What do plants need?

For best development, plants need fertile habitat, which includes a number of conditions:

a) fertile soil that provides balanced plant nutrition;

b) optimal soil moisture and temperature;

c) illumination of plants;

d) optimal air temperature;

e) protection of plants from the wind;

f) a stable self-regulating biosystem - biocenosis.

I note that these conditions are not arranged in order of their importance - it is impossible to rank them according to this principle, they are all important! If at least one of them deteriorates, this can lead to a significant slowdown in growth or even death of the plant

What and how do plants feed in nature?

Air power carried out through photosynthesis, during which, with the participation of chlorophyll in the leaves, which absorbs the energy of sunlight, carbon dioxide combines with water in the leaves, and primary organic substances - carbohydrates - are formed.

Soil nutrition occurs by the roots absorbing solutions of chemical elements from the soil, which combine with carbohydrates to form proteins and fats.

The preparation for the appearance of the optimal composition of nutrients in the soil is the remains of obsolete plants - tops and roots. After all, if a plant has grown, then it has accumulated all the chemical elements it needs for life. And when decomposed, it releases them into the soil (mineral elements) and into the air (carbon dioxide).

Organic residues (plant and animal origin) are decomposed by microorganisms, fungi and worms.

Plants share carbohydrates with soil microorganisms, releasing them into the soil, and microorganisms “in response” process organic matter and release nutrient solutions into the soil, which plants absorb with their roots. Moreover, depending on the type of carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose, fiber, starch, etc.) secreted by plants, exactly those microorganisms multiply in the soil that “prepare” the nutrients the plant needs at that particular moment.

Thus, the ratio of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the plant is maintained optimal, since the plant itself knows what it needs now, and behaves like in a restaurant - it “orders” the necessary food from microbes, paying them with carbohydrates for it.

As a result, the plant grows healthy and is not of interest to pests - it is “tasteless” to them, its composition is balanced, it contains little “sweet”, which attracts pests - “nature’s orderlies”.

In addition, for root nutrition, plants need water and air, which must be in the soil.

And this is achieved due to its natural porosity. The soil is permeated with a network of channels and pores formed in place of rotted roots and passages of soil living creatures: worms, larvae, etc. It is these channels that extend to the surface of undug soil that provide excellent water and air permeability of natural soils. In such soil, natural self-watering operates: passing through channels to the cold depths of the earth, warm air, cooling, gives off the evaporated moisture it contains in the form of condensate. This way, 2 times more water gets into the soil than from rain.

Fertile soil - this is the kind of soil on which plants can feed themselves optimally.

And summarizing all of the above, we can say that FERTIL SOIL is “LIVING SOIL”, i.e. soil with a natural porous structure with a large amount of organic residues, containing many soil microorganisms, worms and fungi that convert organic matter into food for the following plants.

Having observed in nature the interaction of plants and soil inhabitants through mutual feeding (and previous plants are also built into this chain as a source of nutrition for subsequent ones), as well as the interaction of atmospheric air and soil through natural self-watering, we already see how it is important to maintain a stable self-regulating biosystem of your site.

But that's not all!

You know that there are plants that get along well and help each other, and there are those that refuse to grow next to each other. Moreover, in mixed plantings of “good neighbors,” plants are less sick and damaged by pests.

And if you “have not asphalted all the ground on the site” and left areas of untouched meadow where predatory insects live that eat herbivorous “pests,” then a balance is established between both, and the plants are less damaged.

And let me remind you here that the main remedy for pests is... fertile soil! Then the plants grow balanced in composition and are not of interest to pests.

In a healthy ecosystem, all its inhabitants balance each other: snails and slugs are eaten by hedgehogs, birds, toads and lizards; aphids - ladybugs; May beetle larvae in the ground - moles, etc.

This is what we should strive for, learning from nature: to preserve and increase fertility soil, maintain a balanced biosystem of your site! And, of course, provide the remaining conditions for a fertile habitat for plants.

How to do it?

Follow the principles of Natural Farming:

1. Maintain and increase the natural porosity of the earth

Use green manure crops for this purpose. And when planting, minimal loosening of 5-7 cm (instead of digging) or plant seeds in depressed grooves. These operations are quite enough to plant the seeds and sprinkle them with soil or compost so that they all germinate. But it does not damage the porous structure of the soil and does not kill soil microorganisms - “natural ploughmen” - after all, they are the ones who “loose” the earth in nature.

2. Feed the soil, not the plants: bring insoil organic residues(tops, grass, leaves, etc.) - the best complex balanced natural fertilizer.

Exists 4 ways to add organic residues:

— mulching- covering the soil between plantings with grass and leaves;

— sowing green manure-annual plants, such as lupine or mustard, used for “growing organic residues” in the form of “tops and roots” and fertilizing the soil with them;

— warm beds- trenches or boxes, 90% filled with organic matter, and representing ripening compost heaps;

— composting separately from the beds- the worst, ineffective method, although most gardeners use it.

Using even just these 2 principles of Natural Farming will increase the soil fertility on your site.

But this will happen over a long period of time. Remember the development of virgin lands in the USSR - its fertility accumulated over many years of decomposition of obsolete steppe grass. And, by the way, it was destroyed in just 2 years by deep tractor plowing, which led to a “crazy” drop in yields.

If you want to speed up the process of restoring fertility and get results within 1-3 years, then:

3. Propagate beneficial microorganisms in the soilwe, worms and mushrooms.

They will accelerate the decomposition of organic matter, which will provide the plants with daily balanced nutrition. That is, they will accelerate the process of increasing soil fertility. And at the same time they will create food supplies available to plants in the form of humus for unforeseen cases.

Why are southern black soils so fertile? Yes, because they contain a lot of organic residues (plants grow better in warmth) and a lot of soil microorganisms - they do not freeze out in the “warm” winter. A hectare of “southern” land contains 8 tons of soil microorganisms, while in the north – only 2 tons. And they are also everywhere suppressed by digging and the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides... Here is the “secret” of the scarcity of northern soils.

It is now very easy to propagate microorganisms in the soil. For this purpose, microbiological preparations are used, and the best of them, in our experience, are “Vostok EM-1” and “Shine”. They contain only beneficial microorganisms isolated from fertile soils (and we must remember that there are also harmful ones that eat living organic matter and cause plant diseases). Such drugs are also called EM drugs (from EM - effective microorganisms).

In spring and summer, EM preparations are diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1000, and the soil with organic residues added to it is watered with this solution. As a result, accelerated decomposition of organic matter occurs (for plant nutrition), as well as cleansing (sanitation) of the soil from harmful microorganisms that cause plant diseases. They are suppressed by beneficial microorganisms from EM preparations.

Similarly, by spraying plants with solutions of EM preparations (1:500), bacterial and fungal plant diseases such as late blight, powdery mildew, gray rot, etc. are suppressed.

Following these 3 “non-chemical” principles will allow you to increase soil fertility(condition “a” of fertile plant habitat). In such soil, plants grow with high immunity to diseases and pests - they themselves protect themselves from them.

4. To protect plants from diseases and pests, use roofing felt. to environmentally friendly “natural” methods and biological products, not pesticides. In the first place is prevention (to avoid and prevent), and not treatment of the disease!

Increasing soil fertility, mixed plantings, crop rotation, autumn mulching, seasonal (autumn and spring) soil treatment with EM preparations in high concentration (1:100), folk-natural methods of protection by spraying with herbal infusions - all this works effectively without polluting Nature.

Contribute to the establishment of a sustainable self-regulating biosystem on your site - do not destroy or specially create corners of “wild” nature for the habitat of natural enemies of pests:

• thickets of bushes - for birds;
• pond - for frogs and toads, for everyone to drink, to create a microclimate;
• stones - for lizards;
• piles of branches - for hedgehogs;
• thickets of grass - for the breeding of predatory insects that eat pests.

The listed activities will “connect” nature to help you, and you will get better results, while working less!

5. Create the rest of the conditions for fertile plant habitat, inherent in any farming system.

These conditions must be created in any farming system. We will not list all known methods; we will note only the main ones, characteristic of Natural farming.

b) Optimal soil moisture and temperature.

Water in plants is about 90%, and it is needed:

— for building the plant body during photosynthesis and root nutrition (for the formation of nutrient solutions);

- for thermoregulation of plants by evaporation.

Techniques for ensuring optimal soil moisture:

• preservation of the natural porous structure of the soil (for natural self-watering and
• absorption of water after rains and melting snow);
• saving moisture by:

— mulching, which reduces evaporation;

— terracing slopes to prevent water runoff;

— sunken beds on dry soil (and, by the way, raised beds on damp soil);

• For irrigation it is better to use “drip irrigation”.

Soil temperature has a huge impact on plant growth:

— at temperatures below +8 0 C, the “root pump” of plants does not work;

- at 20 0 C plants grow 2 times, and at 30 0 C - 4 times faster than at 10 0 C;

- but at 40 0 ​​C - growth stops.

Techniques for ensuring optimal soil temperature:

c) Illumination of plants.

No plant grows without light! It is necessary for photosynthesis to occur in leaves.

To avoid shading plants, follow these rules::

• Place trees and buildings along the edges of the site;
• Place the beds (or rows of plants in a bed) from north to south and make beds about 0.5 m wide with plantings in 2 lines, and aisles 0.7-1 m wide: then each plant will be outermost and better illuminated;
• use additional reflected light from the southern walls of buildings and the water surface of ponds or other bodies of water;
• for mixed plantings, place the plants “facing the light”;
• Consider the height of the plants when planting successively.

d) Optimal air temperature.

Heat is a well-known factor that has a beneficial effect on plant growth, and that is why we build greenhouses and hotbeds, but... at air temperatures above 30 0 C, tomatoes do not grow! Therefore, it is so important to ventilate greenhouses through vents in the roof, and their area should be at least 20-25% of the greenhouse area.

And in the hottest periods it is even necessary to shade the greenhouses with non-woven materials or nets.

And in the southern regions, it is generally profitable to build greenhouses from special nets (for example, NetHouse or Optinet), which also protect from pests. In such “mesh houses” the plants are not cold in spring and autumn, and in summer they are not hot.

e) Protection of plants from the wind.

Wind is a little-known factor among gardeners that slows down plant growth, but, on the other hand, helps pollination.

• dries out (requires more water);
• cools (growth processes slow down);
• blows away carbon dioxide (the main nutrition of plants) - therefore it is bad to ventilate greenhouses with a draft through 2 doors;
• breaks plants.

Protection from “harmful winds”- fences or natural obstacles across the direction of the wind, but taking into account illumination:

• hedges made of bushes and trees;
• fences made of polycarbonate or polyethylene film (obstacle to wind, but light penetrates);
• according to Holzer: high ridges of a sinuous (meander) shape or a crater garden with a pond and plantings on the slopes of the crater.

Now let's highlight THE MAIN THINGS in the agricultural technology of Natural farming:

- if you want to INCREASE SOIL FERTILITY - don’t dig up the soil and add organic matter (the more, the better) - “You can’t spoil porridge with oil!”;

- if you want to ACCELERATE THE PROCESS of increasing fertility and PREVENT plant DISEASES - in addition to these two methods, breed beneficial microorganisms in the soil and on the foliage using EM preparations;

- if you want to cope with diseases and pests WITHOUT POLLUTTING NATURE - create a sustainable self-regulating biosystem (biocenosis) on your site and use only “natural” methods and harmless biological products - prevention, not treatment.

That's all the secrets! The agricultural technology of Natural farming is simple, proven and brings consistently high results!

Try and check! And you simply won’t want to work any other way!

Leonid Ryabov,
Head of the St. Petersburg Natural Agriculture Club

The agricultural technology of such farming is aimed at respect for the earth, as a living organism, to improve fertility through the return of organic matter, green manure, mulching, crop rotation, as well as to obtain natural, environmentally friendly food products without the use of chemical fertilizers and plant protection products.

And organic farming technologists promise us larger yields with less labor input than in classical farming

But is everything as simple as leading experts and promoters of organic farming tell us?

Organic farming in the country

When we first decided to put organic farming into practice at our dacha, we were naive people, like everyone else, we needed that very safe food, and at the same time we had little free time, but a great desire to grow plants. Therefore, we dug through a lot of literature to find out what it is: organic farming in the country and where to start mastering it. We needed to understand and comprehend all this. And we immediately set about an exciting and good thing: organic farming from scratch.

We took into use 12 acres of land near Odessa, which no one had cultivated for several years. Of these, 2 acres were under trees and bushes, 1 acres were under strawberries, and the remaining 9 acres were densely covered with weeds, so it was necessary to develop virgin land. A noble goal was ahead of us: we are putting into practice a careful and loving attitude towards the land, which is called in the literature “Organic farming in the countryside.”

First, we cut the weeds, then we laid out the area, dividing it into paths and beds. The beds were surface treated (loosening) to a depth of no more than 5 cm, as recommended in the books. We sown seeds, planted seedlings and mulched.

The plantings were, as expected, thickened and planned taking into account the allelopathic properties of neighboring plants. A week later, the first shoots appeared, and then weeds appeared, which had to be pulled out manually, since Fokina’s flat cutter did not work on mulch. And so several times a season.

We spent a lot of time and effort, but there was no result. Of those planted, about 7% of the cultivated plants survived, which gave, to put it mildly, a modest harvest, or rather, there was almost none (not counting 5 carrots and 5 watermelons weighing 100 g each).

Nevertheless, we continued to work, as we fell in love with work on the land and in the fresh air. And the experience gained was very useful.

Today we practice organic farming in our dacha on two hectares of land, where we harvest tons of crops. We also maintain several forest nurseries. We work according to the “Organic agro-forestry” system.

And the question “how to grow?” is no longer relevant, now the question is “what to do with the harvest?”

Well, now we will tell you about everything in order, how in reality you need to start organic farming in your dacha from scratch, and not what is told in books or at seminars. In life, it turns out, it’s not quite the same as on the pages of books. But how does everything actually happen in organic farming?

Harvest of Alexey and Nadezhda Chernyavsky

Myths of organic farming

1: “The earth cannot be stirred up.”

We called the process by which the earth does not turn, “wilding of the soil.” This means that there are so many insects, animals and weeds in it that they do not allow more than one cultivated plant to grow and bear fruit. So much for natural farming! In addition, if you have virgin soil on your plot, then you will have to plow it once, since virgin soil cannot be conquered manually. And after the first plowing, you can treat the soil superficially. Then there will be watermelons and corn.

Conclusion: a cultivated plant needs cultivated soil and appropriate care!

2: “Mulched plants do not need to be watered.”

After conducting many experiments, we came to the conclusion that mulch does retain moisture, but not for long, especially in dry places. Therefore, if you want to get a harvest by practicing organic farming in your country house, then you will have to water moisture-loving plants, even if they are mulched, you will just need to do this less often .

3: “All plants need to be mulched so that there is no bare soil left in the garden.”

In fact, not all plants like mulch. So, for corn, watermelons, melons, peanuts and chufa, mulch is unacceptable. These crops love “hot and clean soil.” In addition, corn, peanuts and chufa require hilling, which is very difficult to do if there is mulch on the ground.

Conclusion: when using organic farming in the country, it is certainly necessary to mulch, but selectively. Cover the soil only around those plants that really like it (tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, etc.)

4: “Organic farming for the lazy.”

Many people have heard the old proverb “You can’t catch a fish out of a pond without effort”; no one has yet canceled it. And for people for whom organic farming in the country has become a matter of life, they know exactly what this proverb is about. As we found out, If you want results, you have to work hard! Loosening the beds, planting seeds, extracting and laying mulch, digging and weeding weeds, hilling, planting, watering, collecting and processing crops, in the end, all this is work! If you give in to laziness, you won’t see a full harvest!

Conclusion: He who works, eats.

5: “Joint and dense plantings repel insect pests and attract insect predators » .

Fast, efficient, convenient and environmentally friendly, and therefore safe

Conclusion: You need to combine beds with crops, not crops in a bed.

6: “Biological plant protection products are better and safer than chemical ones.”

We do not use either one or the other. Today, humanity is already reaping the full benefits of the use of chemistry in agriculture (destroyed lands, mutant insects, dead bees, food poisoning and allergies in people, polluted waters of the world's oceans, etc.). And we still don’t know what fruits biological drugs will bring us, because it’s a matter of time. Remember, when chemical protective agents appeared on the market, people were very happy about it, it seemed to them that the problem had been solved. But they struggled with the consequences, but the cause - monoculture - remained. Today people rejoice in biological drugs! What will happen tomorrow?

Conclusion: by practicing organic farming in the country, we avoid the use of any drugs.

Chemical and biological means of protection have detrimental consequences for the ecology of the entire planet and every person. Nobody knows how it will all end, not even scientists!

7: “Do this and everything will be like ours”

Another sophisticated lie that gullible farmers are falling for. In the course of our numerous experiments and based on the experience gained, we came to the conclusion that nothing is the same in nature! And, repeating the experiment, it is unlikely that it will be possible to obtain exactly the same result. Even in the same bed, with the same agricultural technology, using the same farming, the same fertilizer, mulching, green manure, the same plants bear fruit differently.

There are different soils, different climates, microclimates, etc. in the world. Even the attitude and mood of the person working with the plant, using exclusively natural farming, plays a huge role and can affect the result! In general, you don’t need to expect results the same as in the pictures promoting organic farming in the country, and then if the result is inconsistent, disappointment will not discourage you from moving on!

Love your land, study its specifics and character, observe - and draw your conclusions with good thoughts. Don't believe it, check it. And then organic farming at your dacha will pay off, and you will definitely succeed!

If you decide to grow an environmentally friendly, rich and healthy crop for yourself and your family according to the principles of natural farming, but the plot does not yet meet these principles, you should apply the recommendations and advice described below step by step. Perhaps you will have doubts whether growing vegetables, herbs and berry crops using natural farming techniques will really become easier, more interesting, the soil will be more fertile and you will get good harvests. In this case, select part of the site, at least a few beds.

So, how can you quickly switch to natural farming if you have a plot of land that was cultivated using the agricultural technology of conventional, traditional farming?

Firstly, to make caring for plants easier, it is necessary. These can be either conventionally defined beds within the boundaries of row spacing, or fenced with any material - border tiles, bricks, slate, logs. There is only a small nuance: it is not recommended to bury the border fencing too deep underground, so that the root nutrition of the plants occurs not only from the bed itself, but also from the space between the rows.

Unlike conventional farming, when the beds are quite wide and not very easy to maintain, and the row spacing is narrow, in smart farming the opposite is true. To ensure uniform illumination of plants, to provide them with sufficient space for development, as well as convenience when caring for plants, the beds are made from 0.5 to 1 m wide, and the row spacing is about 1 m. In addition, the beds are located along a line from north to south - so the plants will receive maximum sunlight and will not shade each other. For residents of the central and northern regions, where plants do not receive enough spring and autumn heat, it is recommended to place the beds at a slight slope to the south, since it is believed that a slope of 1 degree is equivalent to moving the site 100 km to the south. When arranging beds, you can also solve the problem of spring flooding of the site - make high beds - boxes raised above the main ground level.

To quickly improve soil fertility in the beds and mix it with the soil. Coarse sand is added to non-sandy soils to improve their looseness and heat capacity. This rather labor-intensive procedure is necessary only at the beginning, and later soil fertility is achieved by sowing green manure, mulching and adding organic matter. To “start” the soil, you can populate it with earthworms, which can be dug up in the moist soils of forests, near streams and rivers. And in order to saturate the soil with beneficial microorganisms necessary for processing organic matter, spill it with a solution (for example, Siyanie, Vostok, Baikal...).

If you decide to switch to natural farming in late summer or autumn, it is good to sow in the beds. This could be white mustard, Shrovetide radish, sweet clover, winter rye, vetch... One type of plant - green manure or a mixture of several are sown shallowly in fairly dense rows, or scattered under a rake. By winter, your soil will be covered with a green carpet, which will protect the soil from freezing and weathering, and when decomposed, will fertilize it and give it structure. In the spring, two to three weeks before sowing the main crops, green manure is cut with a flat cutter to a depth of 5-7 cm and left on the soil as mulch.

If you do not plan to sow green manure before winter, then the soil must be covered with a layer of hay, straw, and fallen leaves. The mulch layer covering the beds and row spacing acts as a blanket for the soil - it retains heat in cool weather, and in hot weather it protects the soil from high temperatures. In addition, mulch preserves the moisture and structure of the soil; condensation falls on it due to the difference between day and night temperatures, and as it drains, it moistens the soil. In addition to the beds, paths should also “work” for the benefit of the crop, which should be mulched; organic residues can be added to them under mulch, or they can be sown with lawn grasses.

At the end, after preparing the beds and paths, if there is no rain, the area is well watered, since both air and moisture are necessary for the life of soil animals.

In the spring of next year, in order for the soil to warm up faster, we free our organic beds from unrotted mulch, which we rake into the aisles. When the soil warms up enough for sowing seeds, we cultivate the soil with a flat cutter to a depth of 7 cm, loosening the top layer of soil, and then, cutting grooves, we sow. After sowing, lightly mulch the beds, and as the plants develop, add mulching material so that its layer is from 5 to 10 or more centimeters.

Video seminar of the Center for Natural Agriculture in Ufa " First steps in natural farming»

So, to switch to natural farming you need to:

• Prepare the beds
• Fill the beds with organic matter
• Sow green manure
• Mulch
• Minimal tillage.

Principles of organic farming in practice

For seven years now, following the commandments of N.I. Kurdyumov, B.A. Bublik, N. Zhirmunskaya, Yu.I. Slashchinin, I have adhered to the principles of organic farming and “don’t dig a garden.” And I was not disappointed!

I divided my six-acre plot of land with a concrete path into two equal parts: the southern- vegetable garden, northern- garden. Along the southern fence- raspberries on trellises in three rows.

The vegetable garden was divided into sixteen stationary beds 1-1.2 m wide, and the beds were slanted- at an angle of 120° (or 60°) to the central track. I made furrows (more precisely, paths) between the beds 30-40 cm wide, not lower, but in some places higher than the beds themselves.

The beds were fenced with flat slate, tiles, and boards. The paths were covered with sawdust and chopped branches of various trees. Walnut branches, chopped with a hatchet into pieces 1-3 cm long, go especially well on paths.

I made exactly the same beds and paths in the garden part of the site. Only the beds turned out wider (up to 2 m) due to the fruit trees.

Garden- vegetable garden... This is conditional, since in one garden bed 8 gooseberry bushes are planted in one row, in another garden- 11 honeysuckle bushes of seven varieties, on the third- 12 columnar apple trees of six varieties, on the fourth- 10 columnar pears. Another garden bed- two-plane grape trellis. And five garden beds are equipped with permanent wire trellises for cucumbers, tomatoes, cowpeas, and climbing beans.

Two garden beds are occupied by two-plane grape trellises. On the remaining garden beds (there are ten of them) I placed fruit trees and berry bushes. In the garden beds, between the trees, I grow vegetables and green crops. In the circles around the tree trunks I grow catnip, oregano, peppermint and field mint; Aniseed lofant grows under unabi and sea buckthorn, and under an old pear- Echinacea purpurea. In the spring, I plant dwarf marigolds, nasturtiums, beans, golden mustache (fragrant colliasis) and some indoor plants in the free spaces in the tree trunks.

Fruit trees, all in a row, I bend them hard, pinch them and thereby form cup-shaped crowns. I've been doing this all summer. That's why I don't have trees taller than two meters. I have unabi bushes and Dahurian sea buckthorn higher than fruit-bearing apple and pear trees. And I raised two gooseberry bushes in standard form to a height of two meters.

I brought out uncovered grape varieties onto grape trellises. Under the grape trellises, located from south to north, I plant beets, dill, spinach, chard, onions, asters, and sorrel.

And in the fall of 2005, I planted black currants under the grapes. This is not in the recommendations of N.I. Kurdyumov. Apparently, the mutual influence of grapes and currants has not been studied. In such cases, I remember one of the orders of Peter I: “Do not adhere to the rules like a blank wall, for the rules are written there, but there are no times or occasions.”

And such a planting of black currants, in my opinion, is very good: in the morning the sun illuminates the currant bushes, in the midday heat they are covered with grapes, and in the evening- again in the sun. I don’t use chemicals: the currant bushes are planted with garlic and winter onions, the soil is mulched with a thick layer of rice husks all year round.

One question remains: how will summer watering of currants affect grapes?

Once in July, I very well watered, with fertilizing, one grape bush on the gazebo, as a result, I lost 70% of the harvest due to cracking of the not yet ripened berries.

So, over the course of seven years, I brought at least 10 truckloads of manure and humus and 3 truckloads of sand to the site. I used a cart to carry a lot of different organic matter and a lot of ash. Every year, each grape bush receives a bucket of ash, and fruit trees, berries and ornamental shrubs are not deprived of it.

As a result, my plot became ten centimeters higher than all the neighbors. Each bed has its own soil, its own acidity. To the cucumber bed- more fresh manure for the tomato plant- a little humus and a lot of mulch, mostly cardboard, and for carrots- a lot of sand, a lot of nettle mulch.

Until 2003, manure was fermented using the working solution "Baikal-EM-1" (1:100), beds and tree trunks were treated in spring and autumn with the working solution "Baikal-EM-1" (1:1000), and since the fall of 2003 -th I use only my own EOs, prepared using the technology of N.I. Kurdyumov and Yu.I. Slashchinin. Every year from March to October I have a barrel with a solution of my EOs, which I use for watering and for composting organic matter.

I compost all kinds of organic matter directly on the beds along with the rest of the mulch. I use compost pits only for breeding worms. After rain, these worms crawl out onto the asphalt!!! And I them- in a jar and on your site.

There are also questions regarding mulching.

I planted two grape seedlings in the yard, and then the yard was concreted, leaving “trunk circles” with a diameter of 30-40 cm around the seedlings. It turns out that it’s concrete- is this mulch?

I covered the sea buckthorn tree trunks with a thick layer of fine gravel with sand and humus. Is this also mulch?

Roofing felt, various polyethylene films- is this mulch material?

What about then: “Mulch- is it some kind of decomposable organic material covering the surface of the soil." (N. Zhirmunskaya)?

And another question: how many buckets of mulch, for example, rice husks, or even better humus, are needed to cover one square meter of the surface of the bed with at least an 8-centimeter (and some recommend 10 cm, or even 15 cm) layer? What if the whole garden bed? What if there are all the beds (I have 28 of them)?

I know... I mulch all my plantings - they call it “total mulching”. And only organic matter: manure, compost, humus, sawdust, hay, straw, weeds, rice husks. I collect leaf litter and weeds from neighbors, nettles- in ravines, straw- on the edges of fields, cardboard boxes- from the market, from shops.

I mulch the raspberry fields with corn and sorghum straw every fall. All year round I mulch strawberries, honeysuckle, gooseberries, currants, and all other shrubs- from hyssop and rue to vitex and unabi, all columnar apple, pear and cherry plum trees. All year round, the tree trunks of pome and stone fruits are lightly mulched.

Perennial grasses in the spring easily penetrate a 1-3 cm layer of mulch. I plant garlic and winter onions (sets and selections) directly in the mulch around the berry bushes. Around honeysuckle and all columnar onions, I plant only winter or spring onions, because when harvesting garlic, the roots of trees and shrubs are severely damaged.

In the summer, I feed pome and stone fruit trees and seedlings, berry and ornamental shrubs, all garden and flower crops with my EM compote, infusions of nettles, legumes, chicken droppings, and silicon pebbles. I combine fertilizing with watering. At the end of July I stop fertilizing with infusions, but I pour EM compote on everything composted until November.

In the fall, after abundant watering with an EM solution, I cover individual beds with cardboard, which I press onto the soil with something heavy so that the wind does not blow it away. By spring, microbes and worms process the organic matter under the cardboard and partially eat the cardboard.

Every autumn I clean the trunks of old trees from dead bark, and in early spring I coat the trunks and skeletal branches with a creamy water mixture of clay and mullein, to which I add a little ash and copper sulfate.

I don’t use any chemicals on the site. No fertilizers, no poisons. I only add nitroammophoska to the EM compote- 200 g for every 200 liters. I use bitoxibacillin against the Colorado potato beetle. I used an ax to combat the curling of peach leaves... I haven’t “sprayed” Bordeaux mixture for five years.

But the most important thing: for seven years now I have not dug beds either in the fall or in the spring. I don't bother my assistants- microbes and worms. I don’t step on the beds, I don’t trample them myself and I don’t allow guests. This is the main law in my area, even for a two-year-old grandson.

I only loosen the non-mulched areas of the beds after watering or rain, shallowly- up to 5 cm

As the main garden tools I use large and small Fokin flat cutters, potato and garlic “planters” made according to Fokin’s description and slightly improved, a pitchfork and a shovel for working with organic matter. Another sickle. With a bayonet shovel I just dig planting holes and dig up potatoes.

I don't need a rake on my property. They and all sorts of other hillers and rippers, hoes and hoes can easily be replaced by Fokin flat cutters. I only use a rake to collect trash on the street in front of the house and leaf litter from neighbors. I don’t collect my leaf litter on the site at all. He “gets lost in the mulch.

More about tools: I try to attach pitchforks, shovels, rakes to rectangular cuttings. I'm trying to get rid of round handles and handles. I believe that a tool should be first of all convenient, and then beautiful. Therefore, I was surprised by one article about the “improvement” of the Fokin flat cutter. One craftsman “modernized” a flat cutter: he replaced the handle, which was rectangular in cross-section, with a round one. It’s good that this note appeared after the death of V.V. Fokin. His invention is a specially curved piece of iron made of good steel, screwed with two bolts to a handle that is rectangular in cross-section.

I understand that everything can be “modernized” ad infinitum... I suffer from this myself. V.V. Fokin did not write that it is convenient to use the handle of a flat cutter to measure, for example, the width of beds or the distance between currant bushes if centimeter marks are applied to it every 5 or 10 cm.

Stationary beds make it easier for me to rotate vegetable crops, plant them together, and ensure consistent planting. In each bed I have 5-6 crops growing at the same time. I learned to combine them according to planting dates, growth, and their mutual influence.

There are no problems with crop rotation, since I use green manure: oats, barley, wheat, beans, fenugreek- that is, cereals and legumes. I gave up rapeseed; cruciferous flea beetles love it very much. I also gave up alfalfa.- My chickens don't particularly like her greens and hay. But it was tempting: seven cuttings per season from 2-3-year-old alfalfa.

"Grass grows on the paths and everywhere possible..."- write K. Malyshevsky and N. Kurdyumov. And everywhere, wherever possible, I have a variety of greens, legumes, marigolds and calendula growing. But grass on the paths is unacceptable to me, especially in the morning, when there is dew or after rain,- the indoor slippers that I wear around the property almost all year round get wet quickly. I don't have any dirt.

And if plantain, dandelion, celandine or chamomile appear in the beds, then for me they are not weeds if they do not interfere with vegetables. I call weeds spinach-raspberries, fennel, chervil, crazy cucumber, which reproduce by self-sowing, as well as tomatoes, watermelons, zucchini, pumpkins and even cucumbers, the seeds of which fall into the beds, often into the raspberry and currant fields, with manure and from the chicken coop. If I grow only yellow and black tomatoes in the garden beds (these are “cultivated”), then red ones (“wild”) grow by self-sowing.

I try to explain to my friends and neighbors: if compost from legume residues is a high-quality fertilizer, then why not make an infusion of legumes for fertilizing? And if nettles are recommended to be infused as an excellent top dressing, then why not compost it? Why not mulch potato, carrot, onion and other plantings with nettles? On the slopes of ravines, nettles grow into 2-meter thick thickets before flowering. Take a sickle- and forward...

Most of my neighbors, unfortunately, don’t understand me and chuckle. My site is called a park, and I- Michurinets. But I don’t take offense at them, I forgive them when they cannot distinguish okra from castor beans, lagenaria from cowpeas.

It’s a shame when in the fall all the plant remains are piled up- and for matches. And then it’s even worse: all the organic matter goes through the fence, into the street, and there along with the leaf litter- into the fire and into the ashes- into the garbage disposal.

S. Kladovikov , Krasnodar region

Growing primarily environmentally friendly products on your personal plot is the dream and goal of many gardeners. And one of the ways to achieve it was organic farming in the country; practice has proven its effectiveness and increased the ranks of adherents and defenders of this method of organizing gardening and gardening work.

What it is

The ideas of organic farming are not an innovation that appeared at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Few people know that the basics of this method of working with land were developed at the end of the 19th century by agronomist and breeder I.E. Osinsky. But then the turbulent 20th century, with its shift toward intensive agriculture, made his ideas irrelevant. And yet, the method proposed by the scientist was not forgotten, and now, out of a fashionable passion for a non-standard approach to growing different crops, organic farming in the country is a practice that has become familiar to many gardeners.

The terms "organic" and "natural farming" are often used interchangeably. The difference between the natural and organic methods of cultivation is determined when we are talking about the result of the farmer’s activity - obtaining environmentally friendly products and selling them.

In order to position products as organic, it is necessary to obtain a certificate of compliance with the relevant standards, and not only for the vegetables or fruits themselves. The entire farm and the growing technologies it uses must be fully certified, as well as the packaging in which the products are packaged, and even the type of delivery to the consumer.

Organic Farming Basics

The organic farming system is based on a fundamental thesis that defines the earth as a living system, an organism, by influencing which a person can completely destroy the soil ecosystem formed over centuries. As a result, the earth will cease to bear fruit in the way that it is capable of doing so if not for human activity. What do we do as soon as we start working with the land?

Of course, we pick up a shovel and set off to dig, destroy weeds, and also try to dig deeper so that not a single root of harmful plants remains in the garden bed. Why are we doing this? But because everyone does it, did it before us and will do it after us! And if we knew more facts about how soil works, how would our behavior change?

Let's give a few examples. Example. “500 kg of vermicompost per year or a couple of Kamaz trucks of brought manure” During research, scientists found that in the soil of just one hundred square meters, untreated with chemicals, there are approximately 200 kg of bacteria and microorganisms, approximately the same number of worms. And all these workers produce 500 kg of vermicompost in 1 year. We appear, obsessed with the idea of ​​cleaning out the garden, digging it up with two shovels, with a tank for treating plants against pests at the ready.

In general, the result is clear: with this approach we will not get even 50 kg. vermicompost per year, because there will be no one to produce it. Nothing! We will bring new land, saturate it with manure and... dig it up again. Example. “Upside down” All microorganisms and bacteria are distributed in the soil in separate layers. Aerobic microorganisms live in the upper layer at a depth of no more than 10 cm. They require a constant supply of oxygen to survive. Thanks to the work of these bacteria, all organic substances are converted into minerals, which provide plant nutrition.

In the lower layer, 10 to 20 cm deep, there are anaerobic bacteria, for which oxygen and high temperature are destructive. Their task is to create humus, which is the basis of soil nutrition. And here again we appear at the dacha with a shovel. Digging and turning over the earth, happily cutting the inverted lump, slamming it a couple of times with this wonderful tool, wiping sweat from the forehead, we mix the layers, and anaerobic bacteria, having got to the top, die from excess oxygen and high temperature, and aerobic bacteria suffocate in the lower layer and cannot withstand the new temperature regime.

For those who love sports and extreme sports, we can suggest starting to walk on your hands in order to feel the difference in sensations after changing body position and get closer to understanding what happens to the earth after our impact on it.

We dug up the ground and were surprised that the weeds had not disappeared. Why? When digging, fresh weed seeds moved into the lower layers of the soil. They will be there until the next digging, and some of them will tolerate such “storage” in the cool lower soil layers just fine. And to the top we raised weed seeds from the lower layer, which, having access to light, begin to actively develop and grow. But we worked hard and were very tired!

Example. “Not a speck, not a blade of grass” Let’s imagine the following picture: an ideal vegetable garden, even beds “with a string”, no weeds, rows of well-groomed cultivated plants. It is good if this is the result of manual labor and patience, and not a generous treatment with chemicals that kill any weed. And here it is - the long-awaited warmth that everyone has been waiting for. With the onset of truly hot days, our plants become noticeably weaker and stop growing. It’s okay, we’ll water them generously and add fertilizer!

However, when watering, we notice that the water is poorly absorbed; literally, when it rolls off the bed, the top layer of soil acquires light shades and dust forms. Breaks and cracks appear on the paths. At the same time, in the forest, even with prolonged heat, most of the plants continue to actively develop, there is no dust or cracks. The ground is covered with a cushion of leaves, branches, pine needles, and it is impossible to find a single piece of bare soil in the forest. The difference is obvious.

What to do? Continue to dig, carry manure, heroically drag it around the site, overcome difficulties, pour water and treat your back, which took the blow. Or you can stop and think about how to make your life easier. If you stop digging and planting a garden for at least one year, you can see how the earth will begin to recover on its own without our help. This was once called: leaving the land “fallow.” Weeds actively grow on such soil. The earth begins to heal itself, since the weed is a shelter for the top layer of soil and a future nutrient medium - after it rots in the winter.

But if you don’t want to stop gardening, you can start applying the principles of organic farming.

There are not many of them, but if you follow them, in a couple of years you can put the soil in order in your dacha and at the same time stop spending a huge amount of time and effort working with the soil. The “DO NOT DIG” principle To implement it you must:

• replace the shovel with a pitchfork, since processing with such a tool causes much less harm;
• purchase a flat cutter and learn how to use it, and if you wish, you can make it yourself ();
• lay out the beds and, if possible, install boxes of any design;
• Replace digging and tillage by loosening the top layer no deeper than 5 cm.

The “Carry out mulching” principle Mulch is a protective layer that performs several functions:

• protection against weathering of the top soil layer;
• maintaining optimal temperature in the soil, protecting it from overheating;
• control of weeds, since mulch suppresses their growth;
• formation of optimal conditions for the life of soil microorganisms;
• moisture retention, which will significantly reduce the need for watering;
• when overheated, the mulch layer is processed, turning into organic fertilizer.

Mown grass, weeded weeds (before they form seeds), straw, processed bark, pine needles, foliage, and sawdust can be used as mulch.

The principle of “Helping the earth, fertilizing with “green” green manure fertilizers” Growing green manure allows you to replace the application of manure and chemical fertilizers. They nourish the earth and heal it. These plants include: mustard, phacelia, buckwheat, oilseed radish, beans, lupine, vetch, oats, rye. Features of agricultural technology used in organic farming include:

• application of crop rotation principles and planting planning;
• mixed plantings, in which several types of different crops are planted in the beds, helping each other to develop, repel pests and form a harvest;
• the use of non-chemical methods of controlling diseases and pests;
• replacing chemical fertilizers with organic ones.

Agriculture according to Ovsinsky

In 1899, I. E. Ovsinsky published the book “The New System of Agriculture.” He analyzed the experience and results of farming using deep plowing with a plow turning over a ball of earth, and provided convincing evidence of the harm from this method of tillage. The book provides indicators of increased yields and soil fertility in cases where intervention in the soil structure is minimized. In addition, the scientist proved that the earth, if left alone for a year (not growing any crops), will recover on its own. Organic farming was subsequently built on these principles.

Kizima method

Those who start looking for information about the basics of natural farming will definitely find information about Galina Aleksandrovna Kizima. At 80 years old, she continues to farm independently, calling her plot “a garden for the lazy.” Of course, laziness here should be understood not as doing nothing, but as the ability to grow plants, saving one’s own strength and not doing unnecessary work.

Galina Aleksandrovna is a practitioner, and her proposals about the rules and technologies for growing different crops are not theorizing, but an assessment and demonstration of the actual results obtained.

Its technology is built on three basic principles: no digging, no weeding and no watering. By acting in this way, we not only save our energy, but also help the earth fulfill its purpose: to grow crops. Using Kizima’s books, you can study the principles of natural farming, or, as Galina Aleksandrovna calls it, the biodynamic method of farming, starting from the stage of preparing beds and ending with the cultivation of individual crops.

beds

Beds in organic farming are not just straight rows with beautiful edges. To organize them correctly, you need to work a little. Perhaps this stage of working with the soil will be the most labor-intensive, but incomparable with the efforts that have to be made for digging or plowing.

Firstly, it is necessary to mark out the area for the beds, calculating not only the width of the planting area itself, but also making the correct paths - row spacing. They should be wide. Of course, not everyone is ready to make such an “uneconomical” use of land, making paths 60-80 cm wide, and the beds themselves 45-50 cm wide. But still, increasing the space between plantings to at least 50 cm will allow the gardener to provide the plants with more light, and this will have a positive effect on the general condition of the crops during the growing season and will increase the yield.

Secondly, the beds must be prepared in advance: not on the eve of sowing the plant, but in the fall. There are several ways you can do this. Way. Immediately after harvesting, it is necessary to sow the ridges with green manure and not remove them from the surface until spring. By this time, they will either completely rot or remain as the first layer of mulch, although quite thin, it will have to be further increased after planting the plants. Way. Filling beds with organic matter is essentially the process of forming warm beds. To do this, furrows with a depth of at least 40 cm are dug, and this is the only case when you will have to pick up a shovel when setting up a garden. Next, branches, organic materials, fresh grass, and soil are laid in layers, after which the bed is covered with mulching cloth.

That’s it, now you don’t need to touch it until spring. In the first year of operation, we plant melons, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Further use of beds using the principle of crop rotation. Such an organic bed can work effectively for 3-4 years. If organic matter is added in the spring, then soil is added to the planting holes so that the plants do not burn under the influence of temperatures that increase as a result of overheating of the organic layers.

Where to begin

To begin the transition from the classical method to growing plants according to the principles of organic farming in your garden plot, you need to study this technology. It is important to decide whether the gardener is ready to accept such a philosophy of working with the land, or whether he strongly doubts its effectiveness.

If in doubt, you can select a small area for testing to understand how it all works in practice.

That is, carry out one or two seasons of agricultural work using natural methods: stop digging, cover the ground with mulch, plant green manure, refuse to use chemicals or reduce their amount by at least half. Then all that remains is to compare the results and draw conclusions.

Practice

If a gardener decides to learn the basics of natural farming, he must understand that starting from scratch will not immediately achieve amazing success. The earth must restore its strength, so tangible results will be visible in the second year of using organic agricultural technology. It is also important to remember that using only one of the methods will not lead to the desired result. You can stop digging, but if you do not mulch the soil, treat the plants with chemicals and do not comply with crop rotation requirements, active positive changes will not occur. What does a farmer gain when he begins to maintain his garden in new ways and means:

1. Labor costs for sowing and planting plants, weeding and loosening are reduced, while saving time and effort is significant.
2. Water consumption is reduced, watering is required less frequently and is not as abundant as with classical agricultural technology.
3. Plants get sick less, grow stronger, and increase productivity, so smaller quantities can be planted.
4. The composition of the soil improves, and even heavy clay soils become easier to cultivate.

Minuses

Is organic farming technology ideal? Of course not. On large areas, observing all the principles of natural farming is difficult and quite costly financially: for mulching you will have to purchase covering materials, replacing chemicals with biological ones will also be expensive. It is easier to complete these tasks within a small plot of land, and, nevertheless, the gardener will also need to make certain investments in the purchase of tools, biological products, and mulching materials, if it is impossible to find their natural analogues.

The earth's ecosystem is changing, new viruses and diseases are appearing, which sometimes cannot be combated only with biological products. The earth does not have time to develop immunity against new pathogenic flora. Therefore, in some cases, gardeners either completely stop growing crops that are susceptible to diseases that need to be treated with chemicals, or, in extreme cases, resort to the use of chemicals. The same applies to pests that appear during the migration of plants from one region to another, especially when crops appear from abroad. As a rule, there are no natural control methods against them yet; in this case, the use of chemistry is also possible.

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