Kitchen Garden Forum

What is this and why is it grown?

I have an inkling already

I'd need a closer look at the flowers so it's only a guess - flax?

If so is it for linseed?

It isn't Flax, which is much more "delicate" plant.
It looks like Lucerne (Alfalfa) which is...or was...grown as a fodder crop.

I would agree with Elaine. It is pretty certainly alfalfa.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa

I was wrong then, I thought it was a green manure or nitrogen-fixing type of vetch.
The fields I encountered were not stock ready, being unfenced and obviously normally arable on a stockless farm.

Is alfalfa grazed or cut and processed?

The photographed field was positively alive with bees

Alfalfa is very widely used as a green manure crop.

http://www.organiccatalogue.com/Seeds-G ... 529f54489e

Thank you Alan, I can recommend it as a Bumble Bee enhancer, the third field with more varied surroundings was full of them.

My first thought was one of the vetches too. I've never seen a field full of Lucerne, only patches of it....pretty impressive seeing so many!

There's probably a money incentive for planting it.

Lucerne is a forage crop usually grown and cut like hay for cattle and horses but can be grazed.

Barney