The best green manures for the garden: what they give and when to sow them
Green manure is a plant that is grown as a natural fertilizer and pest control agent.
At a certain time they need to be sown, then the shoots mowed down, after which the greens are incorporated into the soil. Unlike organic and mineral additives, green manure is completely harmless.
Green manure can improve soil fertility, repel pests, reduce the risk of disease and improve soil structure.
The best green manure for the garden
These include representatives of the legume, cereal and cruciferous families.
1. Vetch. Belongs to the legume family and helps accumulate nitrogen in the soil, protects against erosion. Sown in June and often together with oats, mustard or phacelia.
2. Lupine. Grows even on poor soil and perfectly saturates the soil with organic matter, loosens the soil, repels the mole cricket, as well as the larvae of the cockchafer. Sow in April or at the end of summer.
3. White, red or pink clover also saturates the soil with nitrogen, but at the same time it is a honey plant and attracts beneficial insects. Sow from April to August.
4. Alfalfa. It can be blue or yellow. It can grow in one place for up to 3 years in a row. It is sown from April 20 to May 15 or from July 15 to August 15.
5. Phacelia. The most popular representative of the family. Also belongs to honey plants, but at the same time repels wireworms and nematodes, caterpillars, weevils, aphids and other pests, and it also deacidifies the soil. Sow from the end of March until the end of summer.
6. Mustard. Loosens the soil, fights pests and diseases (mole crickets, larvae, wireworms, slugs, fungi, late blight and fusarium). Sow in summer or before winter.
