Siderata: what is it and how to use them in the country

Today you can hear quite a lot of good things about siderates from gardeners and farming enthusiasts. These plants grow very quickly and act as an excellent green fertilizer, which is so necessary at every summer cottage. The main task and ability of green manure plants is to restore fertility and complete soil renewal. With the help of green manure plants, you can turn the poorest and most neglected soil into nutritious and fertile soil in a short time.

How to use green manure

You can sow green manure plants in different ways: together with vegetable crops or between plantings (before or after). Siderates are sown in early spring or early autumn.

For example, on a future vegetable garden (for growing cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers) you can already sow green manure plants at the very beginning of spring. After all, all the same, the land will remain bare almost until the end of the spring season, because these heat-loving vegetable crops are not grown in open ground before May.

As soon as the snow melts in the area, you can immediately sow mustard or watercress. These cover plants grow a large amount of green mass in a short time, which, after mowing, is useful as mulch or organic fertilizer.

The root part of the plants must be left in the ground. Microorganisms in the soil will begin to convert plant residues into substances useful for soil and plants. You can help them speed up the process by using a drug with effective microorganisms.

It is advisable to start planting vegetable crops in this bed only 15-20 days after mowing green manure plants.

It is necessary to prepare the soil in the beds for early ripening vegetables (for example, radishes or lettuce leaves) after the last harvest (at the very beginning of autumn). For a month - one and a half before the cold weather, the siderata manage to grow about 40 centimeters of green mass and more than 30 centimeters of the root part. With the arrival of the first frosts, the green mass of green manure dies and the active work of earthworms, bacteria and various microorganisms begins. Throughout the winter season, there is a gradual renewal and improvement of the soil composition. By early spring, this land plot will be completely ready for planting vegetables.

Successful sideration rules

1. Sowing seeds of green manure plants is carried out only in well-moistened and loose soil.
2. The germination period of seeds can be minimized if, when planting, they are rolled a little so that there is more contact with the soil.
3. Birds cause great harm in beds with green manure plants. They can eat seeds that are on the surface of the beds and then all your efforts will be in vain. You can save plants from such a feathered invasion with the help of an ordinary scarecrow.
4. It is not recommended to use for green manure plants that belong to the same family as the vegetable crops intended for planting.This relationship presupposes the same soil nutrition and similar infectious diseases.
5. It is not recommended to disturb the integrity of the soil in the garden bed by digging, and even more so together with the green mass. All beneficial microorganisms are destroyed in the process of digging, and negative changes occur in the composition of the soil. The green part of the plant should be mowed or cut and used for mulch or organic additives.
6. If the siderates of spring planting are not cut off before flowering, then the stems become stiff, which further slows down the process of their decomposition. Therefore, it is recommended to harvest the green mass before it blooms.

Useful properties of green manure

Is green manure really much more useful than conventional mineral fertilizers? Is it worth cultivating them, spending time and energy on caring for them? Let's try to figure out what is the advantage of green manure plants and their benefits.

If you look closely at the life of plants in the wild, you will notice a lot of interesting and instructive things. For many tens and hundreds of years, plants grow and develop themselves, then shed their foliage or completely die, a decomposition process takes place in the soil. In the future, this soil becomes excellent food for the next generation of plants. It provides all the necessary nutrients and becomes fertile on its own.

This happens from generation to generation. The natural fertile layer teaches nature itself to create, without the use of various fertilizers and digging. Representatives of the flora take care of themselves.

If you follow all the rules of green manure, then the poorest and most depleted soil will very soon "come to life" and will give all the plants on it need.

1. Siderata is an opportunity to maintain the balance of all necessary useful elements in the soil: nitrogen, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and organic compounds.
2. The soil will not become fertile without earthworms, small insects, bacteria and microorganisms. Green manure plants contribute to their appearance and create the most favorable conditions for living.
3. The great advantage of these green fertilizers is that they completely eliminate weeds from the garden beds. The carpet from the sowing of green manure is so dense that there is no way even a small weed blade of grass can germinate.
4. The root system of green manure plants is designed in such a way that they, as it were, pull up all the nutrients from the depths to the soil surface. At the same time, the soil becomes loose, with a normal level of acidity, and with great opportunities for the passage of moisture and air.
5. Plants - siderates do not allow moisture to evaporate from the soil and do not allow the soil to overheat. The dense green carpet is a kind of protective layer.
6. Siderata sown in the autumn season will protect the soil in the area from torrential rains and strong gusts of wind, prevent its deep freezing and keep the snow cover until spring.
7. Using joint planting of vegetable and green manure crops, you can protect plants from pests and diseases.

The most common siderates

A large number of flora representatives can be used as green manure. It can be not only vegetables and cereals, but also several types of flowers and weeds.

• From the family cruciferous - radish, mustard, rape.
• From the legume family - soybeans, beans, lentils, peas, clover, alfalfa, chickpeas.
• From the family of cereals - wheat, rye, barley.

Calendula, sunflower, nettle, amaranth, buckwheat, phacelia and nasturtium have proven themselves excellently as green manure plants.

Siderata. What it is? Why are siderates needed (video)