Topic: Any green manure experts?

[Common_Clay]

Hi,

  I'm on clay soil and need to add some bulky matter to help break things up and give things a boost. Access for manure deliveries is no longer available on our site and so far my home compost is not ready - even if it were, there's only so much. I just want to ask if anyone has any experience of the best green manure to grow for bulking up the soil? I grew buckwheat some years ago but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.
 
  Thanks!

   :) :)

[manicscousers]

definitely not experts , we use phacelia..have done for years, definitely makes a difference..
also we use nasturtiums as green manure, they've self seeded so there's loads, also borage, it's done the same..big, bushy plants, both of them..
also, comfrey, we have a separate bed for it, you can dig it in with your spuds or chop it up to add to the compost heap..
also, if you mulch your crops with, say, grass cuttings, that adds humus to the soil ..hope that helps,
 even digging out a trench for your peas and beans and burying chopped up paper and your compostable stuff from home will help   :)

[Jeannine]

I used it a great deal in Canada, somehow have never got around to it here, probably because it is a lottie and there it was my garden.

I mostly used oats, planted in late august as a soil builder,it grows rapidly,and is usually killed by frost. It broke up the soil very well .The dead plants protect the soil through the winter and it tills in easily in the spring.

With it I  sometimes planted winter field peas, as a nitrogen builder,it tills in well in the spring.

I don't know if this is much help and I am not familiar with what is available here but the practise is good. There were many other things available there as green manure as I am sure there are here.

Good Luck,

XX Jeannine

[Common_Clay]

Thanks alot for the replies.

Manicscousers: I think I'll print out what you wrote and stick it in my shed! I always seem to forget about grass clippings as just as mulch rather than adding them to the compost. I'm still waiting for a delivery of comfrey that I bought some months ago but I didn't know that borage could also be used as a green manure, interesting.

Jeannine: Never heard of using oats, I wonder where I'd get them from over here? Bet your 'garden' in Canada was HUGE...  >:( ;D

[triffid]

Hi there, Common Clay!
No, I'm not claiming to be an expert about green manures or anything else, but I do grow a couple...

Phacelia and mustard would both be good for you. I'm also on Middlesex/London clay and they grow happily in it. They're good to sow at this time of year, and they grow quite tall (hence lots of greenstuff for your soil).

Mustard has fibrous roots that are great for improving soil structure, too. If you have clubroot on your plot, remember that mustard is vulnerable to it, being a brassica, so don't sow mustard where you plan to sow brassica crops next.
Oh, and the mustard variety I've used is "White Tilney".

They'll be ready to dig in very quickly. Mustard takes only a month to six weeks; phacelia between one and three months. 

Hope that's some help. :)

[Jeannine]

I think the OrganiC Gardening catalogue had  seeds for gren manures. I got my seeds in Canada from West  Coast seeds, they do have  web site and have quite a bit of info on it. It's worth a read when you have a spare minute .

XX Jeannine

PS. Property was 10 acres but garden including orchard and veggie garden was less than  2.

[simon404]

Red clover I found good for bulking up the soil but didn't really improve it much as I remember. The only green manure I've found to really improve soil quality was mustard but being a brassica it attracted loads of whitefly. I'd agree that comfrey is a great soil improver but as was said previously needs a permanent bed to itself and then cut regularly, left to wilt for a day then spread on the soil, which reminds me I ought to plant some! This is quite a good link: http://www.kitchengardens.dial.pipex.com/greenmanure.htm#LISTS

[saddad]

We have used Phacalia and rye grass but find Vetch or Tares the best.. some on RH side that will have to be cut before it is turned in...

 ;D

[Common_Clay]

Wow, thanks very much everyone. There I was thinking that the green manure least likely to bulk up the soil would be mustard... thank goodness I asked!  :)