Those who are in search of the ideal siderata , you can advise a phacelia - this plant is almost the best in this category, in addition, it is an excellent honey.
Phacelia - this is an annual plant of the family of the water-lovers. It grows very fast and accumulates a large amount of green mass in the process. Its root grows 20 cm deep into the soil. Phacelia is very unpretentious.
Properties of the facial as a siderata
First of all, the phacelia is universal - it grows on any soils, whether it be clay, peat, chernozem, loam or stony soil. In the most barren areas, it gives an excellent harvest from March to October.
The plant is not afraid of the cold and even with frosts down to -8 ° C it can be safely sown, as soon as the snow comes down.
Another important advantage of the phacelia as a siderata is that it can be planted as an intermediate precursor culture, and as the main one for restoring the fertility of the soil. If you sow it in the early spring, it will have time to collect up to 300 kg of green mass from a hundredth before the time when it's time to plant the main crops. And this is equivalent to the fact that you contributed 300 kg of manure .
Delicate leaves of the phacelia decompose very quickly, with nitrogen being released, which is necessary for the normal development of plants. Planting siderata saves time and labor of the gardener, because you do not have to bring manure - you just have to wait for a good green mass from the phacelia and cut it flat.
If the site is too poor and depleted, it is necessary to grow siderat plants, such as phacelia, the whole season or even two seasons in a row. Waiting can be embarrassing, but it will be compensated with a lot of rich harvests from the saturated soil, and you do not need to add any additional fertilizers.
In addition, the roots of the phacelia loosen and perfectly structure the soil. Even heavy clay soil will become light and loose, saturated with air and moisture.
Planting time for siderates
All the beginners and inexperienced gardeners, interested in this way of enriching and loosening the soil on the site, are interested in the question - when to sow cedar beetle?
Cedar seeds can be sown early in the spring, before planting the main vegetable crops. You will need to mix a package of seeds with a glass of sand and scatter around the site. Deepening does not need anything, just seal the site for a couple of centimeters. After 6 weeks, its abundant flowering will begin - all bees in the district will fly to it. At this stage, it is cut and prepared for vegetable seedlings.
When else can you sow siderates? Yes at any time, until late autumn. But the most optimal period is June and July.
The consumption of seeds is about 200 grams per hundred square meters. For one planting season, you can get 2-3 rotation, since the period from sowing to full flowering is only 40 days. After that, the soil is dug directly with greens, which turns into an excellent fertilizer.
Alternatively, you can make holes between the bushes of the phacelia, plant the seedlings, and a week later
Autumn and podzimnie sowing Phacelia also give their result. Due to this, it becomes possible to obtain high-yielding and fertile soil to early spring, even before the planting of the main crops begins. We need to sow immediately after the autumn harvest. A month or two before the onset of frost, the phacelia will have time to grow and improve the soil.
Thus, knowledgeable gardeners are happy to use the useful properties of the siderates and deservedly receive a rich, loose and fertile soil in their plots. Why not follow their example, especially since it does not require much effort and expense.