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This is a summary of my podcast interview....
Improving your soil is essential for reaping the benefits
of Lunar Gardening; Green Manures are an excellent way to achieve a better result. So what
are Green Manures?
Green manures are a crop grown specifically to benefit the soil by:
a) Adding nutrients and organic matter
0r
b) Improving
soil structure (through their root system)
Or
c) Protecting
or covering the topsoil (from drying out, rain washing away nutrients, weeds).
There are lots of varieties of Green Manure to choose from; Choose the right variety of green manure as
they act in different ways (see chart below). Basically the foliage helps to suppress weeds, covers the soil and
some of them attract bees and other beneficial insects, provided that you leave the Green Manure to flower.
The roots improve soil structure and some of them fix nitrogen or the deep roots bring up important nutrients.
Some Green Manures can stay over winter and some are fast growing during the summer.
Choose the right green manure to fit into crop rotation (see chart). Allow
4 weeks between digging in the Green Manure and sowing new seeds.
No-dig gardeners can cut the green
Manure and use as Mulch.
Nitrogen Fixers belong to the legume family like Peas and
Beans and include:
Alfalfa
(sow April – Aug) Deep
roots prefers alkaline soil
Field
Beans (sow Sep – Nov) Good
over wintering crop
Crimson clover (sow
March- June or Aug) For over winter /good Bee plant
Clover (red,white) (sow April-Aug)
Lupins (sow
March –June) deep roots prefers
acid soil
Winter Tares (March
– Sep) Winter
hardy, prefers alkaline soil
Trefoil (March-Aug)
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