Grow Your Own Magazine

I am considering trying green manures on my allotment to improve fertility, reduce leaching and to assist breaking the soil up.
I wondered what others experience is of using green manures. Are they worth the hassle as you have to dig them in before they get too woody or flower.
Do they help surprise weeds?!

When I was young[long time ago] I used to use mustard as a green manure and it seemed to work,Certain soil bourne pests dont like it!

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The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

Ahhh but not normal mustard tho........this is the stuff!!! Plant Solutions Limited Organic Compatibles - Caliente Mustard

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I have tried most of the green manures, and just stick to Limnanthes now (poached egg).

I can't say if it surprises the weeds, but it does cover the soil quite thickly, so weeds don't get a chance to germinate. The flowers are brilliant for early bees in the spring, they love it. I don't dig it in, instead I cut it back when I want to plant up a patch of ground with a crop (the soil underneath is wonderfully moist) and bung the limnanthes on the compost heap.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

At what time of the year do you sow the Limnanthes? Is late September too late or do you sow in the spring? I just did a search for the plant and it seems quite hardy, so I thought I might try it in my garden plot.

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http://www.weltaf.co.uk/
Why keep a dog when you can bark yourself !

Terrier ~ I don't sow it any more, it self-seeds. It is indeed hardy (here, any road), and I have it in flower for most of the year.
I have just dug out my early ones, and they have seeded themselves. Should get another crop late summer.

I have a WONDERFUL all-white one at the mo, which I shall carefully save the seeds of. I'm a bit prejudiced against yellow plants.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I agree with TS about the limnanthes...........once you've got it, you've got it for life!

Pretty as well, but I must admit I wouldn't fancy poached egg plant flowers without yolks in the centres! It would just be an albumen plant then wouldn't it?

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Don't you mean JAUNDICED against yellow plants Sorry about that

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http://www.weltaf.co.uk/
Why keep a dog when you can bark yourself !

If as two sheds says they self seed themselves don't they become a pest and get in the way of normal plants that you're trying to grow?
I'm interested in using green manure it's just that my plot's not been cleared that long and I'm still fighting the battle against the weeds - I turn my back and they grow.

No, because
a) they are easy to pull out, being shallow rooted
b) I like to have them round the plot anyway
c) if the ground wasn't covered by Limnanthes, it would be colonised by other (tougher, harder to remove) weeds

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I am going to try Phacelis (hope Iv'e spelt that right) this year. Anyone got any experiance of it? Would be good to hear first hand as the infomation is a bit confusing.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Roitelet, there are different Phacelias. This one is the green manure one: PHACELIA TANACETIFOLIA A bushy plant with bright blue flowers which bees love. A hardy annual for sowing between March and September. Gives good ground cover and establishes quickly. Not deep rooted.
Dig in at or before flowering to prevent self seeding. If sown in patches around the garden, the flowers are an excellent attractant to beneficial insects and bees. Hardy annual, fits anywhere in (crop) rotation. The Organic Gardening Catalogue

several places to buy it online, here's one: D.T. Brown's

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi