Green manure.

[oldherbaceous]

Just sown a piece of ground 80 foot x 20 foot with Phacelia green manure seeds…I haven’t done a large area like that for quite a few years, so hoping it will germinate well, now we have had a little rain yesterday and more predicted for this afternoon!
If it germinates well, will leave it over Winter and any that survives, rotovate ii in, in the Spring.
Anyone else going to try some green manure this Autumn/Winter?

[Geoff]

I've never got into green manuring though there are lots of references that suggest I should. Did try a patch of Phacelia once but the germination was so poor it didn't smother the weeds. Also considered nitrogen fixing ones but the Spring clearing looks like hard work. I do worry a bit about the theory, although I can see it adds organic matter doesn't rotting down in situ deplete the nitrogen?

[snooky]

I used to use Mustard as a green maure when I had my plots in Cardiff.Bought kilogramme packs from the local Asian store and broadcast them on the area which I wanted "improving".Can't say that it was effective .
I have bought in Phacellia seeds this year But like Geoff when I have used them in previous years had sporadic germination.I also sow seeds from old saved packets of seeds no matter what they are rather than just throwing them in the bin.If I get a crop from them then it is a bonus and what I don't or can't use I dig in .

[oldherbaceous]

Will have to see how the germination turns out…..the main reason for growing it is, to keep the ground covered through most of the Winter, let the roots get down to a good depth and improve the soil structure, and hopefully have some top growth to either rotovate in, or put on the compost heap….. the Nitrogen they might rob, can easily be remedied by me, as I have a huge amount of horse manure.

[Tony Hague]

I have never had a successful emergence of green manure. Trouble is I want to be able to follow a crop with it, and it sit over winter, rather than waste a bit of ground for a growing season. Brasicca type stuff is devoured by slugs if it does emerge. [I have similar problems with oriental greens - sound like a great late follow on crop, but only feed the slugs - anyone have actual success with them ? Other than mooli that is, which grow so quick they can outpace the efforts of the slugs].

Regarding nitrogen depletion - no it doesn't. It is slow fungal decay of woody stuff that is the problem, not soft green stuff, which will decay quickly then release its nitrogen by the time the following crop needs it. At least that's the theory.

[oldherbaceous]

Well there’s lot of seedlings germinating but, whether it is green manure, or weed seedlings i’m not sure….will know in another week.
Interesting point about the Nitrogen depletion, Tony.

[oldherbaceous]

Just a quick update on the green manure, it’s really starting to get going now and seems to be outcompeting the weed seeds that germinated, so very pleased.
I only broadcast the seeds onto the soil, without covering them, and they seem to have liked that….

[oldherbaceous]

IMG_0354.jpeg (5.2 MiB) Viewed 1654 times

Just to show how the green manure is coming along…..in hind sight, I think I could have used half the amount of seed!

[Geoff]

That's spectacular. It'll take a bit of digging in or are you going to scythe and compost?

[oldherbaceous]

Think I will wait and see how much growth it still puts on….if we get some hard frosts this Winter, it will kill most of it off, but I just wanted to try and keep one allotment protected from the worse of the elements, to see how it compares to one that I have dug and left rough!

[Tony Hague]

That's a pretty lush looking result !

I mentioned Mooli earlier. This can be a green manure option I reckon, it forms quite long roots - you can eat the odd one or two, then when you run out of ideas for what to do with them the rest will die and decay all on their own over winter, having opened up the soil to a fair depth.