When such happiness falls on a novice agrarian as a new plot, where processing was carried out several decades ago, or there was none at all, he usually panics. How to grow an eye-pleasing garden or vegetable garden on this wild field? Where to start? What to undertake? And takes, of course, the head ...
And yet, virgin soil should be treated not as an impending nightmare, but as a real gift. After all, coupled with undeveloped land, you acquire the opportunity to initially create fertile soil on this site. Moreover, for real, and not just to draw out of it all the juices that have accumulated over a long period of "steam". To master the virgin soil without digging it up is to take the first step towards close cooperation with nature.
The main thing that you need to have when developing virgin lands using the principles of natural farming is patience. Have you managed to create only three beds this season? Great, next year they will already begin their work, and you will slowly continue to develop the dacha spaces.
The first step in the development of the site: mow
If your decision not to dig the ground on the site is firm, this does not mean that you will not have to hit a finger there, and nature will get all the work. There will be enough worries, but completely different. And the first thing to start with on virgin soil is to mow the weeds. It is advisable to have time before they bloom.
Freshly cut grass can not be removed - let worms and other soil inhabitants feed. And you can collect it in a heap and use it in the future as mulch in the garden.
Development of virgin lands without digging: planning and marking
Here you have not so much work with your hands as with your head. It is necessary to think over, plan, depict, and then mark on the site the places of future ridges and row spacings.
You can use the classics and break up the meter-wide beds, leaving 60-70 cm passages between them.
However, many of the natural growers tend to make narrow beds and wide aisles. And they ask the question: which is easier - to plant 50 seedlings and get 50 kg of fruit, or to plant 10 seedlings and get the same amount of a kilogram? It is precisely the narrow beds that contribute to getting the maximum yield from the minimum area. In addition, wide aisles are easier to mow in the future, and more grass will grow there. But you will use it as the main mulch for your beds.
You can approach the "gardening" in an original way: make them asymmetrical, in the form of circles and triangles - here is an unlimited flight for your will and imagination!
It is very important to take into account the climatic conditions when considering the location of the beds. If your summer is usually hot and dry, arrange organic trenches and drowned ridges in the garden, you should not raise them or make boxes. In areas where rain and coolness reign, they do the opposite. When the weather is unstable, sharp temperature changes are not uncommon, the most optimal planting will be at soil level.
Development of virgin lands: arrangement of beds
Well, the pegs were driven in, the beds were marked. Now it's time to tackle them closely. The main task in the development of virgin lands is to destroy weeds.They are perennials with deep roots, and their seeds are scattered throughout the area. The most optimal way to deal with them is to darken. Therefore, no matter what type of beds you have planned - flat on the ground, boxes or trenches - the soil must be isolated from light. This will prevent the roots and weed seeds from germinating. As a rule, for such a purpose, the place under the garden bed is covered with 3-5 balls of newspaper or cardboard, or with a black film that does not allow light to pass through.
Further actions
Option one... In the event that there is no rush, we forget about the covered garden for the whole season. Cardboard or film will increase the activity of soil microorganisms and worms, and the lack of light will lead to the death of most of the weed roots. In the future, they will become a good fertilizer. Of course, it will not do without especially stubborn representatives of the weed kingdom - they will reach for the light, and they will find passages between the beds. This is where a scythe should be kept at the ready. She regularly, before flowering, needs to mow the grass. In autumn, we sow the garden with green manure, and in the spring we pull out a couple of "malicious" weeds with a pitchfork and plant vegetables.
Many experienced gardeners advise sowing rye on virgin soil as green manure - it suppresses weeds well and structures the soil. Moreover, the plants do not need to be buried in the future. The upper part is simply mown and used for mulching, and the roots are left to rot in the ground.
Option two. When in the first year you want to plant or sow something, then layers of cardboard or newspapers should be covered with a thick ball of mulching materials. It can be compost, sod land, rotted manure, algae, humus.
The height of this layer should be at least 10 cm. Already this year, seedlings of tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, pumpkins can be placed on such a bed. The sequence of actions is as follows: we rake the mulching ball and pierce all the layers of cardboard with something sharp, making a small hole. Through it, the roots stretch inward. We put the seedlings in a peat or paper container over the hole, add a little earth around it, and cover it with mulch. Watering. After a few weeks, we mulch the plantings with light material. To do this, you can take straw, husks from seeds, cut grass, leaves, sawdust. The height of this layer is half a shovel bayonet. Our bed, mulched in this way, will feel great without additional watering (this is if the weather is not hot), and without top dressing.
With the arrival of autumn, mulch is either sprinkled on top of the garden, or sown with siderates. It is important not to disturb the soil, weed seeds are still alive there. Let them sit in it, and every year we will simply add organic matter on top to form a new fertile soil layer.
Do not be afraid of virgin lands, master them competently, make the most of their rich reserves, and in this case the garden will become a real breadwinner for you and your family for many years.
