At the beginning of autumn, we collect ripe fruits and prepare suitable conditions for a rich harvest next year. Our consultant Dmitry Lukyanov, agronomist and vegetable grower, candidate of agricultural sciences, gives useful advice.
7 September 2016
Simultaneously with the collection of fruits and vegetables, it can be useful to start cleaning up the vacated areas. Indeed, just now, various pests and pathogens are beginning to prepare for wintering. And in order to survive the frosts, they need the remains of plants and fruits on the surface of the earth. It will be necessary to collect and destroy them. At the end of the month, carefully so as not to damage the roots, dig up the ground under the fruit trees, turning the layers over. Then, for digging, it will be possible to bring in rotted manure and ash. Under one adult tree, about 5 kg of manure and a glass of ash are taken. Note to yourself: in early spring, before the leaves appear, you need to process such a tree along the branches with a Bordeaux mixture. If the soil has not changed in the greenhouse for several years, and the cucumbers and tomatoes began to hurt, do not regret it, remove the top layer of the soil, it serves as a good place for wintering pests, and every year there are more of them. Use this soil to sprinkle the layers of plant residues in the compost pit.
Until the middle of the month, in order to increase the yield next year, the leaves of strawberries and strawberries are cut, and they are fed with organic fertilizers.
To prevent raspberries from spreading around the garden, you need to restrict their root system. If the farm has an old slate, you can dig it along the borders of the raspberry tree to a depth of at least 40 cm, the upper edge flush with the soil. If there is no slate, use the old greenhouse film, folded in four or more layers. It is very good to plant gooseberries and black currants in September. The best for autumn planting are two-year-old seedlings with roots up to 20 cm and ground shoots up to 40 cm. Planting slightly obliquely, deepening the root collar, this contributes to the formation of a lush bush. The soil around the seedling is mulched with peat. It is recommended to cut the currants immediately after planting, leaving no more than four most developed buds on each shoot.
In the first half of September, small-bulbous plants, such as muscari, crocuses, snowdrop, are usually planted, and in the second half of the month, large-bulbous ones. It is important to plant tulips deeply and rarely: at a depth of 2 times their height and at a distance of at least two of their diameters from each other. Small bulbs, on the other hand, are best planted closer together. If the soil is dry, then after planting it must be watered. Until the middle of the month, you need to dig, divide and transplant perennials that bloom in spring, loosen the ground around the plants, weed weeds. At the end of September, phlox, gladioli, rudbeckia end flowering. They are cut to the ground, the soil is mulched with peat.