Plant selection, training, pictures, tips and tricks

the essentials in brief

• In the Green manure a so-called catch crop is incorporated into the soil to improve the soil.
• Legumes such as beans, peas or lupins are usually grown as catch crops, as these bind nitrogen and release it to the soil.
• The roots are left around the soil to loosen the soil, the upper parts of the plant are lifted under.

What is green manure?

Green manure is a tried and tested method in natural gardening as well as in organic farming. It is primarily carried out to cover and improve the soil by incorporating fresh or wilted plants into the soil that have been sown especially for this purpose. The farmer calls these plants "catch crops" because they are not harvested but fed back into the natural nutrient cycle.

It is best to cut green manure plants shortly before or during their flowering so that no seeds develop and you have a colorful meadow of flowers instead of a vegetable patch. The roots of the green plants remain in the ground, are gradually decomposed and loosen the soil. The clippings, on the other hand, can be left until they are re-sown, where they serve as mulch material and compost.

Which plants are suitable for green manure?

Phacelia not only offers a great green manure, but is also very popular with bees

Like all plants, green manure plants have their own special requirements in terms of location and soil. Incidentally, legumes, i.e. legumes like the vetch, are particularly important for this purpose. Beans, peas, lupins and also clover, as their roots bind nitrogen from the air and hold it in the soil can. This is made possible by so-called nodule bacteria on the roots, the Rhizobium bacteria.

The following table clearly lists these and other important green manure plants, their location requirements and their effect on soil health.

Digression

Spinach as a green manure

Sowing and timing

In March, hardy green manure such as mustard can be sown

The green manure is sown between March and October, depending on the selected plant species. The best way to do this is as follows:

1. First remove any growing weeds with a rake.
2. Work the soil thoroughly with the hoe, loosening the upper layers of soil.
3. Crush the clods of earth with a rake.
4. Sow the seeds broadly on the prepared area.
5. Alternatively, if you have one, you can also use one Gritter use.
6. Then work the seeds flat into the ground with a wide hay rake.
7. Finish with one Lawn roller over the seed area, if available.
8. Irrigate the area when it is dry.

Most seeds will germinate in about six to 14 days, depending on the type of plant.

Pre-sowing

Green manure applied in early spring between February and March is called pre-sowing. It mainly serves to nourish and activate the microorganisms living in the soil after winter. For this form of green manure, choose frost-tolerant plant species such as spinach (bot. Spinacia oleracea), lamb's lettuce (bot. Valerianella locusta), Phacelia (bot. Phacelia tanacetifolia) or yellow mustard (bot. Sinapis alba).

These plants remain on the area until you plant or sow the actual cultivated plants. The green manure can remain between the rows of vegetables in the bed as so-called undersown and is only cut occasionally if it grows too strongly.

Under- and inter-sowing

Under and intermediate crops should cover the soil between different perennial vegetable crops such as corn, tomatoes, cabbage or berries. Here you apply the green manure plants as soon as the crops have grown. For this purpose, low-growing and annuals such as Nasturtiums (bot. Tropaeolum), Tagetes (bot. Tagetes erecta), Marigold (bot. Calendula officinalis) or purslane (bot. Portulaca oleracea). A pleasant side effect of these plants is that you can also use them in the kitchen or in the medicine cabinet.

Overseeding

After the harvest in late summer, the vegetable beds can be covered with overseeding. You can sow these two to three weeks before the harvest - for example as undersowing between the rows - so that the fallow phase is no longer necessary. Most of the plants used for this are not hardy and die with the first frost. The effect is intentional, because under the frozen plant matter, the soil remains protected and loose. Instead of frost-sensitive species such as yellow mustard, Phacelia or Sunflower you can also apply hardy leafy vegetables such as spinach and lamb's lettuce. However, this variant is only recommended if the beds are to be planted late in the following year.

When and how do you have to incorporate the green manure?

Apart from the wintering species, the green manure plants remain on the beds for about five to ten weeks and are then mowed. However, do not clear away the plant remains; leave them in place as Mulch(€ 239.00 at Amazon *) lie. They rot there and go into the ground as humus. Green manure plants that remain low, such as garden cress and lamb's lettuce, are not mowed, but from a height of approx. five centimeters worked directly into the ground.

The green manure is simply worked into the soil

Mowing before the seeds ripen

In addition, make sure to mow the plants before the seeds are ripe, otherwise you will have a problem with masses of wildly germinating plants in the following year. Green manure plants that are not hardy, on the other hand, usually freeze before the seeds ripen and can therefore remain. Here you do not mow the leftovers until spring and work them flat into the ground. The bed can be reordered after another three to four weeks.

Work green manure plants into the soil

Mowing is done with the Scythe, with a Brush cutter(€ 145.00 at Amazon *) or with a powerful lawnmower. The latter is especially the device of choice when it comes to a mulching mower. The green manure plants, which are equally well chopped up, rot faster. However, do not work the mowed plants into the ground straight away, but let them dry for a few days. This is especially true for species with a lot of leaf mass, as they can otherwise rot in the soil. Green manure plants with woody stems (for example sunflowers), on the other hand, are not incorporated at all, but are well chopped and composted on the compost. Here the decomposition process is simply too lengthy to work the remains into the soil straight away.

You have to pay attention to this with green manure

When choosing the plants, there are some tips to consider with regard to crop rotation or mixed crops. For example, representatives of the same plant family must never be allowed on one area one after the other be cultivated, as otherwise certain pathogens accumulate in the soil and the subsequent harvest threaten. Typical examples are nematodes and Carbonic hernia. Furthermore - especially with legumes - excretions from the roots lead to self-intolerance.

Note crop rotation

For this reason, you should take three to four years of cultivation breaks before you cultivate a representative of a particular plant family on the area again. In concrete terms, this means: If you want to grow cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, radishes or radishes in your vegetable patch, you must not sow rapeseed, oil radish or mustard as green manure. If, on the other hand, peas and beans are planned, lupins, vetches or clover should not be used for green manure.

Phacelia for the vegetable garden

Phacelia, on the other hand, is ideal for the garden, as it is not closely related to any vegetable and therefore mutually exclusive. The same goes for the buckwheat, a Knotweed, which should just not be associated with rhubarb. The marigold, also known as marigold, helps against root-damaging nematodes.

How does green manure work?

Green manure is not so much an actual fertilization, but rather a measure to improve the soil. Harvested vegetable beds, but also fruit beds and other garden areas benefit from green manure in several ways. Depending on the choice of plants and the desired use, this can be sown as the main crop, catch crop or undersown or, rarely, planted.

Green manure in the vegetable patch

Especially before or after the cultivation of heavily draining vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, artichokes, melons, etc. Green manuring makes sense, as these plants leach out the soil despite additional fertilization. Soil improvement measures as well as sensible crop rotation and mixed culture allow the soil to recover faster and the Crop yields rise.

View this post on Instagram

A harvested bed was replanted 😊 the harvested peas were chopped very small with the spade, they serve as green manure. On top of it a thin layer of compost, enriched with primary rock flour and horn shavings. 16 white turnips were placed in the outer circle, 8 kohlrabi lanro in the inner circle, 4 colored chard in the middle circle and in the In the middle of 1 x yellow chard 😊 I'm curious how it will look in a few weeks 😊 #neuesbeet # green manure # weisserüben #kohlrabi #lanro #buntermangold #mangold #bed processing # foundation # primeval rock meal # horn shavings # fertilizer # fertilization # organic vegetables # vegetable garden # vegetable cultivation # vegetable patch # vegetables # organic #stefanshobbygarten

A post shared by Stefan's hobby garden (@stefans_hobby_garten) on Jul 8, 2019 at 10:57 am PDT

Green manure for soil improvement

Unfavorable soil conditions such as the soil compacted by heavy construction machinery in the new building areas can be passed through Improve a green manure, as the plants loosen the soil with their roots and prevent it from becoming silted up maintain. Phacelia (bee pasture), winter rape and yellow lupine are particularly suitable for loosening the soil. At the same time, these plants increase the valuable humus content due to their rotting plant mass.

Green manure in the orchard

In the orchard or the Orchard meadow Flowering green manure plants - sown as undersown - attract many insects, which in turn pollinate the apple and pear trees. This also contributes to a rich fruit harvest, especially since the trees benefit greatly from additional nutrients.

Green manure for the garden has these advantages

Aside from those already mentioned, green manure has many positive effects on the garden. The dense carpet of plants not only suppresses the growth of unwanted weeds, but also prevents soil erosion and the washing out of nutrients from the fallow soil. This is no longer unprotected due to the targeted planting.

Enrichment of the soil with nitrogen

Legumes enrich the soil with nitrogen

The green manure plants not only receive the nutrients already contained in the soil, but also enrich them with fresh nitrogen. Legumes filter the nitrogen out of the air and with the nodule bacteria in their roots against this later, after it has been incorporated into the soil and decomposed on the following plants away. Thus, vetch, beans, peas and lupins act practically as natural Slow release fertilizer.

Loosening of compacted soils

Green manure plants with deep roots - for example, alfalfa and oil radish - are also able to loosen heavily compacted soils and thus make them usable in the first place. This property is particularly important in new development areas, where the soil is often very compact due to the construction activity with heavy machinery.

Enrichment with humus material

Still other species - for example winter vetch or phacelia - are perfect for enriching depleted and / or sandy soils with humus and thus making them fertile again. These plant species develop a lot of leaf and flower mass, which composts in the soil and thus activates the soil organisms.

The advantages of green manure at a glance:

• rapid greening of fallow areas
• Protection of the soil from the weather and thus from erosion
• deep loosening and aeration of the soil
• Improvement of the soil structure
• Enrichment of the garden soil with nutrients
• Activation of the soil organisms that are important for humus formation
• Absorption of nutrients (especially nitrogen) from the air
• Utilization of nutrients from deeper soil layers
• Weed growth suppression
• Clippings result in valuable mulch material
• Insect pasture using flowering green manure plants
• some green manure plants fight nematodes (roundworms) and fungal diseases in the soil

The following video shows very clearly how the soil can be improved with green manure and what you specifically need to consider:

frequently asked Questions

Can you also sow summer flowers and use them as green manure?

Of course, you can also use summer flowers for green manuring, especially since you are not just yours Do something good in the garden: The flowering plants attract numerous insects and serve as valuable pasture for bees, Bumblebees, Butterflies and other animals. This nutritional function is all the more important the later it is in the year, as many insects can no longer find enough food from the summer months onwards. Borage, sweet peas, marigolds, marigolds and sunflowers are particularly suitable for this purpose.

However, a blooming green manure also has a disadvantage: as soon as the seeds ripen, you have in the In the following years, you will always see colorful flowers in your garden - usually exactly where you don't have them want. For this reason, you must mow the plants well in advance of the seeds ripening. Also note the crop rotation, which is particularly important in the vegetable garden: Under no circumstances should plants from the same plant family be planted in the same place one after the other. This promotes diseases! For example, marigolds and sunflowers may not be grown before or after salads.

Which green manure plants make the soil particularly loose?

The cultivation of green manure plants - depending on the selected plant species - has different effects on the Garden soil. Firm and compacted soils, which are unfortunately typical in new building areas due to construction machinery, cannot be loosened with mechanical work alone. To loosen the soil, plant deep-rooted plants such as bitter lupins (or generally lupins) and oil radish or sunflowers - their roots also reach the lower soil layers and thus ensure better ventilation and Permeability.

Which green manure plants are particularly suitable for the vegetable garden?

Choosing the right green manure for the vegetable garden is not that easy, after all For reasons of plant health, no plants from the same family may be grown one after the other will. However, this means that many of the otherwise recommended green manure plants are omitted, because cruciferous vegetables such as mustard and cress or rapeseed do not go well with cabbage plants, as well as radishes or radishes - cabbage hernia would be the unpleasant one Episode. However, there are also suitable green manure plants that are true all-rounders and actually always can be grown: Phacelia is one of them, but also winter cereals such as winter barley or Winter rye.

Why are winter grains problematic in the vegetable garden?

Winter cereals as green manure plants have many advantages: The seeds are cheap and as The different types of grain are not related to any vegetable and can therefore be sown without hesitation will. However, winter rye and co. Have a disadvantage: They develop very dense roots, which can only be removed or removed in spring with a lot of force and effort. can be incorporated.