Reply To: Green Manure crops

[John]

Hi All

Don
I feel sure that any waste from the plot, as well as minimal amounts of cardboard and veg/fruit peelings from home, will make a compost of sorts, even if it it doesn’t meet the required ratio of greens and browns. Before retiring to a flat without even a window box I had an acre of ornamental garden and, for many years, I ran a grass cutting business and had enormous heaps of grass cuttings which, as you can imagine, were a squelchy mess. However, after leaving them for a few years, I spread the slightly less squelchy mess on the borders in winter and it was surprising how it changed once exposed to the air. I guess this mulch was about 95% grass clippings so I won’t use the word ‘compost’, but it was certainly effective at feeding my soil and garden plants as well as keeping weeds at bay. It must have been manna from heaven for the worms as it soon disappeared into the soil.

Pete
It was great to read Pete’s comments, particularly those in the other thread quoted above. I’ll certainly be trying the annual grazing rye that Pete mentions. I wonder if Pete’s experience is in the UK? My plot is in sunny Exmouth.

John