;D
Read somewhere that this plant can be used as a green manure.
Can I sow it now and dig in later? Anyone tried it? ???
I will be trying it for the first time this year katy, because of the number of A4a-ers who enthuse about it.
For smothering cooch: http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,16528.0
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,11788.0
As a mulch:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,11480.0
Green manure:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,15122.0
For the bees:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,9737.0
... just for starters! And it does look very pretty :o :)
I sowed some in the raspberry and blackcurrant beds last Saturday as a mulch around the edges, because they are pretty and for the bees. After that green manure is a bonus ;D My plan was to pull it out when it finishes flowering/self seeding and put in the compost bin.
Only problem with this is that once you have it you have it forever. We had some in our previous garden and I was still finding the odd seedling over 19 years later. Same as the callendula......self seeds everwhere.
Unless its underneath fruit bushes I dig mine out before it flowers Mimi. The exception is a single row that I put netting underneath brefore it starts flowering, so that I can get plenty of seed to sow where I want in September.
You can also find some pictues and text in the Green manure section of the wiki
All the best,
I just let it keep coming...
I find that it acts as a brilliant weed suppressant and soil improver.
When left to its own devices it dies back and forms a dried matted cover for the soil in around July, which also suppresses the weeds, when I want to plant something I either dig it in and plant straight away, or slice off the top growth with a shape spade and put the greenery on a compost heap.
Its easy to pull out, the roots are very light. It keeps moisture in the soil. The hoverflies love it.
Can't find any information at all about its value as a food crop however, or even if it is edible at all...still can't have everything! ;D
I'm happy to have it behaving like a weed at the lottie. It's pretty and it attracts my kind of insect. ;) It doesn't have invasive roots and is easily hoed away where I don't want it. I'm about to sow a couple of packets under my fruit bushes.
;D
Superb!! My kinda plant!! Will be scattering some about tomorrow if I get time. Now that I have a greenhouse to tend etc life suddenly got very exciting!!
Thanks everyone, useful info
;D
Went and took a picture yesterday of one small bed which was almost covered in it over winter. You can see there are very few weeds. (you can also see the water in my ditch! but that's how wet it is on my plot at the moment!)
Thank you for posting jen, it really helps to see photographs :D I'm extra convinced! Even the foliage is pretty, ain't it? Amd what a lovely green. Off to sprinkle some today under the NEW raspberries :)
Golly your plot is remarkably erm, damp. Your beds must be lifesavers if you have running rivers around them. How many varieties of rice are you growing this year? ;D
Any chance of putting the Poached Egg photo on the wiki?
The one time I tried these, nothing came up at all! I'll try again; they'd be nice plants to have naturalising if they'll just cooperate.
Robert I am suprised nothing grew as they grow really, really easy. I think you might of had bad seed. A tip is to put a few in a pot and place them on the window sill and if they germanate then you have good seed. Sow lets say 5 seeds and if 5 seeds grow then you have a good chance of getting a good result.
The_Snail
I've tried for about 10 yrs to get it to grow :'( :'( :'(
still trying - still crying :'(
one of life's great mysteries, that.. :)
I find that the seeds don't germinate in the Summer but once the plants have flowered and died (buy mid June?) the new seeds start again about September. I don't know if germination is related to day length or ground temperature, but I'm guessing that if anyone has had trouble getting them to germinate in late spring or summer this may have something to do with it.
If you are going to sow seed now, you may want to think about holding some back until September and sowing them then too.
Ive nothing to contribute on how edible (or otherwise) they may be, but they do have a very nice pepper taste if you just try a leaf or two!