IN ornamental cultivation plants, specially prepared soil is used. This soil is a material after the decomposition of foliage, turf, wood, humus, moss, peat, it contains a lot of humus, but taking into account the initial raw materials, it has different chemical and physical characteristics.

As a rule, the following lands are prepared in gardening:

leafy;
peat;
turf;
compost;
humus.

Description and characteristics of turf land

Sod land is prepared on pastures; it is advisable to use long-term, fallow, old grass stand for this purpose. There is no need to prepare it in areas with low or high acidity. In this case, the turf land is divided into:

light - with a large volume of sand;
middle - with equal parts of sand and sand;
heavy - with a large volume of clay.

Preparations begin in early July. By this time, the grass stand will have already reached its full development, and the turf prepared for frost will necessary care can decompose. The layers are cut with a size of 25-35 cm, a layer of 9-12 cm, taking into account the density of the turf soil. The length is chosen at personal discretion.

The sod is folded in stacks 1.4-1.4 meters any length in such a way that the grass cover of any subsequent layer is laid on the grass cover of the lower layer. The “sandwiches” are treated with a liquid mullein mixture to speed up decomposition and saturate the soil with nitrogen. To reduce acidity, add several kilograms of lime per cubic meter. earthen mixture. The stacks are watered with manure solution from time to time, and to prevent it from draining, a trough-shaped depression must be arranged on top of the stack.

High-quality turf soil will be available only after two years. Over the course of the next summer season, the stack needs to be overpaid at least several times. In the fall, the soil is removed to the utility room and used for work. If it is outside, it loses its properties - nutritional value, elasticity, etc.

Turf soil is the most important soil in gardening; it is quite porous, enriched with all the nutrients that last for many years. It is used for growing greenhouse and indoor flowers, as well as for all kinds of earth substances.

Other types of earthen mixtures

Leaf ground

It is prepared in autumn in deciduous plantings. The best leaves are considered to be acacia, maple, linden, fruit trees. Willow and oak foliage contains a large number of tanning elements, therefore they are not used for preparation.

Sometimes forest flooring is used for harvesting, removing the top layer of 3-4 cm. Collected dried leaves or forest flooring with pieces of small branches, grass, etc. put into stacks of 1.2-1.2 meters of any length. During laying, water with mullein mixture or manure liquid and tamp, otherwise the leaves will not decompose easily. During the subsequent summer season, this mass must be water several times manure liquid and shovel thoroughly. You can add a little lime before mixing. By next autumn, the leaves rot and transform into leafy soil.

Humus soil mixture

In greenhouse conditions, this soil is also called greenhouse soil, since it is made from rotted manure with soil in a greenhouse. Animal manure, placed in greenhouses in the spring as biological fuel, becomes humus by autumn.

Light humus is obtained from sheep and horse manure;
Made from cow dung - heavy.

The humus removed from the greenhouse in the fall is placed in piles, just as for turf soil, moistened and shoveled several times during the subsequent summer season. The stacks remain on the street for one year. Then the humus is stored in a utility room.

Peat soil mixture

Most often her prepared from peat bogs. Sometimes peat chips or briquettes are used to prepare it. Already decomposed peat is placed in piles. During laying, the layers are watered with manure liquid every 22-27 cm. At the end of the first season and in the middle of the second, the peat is shoveled and in the 3rd year it is ready for use.

Peat soil is quite hygroscopic, loose, and elastic. It is used for various soil substances as a leavening agent, most often with turf soil, since this increases its physical characteristics, making it lighter and looser.

Compost soil mixture

It is harvested by composting in piles, pits of various animals and organic residues, weeds, and household waste. As residues accumulate, they are transferred for disinfection, watered with slurry and sprinkled with peat. For next season compost heap shoveled several times, moisturizing with manure liquid. At the end of the third season, the compost is ready for use. Its properties and quality are quite varied and will depend on the type of household waste and the properties of the composted raw materials.

As a rule, compost piles by quantity nutrients are in an intermediate state between leaf and turf.

Heather soil mixture

Today, it has lost its meaning and instead they use a substance that consists of three parts peat, two parts leaf compost and part sand. It is prepared in the same way as compost.

They begin to prepare it and put it in piles in the fall, mixing it with potassium, manganese, phosphorus and lime. In the summer, they shovel twice. From the territory on which the last few years there were plants that are nightshade and cabbage varieties, soil is not collected.

A high-quality garden soil mixture with a small addition of sand can be successfully used for cultivated indoor flowers.

Wood soil mixture

It is prepared from roots, logs, wood chips, dead wood, rotten trees, etc. Decomposed wood residues create a light soil, similar in composition to leaf soil, but poor in useful elements and acidic. It is used when growing bromeliads, daffodils and orchids.

Composted bark substance

The ground bark is placed in piles, mixed with sludge from pulp mill settling tanks, this creates decomposition of the bark thanks to various trace elements. Biological and chemical processes during composting, they occur more intensively in a substance with a bark size of 2-6 mm with a urea mixture of less than one percent of the dry weight of the bark during the first month. Composting with constant shoveling takes approximately 1.5 months in the summer and up to 5 months in the winter. The temperature in the compost increases up to approximately 68-75 degrees.

Compost in one cubic meter. has approximately 64 grams of phosphorus, 350 grams of potassium, 25 grams of manganese, 35 grams of iron, 35 grams of magnesium, copper and other substances. It is mixed with peat, adding a little lime, and sometimes clay and phosphorus, and thus is used to improve the soil.

Additives to various earthen substances

Moss. Sphagnum is prepared in swamps. After drying, grinding and sifting, moss is used in earthen substances to impart absorbency, looseness and lightness, that is, to increase moisture capacity. Moss in its purest form used in cultivating lilies of the valley, for covering the roots of orchids and other indoor flowers. It is best suited as a substance for stratification and growing large seeds (banana, avocado).

Charcoal is added in small pieces in small quantities to mixtures for flowers that do not respond well to strong moisture. Coal absorbs excess moisture and releases it when there is not enough moisture. In addition, it is used as an antiseptic drug in powder form for dusting cuts on dahlia tubers, gladioli, canna roots, etc. To some extent, it absorbs herbicides and other chemical elements from the soil.

Sand. The best is coarse river sand. Sea sand must be thoroughly washed in advance to remove salts. Quarry sand, which contains oxides of iron and other metals that negatively affect plants, as well as silt and clay elements, is not suitable.

Most often, sand is added to earthen mixtures without any processing. in the amount of 1/4 of total number , for better looseness. When cutting and filling seeds in sowing containers, bowls, greenhouses, the sand is thoroughly washed beforehand. running water from silty or loamy elements. For difficult-to-root plants, quartz sand is used. This sand gives the mixtures porosity and looseness, this ensures the passage of air and water to the roots of flowers, and prevents the formation of moss and fungi in boxes, containers with cuttings and crops.

Mixing and storing soil mixtures

As a rule, the floriculture industry makes reserves of garden soil for several years in advance, stored in a closed and warm room. Before this, the lands must pass through a screen. For any type of soil mixture make special chests, they are often placed under shelving in greenhouses. In this case, you need to make sure that when watering the flowers, water does not pass into the lari.

For proper cultivation For different flower crops on the farm, you need to have all the above-described soil compositions. They must be free from pests and viruses. When composing substances, one must take into account biological properties flowers, their age, growing conditions, as well as the reaction of the soil in which this plant can develop.

Leaf soil is formed due to the natural decomposition of leaves, which progresses over time. This is a kind of compost obtained from the leaves of trees and shrubs. The difference between regular compost and leaf soil is due to the content nutrients. Compost contains significantly more nutrients because it is obtained from nitrogen-rich organic waste. Leaf soil is mainly carbon compounds, which are the main constituent material of leaf plates. Leaves turned into humus are used as an addition to the soil, which significantly improves its structure by increasing the layer of water absorption.

Why use leaf soil?

Leaf ground added to or in flower pots improves soil quality in at least two ways. Significantly increases its ability to accumulate moisture, significantly improving growing conditions, especially on light, highly permeable soils. Also creates favorable environment habitat for earthworms and soil microorganisms that improve soil structure. Plants grown in areas with added leaf soil are less susceptible to drying out, and their roots develop more easily in loose, humus-rich soil.

Preparing leaf soil yourself is also a great way to use up leaves, which are a big problem in many gardening areas in the fall.

What leaves are suitable for leaf soil?

To prepare leaf soil, you can use the leaves of most trees, ornamental and fruit bushes, with the exception of leaves with a large amount of tannins. An excellent source of leaf compost would be, for example, the leaves of fruit trees. Never use oak leaves for compost - they decompose slowly due to the tannins they contain.

How to prepare leaf soil?

In larger gardens, the leaves simply need to be placed on a compost heap, which should be large enough to retain moisture. If you have a small amount of leaves, you can use a garden composter, which will facilitate compact storage of leaves. Leaves stored in a pile or composter can be topped with ready-made compost (if available) or a small amount of soil. Then we water the future compost generously.

In small gardens, good leaf soil can be prepared in plastic bags, to which we also add a small amount of soil or ready-made compost. We make holes in the filled bags in several places and water the contents. To compost, place the bags in a shady corner of the garden - checking the contents for moisture from time to time.

The process of preparing leaf soil is not labor-intensive, but lengthy, so you must, first of all, be patient. It takes 6 to 12 months before the leaves turn into humus. Composting can be done by shredding the leaves (eg using a mower) and regularly watering the compost heap or bags of leaves.

How to use leaf soil?

Leaf soil is usually added to the soil in spring or autumn during the preparation of sowing or planting plants. Just like compost or manure, we mix it with the top layer of soil. However, throughout the season we can use leaf soil to mulch flower beds and beds, thereby providing plants high humidity soil and limiting the development of weeds. It must be remembered, however, that leaf soil, although it provides plants favorable conditions to grow, it doesn't give them the nutrients we need to provide in other ways, such as by adding compost or manure.

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Leaf soil (leaf humus)

I. P. Popov, "Growing early vegetables"
Gorky Publishing House, 1953
Published with some abbreviations.

In vegetable growing, leaf soil is not used so often. It is used in a mixture with other soils, mainly to loosen heavy turf soils. Most often, leaf soil is used in ornamental gardening, especially when sowing small seeds flower plants. Leaf humus is obtained from the decomposition of leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs. When harvesting leaf soil, one must take into account the fact that the leaves decompose rather slowly. On average, good leaf soil is obtained only after 2-3 years. Leaf soil should be harvested on farms where there is forest, plantings, and parks nearby, since the collection large quantity leaves is quite a labor-intensive job.
To prepare leaf soil in the fall, after the leaves have fallen, or early in the spring, before the grass has yet grown, the leaves along with thin twigs are raked with an iron rake. Collected leaves dumped into a hole 60-70 cm deep. The leaves are covered with a thin 10-15 cm layer on top loose soil in order to somewhat compact the leaves and protect them from being blown away by the wind and water evaporation. It is better to make a pit in shady place. During the summer, the leaves in the hole are shoveled and watered with slurry. After two or three years, a very light, dark-colored mass—“earth”—is obtained. cubic meter leaf soil weighs only 600-700 kg.
To get leafy soil in more short term, leaves collected in the fall should be dumped for temporary storage in one of the corners of the greenhouse area, covered with a thin layer of soil so that they are not scattered by the winds, and left in this form until spring. When shelving and thinning vegetable plants, a large plant mass accumulates. All this green, juicy mass is taken to the area allocated for greenhouses and stacked in long piles 2-2.5 m wide and 2 m high.
Laying is carried out in a certain order. A collected leaf 20-25 cm thick is placed on the bottom, and a layer of weeds of the same thickness is placed on top of the leaf; then another layer of leaves is laid down, etc. The pile is completed with a layer of weeds sprinkled on top with a thin layer of soil. Under the influence high temperature and humidity, the whole mass quickly decomposes, begins to settle heavily and before the onset of frost turns into a solid fatty mass. In the spring of next year and over the summer, the pile is shoveled 2-3 times. By autumn, the leaf soil is completely ready for use.
In the absence of pre-prepared leaf soil, you can use forest litter. To do this, you need to rake off the undecomposed leaves and twigs in the spring and, after removing the top 5-6 cm layer, pass it through a screen. Such leaf soil is obtained quickly, but it is of little value, since most of the nutrients are leached from it and it is not free from pests and pathogens.

Advantages of turf soil as part of a garden mixture

How are garden mixtures different?

First, let's talk about the obvious differences between garden mixtures, because their composition is sometimes very different. Considering the main ingredient of the garden mixture, you can understand whether the mixture is sour or not. For example, if the garden mixture contains peat and there are no deoxidizing agents such as dolomite flour, then there is a high probability that the soil will be acidic.

And if turf soil is present as a base, this may indicate that the soil has a neutral reaction (but this is not 100%, so it is still advisable to check the acidity of the soil by analysis).

What is good about turf soil?

It is especially loved by gardeners because it contains an abundance of nutrients, is rich in minerals, is considered light soil and moisture-permeable, although the values of the latter properties are rather average.

Quite often, turf soil is the basis of many soil mixtures, and such mixtures are readily purchased by people who do not accept the acid and “uselessness” of peat.

The amount of turf soil in the soil mixture

Typically, the amount of turf soil in the soil mixture can vary greatly and range from a third to a half of the entire mixture. However, we should not forget that the turf mixture, despite its nutritional value, may be quite low in nitrogen; as a result, additional additions of this element will be required.

If we talk about the acidity of turf soil on average, then turf soil is usually (but not always) close in this indicator to compost soil, because turf soil is often formed from the same “substances” as compost, only over a longer period of time.

How to prepare turf soil yourself?

Places for turf harvesting

The easiest way to cut the soil into pieces and collect them is in any deciduous forest area. This is where the turf forms the fastest. But it is not possible to collect turf soil “under every tree”; it is better to use soil from linden alleys, soil from under maples and various fruit plants.

As for such crops as, for example, willow or oak, it is better not to take turf there. The thing is that the turf, for the most part formed from the leaf mass of these plants, and therefore the turf soil that you will later get from the turf, is literally saturated with tannins, which always act in the same way - they inhibit the growth and development of any plant , caught in such soil.

To collect sod to obtain sod land, sometimes you don’t need to go far - the nearest forest area or even park area, here are a couple of suitable places to collect such land. Why? Yes, because, in essence, turf soil is a layer of turf ranging from a couple of centimeters to five centimeters thick, depending on how long trees have been growing in this place, whether it is an artificial planting or a forest.

This layer is literally permeated with small twigs, dried leaf blades, blades of grass and the remains of their parts. At its core, it is the basis for preparing turf soil suitable for growing the most different cultures and ideal for growing flower crops.

Place for harvesting turf land at the edge of the forest. © The Woodchuck Canuck

Types of turf soil

There can be several types of turf soil, depending on the place where the turf was taken to obtain it. Basically, it is the mechanical composition of the soil in this area that plays a role here. For example, you can prepare light turf soil; it will consist of clay and dust particles in an amount of about 30% by volume, the rest, as we said above, is almost ready-made humus from twigs and other things.

The second option is heavy turf soil, in which the amount of clay and dust particles can reach 60 percent or even more.

Sod land harvesting time

Of course, this is not winter, not early spring and not late autumn, best option- this is May, that is, late spring or late summer, that is, the month of August. They prepare turf soil from turf, that is, they literally cut the soil into squares up to five centimeters thick (in rare cases they take more), up to 15 centimeters wide and up to twenty centimeters long.

After the cut pieces of turf are delivered to their final destination, they are placed in stacks, preferably in a place where the sun shines, but for no more than a couple of hours a day. Further, these sods, in order for them to turn into full-fledged sod land, must undergo a kind of “ripening”, and this requires specific conditions.

For example, let’s take turf brought from a forest. It can be stacked in a stack of absolutely any length and width, but it is better not to make this stack more than one and a half meters high. It is best to do sod stacking closer to autumn or at its very beginning; therefore, spring harvesting is less appropriate; it is better to focus on autumn harvesting.

What to do after harvesting?

After harvesting and stacking the turf, it is necessary to moisten it with slurry, usually at square meter Sods half a meter high need a bucket of slurry. It must saturate the turf, which is necessary to start and activate the fermentation processes and speed up the preparation of the turf soil.

The second option for preparing turf soil

Its essence lies in the peculiar laying of turf. They need to be laid in rows, also in stacks, but so that the parts covered with grass, those that look up, are directed inward, that is, the grass in the stacks is turned towards the grass.

And between these layers of grass it is necessary to lay cow or horse manure a layer of 11-12 cm every 30-40 cm (in height) and so on up to a meter or one and a half - maximum. If you managed to prepare the turf, but it is acidic, then when laying it you can mix the manure with lime; you only need 40 g of it per square meter of turf.

What are the stack sizes?

They are very different, most importantly, no more than one and a half meters in height, because higher is simply inconvenient to work with. As for the width, the optimal length is up to 110 centimeters, and the length is up to two meters. In large stacks, in addition to the inconvenience of their maintenance, it is usually much it's getting worse air exchange, and the decomposition of the turf itself is greatly slowed down.

What to do with the stack in winter?

It’s best not to touch it at all, leave it as is, don’t cover it, just wait for the heat to set in, and as soon as the air warms up to 5-8 degrees above zero, moisten it with mullein solution (3 kg per bucket of water, that’s per square meter of stack).

During the warm summer period, among other things, the stack needs to be mixed several times (two or three times). It is best and most convenient to use ordinary garden forks for this. Mixing the stack will speed up the process of converting the turf into full-fledged turf land and will allow the “feeding” to be more evenly distributed throughout the entire mass of the future turf land.

If in summer period If the weather is devoid of natural moisture, that is, there is no rain for a long time, then it is imperative to moisten the stack with ordinary water from a hose, trying to water it so as to completely wet it.

In some cases, two seasons are enough - that is, the first season is laying the pile in spring or autumn, the second season is tedding, and by the end of the warm second season the turf soil is ready. But sometimes, if the turf has not clearly decomposed, then it is necessary to repeat all the procedures for another season, and after it is over, the turf soil can be safely used.

If you need a little turf land

It is worth noting that if you need turf soil in modest sizes, for example, to renew the top layer in flower pot a couple of centimeters thick, then it doesn’t need to be cooked in such a long way.

To obtain a small amount of turf soil, it is permissible to cut off a layer of turf, spread a plastic film and, holding the turf by the grass, shake the soil from a piece of turf onto the film.

Quite a lot of soil is obtained this way when cutting turf in meadows, however, if you notice that sedge or horsetail grows in this place, then be sure that the soil here is acidic, but if they grow legumes, then it will be quite suitable for use.

To obtain a small amount of turf soil, you can cut off a layer of turf and simply shake the soil out of it into a container. © Superdom

How to use turf soil?

What to do with turf soil before use?

Before use, the turf soil must be passed through a fine-mesh mesh, creating something like a screen familiar to all gardeners and gardeners. In this case, all large fractions, as well as those parts that have not decomposed, will roll down the screen, and the smallest parts will pass through it, forming a uniform free-flowing mixture.

After this, the turf soil can be folded into wooden boxes or plastic bags (like sugar bags) and be sure to put them out of reach sunlight room. It is better to keep the bags lying on their sides so that the mixture does not compress.

On the site, that is, literally “under open air", ready-to-use turf soil should not be left. Under the influence of rain, sun and wind, as well as changes in day and night temperatures, the turf soil will lose some of its nutritional properties, become less porous, less elastic and naturally less suitable for further use as a component in the preparation of nutritious soil.

Preparation of the resulting turf land immediately before use

Usually, turf soil is not used in its pure form. True, if you have the opportunity to do a chemical analysis of the soil in the laboratory, and the data shows that the main components in the soil you brought are present in sufficient quantities, then, in principle, such soil can be used without additional enrichment.

As a rule, various kinds of “impurities” are added to the turf soil - often these are complex fertilizers, say, nitroammofoska, 10-15 g is enough for a bucket of turf soil. You can add wood ash, it contains up to 5% potassium, you need 500 grams per bucket of turf soil.

Application should be accompanied by thorough mixing until the composition is homogeneous. Sometimes, to increase the amount of turf soil and loosen it somewhat, river sand is added in the amount of one part sand to three parts turf soil.

Next, we strongly recommend disinfecting the turf soil, because essentially anything can be in it, and the fact that it has lain in layers in the cold for one or two winters does not fully guarantee the destruction of pest ovipositors or disease spores.

By the way, the procedure for disinfecting turf soil must be carried out initially, before mixing it with fertilizers or river sand. Most best option- is to pour boiling water on it. To do this, you need the largest colander, into which you should pour turf soil and pour boiling water from a kettle. Of course, in this way you can destroy beneficial microflora, but in this case the risk is justified and necessary.

Application of turf soil

Turf soil is usually used for growing a wide variety of indoor plants and seedlings, for forcing green crops or growing vegetable crops in winter for the sake of obtaining an “out of season” harvest.

The main thing is to use the turf soil correctly, loosen the top layer more often, water it, apply fertilizers if this or that plant needs it, and when placing it in a container, be sure to initially lay a drainage layer there, the role of which can be played by expanded clay, broken brick, pebbles or other small pebbles.

Where can I get leaf soil? Leaf soil. Video on how to prepare turf soil for seedlings? Olga