Various methods are used to restore soil fertility and protect cultivated plants. An effective solution is to plant green manure crops. Sowing mustard is used against weeds. The plant has many advantages: it is used for food as a spice, as a folk medicine and green manure, to protect plants from harmful insects and attract bees.
Benefits of mustard against weeds
Planting green manure is an environmentally friendly and natural way to restore the fertility of the land and give it a loose structure.The root system of white mustard is so powerful and deep that it deprives other crops of the opportunity to fully grow and develop.
Advantages of the plant in weed control:
- protects beds from overgrowing with weeds;
- prevents the development and spread of fungal spores, viruses, pathogenic bacteria, and harmful insect larvae in the soil;
- An excellent way to improve soil health in greenhouses. It is important to sow mustard immediately after harvesting, before planting the next cultivated plants.
Thanks to the rapid emergence of seedlings and the development of lush green mass, weeds are prevented from germinating.
How to plant
Mustard is an unpretentious crop that actively grows and develops in any soil. To combat weeds, it is advisable to sow mustard seeds in the spring. The advantage of the crop is that the seeds remain viable even when sown in frosts down to -5 °C.
Mustard seeds are small, but the crop is usually planted in rows rather than sown. Sequence of work:
- on the treated area, grooves are made with row spacing 15-20 cm wide;
- in each row small indentations are made in increments of 10-12 cm;
- The seeds are placed in a hole, not deepened too much. On clay soils, the planting depth is 1 cm, on sandy soils - 1.5 cm;
- The holes are sprinkled with soil and slightly moistened. The first shoots appear after 5-6 days.
It is advisable to sow mustard seeds in large areas. The area is first dug up and the soil is leveled with a rake. The seed is spread evenly over the area and deepened using a rake. Sowing does not take much time, but mustard germinates a little later.
Cleaning greenery
With favorable temperature conditions and constant moisture, mustard sprouts grow by 20-22 cm per month. In order to mow the green mass on time, you need to focus on the phases of the growing season. As a rule, the plant is cut before flowering begins. It is not recommended to skip this period for a number of reasons:
- if the sprouts begin to bloom, they lose the quality of green manure;
- when flowers appear, the stems become coarser, and the mowed green mass will decompose more slowly in the soil;
- the formed seeds quickly germinate by self-seeding, and the green manure turns into a weed.
After mowing the green mass, it is recommended to wait 7-10 days before planting the planned crops and vegetables.
Sowing green manure to improve soil quality and protect against weeds is gaining more and more fans. Mustard is a popular crop that exhibits many benefits. To restore the structure and fertility of the soil, you can sow seeds in spring and autumn. To control weeds, the crop is sown in spring and summer.
