Important tips for autumn gardening

What is the autumn processing of the garden plot for?

In the fall, gardeners reap the harvest, after which they prepare their garden for wintering. Treating a garden plot includes treating plants and soil from diseases and pests. For this, the plants are sprayed with insecticides and fungicides, the soil is digged with top dressing, and the plants are protected from rodents. It is better to cover heat-loving plants for the winter with spunbond and mulch with sawdust or dry leaves.

Protecting trees from pests

If there are trapping belts on the trees, then in the fall they are removed and burned. During the period of decreasing temperature, insects burrow into near-trunk circles and under the bark of trees for wintering. Therefore, the trunks are cleaned of old bark and moss, after which the damaged areas are smeared with garden pitch, and the bases are whitewashed.

Fruit tree trunks protect against rodents. To do this, they can be wrapped with a metal mesh.

Treatment of a garden plot from pests

After leaf fall, the plants are treated with Bordeaux liquid (3%). With its help, it is possible to destroy fungi that cause diseases such as scab, powdery mildew, rot, etc. Spraying is carried out using a spray bottle. Both fruit plants and berry bushes and ornamental perennials are processed. A solution of urea (carbomide) is used for this, at the rate of 0.5-0.7 kg per 10 liters of water. Apple trees are sprayed with iron vitriol (5%).

Digging the soil

To begin with, in the fall, all the leaves are removed from the site. Leaving them for the winter is not worth it, as spores of fungi and pests live in them. Only after the leaves from the trees have flown around and are removed from the soil, it can be dug up.

A sharp shovel is used for digging. The row spacings are dug 15-20 cm deep, and according to the projection of the crowns of trees and bushes - 10-15 cm. If the soil is not dense, then it is enough to simply loosen it with a rake or flat cutter.

When digging, perennial weeds and larvae of pests that appear on the soil surface should be identified. They must be deleted.

After that, fertilizers containing potassium and phosphorus are applied. For one apple or pear, you will need about 0.3 kg of superphosphate and 0.2 kg of potassium sulfate. Fertilizers can be mixed with organic matter or sprinkled around the trunk and then watered. For plums or cherries, dilute a solution of superphosphate (3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) and potassium sulfate (2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water). The resulting solution is poured over a tree at the rate of 4-5 buckets per tree. This will increase the frost resistance of the plants.

To feed the soil, rotted manure is introduced into it. If it is required to reduce the acidity of the soil, then alkali is added to it. This can be crushed limestone, dolomite flour, ash or slaked lime.

Digging should be done exclusively during the dry season. If the soil is damp, this will only lead to its compaction, it will not become loose. In this case, the shovel must be stuck not at an angle, but vertically.

Thus, the autumn preparation of the garden for wintering consists in spraying the plants in order to control pests. However, one should not think that autumn treatment will be sufficient. The prophylaxis must be repeated in the summer.