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Leaf soil. Forest soil - harvesting and mixtures with your own hands. Why do cats dream?

Flower growers are often faced with the fact that turf soil or a mixture of it with various fillers is recommended for planting plants. Experienced gardeners usually have a good idea of what this is, but for a beginner this concept may be new. Today we will look in detail at what turf soil means, where to get it, and what effect it has on the growth and development of plants. If this is your first time replanting a plant, it sometimes seems easier to buy a ready-made substrate in the store. In fact, the soil mixture prepared at home is no different from the one that will be offered to you in a beautiful, factory-made package.

The basis of floriculture

Mixtures for planting houseplants can vary greatly in composition. The main difference is which ingredient predominates in it. Knowing their properties well, you get the opportunity to take into account the individual characteristics of each potted plant and select the soil in which they will develop favorably.

Turf soil is considered the main one in floriculture. It is used in the manufacture of most soil mixtures. Plants adapt very well to it, developing intensively.

Substrate differences

Turf soil is a term used to describe various garden soils. At first glance, it is quite simple to remove the top layer of soil, which contains plant humus. However, garden soil can be obtained from the decomposition of turf or other organic matter. The starting substrate will influence the physical and Chemical properties the resulting soil mixture. Therefore, today we will consider several options, as well as the possibilities of optimally combining them with each other.

Sod land

It is very rich in nutrients. Moreover, the potted plant will be provided with food for several years to come, without requiring additional fertilizing. It is obtained mainly from meadows and pastures, as well as fallow lands. The main selection criterion is the presence of grass-clover grass at the final collection sites of the substrate. However, it cannot be said that it will be the same in any case. There are:

heavy turf substrate, which is different big amount clay;
average;
light, containing the most sand.

Seasonal factor

And we continue to understand the concept of turf land. What it is, where to get such a soil mixture, now we will tell you in detail. Harvesting is carried out in the summer. To do this, you need to select the period of maximum grass stand. In this case, the calculation is made in such a way that the turf will have time to partially decompose before the winter cold. But it will take much longer to obtain the finished substrate. Initially, the turf is cut into layers 20 cm wide and 8 cm thick. Now you need to stack it in stacks up to 1.5 meters high. To speed up decomposition, the layers are moistened with a solution of slurry. Another task is to reduce acidity. To do this, add lime. Next summer you need to properly shovel the stack 2-3 times. Only after two seasons will it be ready for use. In the second year, in the fall, it is recommended to pass it through a screen and put it away closed room.

Gathering place

You already know what turf land is, but collected in different places, it will be very different. It must be cut in the clover patch, where the grass grows especially lushly and does not have a nutritional deficiency. This is easy to assess by appearance. The entire grass stand should be bright green, without yellowness and spots, specks and dry tips. If the grasses in the meadows available to you are low-growing, begin to turn yellow and dry out early, then there is no point in taking land here. It is poor in nutrients.

The location of the meadow also plays an important role. Since turf soil can only be prepared directly in the meadow, choose the highest places. In swampy lowlands the soil will be too acidic. Medium loams will be optimal in their composition. Sandy loam turf is characterized by high water and air permeability, but at the same time it is poor in nutrients, for which it is used in gardening.

Leaf humus

As you can see, preparing turf land is not difficult; you only need access to open meadow land. If there is nothing like this near you, then you can try similar mixtures, which are also perfectly accepted by house plants. Now we will discuss in detail what substrate is used to replace turf soil. First of all, it is leafy soil. It is distinguished by its looseness and lightness. On the other hand, this drawback can be easily corrected by mixing various mixtures and obtaining the optimal composition. Leaf humus mixed with heavy turf soil gives especially good results. Flower growers often use leaf soil mixed with peat and sand. The result is an analogue of heather mixture, light and nutritious.

Blank

Even in urban conditions, you can easily find a place to harvest leaf soil. If you can go outside the city, into the forest, then here you can find its natural deposits. Year after year, the leaves fall and rot under the trees, forming a nutrient layer. In city parks, collection can be carried out during the period of mass leaf fall in parks and gardens. The most suitable are linden and maple leaves, fruit trees. But willow and oak are completely unsuitable for these purposes.

Collected leaves or forest litter are formed into piles and moistened with slurry. All that remains is to compact the stack well and leave it until next summer. Over the next warm season, you will need to thoroughly shovel the leaf mass several times, moisten it with slurry and add lime. That is, you will only get high-quality leaf soil by the end of the second summer.

compost soil

Summer residents use this term quite often, so we will mention it too. Compost is an analogue of turf and leaf soil. They have the same essence - they are rotted remains of plant organic matter. The quality of compost soil depends on the type of waste, that is, the material used. This is an intermediate link between turf and humus soil.

To prepare it, you will need a compost pit, although some gardeners use heaps or stacks. During the summer, all plant and animal remains, weeds and garbage, and food waste are collected in them. As the residue accumulates, it is sprinkled with lime and moistened with slurry, and covered with peat on top. In the second and third years, the mass needs to be shoveled. By the end of the third year, the land is completely ready for use. Now you already know what turf and leaf soil are, how to prepare compost, and you can choose a substrate base for your home plants.

Preparing a mixture for plants

So, it's time to land. Gardeners usually start doing this in the spring. The soil collected in the fall is heated, disinfected and an ideal substrate is prepared from it. The main characteristics are:

Moisture capacity. The soil should easily absorb water. Do not let it pass through you, as is the case with sand, but do not retain it, as clay does.
Water and breathability. This is understandable; the substrate must be loose to provide air access to the roots.
Nutritional value.
Suitable pH level (most often lack of acidity).
Purity, that is, the absence of toxic substances.

Optimal proportions

Most often, turf soil is mixed 1:1 with a component such as leaf humus. This is easy to explain, since it acts as a leavening agent. Some gardeners recommend adding soil from molehills in similar proportions. It is loose and nutritious, and also does not contain pest larvae. Humus is another important component. This is a black, homogeneous mass that is obtained from well-decomposed manure. It is very nutritious, but often contains weed seeds and pathogens, so it is extremely important to ignite the mixture before use.

Baking powder

In order to ensure optimal soil breathability, it is necessary to maintain the proportions of turf soil and sand. It is important that only Fine is used, this will only make the substrate more dense. Before adding to the soil, the sand is washed well. This is necessary in order to wash away all the dust and leave the necessary small pebbles. In this form it is added to almost all mixtures for indoor plants, providing better breathability.

Leaf soil is light, loose soil obtained from the rotting of fallen leaves. Leaf soil is not as nutritious as humus soil, but is well absorbed by plants. It has a slightly acidic reaction (pH 5...6), since when the leaves decompose it forms a large number of acids It has a good structure, consists of air- and moisture-permeable lumps, dries quickly, it is added to loosen the substrate in various earthen mixtures for growing indoor plants.

Leaf soil is perfect for all plants with thin, delicate roots. It is mandatory for ,. For cultivation, they do not use completely rotted leaf humus, but with particles of unrotted leaves so that the substrate is very loose.

Leaf soil is harvested in the fall from deciduous areas. The best leaves are birch, linden, maple, elm, hazel and fruit plants. The leaves are raked into heaps and moistened if the weather is too dry.

The time it takes for leaves to decompose depends on the type of tree. Fast, within a year, subject to compliance the right conditions leaves of most deciduous trees (birch, oak, maple, hawthorn, rowan, hornbeam, hazel, etc.) decompose

The production of leaf humus is not a very labor-intensive process; it is only important that the leaves are wet. You can add raw grass from a lawn mower. Make sure that autumn rains regularly moisten the future humus. During the summer, it is advisable to water with slurry and mix.

Leaf piles make an excellent overwintering home for insects, so when adding leaf humus to the mixture, sterilize it to remove insects and their larvae.

In ornamental gardening, specially prepared garden soils are used. All of them are a product of the decomposition of turf, leaves, manure, heather, peat, they contain a large amount of humus, but depending on the original substrate they have different physical and chemical properties.

The following main lands are usually harvested on farms: turf, leaf, humus (manure), compost, peat.

Sod land is harvested from meadows and pastures, preferably old, fallow, perennial ones with good grass-clover grass. It cannot be harvested in areas with low or high acidity.

Turf soil is divided into heavy - with a large amount of clay, medium - with equal shares of clay and sand, and light - with a predominance of sand.

Land harvesting begins at the end of June. By this time, the grass stand has reached its maximum development, and by winter the harvested turf, with proper care, will have time to partially decompose. The layers are cut (with a shovel, disk, plow) 20-30 cm wide, 8-10 cm thick, depending on the thickness of the turf layer. The length is arbitrary. The turf is laid in stacks 1.2-1.5 m wide and high of arbitrary length so that the grass cover of every second layer lies on the grass cover of the first layer. Double layers are moistened with a solution of mullein or slurry to accelerate the decomposition of the turf and enrich it with nitrogen (at the rate of 0.2-0.5 m 3 of manure or slurry per 1 m 3). To reduce acidity, add 2-3 kg of lime per 1 m 3 of land. The stacks on top are periodically moistened with slurry, and so that it does not drain (just like rainwater), a trough-shaped depression is made at the top of the stack.

The best turf soil is obtained after two seasons. Over the next summer, the pile is shoveled at least twice. In the fall, after passing the earth through a screen, it is removed indoors and used for work. Left in the open air, it loses its Qualities - nutritional value, porosity, elasticity, etc.

Sod land- the main one in floriculture, it is quite porous, rich in essential nutrients that act for many years. It is used for growing indoor and greenhouse perennial plants and in most soil mixtures.

Leaf soil is harvested in the fall in deciduous areas (forests, groves, parks). The best are the leaves of linden, maple, and fruit plants. Oak and willow leaves contain a lot of tannins, so they are not used for harvesting land. In some cases, forest litter is used to obtain leaf soil, removing the top 2-5 cm layer. Collected dry leaves or forest litter with remnants of grass, small twigs, etc. are placed in stacks with a width and height of -1.2-1.5 m of arbitrary length. In autumn, when laying, the leaves are moistened with slurry or mullein solution and compacted; Otherwise they will decompose slowly. Over the next summer, it is advisable to moisten the leaf mass 2-3 times with slurry and shovel it. It's good to add a little lime before mixing. By the autumn of the second year, the leaves are completely rotted and turn into leafy soil. Before use, it is passed through a screen to separate undecomposed residues.

Leaf ground- light, loose, but contains less nutrients than turf. It can serve as a good ripper for heavy turf lands.

Leaf soil mixed with peat soil and sand can be used as a substitute for heather soil,

Humus soil (humus-dung). In closed ground, this soil is often called greenhouse soil, since it is formed from rotted manure mixed with old greenhouse soil.

Domestic animal manure, placed in greenhouses in the spring as biofuel, turns into humus by autumn. Cattle manure produces heavy humus, while horse and sheep manure produces lighter humus.

The humus cleared from the greenhouse in the fall is placed in piles, as indicated above for turf and other lands, moistened and shoveled 1-2 times over the next summer. Keep outdoors for one year. After this, the humus soil is passed through a fine screen and stored indoors.

Humus from greenhouses is often used as fertilizer in open ground.

Humus soil- light, loose, fatty, i.e. very rich in nutrients with a predominance of nitrogen in a form easily digestible by plants. It is used as a powerful component in soil mixtures. Used for most potted crops and growing seedlings.

Peat soil is usually harvested from lowland peat bogs. In some cases, briquettes and peat chips can be used to prepare it. Well-decomposed peat is placed in stacks up to 60-80 cm high. When laying, layers of peat are moistened with slurry every 20-25 cm and sprinkled with lime at the rate of 10-15 kg per 1 m 3 of peat. When using high-moor peat, the dose of lime is increased. At the end of the first season and in the middle of the second, the mixture is shoveled and used in the third year. By this time, the biological activity of peat increases and its acidity decreases.

Peat land- soft, loose, very moisture-absorbing, consists of slowly. decomposing organic remains and pure form low in nutrition. It is used for various soil mixtures as a ripper, especially with turf soil, as it improves it physical properties, making it more loose and lighter. It is also used in a mixture with light sandy soils, improving their cohesion and moisture capacity, as well as for mulching.

When harvesting turf from peat meadows, you can prepare sod-peat soil, which is used for making peat humus pots, mulching the soil and planting some plants. .

Compost soil is prepared by composting in stacks, heaps, pits of various plant and animal residues, garbage, weeds, greenhouse waste and household. As the residues accumulate, they are sprinkled with lime for disinfection and better decomposition, moistened with slurry and covered with peat or peat chips on top. In the second or third year, the compost mass is shoveled 2-3 times per season, moistened with slurry. By the end of the third year, the compost soil is ready for use.

The quality and physical properties of compost soil are very variable and depend on the type of waste and the nature of the composted material.

In general, compost soils occupy an intermediate position between turf and humus soils in terms of nutrient content. They are used in a mixture with turf and peat soils, replacing humus.

heather land is currently losing its meaning and is being replaced by a mixture consisting of 2 parts leafy soil, 3-4 parts peat soil and 1 part sand. Heather soil is prepared as leaf soil.

Vegetable and garden soil, or a topsoil well enriched with humus, is prepared and stacked in the fall, adding lime, phosphorus and potassium. In the summer they shovel it twice. Soil is not taken from areas where plants belonging to the Brassicaceae (cabbage) and Solanaceae (tomato) families have been grown for the last three years.

Good garden or garden soil with a small amount of sand can be successfully used for growing ornamental plants.

Woody earth prepared from stumps, roots, dead wood, branches, chips, rotten remains of old trees, etc. The decomposed remains of wood form light soil, similar in composition to leaf soil, but poor in nutrients and prone to acidification. It is used in the cultivation of orchids, ferns and bromeliads.

Composted bark substrates. The shredded bark is composted in piles up to 3 m high, with pulp mill sludge and other organic material added to allow the bark to decompose through microorganisms. Biochemical and microbiological processes during composting are most active in a substrate with a particle size of 1-7 mm and the addition of urea to less than 1% of the dry mass of the bark (4.3 kg per 1 m 3) during the first few weeks. Composting with constant shoveling lasts approximately 4-4.5 weeks in summer and 16-18 weeks in winter. The temperature in the stacks rises to 65-70° C.

Compost in 1 m 3 contains about 300 g of potassium, 60 g of phosphorus, 30 g of magnesium, 30 g of iron, 20 g of manganese, copper and other trace elements. It is mixed with sphagnum peat, adding 1 kg of phosphorus, in other cases - sand, clay, etc., i.e. it is used as a soil improver.

When grown on the same substrate of bark and sawdust, plant growth stops and chlorosis appears due to a lack of nitrogen.

Moss. White sphagnum bog moss is harvested from sphagnum moss bogs. After drying, grinding and sifting, it is used in earthen mixtures to give them lightness, friability and hygroscopicity, i.e. increased moisture capacity. In its pure form it is used for forcing lilies of the valley, to cover the earthen clod of orchids and other plants. Recommended as a substrate for stratification and germination of large seeds (palm, banana).

Charcoal in the form of small pieces in small quantities added to earthen mixtures for plants that do not respond well to waterlogging. Coal adsorbs excess water, and when there is a lack of it, releases it." In addition, it is used as an antiseptic in the form of a powder for dusting cuts on dahlia roots, gladioli corms, canna rhizomes, etc. To a small extent, it adsorbs herbicides and other chemicals from the soil.

Sand. Coarse river sand is considered the best. Sea sand is thoroughly washed beforehand, freeing it from salts. Unsuitable quarry sand is fine, reddish, containing ferrous compounds and oxides of other metals, harmful to plants, as well as clay and silty particles.

Sand is usually added to earthen mixtures without pre-treatment in an amount of 1/5 of the total volume to make them loose. When cuttings and for sprinkling seeds in seed boxes, bowls, greenhouses, the sand is thoroughly washed beforehand. clean water from clay and silt particles. For difficult-to-root breeds use quartz sand. It gives earth mixtures looseness and porosity, which ensures the penetration of water and air to the roots of plants, prevents the development of moss, fungi and algae in boxes, bowls and on racks with crops and cuttings.

Storing and mixing soils. Typically, floriculture farms create two to three-year reserves of garden soil, which are stored in a closed, preferably frost-free room. The soil must first be passed through a screen. Special chests are made for each type of soil; sometimes they are placed under shelves in greenhouses. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that no moisture gets into the chest when watering the plants.

To properly maintain the culture of various flower plants the farm must have all the above-mentioned lands. They must be free from pests and diseases.

When preparing earthen mixtures, the biological characteristics of plants, their age, cultural conditions, as well as the reaction (pH) of the soil solution at which the plant can grow are taken into account.

FORUMHOUSE participants grow such complex and capricious ornamental plants that sometimes it seems like a miracle. One of the components of this miracle is correctly selected soil. Guru of ornamental gardening, especially when indoor growing plants almost never use purchased land. Soil for plants is made up of combinations different types soils that are usually prepared independently. These soils are formed by the decomposition of turf, leaves, peat, etc., and are all rich necessary plants nutrients, but have different chemical and physical characteristics.

In this article we will tell you how to prepare and use the main types of soil used in private households:

How to prepare and use turf soil.
How to get leaf soil at home.
How to make humus soil yourself.
How to prepare peat soil.
How to check the quality of purchased land.

The correct method of soil preparation and the correct soil mixture are the main conditions successful cultivation plants.

Sod land

Turf soil is the heaviest and most porous of all the soils we will consider today. This soil contains a huge amount of nutrients; it is included in many soil mixtures for growing a number of plants in room conditions, for growing seedlings, it is used in greenhouses and greenhouses. The content of turf soil can be from half to ¾ of the total composition of the soil mixture.

Turf soil is also used to improve sandy soil in the garden. After adding heavy turf soil, sandy soil holds water better and becomes more fertile.

Sod soil is made from layers of turf. To do this, in the summer, layers of turf are cut in meadows overgrown with chamomile, clover, bluegrass and other plants that indicate low soil acidity. The recommended size of the layers is about 20 cm wide and about 40 cm long; the thickness of the layer depends on the thickness of the turf layer, but usually does not exceed 10 cm.

The turf layers are laid in layers “grass to grass”, a layer of manure and a little lime are poured on top for deoxidation, then again layers of turf, etc. There can be several layers, but the stack should not be too high so as not to interfere with the access of air inside the structure. Four parts of the turf should account for part of the manure.

A recess is made in the upper tier so that water from irrigation accumulates in it. It is necessary to ensure that the turf does not become overgrown with weeds and does not dry out. It is recommended to cover it with black film and water it regularly. During the summer and autumn, it is recommended to shovel this structure at least twice - this will speed up the decomposition process.

Sod soil can be used as early as next spring, but two-year-old soil contains much more nutrients.

At the same time, it is impossible to leave turf soil in reserve for several years - along with its elasticity, it will lose most of its properties. useful properties. Before using this soil to make mixtures, it must be sifted.

Another subtlety: the structure of the turf soil depends on the soil from which you took the turf. If it is clayey, it will be heavier, and if it is sandy, it will be lighter. Light grains do not need to be sifted; fibers that are not completely rotted are allowed. Palm trees, etc., are planted in such soil, and seeds of plants that require a light soil composition are sown, and at the same time, humus is prohibited (levoca, etc.).

A mixture with heavy turf soil is used to grow many indoor plants. It is also invaluable for rooting cuttings that easily rot in ordinary soil: roses, lemons, guernai, echeveria, etc.

The main problem is to find a place where you can take turf without violating the law. Perfect option- an unnecessary piece of your own lawn.

Andrey Vasiliev Consultant of the section " Orchard» FORUMHOUSE

I used turf soil (I removed the turf and took 30 centimeters of soil layer), but in small quantities. For the cubes they can get charged under some kind of crime (for sure).

Leaf ground

Leaf soil is also included in many soil mixtures. It is lightweight and is used to loosen dense soil, although it contains less nutrients than turf. It is most often used in indoor floriculture, and, depending on the plant, it can make up from 1/5 to ¾ of the composition in the soil mixture.

To prepare leaf soil, dry fallen leaves (except willow and oak leaves rich in tannins) are collected in boxes or barrels. The leaves are placed in layers in the container. Each layer is covered with humus or cut grass and sprinkled with lime to deoxidize. The leaves need to be moistened regularly. Some gardeners mix it several times, while others believe that the process should proceed naturally. Typically, the process of preparing leaf soil takes two years.

In indoor floriculture, leaf soil is used for sowing seeds with the smallest seeds (begonias, etc.), in cases where plants are prohibited from humus and for.

Alisa Member of FORUMHOUSE

For vegetable seedlings, I prepare the soil mixture myself, using leaf humus (maple leaf).

Humus soil

Humus soil is completely decomposed manure. We talked in detail about which animal manure is recommended to be used for, and how to do it.

In any soil mixture, it is the humus soil that will contain greatest number nutrients, it is precisely this that ensures the growth of plants at a speed “by leaps and bounds”. But due to the high nitrogen content, it must be used with caution when mixed with other types of soil.

Helga Member of FORUMHOUSE

Liquid fertilizers cannot be compared with rotted manure. They simply feed the plants instantly and use manure to improve or mulch the soil.

Depending on the climate, it takes a year or two to prepare the humus.

Peat land

Peat soil is light and loose, like leaf soil, but less prone to souring, so it is often used to improve the quality of other soils.

This soil is well-decomposed peat from high bogs, and it is harvested on the site of a former bog or floodplain.

But there is also one subtlety here. If you find an old swamp located on a hill, then the top layer of up to 15 cm will be ready-made peat soil, you can take it and use it. But the peat that we take from the swampy lowland is not suitable for immediate use. It needs to be ventilated.

To do this, we stack the harvested peat in layers on top of each other in a stack about half a meter high. We cover each layer of peat 20-30 cm high with manure or water it with slurry (this will increase fertility) and sprinkle it with lime to deoxidize it. Lime can be replaced with wood ash. The peat is left in this form for the winter.

In its pure form, peat soil is used to grow a number of indoor plants - azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, hydrangeas. Very often, various plants are cut into peat soil mixed with sand. Shilson

A special test for sand content in the soil: put a handful of soil in a glass bowl, fill it with water, stir. The soil will settle to the bottom like this: a layer of sand on the bottom, clay on top.

This way you can get an accurate idea of what percentage of sand is contained in the purchased soil.

A technique like this will help improve the quality of the soil on your site. Read the FORUMHOUSE section. Our video will help you classify the soil on your site and determine the necessary measures to improve it.

While the market for gardening products is overflowing with various ready-made soils, some prefer to produce their own substrates.

Often, your own soils are obtained better and cheaper, but when purchasing individual components, questions arise. For example: turf land - what is it, where can I get it? After all, this component is most often the basis of the workpiece.

Garden soil prepared from the top layers of soil overgrown with clover and similar grasses is called turf soil. Such soil does not contain impurities harmful to the plants being grown.

Quality turf soil consists of decomposed topsoil collected from areas of low acidity. Layers with bright green grass rot over the course of several years, during which the soil is watered with mullein and shoveled.

Beneficial features

Turf soil is widely used in gardening because:

it contains no pathogenic bacteria and mold;
she is little susceptible to disease;
has a very porous structure that retains moisture well;
enriched with minerals;
does not lose its benefits for many years.

Types of turf land

There are three varieties:

Easy. With a lot of sand in the composition. Used for planting seedlings, rooting cuttings and the like. Very porous and loose. Little fertile.
Average. The soil consists equally of clay and sand. Suitable for most garden crops and young seedlings. It retains fertilizing and moisture well in its structure.
Heavy. Consists mainly of clay. Holds well developed complex root systems. It gets swamped more easily than the others.

If, during harvesting, soil layers of an unnecessary type were removed, then you can easily transform them into the necessary ones. To do this, it is enough to add clay rocks to light soil, and sand to heavy soil.

Differences from other garden mixtures

The main difference between the soil, which is dominated by the turf type of soil, is low acidity. Therefore, such mixtures are optimal for planting most crops.

Also, turf soil is much less nutritious than, for example, humus soil. Clean turf can only be used for planting crops like cacti.

Where to get and how to prepare turf?

The best time The period for harvesting turf soil is from late summer to early autumn. Spring work are also possible, but in this case the risk of substrate oxidation increases slightly.

In places for harvesting, it is better to choose fields, meadows and pastures located high up. Otherwise, you can get, again, acidified soil. Solonetz rocks and wetlands should not be chosen as harvesting sites for the same reason. If there are no other options, each meter of soil raised from unfavorable soil should be covered with 50 grams of lime.

Good areas for obtaining high-quality turf substrate are land covered with leguminous plants saturated with nitrogen. This element has a beneficial effect on soil fertility and rapid crop growth.

Once the area for harvesting has been selected, it is necessary to mark out the turf. With a sharp shovel or plow, parallel lines should be cut at a distance of 30 to 40 cm. Next, the turf is lifted from a depth of 6-12 cm and stacked according to the “grass to grass” principle, that is, so that the green parts of the layers are adjacent to each other. It should be remembered that the lighter the soil from which the turf rises, the thinner its layers should be.

In order to obtain a better quality substrate, you can shed a layer of cow manure 15-20 cm every half meter of turf. The ratio should be 1:4.

The best stack parameters are:

height from 1 to 1.5 meters;
width from 1.5 to 2.5 meters;
length is arbitrary.

In this case, ventilation is maintained and the pile rots evenly, without souring, if it is watered on time. Particular attention should be paid to the moisture content of the stack in dry weather. In order to retain water, it is a good idea to make a depression at the bottom of the mixture. Also, the turf must be shoveled several times a season, cutting large pieces and mixing the workpiece.

A good substrate will be ready in at least two years. During this period, the soil will completely decompose and be ready for use. If turf soil is needed in a shorter period of time, then the remaining soil should be sifted, and the unrotted pieces should be put back into the pile.

Methods of use in the garden

In addition to the principles described below, turf is used in other ways as an auxiliary substance, but the main ways of application are:

Forcing vegetables and flowers by adding fertilizers to the turf soil. Because turf retains moisture and nutrients well, it is an excellent base soil for fast-growing plants. Also, such soil itself is very fertile and unpretentious, which also helps in the successful forcing of crops.
Growing plants out of season. Meadow turf soil is often used to create high, warm beds. Covered with a thick layer of humus, the turf prevents water and heat from leaving the plants and allows them to survive the winter.
Planting seedlings. This is the direct purpose of purchased turf soil. To do this, you need to prepare the soil substrate yourself. Soil made using the right technology based on high-quality turf will provide plants with necessary nutrition and rapid growth. Also good homemade soil will be much safer for vegetables than store-bought ones, since it will definitely not contain pathogenic microorganisms.

Pros and cons of turf land

Advantages:

fertile;
holds water and nutrients well;
has a porous structure;
does not spoil for a long time;
natural soil has low acidity.

Flaws:

has a long lead time;
independent procurement technology is quite difficult;
purchased turf soil is often acidic;
in its pure form is useless.

But despite this, turf soil is the basis of a good substrate for most crops. It has been used for growing plants for many generations and helps in obtaining rich harvests.

Therefore, by correctly using and preparing such soil, all the disadvantages described above can be easily avoided.