DIGGING
Plant roots also breathe, and too dense soil interferes with their respiration and growth. That is why it is important to dig up areas with clay soil for the winter. Unlike the spring digging, the dumped clods do not need to be broken, the frosts themselves will loosen them during the winter. Turning over a layer of earth, you also send weed seeds and pest larvae to the depths, from there it will be impossible for them to get out in the spring. The optimal depth is on the bayonet of a shovel or a couple of centimeters deeper if you want to increase the fertile layer. If the soil on the site is fertile and loose, it does not need to be dug up, it is enough to loosen it up, dig it up with a pitchfork.
SANDING
Heavy clay soil will become looser and more fertile if sand is added to it, and now is the perfect time for this. Coarse river sand is best suited, you will need about a bucket per 1 m2. True, improvement cannot be achieved in one year; the procedure should be carried out for at least five years in a row. After digging with sand, you can immediately form high ridges for sowing vegetables and greens before winter.
LIME
These works are carried out only in late autumn every five years. Most of the soils of the Moscow region need liming, since they have an acidic reaction. When lime is applied, excessive acidity of soils is extinguished, their fertility improves. You can use any local materials: limestone, hydrated lime, chalk, and even cement dust. Add at the same time as digging. If the soil is very acidic (peaty or podzolic, as in the north of the Moscow region), for every square meter of clay and loamy soil, add at least 500 g of lime material, and sandy – 300 g. At an average level of soil acidity, the doses are reduced to 200 and 300, respectively. G.
FERTILIZER
During the autumn digging of the soil, it is good to introduce fresh manure into it (which cannot be used in the spring, as it can burn the roots of plants). During the winter, he will have time to overheat a little; the main thing is not to embed it deeply. Mineral fertilizers are also convenient to apply right now, but they should not contain nitrogen, but only phosphorus and potassium. For the convenience of gardeners in the store, such complex mixtures are labeled “Autumn”.