[green fingers]

Hello, just joined the forum and managed to obtain an allotment this February.  It had been neglected for many years, so although I have a few crops, I am keen to enrich the soil and didnt want to lay down all black plastic, and have been told about green manure crops.
Any advice on what to sow would be relly helpful

[mushroom]

having got my plot in June, i am looking to do the same, once it's rotovated.
I think mustard is one, it also fixes nitrogen, but i think it is brassica. Comfrey is another. I'm googling at the moment to see whats best.

[mushroom]

try this:

http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/green_manure/green_manure.php

and this - more technical:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/covercrop.html

[green fingers]

Thanks Mushroom for this information.
Any idea where to buy Alsike Clover???

[mushroom]

check out http://www.crocus.co.uk/organics/manurechoosing/

they sell it there I think

[WG.]

Please try the Search button at the top of this page since I recall seeing earlier postings on this subject.  Fill in the search fields as described but do post again if you can't find the answers you need (or even if you just feel like posting again   )

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Mustard is useful to help clear wireworm but does not fix nitrogen.  Comfrey is a permanent crop.

[green fingers]

Thanks to all, have found I can purchase a whole variety of seeds for green manure from www.organiccatalog.com  (hope this link works)
Mushroom couldnt find seeds to buy at crocus, but useful article nevertheless

[mushroom]

Comfrey is a permanent crop.

Are only annuals used as green manure? (might be a silly question)  :oops:

BTW searching for green manure using the search facility seems to return everything with green AND manure in the conversation rather than the string "green manure" - maybe it will treat a quotation as one string rather than two?

[mushroom]

hmmm, neither quoted string nor green AND manure provide the desired result. oh well!

[WG.]

Search exactly as I suggested above and you will quickly find the relevant articles.

Re annuals : not all green manures are annuals but they do tend to be very fast growing and MUST be easy to kill.

[mushroom]

LOL if only i'd followed your instructions in the first place.  :oops:

many thanks, it returned exactly what I wanted  

[Scribbler]

Grazing rye is useful as it is a winter crop. Sow August to early October, then dig in when 60cms tall.

You can also consider annual lupins, winter tares or late red clover.

I'm sure the Henry Doubleday will be able to help

www.gardenorganic.org.uk

[Anton]

Didn't John write something last week about using French beans as green manure? If you're there John, when do you plant the beans for this purpose, do you leave them in the ground during winter and then dig them in come the spring?

Anton

[WG.]

Didn't John write something last week about using French beans as green manure? If you're there John, when do you plant the beans for this purpose, do you leave them in the ground during winter and then dig them in come the spring?

Anton

British Field Beans would be more suitable.  Personally, I don't bother with green manuring.   Brown manuring is much less work.