Any gardener always strives to improve the quality of the soil on the site, so that it is easy to dig and at the same time that the plants receive the necessary amount of nutrients from it.
For example, virgin soil should always be developed (dug up) twice a year – in spring and autumn. But not just digging, but adding organic fertilizers and things that make the soil loose. This is not a matter of one year, if we talk about virgin lands.
With proper development and care of the land in your garden, you will be rewarded with a good harvest.
What did our ancestors use to loosen the earth?
The Straw
This natural material has always served two purposes: it loosened the soil and at the same time raised low-lying areas in the garden. Parents stuffed straw at each pass during the digging. But there is one disadvantage – it is that the straw gives sprouts, as many seeds that are among it germinate in the spring. And often the straw contains weed seeds.
Sawdust
A great way to make the ground loose is sawdust. In the Soviet Union, villages and hamlets always had their own sawmills and sawmills in state and collective farms. And many gardeners followed them with sacks. Sawdust was also used to insulate the attic of the house.
Leaves, needles
Another great natural material. Our ancestors were very smart people, and we always write down all their skills and achievements in outdated technologies, saying that it is all the last century. But it was not here.
It is always better to use natural material than to resort to modern chemical fertilizers and technologies.
Hiking in the woods with wheelbarrows and bags in autumn for fallen leaves was always in the past. Some even carried a couple of sacks, but they were not heavy.
Modern methods of loosening the land. Additives
Today they approach this issue in more detail. That is, they divide the types and types of land. For example, for clay soil, a sand and gravel additive (sand and gravel up to 10 mm) is well suited.
Mulching has recently become popular because it retains moisture in the ground and prevents it from drying out.
Perlite, vermiculite and expanded clay have the property of loosening the same clay soil, and these rocks and formations can be used in the initial development of virgin lands.
And the well-known dolomite flour or sifting of limestone crushed stone can not only improve the properties of the earth, but also deoxidize it.
And finally, it is worth reminding once again about organic fertilizers – peat, manure, compost and husks. Everything that is natural is not ugly, as they said before.
