Hungarian grazing rye

[slowfood]

Is this one of the best green manures to use over winter? It is for a allotment that hasn't been used for two years but has been covered with carpet.

Many thanks for any replies.

[slowfood]

[adrianhumph]

Hi slowfood, :D
                       I have not used rye, but my neighbour on the next plot uses it & swears by it. It certainly grows quite quickly & seems easy enough to dig in. it is supposed to prevent nutrients from being leached out of the soil. However, it is quite expensive to buy compared to other green manures, such as alsike clover,mustard or field beans. Also it is not in the legume family & will not fix nitrogen into the soil as members of this family will.
                       
                                               Adrian.

[Ed^Chigliak]

I have no experience with grazing rye. My concern with any grass would be the effort required to dig it over.

I can tell you Phacelia would be good to sow in August. There is enough time for it to form a good ground cover before winter. It will flower in spring and can be incorporated back into the soil any time. Delicate fern like foliage with blue/lilac flowers. It's not difficult to dig and it does not need to be considered in crop rotation. Somewhere between knee and waist high +/- a couple of mm.

Phacelia is a highly mycorrhiza plant (not sure that's the proper terminology). Mycorrhiza being the good fungi in the soil that benifits most plants (not brassicas). It is a relationship that helps plants absorb more nutrients from the soil and the fungi takes surplus sugars from the roots. Everyones a winner.

Broadcast Phacelia seed on the ground which is the usual method for a green manure crop. In addition, because you have a period of two years under cover, I would also be inclined to start some Phacelia plants in 160 cell plug trays. To the compost I would add some Mycorrhiza fungus which you can now buy in tubs and mix this powder/granuals into the compost. I would then transplant fungi impregnated plants at wider regular intervals so that the fungi can then spread from plant to plant and help restore the soil to its natural state.

Needs I say... don't use fungicides or heavy handed fertiliser regimes in the future.

You could also broadcast some vetch seed which is a legume so it will fix nitrogen in the soil. I have grown Phacelia and vetch together by sowing both seed over the same areas. Ideally don't plant a legume crop after growing vetch but as a one off I don't think it will matter much tbh.

[djbrenton]

A standard way of using grazing rye is to alternate rows of vetch and rye, thus getting the nitrogen fixing as well.

[SpeedyMango]

If you do go for grazing rye, cover with fleece/net after broadcasting until it starts growing. I tried it last year, didn't and just provided a good meal for the pigeons!!

D'oh

[Moggle]

If you do go for grazing rye, cover with fleece/net after broadcasting until it starts growing. I tried it last year, didn't and just provided a good meal for the pigeons!!

I'll second that, I did about 3 sowings  >:(

Just digging mine in now (sowed in march/april?), so far so good

[slowfood]

Very interesting replies, and thanks for taking the time. When I read the post from Adrien (very quick that man!) I looked further into green manures that will fix nitrogen and came up with Tares, (3kg, 186Sq m, £10.25) Has anyone used this?