[Richard Yates]

Our council gives 2 20l bags away for free. I'm more worried about people putting dog muck and the like in it, as well as grass with weedkiller in it

I am not keen on compost from recycled domestic waste, because whilst it has been through a proper composting process whoich should have dealt with dog/cat muck, etc, it's too often contaminated (IMO) with stuff like chipboard, cardboard, plastics various, none of which I want anywhere near my plots!

[Yorkie]

If using mustard as a green manure, just don't forget that it counts as a brassica for crop rotation purposes.

I once tried winter grazing rye as an overwintered green manure. Never again - it was blimmin' hard work to dig in, and even months later it still hadn't fully decomposed!! 

[bobbyt]

I have quite heavy clay soil too, and there were suggestions on here to use green manure. I'm keen to try this method using Phacelia. I've looked at the ways to sow the seed on line, and it always says dig over the soil, and rake to a fine tilth, and scatter sow......well if I could actually do that, I wouldn't need the green manure anyway    Then it says rake the seed over, well all I'd be doing is moving the lumps around if I did that 

Would lumpy soil be ok, it's difficult to break up to a bit smaller than tennis ball lumps, will it still germinate ok? Anyone know from experience? Also is it still alright to sow late September. Thanks for any advice.

[Yorkie]

You might just get away with it in late September, particularly given you're not too far north.

But germination will be poor if the seed is not in proper contact with the soil. Lumps will prevent this contact, depending on how big they are. I would try to break the soil down into smaller particles once there has been enough rain to soften it up.

[Nobbie]

I have quite heavy clay soil too, and there were suggestions on here to use green manure. I'm keen to try this method using Phacelia. I've looked at the ways to sow the seed on line, and it always says dig over the soil, and rake to a fine tilth, and scatter sow......well if I could actually do that, I wouldn't need the green manure anyway    Then it says rake the seed over, well all I'd be doing is moving the lumps around if I did that 

Would lumpy soil be ok, it's difficult to break up to a bit smaller than tennis ball lumps, will it still germinate ok? Anyone know from experience? Also is it still alright to sow late September. Thanks for any advice.

I think it would struggle with lumps that size as it will fall down between them too deep to germinate. I think late September leaves very little time for a decent amount of growth. You could treat it as an experiment and see what happens. What about using a little rotavator to break up the lumps? My mantis tiller does a great job of this once it dries slightly.

[Anton]

Yes, I've used composte from a cycling centre. It was still fuming when delivered so left the neighbours fuming about the smell.
I've seen bales of hay being sold cheaply by farms in my area. Useful for mulching and digging into the soil afterwards!
Straw has saved a lot of my plants when water was low and the temperature was high for a long period of time.

Anton