[littlelisa]

i'm planning to order some green manure to put into my plot over winter. I have 5 rods and the soil is pretty clay-heavy. Any recommendations for which  of the green manure crops would work well for this?

[gobs]

Hungarian grazing rye.

[cawdor2001]

i used Hungarian grazing rye last year, certainly winter hardy, make sure you sow it thickly enough

Cawdor

[Bombers]

i used Hungarian grazing rye last year, certainly winter hardy, make sure you sow it thickly enough

Cawdor

For those of us without  rotavator's, can you just hoe this back in just before planting out?

[Lardman]

i'm planning to order some green manure to put into my plot over winter.

Im musing over the same question but for REALLY sandy slightly acidic soil.

Thoughts ?

[littlelisa]

Moles seeds stock "forage rye" - is this the same as grazing rye? If not, where do you buy it? For  a half-plot (5 rods) I'm estimating i'll need 2kg - does that sound right?

[gobs]

It should be the same or very similar, no idea how much you need.

On sand, you might consider some nitrogen fixing legume, any will do that suits your season, including your ordinary beans, or maybe alfalfa, which is very deep rooted but fussy about ph.

[woodburner]

Extract from a 'leaflet' I downloaded a few days ago:

Grazing rye is one of the best green manures for overwintering. It also produces large quantities of roots, so improves soil structure. As it breaks down, it can produce chemicals which prevent seeds from germinating, so you should sow a transplanted crop after grazing rye, or leave a gap of one month between digging in the green manure and sowing seed.

Also, not one for no dig gardening, as, unlike many other green manures, it HAS to be dug in to stop it growing. (Or glyphosated  :shock: )
You can get rye here, also gives details of kg per acre.

For no-dig, I think I would try buckwheat, cutting it down in late autumn and leaving it in situ as a mulch.
Extract from the same leaflet:

Buckwheat grows extremely fast, choking out weeds and producing large amounts of foliage. Its deep roots open out heavy soil and pump up nutrients from deep in the soil. Its flowers also attract bees and hoverflies.

Buckwheathere or your local healthfood shop

Lardman, can't find anything specifically recommended for sandy soil atm,  anything with a lot of bulk would be good and either cut it and leave it on the surface over winter or grow an overwintering one, to stop nutrients being leached out.

[cawdor2001]

For the grazing rye just turn the top over about 3 weeks before planting to give it chance to rot down, pretty quick unless you have real heavy soil.


CAwdor

[noshed]

Grazing rye can be a bit of a pig to dig in. I would just sow some broad beans - all the seed places are selling them off cheap at the moment. Or you could try field beans, the bees like them..

[gobs]

Well, most green manure has the ability to become a weed, gotta watch it!