Green Manure

[luckycharlie]

   A farmer has offered me some green manure . He suggest to lay it on really thick on my raised beds.

   the only doubt I have I know it Smells ;D

  Do you think the other allotment holders will complain as I don't want to upset them ;D ;D

X Chas

[luckycharlie]

[muddylou]

If it's green manure in the way I understand it, why would it smell? It's only plants you grow (Rye, Vetch etc) to dig in later. If this isn't a wind up post then you should accept his generous offer IMHO.

[aj]

If it is green manure, then it will be seeds.....do you think he is offering something completely different? Like manure that is green [ie horse or cow manure - not rotted down?]

I'd check out what the actual offer is before agreeing...

[saddad]

My thought exactly... especially with the aminopyralid thing rumbling on...
if it is just a layer of organic plant matter and it is "trusted" you can't get enough just treat it as a mulch...  :)

[theothermarg]

?????????????? last post
marg

[luckycharlie]

   sorry have only just managed to get back.

      He uses it on his fields but someone goes and sprays it on for him. He uses it every year so I am sure its safe but know it really smells cos you can smell it when he has sprayed it. He said it is what goes in the green bins but obviously chopped down. I trust him completely as he really is a great fellow.

Just worried the other allotment holders might not appreciate the smell for a couple of days.

X Chas

[Chrispy]

Well I'm confused.
When you say green bins, is that the food or garden waste collected from homes?
If it is, you would not use it in its raw state, it would be full of weeds and decease, it would be processed first, normally composted at a high temperature.
As far as I know, once processed it does not smell.

When slurry is spread on fields that does stink, and it is quite possible that this farmer has both composted waste and slurry spread on his fields.
Maybe you are mistaking what produces the smell and what you are being offered, so you may be worrying about nothing.

[PurpleHeather]

I am not a great fan of 'green manure', usually it is just fresh growth which is dug in before it flowers and seeds. It's usefulness is debateable because you have to catch it just right or it couldl flower and reseed and end up being more trouble than it is worth particularly when we get wet spells which restrict the times workers can get to their plots......My view.

If you have a compost heap NOT bin put it in that and keep turning it over then every time it grows from the seeds you can dig in rather than spread it about. Cover with fresh horse poo, that can kill off  unwanted fresh seedlings too.

It can be just a source of new weeds for the future  but  if you need to bulk up your soil then dig a deep trench and bury it, using the soil from the trench to fill up  new beds.

I would certainly take it, but I would take care about how I use it.

Not spread it around, keep it contained.

[luckycharlie]

    Thank you for all the advice Green bins in this area are for green garden waste.

    Think I will do as PurpleHeather suggest and keep it contained to just one bed then if I find its great can always have more next year or if I have problems can get OH to clear that bed out!!!

     Once again thank you very much for all the help will let you know how I get on


    x Chas

[Digeroo]

Like the others there seems to be something of a confusion over semantics.  Is he offering you slurry.  It certainly is not what I think of as green manure which certainly does not smell.

The green waste from the bins should end up nearly black and has a slight musty smell about it.   It  had five bagfuls of the stuff in my car last week.

One of the local farmers sprays slurry on his fields and it stinks the entire neighbourhood.  I would presume that the smell would disappear quicker if covered with soil so like purple heather I would bury it.   I would be worried about it in an allotment environment.  You get rather more up close to an allotment than a farmer does to his fields.  If it has not been fully cured I would expect it to potentially contain more bugs.  

I am a fan of green manure because we have problems with nutrients leeching out of the soil during the winter and the smallest particles being washed out.  The green manure locks up both.  I do not like to see bare soil in the winter.  Phacelia reseeds very quickly and easily but it is easily cleared by hoeing.

Do also test any manure with beans to check out the contamination situation.  If you do have problems I would suggest growing corn on it.

[luckycharlie]

  Thank you Digeroo,

          He said that at the moment it has loads of pumpkins on it. Perhaps I will just take a few bags and see what it looks like really dont want problems as this is our first year also don't want to upset the other people.

  X Chas