Green manures for cutting

[PepperMonster]

Looking for ideas/opinions.

I want to plant up a strip of something to add to compost, mulches and possibly make feed from. But!
NOT comfrey as it's loose everywhere on the site and the neighbourhood, someone at some point used the seeding variety.

And not nettles - I share the plot with my dad and as much as I love nettles I think for now that's one psychological barrier he's not going to get past in his first season ever doing actual gardening with plants, on a site with lots of very traditionally minded neighbours. Lots meaning all of them, lovely as they are.

So I can go and collect them when I fancy it but bit would be nice to have a larger supply close at hand.

My candidates are
Phacelia - I grow it as a flower/insect feeder every year anyway. Obviously it looks nice. But it's annual.

Buckwheat - looks like it has attractive flowers also?
Again annual so would only last 1 year.

Any ideas how I could make this work?

[burnie]

Never tried it other than the comfrey, which I grew from seed, but never had the problem with self seeding, guess I lifted/harvested before the seeds set.

[Snoop Puss]

Might alfalfa fit the bill?

https://www.greenmanure.co.uk/produc...ant=1182264548

[veggiechicken]

I'm random sowing saved seeds from squashes -just for the leaves. That's the theory anyway.

Some ideas at https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...lch_98144.html

[Muddy_Boots]

I always plant green manure every autumn/winter in certain beds or on parts of my allotments mainly to arrest weed growth during the spring and obviously to use as a manure ready for spring planting. The most obvious bit about using this method is to NOT under any circumstances let whatever you plant flower and set seed, for obvious reasons.

I've got the dreaded Comfrey problem where someone in the past used it and let it go to seed and every year for the past 4 years on plot 1 the damn thing has come up and I've been fighting it all the time digging it up or spraying it on the path between me and the neighbour to kill it. I expect more of it to appear this year as all the ground in plot 1 including the dreaded bed where it appears have been dug for spring planting.

As for green manure I've tried most and the better of them is Winter Rye which comes up quite thickly and when it gets to February/March time and the ground isn't too heavy you cut it down to ground level and dig it in at the same time just rough digging, the roots will rot down as well so no need to remove them. It will of completely rotted down by the time you come to plant. I've tried Alfalfa and Clover and all the other types of plants they sell as green manure but Winter Rye is by far the best one for me, you may think something else is better its purely your own opinion.

[nickdub]

Just for anyone-else reading this (I know its not relevant to the OP) if you get Bocking 14 comfrey you can plant it somewhere and it stays where you put it, as its sterile and so doesn't produce seeds - you can take root cuttings if you want more of it.

[rary]

I have never grown any of the green manures though if I thought I needed to sow some I think I would just sow any seed that I have and hoe it in when needed, or if I could dig I would sow some quick growing grass seed and turn that in, in the spring

[nickdub]

If anyone has a spare bit of ground over the summer and just want something to cut down and compost in the Autumn then they could do a lot worse than sun-flowers. The seed is cheaply available as wild bird seed, and if you wait until the soil warms up towards the end of April you can just sow it broadcast. The flowers always look smiling and cheerful on sunny days too.

[PepperMonster]

OK I went for alfalfa and the random squash idea. As both are edible and I happen to have both an old pack of alfalfa sprouts and a squash for dinner later this week : D

[muck lover]

Broad beans/ field beans/ old peas

[veggiechicken]

The wild white comfrey roams freely in my garden and I don't mind at all!



The flowers are pretty and the bees like them. Its also quite easy to pull up.
Yesterday, I pulled about 6 plants that were in the wrong place and used the leaves to line a pea trench, Threw the peas on top and covered the lot over. The roots were chucked in green waste.

[Derbydal]

i've got a pack of field beans that iv'e failed to sow in november ,ill stick em in when it dries out and they can be cut down and will regrow and covers 25 square mtrs , I grew a patch of french climbing beans that I had spare last year and dug them in has green manure . atb Dal.

[PepperMonster]

I do no-dig (currently low dig) gardening so I won't really be digging anything in. Hence my desire for things that create a lot of matter to go in the compost as well as providing cover.

I like comfrey as a plant but I'm unfortunately quite allergic so having it popping up all over the place and constantly managing it doesn't appeal : (

[Two_Sheds]

I've had alfalfa edging the beds, for 7+ years

It's not impossible to dig out, but you can't pull it like phacelia
I cut my alfalfa hedges and strew the bits on the beds as mulch

[nickdub]

I do no-dig (currently low dig) gardening so I won't really be digging anything in. Hence my desire for things that create a lot of matter to go in the compost as well as providing cover.

I like comfrey as a plant but I'm unfortunately quite allergic so having it popping up all over the place and constantly managing it doesn't appeal : (

I have several plants of Bocking 14 comfrey, and for the 20 odd years I've grown it its never popped up anywhere I didn't deliberately plant it.