I have a couple of questions about green manure
1 Is green manure better for the ground than covering it with black
plastic over the winter, the soil is sandy?.
2 If so what is the best one to use?.
3 Is greenmanure freely available at gardens centres, I have never
seen it there but then I have never looked for it before?.
Bren
Green manure
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snooky
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Afternoon Bren,
There was an article on Green Manure on Gardeners World this week and,no doubt, if you call it up you will find it on BBC I-player which may give you some answers.
Wallis Seeds have a good selection of Green Manure at a reasonable cost but the best idea which I have come across is to go to your local Asian store and buy a kilogramme pack of mustard seed for about £2-50 and spread that about.This is favourite with quite a few of us on our allotment site.
There was an article on Green Manure on Gardeners World this week and,no doubt, if you call it up you will find it on BBC I-player which may give you some answers.
Wallis Seeds have a good selection of Green Manure at a reasonable cost but the best idea which I have come across is to go to your local Asian store and buy a kilogramme pack of mustard seed for about £2-50 and spread that about.This is favourite with quite a few of us on our allotment site.
Regards snooky
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I use phacelia, grazing rye and winter tares (a type of vetch) every year on the beds preceding the potatoes and other root vegetables.
Phacelia, I find, really has to be sown in August to be of any use, but grazing rye (which has a huge roots system and also ample top growth, so produces a lot of stuff to dig in) and winter tares will germinate even when sown well into September. I dig the plants in when they are well-grown but not flowering, say, in March, but always keep a few phacelia to flower because bees love the flowers.
Bren, I certainly think they are much more useful than black plastic, but if you have a lot of weed seeds in the ground already, it will, of course, not be possible to hoe the weeds without destroying the green manure.
I buy my seeds from Kings Seeds which sell packets in different sizes
Phacelia, I find, really has to be sown in August to be of any use, but grazing rye (which has a huge roots system and also ample top growth, so produces a lot of stuff to dig in) and winter tares will germinate even when sown well into September. I dig the plants in when they are well-grown but not flowering, say, in March, but always keep a few phacelia to flower because bees love the flowers.
Bren, I certainly think they are much more useful than black plastic, but if you have a lot of weed seeds in the ground already, it will, of course, not be possible to hoe the weeds without destroying the green manure.
I buy my seeds from Kings Seeds which sell packets in different sizes
Thanks Snooky. Geoff and Monica, I will look out for some seed during the week and see whats around.
Monica I have lot and lots of weeds mostly fat hen and another one don't know what its called pale green leaf with tiny white flowers something like lesser stitchwort and some chickweed. any way I will give the green manure a go.
Bren
Monica I have lot and lots of weeds mostly fat hen and another one don't know what its called pale green leaf with tiny white flowers something like lesser stitchwort and some chickweed. any way I will give the green manure a go.
Bren
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Mike Vogel
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As you can probably tell from Monika's answer, the two really have different purposes. Green manure is to feed the soil and give it bulk,; the plastic sheeting is just to suppress weeds.
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I've been to my local garden centre this morning and got 3 lots of green manure, Mr. Fothergill's.
Winter grazing rye 100g packet @£1.69.
Mustard (white) 70g packet @ £1.89.
Phacelia39g packet @ £1.69.
it maybe an expensive way to buy it but small amounts will do me at the moment, Mike Vogel I saw your posting on another posting so I should have enough to cover the different crops.
Bren
Winter grazing rye 100g packet @£1.69.
Mustard (white) 70g packet @ £1.89.
Phacelia39g packet @ £1.69.
it maybe an expensive way to buy it but small amounts will do me at the moment, Mike Vogel I saw your posting on another posting so I should have enough to cover the different crops.
Bren
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Mike Vogel
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Yes, Bren, i would imagine so. It depends on how much ground you have to cover. In organic gardening, especially for vegetarians, green manure is supposed to be a complete substitute for animal manure. I haven't found it so, but maybe I haven't been using it properly.
Dig it in before it forms flowers. But put some phacelia where you want to encourage bees etc, and let it flower there.
Dig it in before it forms flowers. But put some phacelia where you want to encourage bees etc, and let it flower there.
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John Yeoman
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I've always been sceptical about claims for green manure, on the principle that it takes nutrients from the soil like every other plant. Some of these will be leached out by the weather. And you can't get out of a plot more than you put into it. So green manure cannot by itself build the soil.
That said, leguminous green manures do import a little nitrogen which may - for a season, at least - help the next crop.
My favourite green manure is spinach. You can sow it in March. It flourishes almost all the year round. You can trim the leaves to eat them when you wish then plow in the haulm.
No, it doesn't import nitrogen. But it's a lot more nutritious than an old carpet or black plastic!
That said, leguminous green manures do import a little nitrogen which may - for a season, at least - help the next crop.
My favourite green manure is spinach. You can sow it in March. It flourishes almost all the year round. You can trim the leaves to eat them when you wish then plow in the haulm.
No, it doesn't import nitrogen. But it's a lot more nutritious than an old carpet or black plastic!
The Gardening Guild, the centre for natural gardening ideas. http://www.gardeningguild.org/help
Hi John,
I suspect that you may be missing the point a little with green manures.
Most of them are very low nutrient up-take but do draw various micro nutrients up and when dug-in and biodegraded these micro nutrients are released into the soil in a form easily taken up by the crop that follows. I suspect that you are right that the organic faction do overplay their importance, as ever, but never the less they do contribute over all.
JB.
I suspect that you may be missing the point a little with green manures.
Most of them are very low nutrient up-take but do draw various micro nutrients up and when dug-in and biodegraded these micro nutrients are released into the soil in a form easily taken up by the crop that follows. I suspect that you are right that the organic faction do overplay their importance, as ever, but never the less they do contribute over all.
JB.