How to make garden beds correctly. How to make garden beds
Gardening is a favorite hobby of many of our fellow citizens. In other years, only the presence of their own personal plot allowed keeping the family budget afloat, but today the vegetable garden can be considered as a source of fresh and environmentally friendly products for the family table.
But in order to get a rich harvest, it is very important to master competent soil cultivation technology, since otherwise you will not be able to provide a normal growing process for the crops you grow. In particular, it is very important to know how to make the right garden beds. This article is devoted to the consideration of this issue.
Initial soil preparation
If you are going to use some area for beds, it must be processed and dug up as carefully as possible, simultaneously freeing it from debris, plant roots and trees. If you plan to make beds on a site where some kind of backyard buildings previously stood, you will have to spend a lot of time cleaning it from construction debris. As a rule, in this case, a lot of glass, bunches and remnants of boards remain in the ground. All this must be removed.
In addition, after that, it is advisable to bring there a layer of normal soil, from which the beds will be formed. Of course, you can try to grow plants on the remaining soil, but its fertility will be a big question.
What should you pay special attention to?
Before making the correct garden beds, it is very important to prepare the bottom layer of the soil. The fact is that with its strong compaction, moisture will constantly linger in the beds. In dry years this is good, but the rest of the time there will be a constant risk to plants, as their roots can simply rot.
It is advisable to use a cultivator for loosening, since it will be very difficult to properly loosen the soil by hand. Important! If this is your first time making beds in this place, it is advisable to give the soil for research: it may be too acidic or alkaline. It is better to immediately add appropriate additives to it, since otherwise it will not be possible to grow a rich harvest.
Among other things, we would recommend planting green manures on newly cultivated lands. It is best to use alfalfa or other legumes for them. You don't need to sow rye as it makes the soil very acidic. An exception can be made only for highly alkaline soils. Of course, in this case, all agricultural activities take much more time, but all costs are paid off.
When the issue with the soil is completely resolved, you can start marking the beds.
Of course, creating beds always starts with delineating boundaries and digging, but it is important to remember that high crop yields can largely depend on other factors. Before making the right garden beds, it is also important to choose their location in relation to the cardinal points. You should not approach this issue frivolously, since the yield of plants depends on the correct choice of location.
Let's take a look at some of the generally accepted rules to follow when creating sites for growing different crops. So, vegetable ridges are located in the direction from north to south. It is best to make them rectangular. It is believed that it is more convenient to handle the ridges if they are 1.2 m wide. The length can be of any length, it all depends on your preferences and the size of the site.
They are made at least 40 cm wide, but it is preferable to provide even wider passages, since in this case it is possible to strengthen the edges of the ridges with boards or slate.
Roughly the same requirements apply to the layout of flower beds or beds. Of course, their corners are much better to be rounded, since those look much better. Before correctly making the beds in the garden, it is preferable to outline their future boundaries with twine and a few pegs. Remember to indent, otherwise you won't have room for the aisles.
What if you are setting up a garden bed in a former meadow?
Important. In this case, it is necessary to carefully remove the sod. Make compost out of it: this fertilizer contains a huge amount of nutrients that contribute to a significant increase. Here's how to make a good garden from which you will get a great harvest!
You need to start digging the soil from the edge of the string stretched along the border. The shovel needs to be worked so that a neat and well-defined line is obtained. In this way, we dig the entire border of the garden. Be sure to pay attention to how dense the ground is at the depth of the shovel bayonet. If there is a lot of clay, you will have to dig two or three bayonets of the shovel deep. Or use a cultivator or even a tractor.
We use a hoe or a hoe!
When you peel off the turf layer, you will find that there is quite decent, but still somewhat dense soil underneath. If the soil is packed too tightly, it will be preferable to cultivate it with a hoe, since in this case you tear the roots of the plants, and the structure of the soil becomes much better. Since making a garden bed with your own hands can be difficult, you must purchase all the necessary tools for tillage in advance.
In a word, the creation of beds is a rather troublesome and time-consuming business. Therefore, it is worth taking care of preserving the results of your labor, strengthening the resulting ridges. The easiest way to use the planks is to hammer in the pegs to support them. But the blind area of bricks or natural stone is much more durable. Plus, she looks much prettier.
When making a garden with your own hands (including beds), do not forget about the accuracy of your work. Such a personal plot will give you a lot of positive emotions!
And how to make the beds in the garden if you want to get the harvest from them as early as possible, starting from April-May?
We make warm beds
In order to get a rich harvest and cucumbers in our middle zone, there is not enough natural growing season, because the land warms up too late and freezes quickly. Since making a warm bed is not difficult, you can correct this annoying misunderstanding without spending money on building a greenhouse or even a greenhouse.
By the way, what is it? In this case, before starting the development of the site, you need to dig a ditch 40-50 cm deep, which completely repeats the contours of the future bed. Layers of manure are laid there, which must be alternated with the remains of tops, rotten wood and similar organic debris. It is also allowed to use kitchen waste.
Before you make a warm bed, you can also buy It heats up best. Having sketched a layer of waste flush with the edges of the ditch, we lay fertile soil on top of them, and the thickness of its layer should be at least 40 cm, since otherwise the roots of the plants may burn out.
Further actions
After that, cover the finished bed with foil and leave it for a couple of days. When the ground warms up noticeably, you can plant seedlings. It is better to combine this method with the installation of a film shelter. In this case, planting of plants can begin almost immediately after the snow melts and the strong morning frosts disappear.
Here's how to make garden beds. There are some difficulties with this, but as a result you will get an excellent harvest of your own vegetables.