Fertilizer with rye as green manure for the soil

Description

Buckwheat, rye, red clover are often used as siderates, that is, crops that are grown not for the purpose of obtaining their crop, but for the purpose of improving the soil of the site. Thanks to them, the soil receives organic fertilizer, protection from wind and water – it does not swell with strong autumn winds, and is not washed away by spring floods. Their roots grow to great depths, cutting through the soil, and then decompose – the earth becomes looser with an improved structure and a higher content of nutrients. 

Green manure crops can be sown in spring or autumn in areas reserved for late vegetables, it is good to plant potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and zucchini after them. It is recommended to sow them after onions, garlic, beets, carrots in order to restore the structure and feed the soil with organic matter. Green manure is often compared to manure because it becomes a nitrogen-rich organic fertilizer. But using manure on the site is much more expensive and harder, it is much easier to spend money only on seeds, and then dig up the green mass until ripe, or even just cut the roots with a flat cutter and let them decompose.

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Benefits of Rye

Rye as green manure has a number of advantages. It is quite aggressive, it suppresses the growth of all weeds, not only annuals, but even such persistent ones as sow thistle or wheatgrass – if it is sown in the fall, then in the spring the site will not have to be weeded. It can even cleanse the area of ​​many pathogens and pathogens, since its roots secrete certain substances that allow them to fight. Even the wireworm is getting smaller. Pests and bacteria that have been attracted to vegetables will be minimized in the short time it takes for rye to grow in the garden. This is its great advantage over manure, which, in addition to the benefits of fertilizer, brings a lot of weed seeds, and then you have to fight them.

It is good to sow rye in autumn, August – September, when the garden has already been harvested. Before winter, it will have time to germinate, rye winters better than other cereals – it can hold out even without snow cover. In the spring, as soon as the snow melts, it will begin to grow, quickly gaining green mass. They dig it up at the very beginning of earing, the greens are very tender, they will quickly pereprete in the ground and turn into fertilizer. When the ears begin to ripen, the greens will become much rougher, it will take more time for it to become a top dressing for the vegetables that the owners will plant on this site. 

The root system of rye is very developed, some roots penetrate to a depth of up to 1,5 m. its more fertile.

Why sow rye

In autumn or early spring, when vegetables have already been harvested or not yet planted, rye can be sown to improve the soil, make it lighter and more permeable to air and water. In the spring, it is sown in cold ground, it will germinate anyway, until it is really warm, it will also have time to build up a green mass. The main thing is to plow it into the ground 2 weeks before the time comes to plant vegetables in this area.

In autumn, rye is sown after harvesting, it has time to germinate and loosen the soil of the site, and in spring it accumulates a large green mass during the period when not a single crop grows in the garden. Rye is chosen as an intermediate crop because it is undemanding to growing conditions, it practically does not need care. It has amazing phytosanitary properties, thanks to which it not only fertilizes the earth, but also makes it much healthier. There is only one drawback – winter rye greatly dries up the ground, the site will have to be additionally watered (if it does not rain on time). When sowing, the seeds are not laid deep into the ground: on light soils, it is enough to cover with a layer of 2 cm (so that the birds do not see and collect), on heavy soils, deepen to 5–6 cm. Can be sown in rows with a distance of 10–15 cm, or just scatter the seeds without any order (only cover the birds with earth). Siderates are usually sown densely.

In spring, crops are advised to be harrowed or loosened superficially, if there are rows, then in the aisles you can walk with a flat cutter – this contributes to rapid growth, an increase in green mass. That’s all crop care. 2 weeks before the proposed planting of vegetables, green crops are plowed up and buried in the ground. If the ground is soft and the area is small, then this can be done simply with a pitchfork. The roots are usually not dug up, but only cut off, they themselves will rot in the ground, fertilizing it at a greater depth than the vegetables are planted.

Rye should be sown in order to renew and treat the soil while some vegetables do not grow in it. It will help not only get rid of weeds and pathogenic bacteria, but will also become an excellent organic fertilizer. Delicate greens, cut before the spikelets ripen, can be laid in a compost pit, or can be scattered around the site. Some mulch strawberries with it, such mulch rots very quickly and becomes top dressing.

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