Hillingdon Allotment News  13: Green Manures
Caron Andrews

I am not one to turn my nose up at a barrowload of manure-especially if it is free! However there is a less odorous and totally environmentally friendly way to achieve good soil conditioning…green manures…plants grown from seed and dug into the soil or uprooted and composted. There are many to choose from but the soil type and the type of plants that you are growing should be taken into consideration before making any choice. Take account of when the plot will be required for annual crop rotation and to which family the green manure belongs. You can then use them to follow a crop of the same family, and in this way, any problems affecting that family will more likely appear in the green manure than the crop. Here are three that have thrived on my heavy clay soil at Ickenham Green.

Buckwheat Best sown in early spring after a root crop, this provides a natural haven for the hoverfly, the larvae of which feed on aphids. A natural pesticide! Can be grown on for green manure, dug in or used for compost.

Fenugreek. Best sown May to August. A member of the pea and bean family with the same nitrogen fixing qualities and a good catch crop provides plenty of green matter.

Winter Tares (vetches). Sown late August, it will provide cover in winter, keep out weeds and prevents leaching (so even better suited to a lighter easy-draining soil). Good green manure to follow legumes.

As someone who uses organic methods, seeds and plants on the allotment, these green manures are a welcome change from the multitude of weeds that are the natural offspring from this form of husbandry.

Editors note. Seeds for green manure can now be obtained from several sources, but Edward Tucker & Sons Ltd, carry a whole range of these as well as a useful sowing chart. Brewery Meadow, Stonepark, Ashburton, Devon TQ13 7DG. Tel;01364 652233. http://www.edwintucker.com

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