Cons of siderates in the garden. I tell you how to replace them, reduce labor costs and prepare the soil for the next season

Siderata nourish the earth with macro- and microelements, make the soil loose and airy. But besides the pros, there are also disadvantages. There is little information on the Internet about how to replace green manure on the site in order to reduce labor costs and prepare the soil for the next season.

Features of siderates

It is better to select green manure for certain crops.

Vika is suitable for tomatoes, for mustard carrots. If you miss the mowing date, the green mass will rot for a long time in the ground. Experts believe that ignoring the strict rules for the use of green manure can lead to a sharply negative effect from them.

Cons of siderates

Many of these plants attract pests to the garden, for example, slugs, wireworms, and cruciferous flea beetles. In cold and damp weather, diseases can appear on the green manure, which can pass into the soil.

For the soil, siderates provide nitrogen, the remaining elements are in scanty amounts. The roots of these plants rot for a long time.

How to replace siderates: the original method

Blogger Yevgeny Shadrin on his YouTube channel shares his effective method of using green manure in his summer cottage. This method is less labor intensive and time consuming.

To get quick humus, Evgeny sows the site with perennial green manure (clover). It grows with a thick cap all summer round. If you cut it every 2-3 weeks, you can get a lot of humus by the end of the season.

Clover is mixed with weeds, for example in heaps. The mass decays quickly. The grass is cut with a trimer or an electric lawn mower.

When the beds are released (in August-September), the mass is applied to the beds at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 sq. meter, granulated chicken droppings in the amount of 2 cups per 1 sq. meters.

If the soil is poor, then you can apply complex organo-mineral fertilizers in the fall. By spring, the earth will be filled with nutrients. Siderata will practically decompose in the soil.

In the spring, the beds must be dug up with last year's leaves, the latter loosen the ground well, attract earthworms. They are considered a good indicator of soil fertility, humus composition.

In addition, earthworms disinfect the earth, loosen the soil, making it breathable, enrich the soil with macro- and microelements, amino acids, and enzymes.

Dug up beds must be covered with foliage, humus, compost or grass. They need to be watered so that the mass rotted faster.

This method is considered to be more efficient and less labor-intensive than simple sowing of green manure.