What is Green Manure used for?
After a busy season growing your own veg there is often a lot of bare soil leftover once spent plants have been cleared off the plot. Green manure is a great way to cover bare soil and help with a number of problems that can arise like soil erosion, leaching and rain damage. Often, weeds begin to colonise and fill the void too.
If you sow Dobies Green Manure instead, this will avoid these issues and instead return valuable nutrients to the soil and improve overall soil structure. They also control movement of air and water through the soil, which suppresses those pesky weeds. When spring arrives and the new growing season is on the horizon, Green Manures are dug back into the soil and continue their job to protect, improve and provide nutrients to the soil's overall health.
How to grow Green Manure from seed?
When you have finished harvesting and your crop is removed from the soil, you can immediately prepare for a Green Manure Sowing.
- Fork the ground lightly, followed by raking and consolidating the ground, creating a good tilth and seedbed.
- Take a decent handful of green manure seed mix and begin broadcast sowing, this means moving from left to right at the far end of your seedbed and gently scatter the seed as evenly as possible over the seedbed moving backwards.
- Keep a check on how even you are broadcasting, mix the green manure seed with Horticultural sand.
When to sow green manure seeds?
- Sow green manure seeds from August to October for winter protection of your soil.
- Watering should not be necessary once the seed has germinated unless there is excessive dry conditions. Water the seedbed thoroughly using a lance with a fine rose head.
- Come the spring the Green manure can be forked into the soil. Preferably before it produces too much flower.
Wildlife and pollinators receive additional benefits from Green Manures from their abundance of nectar and pollen from many different varieties. You don’t need to use artificial fertilisers on your soil if you’ve sown Green Manure, which keeps the environment in mind too.
If you are an organic gardener or enthusiast alike, then Green Manure is essential for your veg patch or allotment. It will help retain moisture, stop erosion and nutrient loss, which reduces the need to dig.
Buy Green Manure Seed Mix Online at Dobies!
