Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Green manures in the growing season

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Elizabeth Pike" <pike AT always-online.com>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Green manures in the growing season
  • Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 20:21:22 -0500


>From Lee: >(I'm in Zone 8), but I don't know much about using them during
the growing season.<

Hi Lee! I'm in zone 8, too, though at the moment it feels more like
3-getting snow, sleet & ice! I love winter-first real one we've had in 3-4
years! (Fewer fire ants & mosquitoes this summer!)

I do no-till, too, on certain beds, though this year I've turned everything.
I'm redesigning/reorienting the garden, which I do every 3-4 years. It's
been 5 years since the last time. Generally, green manures are undersown
4-5 weeks after main crop is sown. Here's my calendar for green manures &
crops during the growing season:

Corn, undersown with soybeans & hairy vetch (I do not till this under, just
mow it down in the late fall.)

Brassicas-undersown with white dutch clover (do not till, or mow)

Peas-undersown with clovers as above

Tomatos, peppers-undersown with clover, use cardboard in July, August

Squash & cucumbers (grown on trellis)-undersown with hairy vetch

Beans, cabbages, collards, chard-undersown with whatever I have left!

Salad greens-straw mulch

Potatos-straw (& one experimental patch of sweet alyssum)

Root crops-undersown with clover, not too close to plant

The green manures are selected to help that crop, and the one following
later in the season, or next year. When I allow rest for a bed, it is
started by a season long growth of annual alfalfa, then 6 months of chickens
or rabbits, who turn the green manure & refertilize it, then I let it rest
another 6 months before use.

Hope this helps!

Liz Pike
Morningstar Gardens
Pollocksville, North Carolina
















Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page