GREEN MANURE CROPS: Enriching the Soil

I recently had the pleasure of wandering around 'The Agrarian Kitchen' garden with a very knowledgeable guide who provided us with an indepth knowledge of all things related to gardening, composting and the methods used to utilize every scrap of garden and kitchen waste by composting it and returning it to the soil (more about that in another article!)  

One of the things which stood out were rows and rows of brassica's and not a cabbage moth insight!!!! 

'Amazing' I thought to myself!!!  The gardener then proceeded to explain the natural methods they use one of which was the use of living green manure crops as companion planting.  I could clearly see that between the rows of broccoli were lovely, leafy red clover plants acting as not only a nitrogen fixer but also as a mulch growing alongside the neatly planted broccoli bushes.  The beneficial effect was obvious.

Most of us are familiar with the idea of green manure.  You plant it, wait about 6 weeks until it is lovely and green and lush and then you simply dig it back into the soil, wait a few weeks and then plant your crop. 

Not so common is the use of green manure as a 'living' mulch.  Where it simply grows amongst the vegetables offering nutrients, mulch and often acts as a decoy for pests.

Both methods provide rich benefits depending on the type of green manure used.  Generally, green manure cropping 

  • prevents and treats soil disease
  • increases organic matter, earth worms and beneficial micro-organisms
  • increases soils available nitrogen and moisture retention
  • brings deep minerals to the surface
  • improves water, root and air penetration in the soil, and
  • can smother persistent weeds

The added benefit of a 'living' green manure crop is that it

  • works like a mulch, regulating the soils temperature and keeping the soil cooler in hot weather and warmer in cool weather
  • eliminates the need for weeding
  • attract bees for increased pollination and predatory insects to feed on harmful pests


WHAT TO USE AS A MULCH?

ANCIENT GRAIN CARBON CROP - A mix of oats, wheat, quinoa, millet, buckwheat & amaranth effectively used as a cover crop for digging back into the soil for organic matter, or if left to mature as seed for wildlife and as a prevention for soil erosion. It also acts as an attractant for predator insects to the garden.  Suitable for all soil types.

BARLEY - An ancient grain commonly used for food, fodder, as a green manure crop or for straw.  Beneficial for adding bulk organic matter & controlling nematodes in the soil.  Grows well on salty soils.   

BENEFICIAL INSECT BLEND - Highly useful for attracting the predator insects to the garden.  An attractive & colourful mix of flowers, herbs & vegetables designed to be irresistable to bees, hoverflies, lace wigs, lady bugs & the like.  Also extremely useful for increasing pollination in both orchards & vegetable gardens.  Contains fennel, dill, alyssum, borage, echinacea, oregano, basil, red clover, white clover, bergamot, coriander, buckwheat, alfalfa, cosmos, caraway, marigold, radish, sweet william, sunflower, parsnip and carrot.  Broadcast as needed in patches throughout the garden or around fruit trees.  

BROAD BEAN - Useful as a green manure crop adding carbon & nitrogen to the soil & improving friability  Best dug back in the soil when leaves are still fresh & green & approx. 20-30cm high.  Allow the green manure to break down in the soil for up to 4 weeks before planting any vegetables.

BUCKWHEAT - Excellent green manure crop useful for adding both nutrients & carbon to the soil.  Also useful for attracting beneficial insects, including bees to aid in pollination.  Annual.  Plant to 60cm high.  Fast to grow & easy to dig in at any stage.  Frost sensitive & prefers warmer soils.  Great for using as a living mulch.

CHICKEN GRAZING MIX - A beneficial mix of hardy greens to give to your feathered friends.  Either broadcast in pen & section off until grown, or grow in trays to put in pen for hens to peck at as needed (they'll go crazy over it!).   Grow it out then let the chickens in who do the work for you adding fertility, removing weed seeds and scratching up the soil for you ready to plant.!
Contains Amaranth, Medic, Bok Choy, Chicory, Millet, Clover, Nasturtium, Alfalfa (Lucerne), Silverbeet, Minutina, Sorrel, Dandelion, Carrot, Mustard, Swede, Cress, Gai Choi, Fennel.

FENUGREEK - Annual.  Attractive plant to 60cm tall with small round leaves and yellow / white flowers producing long, yellow seed pods containing seeds commonly used in cooking or dyeing.  Oval, green leaves are also used in cooking like spinach.  Indigenous to the Mediterranean & grown widely in Europe & Asia.  Plant in Spring for harvest of dry seed pods in Autumn.  Also used as a green manure crop adding nitrogen, phosphorus & organic matter back into the soil.  Excellent for loosening heavy, clay soils & controlling weeds.  May be dug back in approx. 10 weeks after planting. 

FIELD PEA - Heirloom & one of the oldest domesticated crops.  Used as a cool season fodder or green manure crop grown throughout Autumn & Winter.  May also be eaten as a legume.  As a green manure crop, the field pea improves soil quality adding carbon & nitrogen to the soil, protects the soil from erosion, as well as improving friability.  

GREEN MANURE MIX (Autumn / Winter) - Ready made mix used as a broadcast green manure crop useful for nitrogen fixing, controlling weeds & breaking up compacted soils.  Beneficial mix of Alfalfa (lucerne), Beetroot, Broad Bean, Clover, Corn Salad, Endive, Fenugreek, Kale, Medic, Millet, Mustard, Purslane, Radish, Cress, Spinach, Turnip, Vetch, Swede, Mizuna (Red Steaks), Mizuna, Dill & Pea)

GREEN MANURE MIX (Spring / Summer) - Beneficial mix of Alfalfa (Lucerne), Beetroot, Broad Bean, Lab Lab Bean, Endive, Medic, Millet - White, Mustard, Purslane, Radish, Soy Bean, Butterfly Pea, Turnip, Vetch, Basil, Dill, Coriander, Fenugreek, Rocket, Amaranth, Cocksfoot, Chia, Quinoa.  

LUPIN (White Flower) - Attractive plant.  Commonly used as a feed for animals or a green manure crop adding nitrogen, phosphorus & organic matter to the soil.  Due to its long tap root, it is capable of extracting a wide range of nutrients & is useful for breaking up hard, compacted soils.  Also useful in attracting bees, butterflies & other beneficial insects to the garden.  Disease resistant.  

MILLET WHITE FRENCH - Annual, clumping grass to 1m high producing edible, highly nutritious, non-acid seed.  Commonly used as green manure adding organic matter, or as animal feed (birds).  

MUSTARD MIX (Nematode Control) - Specially designed mix of mustard greens for use as green manure crop in controlling nematodes & fungal diseases such as fusarium & verticillium, as well as adding organic matter to the soil.  When chopped back & then dug into the soil, the decaying plants release a nematode killing gas - a process called biofumigation.  Beneficial when used in crop rotation & planted after potatoes to eradicate wireworm.
When left to mature, plants will attract beneficial insects to the garden.
Fast growing & ideal for prevention of soil erosion.

OATS - An ancient grain commonly used for food, fodder, as a green manure crop or for straw.  Beneficial for adding bulk organic matter & controlling nematodes in the soil.

RED CLOVER - Biennial, ground cover producing abundant, leafy growth and pink-purple flowers.  Medicinal herb, soil improver (adds nitrogen), bee forage, fodder, or used as living green-manure crop.  

WHEAT - A popular grain commonly used for food, fodder or as a green manure crop.  Beneficial for adding bulk organic matter and nutrients back into the soil.

Definitely worth a try!  :0)