Digging in the dirt can be one of the greatest pleasures of organic gardening. And, to change garden soil from tight clay to soil that sifts through your fingers …add green manure.

Gorgeous soil in your garden makes all the difference for superb growth. It replenishes nitrogen in the soil that was used by previous seasons.

A green manure crop is one that can be grown over a season when the bed is not in use, often fall and winter, and later tilled into the soil to improve the fertility. A green manure crop grown over fall and winter also prevents the soil from eroding and compaction when not in use.

It’s a good idea to grow green manure crops over winter in garden beds that aren’t being used for winter crops. It will improve your soil, suppress weeds, and keep your garden going until you’re ready to plant again in the spring.

Green manure (cover crops) are your fertilizers that are grown over winter for you in the garden

They are usually trampled down and dug in once they reach about knee-high. You want to do this while the plants are still soft and sappy and before they go woody.

You want to dig them in before they set seed. Or, you’ll have a new crop of weeds to contend with!

So what should you use as a green manure? And, where do you buy the seeds?

Lots of websites give specific recommendations and ratios. But, it’s not rocket science.

Generally you want legumes (bean, peas, lucerne, etc), annual grasses (wheat, barley, rye, oats), clover, mustard, and even corn and sunflowers.

It’s a bit hard to find a good mix of those things in nurseries and garden centers.

I’ve found the simplest, cheapest and best thing is to buy a bag of organic bird seed. Read the back of the packet. Find one with the mix you want. The last beds I planted contained millet, sorghum, wheat, oats, barley, rye, corn and sunflowers.

Bird seed will be chemical-free and fresh (since they don’t want to kill your pets) and very cheap. It’s available at any supermarket.

You can add any out-of-date vegetable seeds you have left over from last season. Legumes like beans and peas are especially good since they’ll fix nitrogen in the soil. Anything else you have will help.

Just scatter the seed around your garden bed …about two handfuls per square meter. Then lightly rake it to get the seeds into the dirt and water it in well.

You may need to cover the bed with a net if the birds discover the free feast you’ve laid out for them.

A cover crop should be tilled under about a month before you plant your garden.

When the time comes to dig in the green manure, make sure you use a sharp spade. Trample the plants so they’re lying flat. Slice your cut down through them with the spade.

I work in spadefuls of about 10 cm (4 inches) thickness, digging to one spadeful deep. Turn the soil as you dig. You want the greenery buried and the roots near the surface to make sure the plants won’t keep growing.

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Yours truly for a great garden with outstanding veggies and flowers.


Polly-organic gardener