Early autumn, smelling of asters and ripe apples, pleases summer residents with a fresh harvest. But to avoid digging up one bucket of potatoes from two planted buckets in September, you should take care of the main root crop in advance. An experienced farmer knows: preparation for the new season begins in the fall.
Beds without tops
Immediately after harvesting the potatoes, tops, weeds, and small, defective tubers are removed from the beds. Leaves infected with late blight are burned, while the rest are sent to compost or placed under fruit trees.
Water drains
If the area is swampy, it is worth digging ditches so that in the spring the water does not stagnate, but flows to a lower place. If this low place is the bed itself, it is raised using imported soil.
The land that potatoes “love”
Black soil, soddy-podzolic soil, gray forest soil, sandy loam and loam are well suited for planting root crops. But ideal soil is rare. That's why:
- a sandy bed can be diluted with peat and clay soil;
- peat - clay, compost, manure;
- “lighten” heavy soil with peat and sand;
- Fertilize acidic soil with chalk, lime, and dolomite flour.
Organic and green manure
Even an initially fertile area becomes depleted over time and requires feeding. The next step to a good harvest is very important - choosing and applying fertilizers to the soil.Summer residents prioritize manure, compost, ash and green manure. And that's why:
- manure is the most valuable organic fertilizer, which improves the structure and microflora of the soil and increases its fertility. Humus is rich in microelements, including potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, and magnesium. The disadvantage of fertilizer is the high price;
- compost adds humus to the soil, increases the content of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. It goes to the summer resident almost free of charge, but is inferior in efficiency to manure and is not suitable for acidic soil;
- ash is an excellent fertilizer, rich in minerals and organic substances. There is no nitrogen in ash, and this makes it inferior to manure and compost;
- A popular means of fertilizing the soil is green manure. Peas, beans, sweet clover, oilseed radish, and mustard are suitable for potatoes. They contain phosphorus and nitrogen, make the soil softer, more fertile, protect it from weeds and weathering, are affordable and do not require special labor costs. Green manure is sown in prepared soil. Three to four weeks after the plants flower, the ridge is dug up.
The last chord
After fertilizing the soil, dig up the garden with a shovel or walk-behind tractor. At the same time, the earth turns over, but the blocks do not break. In winter, under the influence of snow and frost, they will gradually fragment, while the roots of the weeds will freeze out, and melt water will better penetrate into the soil in the spring.
Autumn is a time not only to take from the earth, but also to give. Proper cultivation of the plot determines what the beds will look like in the spring after a long winter and what harvest the summer resident will reap in the new season.
