[Kristen]

I've got an area that I want to sow grass seed in the Autumn. It used to be a hard tennis court, and now I've removed that the clay underneath stinks! The farmer has pulled a deep chisel through it to let some air in, and I plan to put some topsoil on top of it during the Summer, but other than that I was going to leave it fallow.

But I wonder if a Green Manure would be better, and put some goodness into the soil that the grass will benefit from?  needs to be something that won't "come back" next year [and compete with the grass], and preferably that I can just rotavate in so as not to create too much work!

[katiekate]

You could plant peas and beans, you can eat them in the summer and rotervate them into the ground in the autumn.. The roots are nitrogen fixing so work as a green manure. Some people sow field beans as green manure but with garden varieties you can at least eat them too!

[sion01]

Red clover would also be a possibility as it also fixes nitrogen but the seed is quite expensive