[kiwinicks]

Hi all,

Green Manure, does this actually work and if so what is the best one to use.

I have looked a little and there are many different type to use, i gather it will depend on the soil type i have which is quite heavy but any help would be great.

It will also save my back from lugging bags of horse poo!

thank and got to love this weather!

[arugula]

In as little as six weeks you can grow a crop that will benefit the soil by taking nitrogen out of the atmosphere whilst creating a weed suppressant carpet.

Here's the Garden Organic information:

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/gs3.php

[Lardman]

In my experience - here in the sandpit it's only marginally better than nothing and nowhere near as good as animal muck, chemical fertilisers or compost.  I think it depends on what you're actually looking for from it.

[mumofstig]

On my sandy soil phacelia plants were good for leaving  humus in the soil, but nothing much in the way of 'food' for plants following.

So IMO they are good for soil conditioning but not for soil feeding.

[vanessa.xx]

do you dig it in when finished or dig it out and put it in the compost sorry I know nothing about green manure but was thinking about it for over the winter

[Lardman]

do you dig it in when finished or dig it out and put it in the compost sorry I know nothing about green manure but was thinking about it for over the winter

The taller stuff (like phacelia) I cut, left it to wilt then dug it in. The smaller stuff like fenugreek I just dug in - added bonus with this, it smelt wicked and kept next door's cats off the area. I think a lot is going to depend on what you've sown, how big an area and how much you like hard work 

[dolby]

I tried it last winter on one of my large beds. I used a couple of packs of Suttons 'green manure' - a mixture of Rye, Vetch, Italian Ryegrass and Forage Peas. It grew really well and once I had dug it in its seams to have worked really well. The only thing I would say is it was real backbraking stuff digging it all in! You have to cut it all down to a couple of inches off the soil and then dig it well in - much too much like hard work!
I was bought Charles Dowding's book for Christmas that extoles the virtues of the 'no-dig' philosphy, so I will be trying that next year.

[mumofstig]

I was bought Charles Dowding's book for Christmas that extoles the virtues of the 'no-dig' philosphy, so I will be trying that next year.

He recommends mustard because the tops die in the cold weather, and then rot down  so don't need digging in

[dolby]

Sounds good to me - anything to spare the old back!!

[seaside]

Just to extol the virtues of green manure, the plot holder on our site who took most care to do it properly last Autumn/Winter has been rewarded with THE best brassicas on the site, by a mile.

[BabbyAnn]

I tried green manure for the first time early last autumn - 1 bed with rye, 2 beds with a mix of mustard and I emptied a number of pea seeds from various opened packs of 3 years + old and raked them into the soil with old (used) compost.  The logic of the peas was that I couldn't trust them to be viable for future crops so if they grew, I didn't expect them to survive winter and would rot down and add to the soil.

Result:  well, some but not a lot of mustard survived and was easy to dig in.  The rye - with the cold spring they were slow to get going and I needed that bed to be ready for crops.  They were about 12-15 inches high when I simply dug clods and turned them over.  Every week I used the hoe to break up the soil and chop down any that survived and came up again.  When I planted the cabbages in that bed, the soil which is normally heavy (unworkable) clay was lovely and moist where the rye had composted down.  I'm very pleased with the result so will definitely be going down that road again 

[Yorkie]

Just an alert that mustard is part of the brassica family - relevant for a) crop rotation and b) club root reasons.

[BabbyAnn]

Just an alert that mustard is part of the brassica family - relevant for a) crop rotation and b) club root reasons.

I was trialling mustard as a green manure before planting potatoes - supposed to deter wireworm as well as a soil improver

[dugless]

I planted four rows of broad beans last October Just havested and sold 29 Lbs, three got nicked.

I have left the roots in and put the tops in the compost bin, they keep weeds at bay so its win win

[Madame Cholet]

I tried it last winter on one of my large beds. I used a couple of packs of Suttons 'green manure' - a mixture of Rye, Vetch, Italian Ryegrass and Forage Peas. It grew really well and once I had dug it in its seams to have worked really well. The only thing I would say is it was real backbraking stuff digging it all in! You have to cut it all down to a couple of inches off the soil and then dig it well in - much too much like hard work!
I was bought Charles Dowding's book for Christmas that extoles the virtues of the 'no-dig' philosphy, so I will be trying that next year.

I'm trying it this season be interestingto hear aboutyour experiences