Best green manure to follow brassicas?

[Croila]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone has some good advice about green manures, please? I have a small patch of clay soil where I've (disastrously!!) grown cabbages and broccoli this summer.

I had to pull them all out as they fell foul of the dreaded cabbage root fly maggot. Horrible, HORRIBLE things!

I was thinking of putting green manure in there over the winter, but I'm not sure what type to use, never having done anything like this before. That bit of ground's never had anything growing in it before to my knowledge, so from a crop-rotational point of view, if anyone could advise a specific type of green manure to follow brassicas and hopefully break up heavy clay soil, that would be brilliant.

Any advice hugely appreciated - thank you!
Kind regards
Croila

[two brews]

Hello,

on beechgrove gardens this week they were planting rye on their brassica patch,if this will help break up your clay or not i will have to leave to somebody with more experience to answer .

[Croila]

Ah, thank you - I shall look into this further! Many thanks

[BUFFS]

i would use red clover,get some nitrogen fixed into the soil..i may be wrong ,but thats what i would do...

[Croila]

Thank you Buffs - I'll read up on that too, cheers! :-D

[Dave]

As you've got a heavy soil (clay) how about using Hungarian grazing rye? It's what I'm going to try this year. Simple to sow, and doesn't look bad at all.

[Croila]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, it's really good of you all!

I've been doing some reading up, and I'm thinking Hungarian rye sounds good. Mind you, I might just shove a load of over-wintering onions in there instead ... Drat. Can't make my mind up!

[Hazel at the Hill]

I've been doing some reading up, and I'm thinking Hungarian rye sounds good. Mind you, I might just shove a load of over-wintering onions in there instead ... Drat. Can't make my mind up!

I'd sow grazing rye now, dig it in in Feb, then plant onion sets in March.

You see, you can have it all!

[Croila]

Ah, but, I want to sow autumn onions so I can have them ready for spring :-) I found a particular variety (Troy) that's supposed to do well up here, plus it keeps and keeps for ages, so ... Maybe no manure after all. Ah, decisions, decisions ..!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Ah, but, I want to sow autumn onions so I can have them ready for spring :-) I found a particular variety (Troy) that's supposed to do well up here, plus it keeps and keeps for ages, so ... Maybe no manure after all. Ah, decisions, decisions ..!

I find that you gain hardly anything timewise by planting autumn onions - it's just something useful to have in the ground over winter!

Also, if we have a cold winter, you will lose some of them - only about a third of my red overwintering onions survived this last winter, and that's down here in the Midlands.

But if you really want to plant autumn onions, I'd pop them in 3" pots in a cold frame over winter so that the roots can develop, and them plant them out in the plot after you've dug in the green manure in the Spring.

[Croila]

Separate pots ... Now there's an idea. Yes, that makes perfect sense - thank you so much! Right, you've sold me. I think I'll do that ... Except, I might have to get some big containers rather than individual pots, as I've just ordered a batch of about 50 sets. Can you tell me, what sort of depth of container should I be looking for? :-)

[Hazel at the Hill]

I'd use 3" square pots - but then, I've got zillions of them from Wilko - 15 fit into a gravel tray, so 3 trays & you're sorted.

Actually, as all the sets are doing is developing a root system, they'd be quite happy planted in those little round 2" pots that sit in a tray of 32 (think they are called plant-a-pak?)

[Croila]

Hmmmm. We've not got a Wilko in Edinburgh, but I'm sure I can find something like this elsewhere - it sounds just the ticket.

I've not got a cold frame yet (only started this growing grub stuff in May), but I'm planning on using our conservatory for doing things like this. A cold frame/mini greenhouse is on the Christmas wish list though!

Thank you for the advice, it's really appreciated :-)

[Two_Sheds]

Ah, but, I want to sow autumn onions so I can have them ready for spring :-)

My earliest autumn-planted onions aren't ready before June/July, and I'm way further south than you are.

Try winter lisbon spring onions, they'll be ready a little earlier than June

[Croila]

I planted some Winter Lisbon last week, only a square foot's worth though, and I've planted four buckets of onions sets today. Hopefully I won't kill them over winter!