Which green manure?

[Mumbles]

I'm thinking I might sow green manure on my new plot as I dig over each bed. Will be leaving it in over winter and am wanting it to help with the 'lumpiness' of the soil.
Any ideas what to use?

Thanks



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[wbmkk]

Field beans, like all legumes will help if you are wanting to grow 'greens' next year, as their roots fix nitrogen. They do grow well ... looking a lot like broad beans.

Mustard can be good, but you mustn't grow brassica plants the following year, since mustard itself is part of the brassica group.

Rye is good too.

[Two_Sheds]

Choosing the right Green Manure - Sow Green Manure

[Mumbles]

Thanks both

Can't look at the link yet as it won't load on my phone, will have to wait until OH has finished on the laptop and have a nosey




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[cheapskate chaz]

I layed down Alfalfa and yet to distinguish between weed and green manure, so far I have tonnes of ......weeds! luckily I have two plots so the main one is productive.

[Vince G]

Grew a lot of clover and phacelia last year, but I found it a bit of a pain to chop it all up, took me ages. Added good structure to my sandy soil though, so it is worth it, if a bit of a chore

[marchogaeth]

Grew a lot of clover and phacelia last year, but I found it a bit of a pain to chop it all up, took me ages. Added good structure to my sandy soil though, so it is worth it, if a bit of a chore

I put cardboard over my phacelia and it had rotted down nicely by the time I lifted the cardboard off ready to plant the beans. With hindsight, though, I wish I had weeded the phacelia and then planted into it, leaving some of it for the bees and to self set.

[Sanjo]

I sowed caliente some time ago and decided today was the day for chopping and digging in. According to the packet it has to be chopped and dug in within 20 minutes and then stamped down.
I'd just got half the bed chopped back and started digging a trench to put them in when it chucked it down.
OH came out and helped me chop what I had sheared and then, bless him, he went and got the huge garden umbrella and held it open while I chopped it up and dug it in.
I was efficient enough before I started to get my ground cover organised and having buried what we had sheared, I covered it all and then paddled back to the house through the rain.
Re-read the instructions only to find that I shouldn't have ground covered it but raked to a fine tilth then stamped on it, presumably to make a firm top to stop the gases escaping.
When I looked out of the window later there was the other half tramping over my bed . !

[Two_Sheds]

Grew a lot of clover and phacelia.... found it a bit of a pain to chop it all up

I go over it with a pair of sharp shears: takes 5 mins. Leave it on soil as a mulch

I sowed caliente ... it has to be chopped and dug in within 20 minutes

Again, I chop it quickly with shears, into a bucket, then drop a sprinkle into each planting hole (of alliums: it kills the white rot fungus)