[LucasAndRichard]

I give up. What is it, and what does it do?
 :shock:
Lucas

[Salmo]

Green manure is a quick growing crop used to cover the ground when there is no crop for a while.

1) It smothers weed and protects the soil surface from heavy rain (a plastic sheet will also do this)

2)As it grows it takes up nutrients and therefore stops then from washing out of the soil.

It is dug in a few weeks before your next crop. As it rots it slowly releases the nutrients, adds organic matter to the soil and helps to retain moisture.

Mustard and phacelia are popular summer and autumn manures. Grazing rye, field beans, italian ryegrass and winter tares are sown in the winter. Longer term, a year or more, clover, alphalpha. Mustard and phacelia are easy to dig in. Some of the others can get out of hand.

[LucasAndRichard]

Thank you!  So would you plant the autumn ones this time of year, or the winter ones?  My 1/2 plot was tended until spring/summer and is mostly tidy, and I'd like to keep it that way til I put everything in early next year (apart from onions, garlic etc in now) - which would anyone recommend to put in now?
 
Lucas

[rhian13]

field beans? I've just sent off for some - it says sow september-november. I missed sowing the phacelia in september, so I might have to wait til march & hope I have cleared space enough space by then.....

it says cut down the field beans when they get to 45cm, and they rot down as a mulch

I notice you're in bristol too - they had some green manure seeds in the riverside garden centre, but I bought my field beans online so looking forward to seeing what happens with them  

[LucasAndRichard]

Yep, definately Bristol.  Hengrove/Whitchurch - whereabouts are you?  I've been to Riverside a few times, but when I was an allotment hanger-on rather than having my own plot, so didn't pay enough attention!  The field beans - once you've chopped them do you have to dig them in, or will the worms etc take them down into the soil?  Or have I got completely the wrong idea?!?

[rhian13]

hello - I think field beans can be cut down twice if necessary so you could cut them & use the cuttings as a winter mulch elsewhere or compost the 1st cuttings, as the field beans will regrow. Or simply cut once before flowering in spring and fork in.

I've been told you can leave green manure cuttings as mulch so worms would do the work, but it depends when you want to put your crop in - in spring a mulch may harbour slugs that eat your seedlings.

They had packs of field beans to cover 6sq meters for £1.50 at the riverside, and packs for 20 sq metres for £4.99 thompson & morgan

I want to use them as they are the ones that can be sown now and don't want to leave my new beds exposed to soil erosion
p.s. I live in easton :@)

[Salmo]

I felt I had to come in again.

Keep things simple!!!

I would just dig it over, if it ever gets dry enough.

Maybe leave green manures until you have more experience of your soil. They can be quite tricky to manage and you could easily end up in a mess.

No need to be first to plant. Prepare your seedbeds carefully, let the soil warm up. Plants that grow quicky away are always the winners.

I am not a great one for plastic covers. I would rather let the weather break down the clods and the birds eat the weed seeds and bugs. I like to see the weeds growing and then hit them with a sharp hoe when they are tiny. Every time you go to the plot spend a few minutes pushing a hoe. Best tool of any.

[LucasAndRichard]

Chhers for the tips Salmo - I'm still debating!
rhian13 - I lived on Stapleton Road til a couple of years ago, right by the railway bridge - small world!  Where is your plot?
L