Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: andyww2013 on September 16, 2019, 08:56
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Hi,
I've got an area of my plot which would benefit from a nutrient boast, I also hate weeding (derived from a lack on time) so I thought I'd give a green manure a try.
Got some seeds:
https://www.seedaholic.com/green-manure-landsberger-mix.html
Now my plan is to prepare the ground, sow, then when ready cut back with a strimmer to ground level, then cover with a weed fabric
Pretty normal, except for the covering bit, does anyone else cover the green manure or is a must to actually dig it in?
Thanks.
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I normally cut my green manure down and leave it on the surface as a mulch. It's easy enough to brush aside when I need to plant or sow anything. It all rots down nicely and the worms take it into the soil for you.
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I'm looking at growing green manure next year I've been looking at the benefits of using green manure and I think I'm going for caliente mustard as I understand it can be used as part of a rotation system to clean up the ground but I'm not sure how many times you can sow on the same plot ?
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Hello I saw a recent article in a tractor mag about a farmer cutting mustard on a warm day on a cabless tractor and nearly gassed him self strimming can have the same effec,covering immediately afterwards will make the gas go into the ground and kill slugs and eelworms jezza
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Hello I saw a recent article in a tractor mag about a farmer cutting mustard on a warm day on a cabless tractor and nearly gassed him self strimming can have the same effec,covering immediately afterwards will make the gas go into the ground and kill slugs and eelworms jezza
:ohmy: :ohmy:
How should you chop it down then?
I assume a mask would need to be a full gas mask!
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I must admit I haven't seen any recommendations from DEFRA regarding mustard crops and the effects of the gasses released from cutting mustard the mustard I intend to grow will be either be runover with my tractor or by using my strimmer because its recommended to turn in the mustard within twenty minuets after cutting
could it be the pollen content that causes the gases when its in flower I know some recommend turning it in before it flowers although one could use a mask for respiratory protection if desired
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I've only tried green manure once in the last few years, did field beans, but I'm considering growing it in some of the beds this year, kings seeds sell a winter mix which includes a rye, plus winter tares and field beans which mixed together should all fix some nitrogen and add some soil improvement.
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Hello if it's only a few inches high (3) and dug or ploughed in it should be ok I only posted about the gas as a precaution as it's lethal stuff it's buried in sealed containers in a wood not far from me it's monitored daily I get a vile smell from a very small geranium type plant growing in a lawn it makes me cough and wheeze if I strim it I avoid it now jezza
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I sowed alfalfa several weeks ago and it's come up great. They I learned that chickens like alfalfa hay as it has a lot of protein in. No chance of cutting and drying it now so I hang some up fresh.
Usually hay is a no-no for chickens as it chucks out nasty mould spores when damp.
I've grown Hungarian rye as a green manure yet digging it in is not the easiest thing in the world.
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Green manure seeds arrived yesterday, winter mix (tares and rye) and field beans. I'll grow different things in different parts, ie one bed is heavy and would benefit more from the field beans, which apparently are well suited to heavy soils. The winter mix can go in a few other beds.