Good afternoon, my reader. Many gardeners completely dig up the plot in the fall, but there are people who consider this time-consuming procedure useless. An analysis of the pros and cons of autumn soil digging will help you figure it out.
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A traditional view of the benefits of autumn digging
An analysis of various statements allows us to conclude about the benefits of digging a garden plot in the autumn season. It consists in obtaining the following results:
- Thanks to the introduction of organic matter or phosphorus-potassium fertilizers on the eve of digging, the soil receives the necessary nutrient compounds.
- If an increased acidity of the soil is detected, then it will be possible to reduce this indicator by adding crushed chalk or dolomite flour.
- Often, after harvesting, green manures are sown on the vacated places, which by the time digging starts are already gaining an impressive green mass. In the process of digging, these plants are embedded in the ground. In the process of overheating, they saturate the site, which has a beneficial effect on the future harvest.
- Some of the green manure, for example white mustard, helps to repel many harmful insects, providing further protection from damage to the crops grown.
- Loose soil retains the snow cover better, therefore in spring it is fully saturated with moisture necessary to obtain friendly seedlings.
- In the spring, on a site that received a full-fledged digging in the autumn season, less laborious processing will be required.
- Rhizomes of weeds raised to the surface die in winter, which helps to keep the beds clean.
- Pests that have settled in the depths of the soil for wintering, and after digging, ended up in the upper layers and on the surface are subject to death from the cold.
Such arguments seem convincing to most gardeners, which prompts them to dig their plots every year in the fall.
An alternative look at the practice of digging a vegetable garden in the fall
The opinion is increasingly common that labor-intensive activities focused on digging a site in the fall are useless and can be easily dispensed with. This is motivated by the following facts:
- The loose structure of the soil remains until the snow melts, and then all soil layers are compacted, which requires subsequent loosening. Therefore, it makes no sense to carry out the same work twice.
- It is more convenient to collect weed rhizomes and plant residues in spring, since most of the organic matter already has time to overheat.
- Of course, the seeds of weeds, which, during the autumn digging process, were able to move into deep soil layers, to the next season will not appear, but most of them do not lose their germination for several years, therefore they will appear after the next cultivation. During spring digging, it is possible to remove weeds that have already germinated, which is more effective, since they are completely destroyed.
- It is not worth hoping that the larvae and adults dug up in the fall will freeze, since they will have enough time before winter to get into the loose soil. Only a decrease in temperature to minus values literally a few hours after the end of excavation will be able to effectively destroy harmful insects.
- Saturation of the loosened soil with thawed moisture also refers to the dubious advantages of autumn digging, since by the time of sowing activities it has time to evaporate.
Comparing different points of view, you can independently conclude that it is necessary to dig a suburban area in the autumn or spring season.
Are you digging a vegetable garden in the fall?
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