other plants, it is replaced by other organics or introduced in the fall.

Complex (according to the instructions) or single-component mineral fertilizers are used. Ash is used to stabilize the acidity of the soil, saturating it with calcium, potassium, boron, iron, magnesium. During spring preparation, you can apply superphosphate, ammonium nitrate, potassium fertilizers without chlorine. In the soil with increased acidity is added slaked lime (up to 500 grams per 1 square meter).

It is not necessary to introduce mineral fertilizers every year during the spring preparation of beds. In heavy soils, fertilizer is valid for 3 - 4 years, and in loose sandy - up to 2 years.

Preparing the beds

For both beginners and experienced vegetable gardeners, an important stage of spring preparation is the planning of the site for planting/seeding. The procedure involves marking, laying and forming beds.

Sometimes they choose the row method of arrangement - plants are planted in rows or ribbons with paths between each of them. This layout does not effectively utilize the area of the vegetable garden, so it is most often replaced by a bed.

For growing low crops on flat areas, beds are formed from north to south. For high-growing plants, an arrangement from west to east is preferred to improve morning natural light.

Before preparing the bed in spring, consider the following tips:

on areas with a slope, rows are placed in transverse lines;
the width of the strip should allow for cultivation on both sides at arm's length (approx. 1.5 m);
the size of the walkways is about 70 to 90 cm wide.
The length of the beds is chosen individually at the discretion of the gardener.

Types and shape of beds

After carrying out preparatory procedures, we prepare beds of the following types:

 

• classical. Marked directly on the horizontal surface of the soil, the paths are trampled with a small depression, the size of the beds are arbitrary;
• deep. Provide better moisturization of plants in arid regions, suitable for loose soils. On open areas are more often formed in the form of trenches with a depth of up to 0.5 m, at the bottom of which fertilizers are laid;
• tall. Do not require re-digging, convenient in weeding and maintenance, warm up faster. The vegetable garden is divided into plots of voluntary sizes, along the perimeter of which fences are installed (height from 0.2 to 0.9 m). A deck of leaves, branches, sawdust, tree bark mixed with earth is laid on the soil. On top is placed about 12 - 15 cm of organic fertilizer, then up to 10 cm of soil, after which the last two layers continue to alternate.
  In case of a small number of plantings, for cultivation of heat-loving crops, in regions with cold climates, box beds or box beds are also used.

Greenhouse beds

In the spring, the following work is carried out in the greenhouse:

• Removing garbage and organic residues from the soil.
• Disinfecting treatment of the greenhouse.
• Replacing the top 15 - 20 cm of the old soil with new soil. Use sod earth with river sand in equal amounts, adding similar three parts of humus and five parts of peat.
• Sowing siderates, introducing EM preparations if necessary.
• Thorough watering of the soil.
• Loosening and leveling of the surface.
• Marking and formation of beds.

In greenhouses you can use the same types of beds as in open areas, but one of the most convenient and common - high. The difference between the preparatory work in the greenhouse - they can be started two weeks earlier than in the vegetable garden, without waiting for the snow to come down outside.

If you properly prepare the beds in the spring, you can greatly simplify the care of seedlings and growing crops. Fertilized, loosened soil with useful microflora is the key to high yields and healthy plants.