We dug up the rest of the potatoes and prepared a seedbed.
The Sugar Snap Peas are producing pods ...
... as are the broad beans. Although the crop will be small, these plants should keep fixing additional nitrogen into the soil (if there is any of the particular bacterial present in the soil), so we are planning to leave them in place over winter.
In among the peas and broad beans, as well as over the new seedbed where the potatoes had been taken out we broadcast an overwintering green manure mix containing:
- Italian Ryegrass - a fast growing hardy grasing grass which will produce a lot of biomass
- Crimson Clover - a quick growing, vigourous annual which fixes nitrogen and will attracts bees in the spring
- Winter Vetch - a hardy nitrogen fixing forage plant
This combination of green manures is know as the "Landsberger Mix" and is promoted as the ideal overwintering composting crop, producing a lot of organic material, adding nitrogen to the soil and keeping soil and nutrients from washing away with the winter rains, and preparing the soil for next season. The crop will be dug into the soil next spring to compost in place.
We dug up the rest of the potatoes and prepared a seedbed.
The Sugar Snap Peas are producing pods ...
... as are the broad beans. Although the crop will be small, these plants should keep fixing additional nitrogen into the soil (if there is any of the particular bacterial present in the soil), so we are planning to leave them in place over winter.
In among the peas and broad beans, as well as over the new seedbed where the potatoes had been taken out we broadcast an overwintering green manure mix containing:
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