Green Manure

[dobber30052]

I have a garden about 100x100 and am going to plant "green manure" soon. I live east of Atlanta, and the soil is nice (don't need the rapeseed). I am leaning towards a 5:1 hairy vetch to white clover mixture. It will all get turned in in the spring. Any other thoughts?

The hairy vetch would be a good choice. I would shy away from the clover especially in your neck of the woods. It may be a little tough to get rid of, especially if it goes to seed.

I suggest buckwheat, barley, annual rye grass, or another similar green. I think that there are some other legumes that might work out for you - the variety names escape me.

I sugges that you do a web search on green manure or cover crop. I recently did that a had tons of hits which provide a great information base.

Terry

Postscript....

We have sown two of our garden beds with barley for a cover crop. That was a week ago Saturday. The barley is now 2 inches tall in some areas. We've been lucky and have had a little bit of rain this past week and the seedlings are taking off. We will be putting in the rest of the cover crops in the next two to three weeks. First, we have to take care of some Bindweed before tilling.

Terry

[Dob]

I considered the hairy vetch/clover mix for 2 reasons, 1 it was recommended (alhough I can't remember by whom!) and 2 we have bees that might see a tangent benefit, granted it's not their "season" but... just a thought.
I had not considered "getting rid of it" closely.
Perhaps a rye would be better...