Turn To Green Manure

Manure is usually something that we think of as smelly, albeit useful for our garden, but difficult to obtain from a reliable source, especially if you live in the big city.

Added to this, there’s the problem of using manure that may come from animals that have been inoculated with hormones and antibiotics, which is not going to be very good for your organic vegetable garden. Which is why it’s time to take a closer look at green manures.

According to Gardening Know How, ‘Green manure is a term used to describe specific plant or crop varieties that are grown and then turned into the soil to improve its overall quality.’ This is a wonderful dual benefit, for a plant to be both useful as a growing crop, and as a manure once it has been harvested and put back in the soil.

Once your green manure has been dug into the soil, you should ideally leave the beds for about two weeks or more before sowing your next crop as the green material needs time to decay and not hamper growth of new seeds or seedlings.

Green manures are also sometimes cover crops and smother crops. Cover crops protect your soil from erosion by wind and water, and smother crops keep weeds under control.

Which are suitable green manures?

Interestingly, there are many plants that are useful as green manures, but we will focus on a few that are familiar to most of us.