It is not always the case that the owners get the plots in excellent condition with the beds dug up and trimmed. Basically, the new owner simply receives a plot overgrown with weeds and weeds with fruit trees and bushes that have gone wild and began to bear completely different large and juicy fruits than they previously bore in a well-groomed state. However, sometimes a plot of land is inherited from grandparents, or it is simply forgotten about for a while, during which time it becomes overgrown with weeds and thickets of grass as tall as a man. Of course, it is impossible to plant anything in such an area without first clearing it. The first task facing the owner of the site is to clear the territory and prepare it for the next season.
In general, smart and zealous gardeners have long come up with many ways that allow them to quickly and efficiently develop virgin soil in order to use the land for their needs. After all, land that has rested for several years and is overgrown with weeds is excellent for any planting, since it has accumulated all the necessary nutrients. All that remains is to bring it into proper condition and begin to implement your plan. But this sounds simple only in words. In fact, this is a huge amount of work that requires a lot of effort and time. But the result is worth it.
In general, all methods of developing virgin soil can be divided into those that allow you to plant some plants in the first season after processing and those that do not allow you to do this.
Radical changes
This method is considered quite simple in concept and labor-intensive in execution. In the process of clearing a site from thickets, it is necessary to remove the top layer of earth, called turf, in which numerous roots are intertwined. The cut layers are placed in a designated area with the roots facing up and covered with material that does not transmit light. Periodically, this pile should be treated with urea so that after a few years it turns into excellent compost.
As for the soil itself, a new layer of soil is poured on top of the cleared soil, which is ordered on several machines. The main thing is to know the origin of the soil and its quality. Otherwise, you risk wasting money and getting a new layer of soil rich in weeds and pathogens and even pests.
The simpler the better
The first method is relatively easier, since it involves digging up the area manually without removing the weed roots. Another thing is that with this method you will not be able to sow a lot of things on the site for a long time. Cabbage and potatoes will come to the rescue. Cabbage is planted as seedlings, but as it grows it will bring powerful shade from its leaves, just like cabbage. This shade will cover the ground and begin to suppress weed growth. In addition, you will need to periodically hill up the beds, which will also help destroy weeds.
For greater effect, you can mulch between rows with grass clippings, manure or compost. 
Useful waste paper
This very original method will be effective if you carefully follow the instructions. To make it a reality, you will need rotted manure (you can use chicken manure, compost or humus). This composition must be evenly distributed over the entire area of the area being developed and covered on top with black and white newspaper 5-7 layers thick. If you find this difficult, you can replace the newspaper with thick cardboard. Compost mixed with manure is poured onto the paper layer on top.
The advantage of this method is that you can make holes in newspapers in which you can plant any crops grown through seedlings. This is perfect for those who don’t want to wait a long time, being content with only potatoes and cabbage. At the end of the season, in addition to an excellent harvest of the crops you grow, you will also receive a clean area with soil enriched with vitamins and microelements. 
Black bedspread
Black film is a fairly well-known way to get rid of weeds. You can cover the entire area with it, so that under the hot summer sun a real hell will be created for all living plants. Not a single weed can survive the absence of sunlight and this steam room, so by the end of the season the film can be removed, the soil can be dug up and you will feel like a winner. Alas, with this method there is no talk of any plantings this season.
Green manure comes to the rescue (video - site planning)
Many pleasant words have been said about green manure plants, which have a lot of benefits. Including during the development of the site. Among all the crops in this series, there are three that will cope with the task better than others.
Winter rye is the first of these three helper crops that will rid the area of weeds. Rye itself perfectly suppresses the growth of other plants, and winter rye is used for a reason. Rye seeds are planted in spring instead of autumn. Thus, the gardener deceives the plant, which will not be able to bloom during the season and will not form an ear.
You can enhance the effect if you cut wheat several times a season without damaging the growing part of the plant. In the spring of the next season, the rye will go into the ground, and in its place you can plant potatoes or other crops, depending on how overgrown your area is.
Sunflower is a much easier job for a summer resident, but no less ruthless in relation to weeds. In early May, its seeds are planted in the ground after digging as thick as possible. When the seedlings emerge from the ground, other plants simply have no chance to survive under such pressure.
At the beginning of autumn, sunflowers can be mowed and chopped into pieces of twenty centimeters, and then thrown into the soil. During the fall, these parts will decompose and well fertilize the ground, preparing it for planting new crops next season.
Bush beans are not only effective, but also delicious. You just need to sow it thicker than is usually prescribed for it. A distance of 5-10 cm is maintained between plants, and 20-30 cm between rows. During the first month, you will still have to weed between the plants, and then the beans will cover the entire bed with their leaves, and in this shade it is unlikely that anything will be able to grow. When the season comes to an end, the bean tops will go into compost, and it is worth going over the area with a hoe to remove the most tenacious weeds.
As you can see, the methods are very different in nature. You can choose any of them, depending on whether you are in a hurry to plant something on your site or are ready to wait for time and the sun to do their job. In any case, if you take up this task and bring it to the end, you can then enjoy the pleasures of working on your weed-free plot.
When it comes time to cultivate the garden, be it spring or autumn digging or harrowing, most gardeners clutch their heads in despair. This rather complex and time-consuming procedure without knowledge of its rules can turn into a complete nightmare. It is especially difficult for beginners who take up a shovel as if it were a foreign object. Fortunately, there are convenient and correct methods of tilling the soil that will help you simplify this process.
How to dig correctly, instructions
Most gardeners advise digging to the depth of the entire bayonet of a shovel when digging or planting. This will help turn the top soil with weed seeds, mineral and organic fertilizers that were sprinkled onto the ground into the bottom of the hole formed.
In autumn, the most effective method of the pass is digging up the earth in furrows 40 cm wide, but no more than the width of a spade bayonet. The area that needs to be dug up is mentally divided into two parts. The first row of furrows is dug, then the second row is buried. Thus, the soil layers are saturated with oxygen and nutrients. This method is also recommended if you fertilize the soil with manure or compost.
Having previously scattered it throughout the garden, dig up the ground to distribute it evenly. A “bed” of manure is also effective: place manure at the bottom of the furrow and sprinkle it with soil. If the soil of your garden needs lime, then it cannot be mixed with manure - they can enter into a chemical reaction.
Important! Lime should be scattered over the surface of the area without burying.
It is best to dig the soil while holding the bayonet of the shovel in a vertical position. This will increase the layer of cultivated soil due to deep penetration and make it easier to separate the breasts.
Is it necessary and when to dig up the soil in the fall?
This question is a stumbling block for most gardeners. Some believe that digging up a vegetable garden in the fall is not rational, while others, following traditional methods of tillage, argue that this will increase the yield next year. We will give several arguments that will help you answer the question of whether it is necessary to dig up the soil in the fall.
Advantages of autumn digging of soil is that the top layer of leaves, twigs and other plant elements falls into the inner ball of soil and rots over the winter, and the larvae of many insect pests rise to the surface of the earth and die from birds or winter frosts. The soil is enriched with nitrogen microorganisms, which are activated by oxygen.
The downside is that, that when you dig up the soil, you bury weed seeds, helping them to overwinter and sprout in the spring.
Important! When digging in the fall, you need to fence the area.
As you know, it is recommended to properly dig up the soil in the fall no deeper than 10 cm, since with deeper penetration the beneficial substances erode.
There is no clear opinion regarding autumn digging. The advantage is that the top layer of soil will not compact as much over the winter, and in the spring it will take you less time to prepare the soil for planting.
It is also necessary to dig up the soil in the fall because the soil needs replenishment before winter. When the first rains arrive, it is too late to dig up the soil; in the fall, this period falls at the end of October. So it’s better to do it by the middle of this month.
Is it necessary to dig up the site in the spring?
When digging up a garden in the spring, you must take into account the fact that the soil has hardened over the winter.
How to properly dig up the soil in spring? If you tilled the soil in the fall, then in the spring you only need to harrow the soil. In this way, moisture reserves will be preserved, preventing the upper layers of the soil from drying out.
Important! You don’t need to dig up the soil deeply in the spring, just half a shovel deep.
Shallow digging will help preserve the substances that you buried in the soil in the fall. All humus, fertilizers, and compost will become an excellent basis for your harvest. Enriched soil is known to promote active germination of seeds and their preservation in the event of frost.
Did you know? In the spring, there is no need to dig up the entire area: it is better to leave the paths, and then the weeds will be less of a nuisance.
What is a sole and how to get rid of it
The sole is a layer of compacted soil resulting from frequent digging of the garden to the same depth.
Heavy soils (soddy-podzolic, clayey) and swampy soils are susceptible to the formation of soles. It is recommended to carry out a two-tier excavation of the territory every 4-6 years.
Important! Do not overuse two-tier digging. Beneficial substances disappear.
The sole prevents the growth of many rooted plants: celery, carrots, beets, onions, parsley, etc., and deforms their roots.
If the sole is heavily compacted, then stagnation of water occurs, which promotes the development of unfavorable bacteria and microorganisms, which subsequently affect the development of vegetables.
A two-tiered digging of the garden will help you get rid of the sole. It is advisable to carry it out in the fall, so that beneficial microflora has time to form during the winter and spring. To do this, you need to dig a furrow the width of the bayonet of your shovel and loosen its bottom with a garden fork. In this case, the soil along the edges of the furrow should also be loosened. Then you can add compost or manure. As a result of such digging, the arable layer increases, and the earth is saturated with oxygen necessary for the development of useful substances, and its physical and water properties improve.
Did you know? During two-tier digging, the top layer of low-fertility soil is not removed.
How to dig virgin soil correctly
Virgin land is land that has not been subjected to any cultivation, not plowed by anyone and, on the one hand, wild.
If you have such an area, then this is a great reason to treat it and get moral and physical satisfaction from the results. Once you have gathered the strength, tools and inspiration, you can immediately begin. But keep in mind that this is terrible work and testing.
Important! When choosing a site, you should make sure that there are amenities nearby: water, a store, a gas station, roads.
You can process virgin soil either with the help of equipment or on your own (this depends on your health). The method of processing with machinery is quite simple, but before you think that, except for a tractor, there is nothing you can do to dig up virgin soil, remember about your hands and feet. An excellent tool, and most importantly, free, for conquering virgin lands.
Manual processing is a complex and labor-intensive process. First of all, you need to choose the right season. The autumn digging period is perfect for this type of work. Since to process virgin soil you need to clear your abandoned area of weeds, start by choosing a lawn mower. You can use a regular one, but then the work time will increase.
Important! It is necessary to mow grass and weeds in virgin lands before mechanical processing.
You will also need a shovel. It is best to dig up virgin soil in parts, dividing it with a thread. You need to dig to a depth of at least 15 cm. Leave the dug area to dry for a while. Then you need to walk over it with a pitchfork and fluff up the soil.
When digging virgin soil, it is important to be patient, because such a task often remains abandoned due to its complexity.
Is it possible to make the digging process easier?
First of all, you need to choose the right shovel. Its handle should be strong, smooth and sufficiently polished. This will protect you from damage to your palms and unexpected breakdowns. The bayonet blade needs to be sharpened well - then the process will go faster.
Tilling the soil before planting crops in the garden is one of the main activities. If you properly dig up your garden, this will allow you to loosen the soil and clear it of weeds. Successful cultivation of crops largely depends on the quality of soil loosening. When digging, you can apply mineral or organic fertilizers.
Manual digging, in contrast to mechanical processing with a plow, is more thorough and of higher quality; it allows you to break the soil into smaller lumps, effectively clear it of weeds, and also prevent them from spreading throughout the garden. Therefore, many summer residents, having the opportunity to plow the garden with a plow, still choose to dig by hand. The garden needs to be dug twice a year - in the spring, before planting, and in the fall after harvesting.
How to dig up a garden in the fall
Digging the garden in the fall should be done before the first frost. While digging up the soil, phosphorus fertilizers are applied at the same time so that they are available to plants in the spring. During the autumn loosening of the soil, the resulting clods of earth are not broken up. This allows low temperatures to penetrate deeper into the soil and freeze weed seeds, which lose their viability at low temperatures. During the winter, soil with large lumps is better saturated with oxygen, and in the spring they will crumble on their own. To properly dig up a plot of land, you need to use some rules.
- Site preparation. Before digging up an area, you need to remove all branches, potato tops, and mown weeds from it.
- Digging the garden should be done in furrows. The shovel is stuck perpendicular to the ground, deepened to the full bayonet, and then removed with a lump of earth. Then the earthen ball is thrown forward onto the adjacent furrow. The entire garden is dug this way. The last furrow is covered with earth.
- To make digging more convenient, you should divide the garden into small areas.
The tasks of autumn soil loosening are to destroy weed seeds, clear the soil of remaining weeds and saturate the soil with oxygen.
Spring digging
After the snow melts, you should not dig the soil right away. It is necessary to determine the degree of its readiness for processing. To do this, you need to take a lump of earth and crush it in your hand. If it crumbles easily and is slightly damp, then the soil is ready for loosening. If the soil in the garden is too wet, then you should wait to process it. The rules for spring garden digging are as follows.
- It is necessary to dig the garden only when the soil is physically ripe. But you shouldn’t delay processing either, since the soil must have time to settle before planting vegetables. In addition, delaying digging can reduce the amount of moisture in the soil.
- You need to dig the area in furrows, as with autumn cultivation. For convenience, you also need to divide the garden into small areas. And throw the taken soil into the next furrow.
- When loosening the soil in the spring, be sure to break up the lumps.
You cannot dig in wet and frozen soil, as the soil will become denser, and when the lumps dry out it will be very difficult to break them up. For spring digging, the most suitable tool is a miracle - a shovel; it allows you to break the lumps into small ones and loosens the soil well.
Tools for digging a vegetable garden
You can dig up a garden using various tools.
Bayonet shovel
This is the most common tool for digging up a garden, but if the area is large enough, the process can take several days. Digging with a bayonet shovel is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it is still the most popular method.
Pitchfork
Using a pitchfork, it is good to dig up an area where the soil is light and loose. Loamy soils are not suitable for digging with this tool.
Miracle shovel
This tool allows you to quickly and conveniently dig up the soil on your site. The process of tillage becomes less labor-intensive and more efficient and of high quality. combines the work of two tools - a shovel and a fork.
When digging a garden by hand, you shouldn’t try to do all the work at once. This will affect the quality of processing. To make digging easier and the working depth sufficient, you need to place the shovel strictly vertically.
If digging is done with a shovel, then you do not need to collect a lot of soil on the bayonet. To prevent compaction of the dug-up part of the garden, you do not need to walk on it, so the direction of digging should be backwards. Before digging up the garden, you can scatter peat, compost, fertilizer or humus over the area. And then dig up the ground.
Today you can often come across the opinion that digging up the soil in the fall is useless. Often in modern specialized literature on agriculture you can read that it is necessary to dig up a vegetable garden in cases of extreme necessity. And it is advisable to do without this procedure altogether. But many experienced gardeners know that this approach can even harm the plantings. So is autumn digging of the garden necessary? It is worth considering this issue from all sides.
What are the benefits of cultivating the soil in the fall?
First of all, this simplifies and facilitates planting work in the spring. Even those who are against such an event agree with this. After all, when the last vegetables are collected, the cold weather is still quite far away. And if the weather is warm, the beds become overgrown with weeds. This means that if you don’t remove them now, then next season it will be more difficult to fight the dominance of weeds. What other advantages of this procedure?
- The soil becomes softer and looser;
- The land cleared of weeds is saturated with oxygen and moisture;
- In the spring, such soil warms up faster than untreated soil in the fall;
- When cultivating the soil in autumn, a good water-air regime is created for plants;
- The thermal properties of the soil also improve in the spring, the soil will ripen faster for planting.
One of the advantages of autumn work is that the remains of stems, stones and other debris were removed ahead of time. All this makes work in the garden easier in the spring. In addition, tillage in the fall is usually carried out with the rotation of the soil layer. This helps fight pests and pathogenic bacteria. After all, they overwinter in the upper layers of the soil. And after digging up the earth, some of them will simply die from freezing in the spring.
Dependence on soil type
However, you should not go to extremes, because whether the soil needs deep digging in the fall depends primarily on its type. The plot will not do without autumn treatment with clayey or loamy heavy soil where groundwater lies close to the surface.
The fact is that all the pores and holes formed during digging in the fall are filled with air. And the treated soil increases its volume almost 2 times. In loose soil, due to carbon dioxide and oxygen, plant residues decompose faster and humus is formed. In such soil, plants tolerate frost and drought more easily, and their roots penetrate deeper into the soil.
But initially light and loose, sandy and humus-rich soils are advised to simply be deeply loosened in the fall. On a site with such soil, it is recommended to dig up only heavily polluted areas, removing weed roots. Frequent and deep digging of such soil is not useful. This can destroy the soil structure.
Tilling the land in the fall is best done before the onset of cold weather and before the snow falls. Because if you bury it in the ground it will slow down soil warming in the spring. And, most importantly, do it in time before the period of prolonged rains, otherwise you can achieve the effect of compacting the earth.
What is the best way to cultivate a garden in the fall?
This again depends on the type of soil. Deep autumn digging of a vegetable garden on heavy soil is carried out by raising layers of earth. You don’t have to turn them over, but simply carefully shift them and remove the roots of the weeds. It is better not to level the soil, leaving rather large lumps of earth; they will prevent it from compacting during rains. In addition, due to this, the soil will freeze to a greater depth.
This will not only make pest control easier, but after such rough treatment the soil will better absorb autumn precipitation. Such a surface will retain moisture and snow well. The bottom layer of soil will be nutrient medium for plant roots. But the upper part, if you place it at the bottom of the furrow, will be enriched with various useful substances. When one row of soil has been processed, proceed to another. The main thing is that the distance between them is not too wide, otherwise the layer of excavated earth will be large and the soil will not be saturated with air.
For shallow tillage of light soil in the fall, it is worth starting with loosening immediately after harvesting. This provokes the growth of weeds, which will appear in the beds in two weeks. They can be easily dealt with with a regular hoe. Vegetable tops and other herbs can be placed in trenches for warm beds.
Applying fertilizers during digging
The procedure of digging up a vegetable garden in the fall is a good opportunity to fertilize the soil with various mineral and organic compounds. They are filled with useful substances bottom layer of soil where plant roots are located.
Organic matter, for example, compost, manure can be applied only where it is planned to grow vegetable seedlings. Before the time of planting, it will have time to rot well in the ground. It is quite acceptable to add fertilizers with potassium and phosphorus to the soil. They are not washed out of the soil for a long time, and the earth will be nourished all winter. Can add ash, superphosphate. What other useful substances can be added to the soil when cultivating in the fall?
- Wood sawdust soaked in urea solution. Wood decomposes slowly in the soil, and it consumes large amounts of nitrogen;
- Grasses or tops embedded in the ground in the fall will be used as green manure;
- By burying leaves to a decent depth in the fall, you can increase the fertile layer of soil.
However, if in the summer the plants suffered from fungal diseases, then it is advisable to remove all leaves from the area and burn them.
Suitable for autumn feeding ready-made autumn fertilizer complexes. All the necessary elements are already balanced in them. There are also compositions with active organics. Lime is also applied in the fall, and by spring it will be absorbed into the soil and will not harm the seedlings. All this will have a beneficial effect on productivity.
Nuances of autumn treatment of areas with trees
In areas where trees grow, soil cultivation must be done carefully so as not to damage the roots. By digging up the soil directly near the trunks, it is easy to destroy the so-called dew roots. These are small roots located in the fertile layer of the earth; they absorb moisture and nutrients needed by the tree.
For example, an apple or stone cherry tree has a shallow root system and is very easy to wound. Therefore, digging in the garden is not recommended; in general, it is advisable to simply loosen the soil.
To prevent digging from turning into hard work, it can be done little by little, but regularly. For example, treating a certain area every day will make it easier to dig up the entire garden. Also, if possible, do not cultivate very wet soil. Whether to dig up the garden in the fall or not, each gardener, of course, decides for himself. But in this procedure, undoubtedly, there are many advantages. The main thing is to treat this wisely.
Digging the soil is one of the important stages of caring for a garden or vegetable garden. People have long loosened the soil on their plots, thereby helping it to enrich itself with oxygen and rest. Also, the dug up area served as a symbol that it was already occupied by someone and should not be encroached upon. This tradition still exists today; every caring gardener considers it his duty to dig up his garden in the fall or spring. However, recently there has been increasing debate about whether such a procedure is necessary.
What are the benefits of digging?
Modern experts are divided on the need for annual digging of soil in the garden. Some strictly stand their ground, defending old-fashioned methods of caring for a plot or garden, while others believe that seasonal digging can cause irreparable harm to the treasured acres of black soil.
The following factors speak in favor of autumn digging of soil at the dacha:
- in the spring the land is ready for sowing;
- the soil will warm up faster;
- soil “breathing” will improve;
- weed control is easier;
- rodent burrows are collapsing.
In the past, gardening work in the fall could not take place without thoroughly digging up the area. After harvesting, the soil cover of the beds was processed with a bayonet shovel to the depth of complete immersion of the dacha equipment in the soil. Then the lump of earth turned over and broke. The procedure is standard and familiar to many.
3 types of deep tillage
There are several methods for digging up the soil after harvesting. Caring for the soil in the garden can be:
- single-tier;
- pseudoplantation;
- plantage.
Regular digging
The simplest and most widely used by domestic gardeners is the single-tier digging method. When resorting to it, it is necessary to immerse the shovel in the ground in the selected area for the entire length of the iron bayonet. This method is suitable for all types of soil where the fertile layer is thick enough.
The layers of earth from the previous furrow are turned over and laid out in the adjacent one. This method helps in the fight against perennial weeds, since their roots can be easily removed from the ground. In this case, weed seeds from the surface fall to such a depth from which they will definitely not be able to germinate in the spring.
Pseudoplantation
The second excavation method is called pseudo-planting. It is much more complicated than the first and is performed to a depth of two lengths of the iron bayonet of a shovel. This method of digging up a vegetable garden is used only on virgin lands, where the soil layer is quite dense and hard. The first furrow is dug with the tool, the width of which should be 60 cm and the depth of one iron bayonet. Then the soil from it is piled up, and subsequently it is poured into the last furrow. Chernozem from the following trenches passes into the previous ones.
At the second stage, the gardener will need a pitchfork with which to loosen the bottom of the first and all subsequent furrows dug. Work is carried out to the maximum possible depth. Then manure or other necessary fertilizers are added there. From the second furrow the soil is poured into the first, with the surface plant cover at the bottom. The average depth, taking into account applied manure or other fertilizers, should be 50 cm.
Plantage
Experts call planting the most difficult and exhausting. This method of tillage is used only in cases where the fertile layer lies deep enough from the surface. Using this method, the garden is cultivated to a depth of 75 cm.
Work using the planting technique occurs in 2 stages. In the first, the entire cultivated area is divided into two identical territories and a boundary is drawn mentally in the middle. The meaning of this digging method is that, having reached the conditional line, activities in the 1st section are suspended and continued from the beginning of the 2nd in the opposite direction.
At the second stage of planting, the first furrow 90 cm wide is dug, the soil from it is folded into a separate pile, which will then move into the 1st furrow of the 2nd section. The depth of immersion of an iron bayonet into the ground is its entire length. Then the dug groove is also divided into two equal parts.
The first is dug to the depth of the entire iron bayonet of the shovel. The extracted soil is also placed in a separate pile. Now, after loosening the bottom with a pitchfork, manure or other fertilizers can be added to this depth. When the second part of the furrow is dug, the soil from it is also placed in a pile, which is then transferred to the first trench of the second section. Next, the same manipulations are carried out with this section as with the first part.
The second furrow is dug to a width of 45 cm, which is half of the first. The soil from it is transferred as the top layer into the first trench. Already familiar manipulations are carried out with the excavated area. After digging the second layer, the extracted soil is transferred into the first furrow.
Land care
Loamy and clayey soils are subjected to careful digging and preparation for winter. After processing with a shovel or pitchfork, the volume of soil on the site increases several times. When oxygen enters the soil, the process of decomposition of the remaining plants occurs faster and more actively when interacting with carbon dioxide.
While working on a summer cottage, it is worth nourishing the soil cover by adding not only manure, but also other useful additives. Sawdust soaked in urea will also be useful for the future harvest. Such a delicious composition will enrich the earth with nitrogen for a long period. You can also bury fallen leaves or plant stems. This will also revive the earth's surfaces. You should not bury crops if they are sick.
On a plot of land dug up in the fall, plants planted in the spring can more easily withstand drought. The root system of crops placed in prepared soil develops well and this contributes to more abundant moisture saturation. Maintenance methods are determined by the composition of the soil.
An easy method of preparing soil for spring
Opponents of this method of caring for a garden or vegetable garden call it “barbaric.” According to their beliefs, it is best to simply loosen the soil in September-October, without disturbing its composition and structure through your actions. Proponents of a gentle method of caring for soil consider digging to be harmful, since when digging up layers of soil and turning them over and mixing them, beneficial bacteria from different layers die.
Those living on the surface die when they get to the depths, and the deep inhabitants of the earth cannot survive in unnatural conditions. As a last resort, light and loose soils can simply be loosened with a rake if necessary. This process, done in time, will help identify unwanted weeds. Treating the area in a similar way in September promotes the germination of weed seeds.
On loosened soil, seedlings will turn green after 14 days, which can be easily removed by hand or raked again. Young weeds are quite fragile plants, and they will die completely from such treatment.
It is not recommended to dig up areas under trees and bushes. Such treatment can damage the root system of plants, since they have dew roots, thanks to which the green inhabitants of gardens collect dew and feed on it. Usually these short shoots lie in the upper layers of the soil.
Preparing the soil for spring is necessary, and the gardener chooses how to do it himself. By listening to the advice of experts, you can maintain the composition of the soil and at the same time properly cultivate the site.