Why wait until spring? In autumn, when the beds have been cleared, the soil is easily accessible for initiating various improvement measures. During the winter, the time factor can play its part and turn the bed into a fertile area.
In the fall, the garden soil can be spiced up with a portion of compost
The four ways
Slow-release fertilizers are ideal for soil improvement in autumn, as they are broken down into their components by soil organisms in good time before spring. This is what makes the nutrients available to the plants. These four long-term fertilizers have proven themselves for autumn fertilization:
- compost
- horse manure
- leaves
- green manure
compost
First, completely harvest the cultivated vegetables and then remove all parts of the plant from the bed. Spread about six-month-old compost on empty beds. It should only be grossly rotted. Three liters are enough per square meter.
Only work the compost lightly into the soil so that enough oxygen can still get through to it. Only then can the worms and other organisms living in the soil decompose it. Otherwise the rotting process will start.
horse manure
Horse manure is similar to compost. It serves as food for the microorganisms in the soil. After turning into humus, its nutrients are available to plants. Since its nitrogen content is high, it is suitable for areas on which heavy consumers will be grown in the following year.
The horse manure is only distributed over the entire surface of the beds, but not worked into the soil. The more straw that is added, the slower the rotting process will be.
tips
If you get fresh manure from the horse farm, it should be an organic farm. So you can be sure that the horse manure is not contaminated with drug residues.
leaves
What to do with the autumn leaves? Well on the beds with it! During the winter, it insulates and warms the ground while gradually decomposing. But you cannot fertilize the garden soil with every leaf. For one thing, it should come from healthy trees. On the other hand, not all tree species are equally suitable. Walnut leaves, for example, decompose very slowly and make the soil acidic.
green manure
Sow cleared beds immediately with a green manure that can use the last sunny days of the year to germinate and grow. Good green manures are legumes, which also loosen up the soil with their roots. But spelled, lamb's lettuce and many other plants are also suitable as green manure. Have a look around in the garden center or online shop.
Green manure that is not hardy freezes with the first frost. Other fertilizers are cut off before flowering. Both remain as a natural layer of mulch on the bed.