Green manure

[Black Wolf]

What is green manure and how does it work?

Sounds a bit of a silly question I know but have never heard of it before and just wondered if it would be beneficial to some of my beds in my allotment. First winter with it so trying to work out what to do!! Tho I do have some winter crops going

[salome2001]

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will hop in, but basically a green manure is planting some green matter that will 1. cover the soil so it suppresses weeds/ stops nutrient leaching from rain/snow 2. add nitrogen (leguminous types of green manure plants) 3. "biofumigates" nasties in the soil (caliente mustard). 4. improve soil structure with root growth 5. add organic matter to soil

which it does and to what degree depends on which green manure you plant.

you basically plant it then cut it off and dig it in, timing again depends on the type of plant

[salome2001]

nb. I planted a commercial "autumn mix" green manure last year, it had appalling germination, pretty much all that grew was some sort of grass, and it was a b*tch to cut down and dig in, I think I ended up weeding it out of the bed for then best part of 6 months after it was supposed to have gone. I will be choosing much more specifically this year!

[zazen999]

Yeah, that would be rye grass. I use mustard, phacelia, crimson cloves and alfalfa.

[stormknight]

I have planted some green manure as a starter. You can use it on a crop rotation. The green manure is good for different things depending on what you get.

I chose Red clover: http://www.greenmanure.co.uk/seeds/r...n-manure-seeds

If you want a big area i bought from here: Red Clover Green Manure Seed

[Two_Sheds]

wondered if it would be beneficial to some of my beds in my allotment.

It does what farmyard manure does, without the smell

https://www.greenmanure.co.uk/

I grow GMs all year round ~ they just self seed now, and I only pull them up when I want to plant a crop. Photos in the FB link below

[Two_Sheds]

that would be rye grass. I use mustard, phacelia, crimson cloves and alfalfa.

Rye grass is horrible, so difficult to remove (as Salome found out). I now use the same ones as Zazen, plus limnanthes & buckwheat

[Chef_uk]

Am thinking about using green manure for the first time this year. I normally cover the beds with compost and then black sheeting to overwinter but fancy a change. Are green manures the same as veg with same families etc? Or doesn't it matter as much?

[Two_Sheds]

if you're doing crop rotation then you'll want to put the GM you choose in the corresponding bed. Some don't belong to a family group so can go anywhere