Monday 24 September 2007

Week 39 - Bed PC8 Planting

Cleared out potatoes, dug up the soil, and then broadcast sowed a 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.

In the path on west side of the bed we sowed:
  • White Clover - a low lying nitrogen fixing crop that is suitable for undersowing
This will form a low growing carpet of cover crop that will fix nitrogen and tolerate a certain amount of walking on.

No comments: