This topic contains 16 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Sparrowhawk 10 years, 4 months ago.
-
Posts
-
is my favourite after early potatoes, it is so sweet you wouldn’t believe it, even my kids eat it. I put in plants straight after harvesting the potatoes.
Has anyone tried beans after potatoes? Especially after potatoes under mulch, as this gets all mixed up with the compost during harvesting.
I follow pots with green manure, to a)scavenge minerals & nutrients, b) prevent leaching during winter and c) provide composting bulk, (I hate bare ground!). However; depending on the weather, early spuds could be lifted by late June, giving plenty of opportunity for another crop. I couldn`t plant climbing french beans that late in East Yorkshire so would probably try dwarf bean plants (that have been started in the greenhouse or frame), lettuce or carrots.
Cheers
Pete
Gill thanks for posting this and I am so sorry, I made a mistake in the name which should be Swift!
Funnily enough I spotted it while editing my latest book, but did not realise I had made the same mistake in OG. You can buy Swift in many places!
I think there is not enough time after potatoes for climbing beans to dry, also they are hungry plants for summer growth & spuds often leave soil dry. As Pete suggests try dwarf beans. I plant psb as well, and beetroot.
Hi Pete, Charles and all,
I have been reading up on green manures a little and have noticed from other posts over the months that you are a fan (Pete). I wondered if you could offer me some advice based on your experience?
My plot is a no-dig zone and, although I would like to try growing some green manures, I certainly don’t want to have to ‘turn them in’. Do you limit what green manures you grow to get around this issue (such as mustard being killed by winter frosts) or do you smoother them with a mulch etc.?
Eliot Coleman has had success with under-sowing green manures and growing them as a carpet in the paths between beds – I like the idea of maximising the usefulness of all ground/ soil as much as possible on my plot! Has anyone tried this, at allotment level, with any noticeable returns in compost bulk etc?
Thanks for any insights and sorry for hi-jacking this thread Gill.
We planted our second row of dwarf beans last year in early July and they cropped in September up to early October. If anything the yield was slightly higher than the ones planted on 20th June. Last year in the SE was a bit odd with a hugely cold spring and then a hot, dry, sunny summer.
I’m afraid the only way to remedy this situation is for you, Charles, to develop an earlier variety and name it Sprint. This may help to avoid future embarrassment.
Hi Gill and thanks for your interest,
My green manure experiment started over 20 years ago, with the aim of establishing a self sufficient vegetable garden, without the need for manure or fertiliser. Very briefly; I sow all green manures in rows to make cultivation and weed management easier, I always follow potatoes with grazing rye and onions with alfalfa, phacelia is used when need arises as temporary cover and has the added benefit, (if allowed to flower), of providing food for bees at times when there is little else available. I always have a permanent bed of comfrey, using the leaves for liquid feed and to mix in the compost bin. Grazing rye can be pulled up with little soil disturbance in June, (leaving some for seed production), then composted, with leeks following on. Alfalfa can be hard work, the roots need to chopped below ground level and do not regrow but the following brassica crop always seems to do well. My original experimental plot has not had any material imported for a long, long time and gives exceptional yields. My newest plot (3 years old now) still gets a bit of pelleted chicken manure and I am not that entrenched in my ways to refuse the offer of a bit of chicken manure from the chicken men on the allotments.
Pete
PS its not Gill is it sorry
Thanks Slug Hunter! I wonder…
I often follow on with winter leeks. Just dib them in and mulch round them once they have started growing.
Hi,
Thanks for this info Pete, it is most helpful. I like your way of growing green manures in neat rows to aid maintenance re: weeds. Did you arrive on your crop sequences thru personal experimentation or were you influenced by something you read or heard – I wonder why these particular choices?
Since my last post, the idea of under-growing green manures and of path carpets of clover etc. I figure they would increase slug habitats and not give significant yields. However, planting full beds with varied choice varieties makes sense, providing you already have space for all your required second veg’ crops! Edible green manures and comfrey also sound like good possibilities, so thanks again.
‘The Dowding Sprint’ has a reasonable ring to it. If it matured in time for beans for drying to follow, I guess Gill and myself would be customers…..
Hi Stringfellow
I`m not a particularly methodical person in the experimental sense but I do a fair bit of reading/research. I started off as a traditional gardener and gradually changed due to influence from an old allotment holder who gave me some comfrey roots and made me aware of Henry Doubleday (now Garden Organic) and the Soil Association. I avoid mustard because its a brassica and have tried a range of other crops. Grazing rye is my favourite because; it is easy to grow, gives plenty of bulk, covers ground that might be bare all winter, its easy to save seed, I`ve even made rye bread from it. Alfalfa is the interesting one because, although it is leguminous it is not supposed to fix nitrogen at our latitude yet brassicas seem to thrive after it. Alfalfa is deep rooted, penetrates the subsoil and leaves a legacy of organic material in the ground as well as adding plenty to the compost bin. I lose cropping space with comfrey but it gives so much back it is indispensible. A bit long winded but I hope that answers your question.
Pete
Thanks Pete. That gives me a great start to using green manures. I’ll commence with grazing rye and alfalfa in late summer/ early autumn and investigate from there. Permanent comfrey bed will have to wait as I’m still gauging how much veg I can grow on my plot; would be great to sneak some in somewhere tho.
Great job with the seed saving and also the bread – all food for thought…
Best with all your growing this coming spring.
Thanks Stringfellow
PS I have to sow alfalfa before the end of August to ensure good germination/establishment. Grazing rye is very robust, best sown September/October and even as late as December.
Pete
Pete, many thanks for sharing all this, I am sure it will help lots of gardeners and I changed the name of this thread to reflect all the goodies here. Experience based, it all works.
What you refer to as grazing rye is rye cereal for grain? It is a confusing word because I know some have sown ryegrass mistakenly and then had a job to be rid of it.
Alfalfa – do you never see any nodules on it?
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.