Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Will1983 on July 04, 2010, 22:41
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hi ive done a search and drawn a bit of a blank.
the bed i plan to put potatoes in next year has had onions, courgettes and carrots in this year but im not sure which green manure to sow to over winter.
i plan to cover the bed with well rotted manure once the last of the plants have been removed so alfalfa is out as apparently it doesnt like acid soils. but which will suit it?
also if an overwintered green manure species falls within one of the major veg groups, ie brassica, legume, should it be the same as the previous crop in the bed or the same as the next crop to go in there?? or doesnt it matter??
the soil on my plot hasnt been worked for quite a number of years so lacks humus. the manure should help to fix this but i thought a green manure would help push things along a bit quicker.
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Afraid I can't help on the rotation question but if you have club root on the plot then avoid mustard - it's part of the brassica family.
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Winter Tares is a legume which will fix nitrogen in the bed ready for your potatoes next year. It is a hardy plant which will survive winter very well.
Why not use a green manure on your bed over winter without the manure then sheet mulch the bed with well rotted manure (I would use well rotted compost myself) in spring. This way you won't need to dig in the green manure as the compost will mulch it out and you can just trowel your seed potatoes straight in under the mulch.
Be warned though - some of my ideas are a bit strange to some more conventional gardeners!