What to plant in garden beds to protect against pests and weeds: advice from practical gardeners

05.04.2023 11:34
Updated: 15.04.2023 02:41

With a little ingenuity, a summer resident can save a lot of time on weeding and pest control.

To do this, it is enough to sow the necessary crop in the beds in time, and then insects and weeds will not have a chance. As it has already become clear, we will talk about green manure.

Gardeners claim that of all the useful crops, mustard has such properties.

When to sow

Mustard is sown at least a month before the main crops are planted in the beds.

The plant tolerates spring colds without any problems.

Mustard Green manure
Photo: © Belnovosti

In addition to other beneficial properties, mustard helps improve the health of the soil, saturates it with useful substances, prevents weeds from growing and repels pests.

However, you can only count on its beneficial properties if the mustard grows for at least 21 days.

What's next?

Summer residents practice different methods. Some believe that it is correct to mow down the green manure shoots and dig them into the soil. This method allows you to saturate the soil with useful substances to the maximum.

The chopped mustard greens are sprinkled with soil, watered, and after just one week, vegetable seedlings can be transplanted into the garden bed.

As for alternative options, some gardeners prefer to leave the mustard to grow, but only until it begins to interfere with vegetable crops.

The advantage of this method is that you won’t have to weed a bed overgrown with mustard, nor worry about pest infestations.

But in this case, it is necessary to take into account the rules of crop rotation and proper neighboring in the beds.

Igor Zur Author: Igor Zur Internet resource editor


Content
  1. When to sow
  2. What's next?