How to help activate beneficial microflora in the soil? | Vegetable garden | Country house

Fortunately for all summer residents, in the spring not only carriers of all kinds of diseases and pests awaken in the soil, but also microorganisms that will work for the harvest all season. These include all kinds of bacteria, fungi, beneficial nematodes, and so on. But, like all living things, waking up after hibernation, it needs support. Which one?

Answers agronomist Vasily Yakovlev:

— First of all, in oxygen and food. Over the winter, the soil, even dug up last fall, becomes noticeably compacted, making air exchange difficult. The beneficial flora does not die from this, but continues to remain in a state of deep dormancy, and therefore does not help the soil prepare for sowing. Therefore, the first thing to do, immediately after the snow melts on the beds (even if it still lies in other places), is light loosening. It must be done before all other soil work – forming ridges, deep digging, if the garden needs it.

Loosening is easy – basically all the beneficial microflora is concentrated in the top layer of soil, no deeper than 6-8 centimeters. It is this layer that makes sense to loosen with a rake or pitchfork.

Having added oxygen, you need to take care of replenishment. Special biological stimulant preparations can also serve as this, but ordinary, home remedies in the form of compost and humus are also quite suitable. You don’t have to spend a lot of them – the main mass should be added later, but small doses applied during loosening, say, a third of a bucket per square meter, will greatly contribute to awakening and activation. At the same time, at a positive air temperature, you can spill loosened and lightly fertilized areas with water at room temperature – the process will go faster and more efficiently.

But the best support for beneficial microorganisms can be provided immediately after the first greenery appears. Ordinary green fertilizer from the first green plants is accepted by the microflora with a bang. Therefore, do not be lazy and allocate some kind of barrel for this matter. The collected grass is filled with water and left for several days until it ferments, after which the resulting fertilizer can be applied. And in this case, you should not be afraid of weeds, since you take the plants at the stage when they have not yet formed seeds.