Page 43 - ALG Issue 3 2016

General
Green Manures
If in doubt, get the green manure seed out!
When you have an awkward spot on your allotment and you are not sure what to do with it, think about planting green manure. If you don’t, Mother Nature will plant her version in the form of weeds.
The best time for sowing green manures is when you are approaching the latter part of the year. The main crops have been lifted, and the winter rains will be coming.
Sowing green manures in an empty bed on your plot is a great way of suppressing weeds, as they help to preserve soil fertility and prevent the nutrients being washed out by heavy winter rain.
But what are green manures?
Green manures are fast-growing plants which can be sown at different times of the year.
You can leave some of them to break down after a frost, or you can dig them in before they start to ower. One word of warning however, before you sow rye grass; make sure you are not going into hospital for an appendectomy at just about the time to dig it in; my wife has never forgiven me for that!
Ensure that you use the correct green manure for your space. Species such as rye grass can be hard to integrate with the soil, whilst brassica types such as mustard need to be incorporated into your rotation schedule, as it can encourage clubroot if followed by
more plants of the same family.
Easier crops for plot holders are Miner’s lettuce and lamb’s lettuce,
as these are edible and will t into a crop rotation system easily. My own green manure favourites are poached egg plant, which is pretty and bene cial to my bees, as is phacelia tanacetifolia, which has a beautiful ower and will stand until a hard frost. These two plants also attract hover ies which eat green y and other similar pests.
There are two main types of green manure that are legumes,
which leave nitrogen in the soil. The rst is Fenugreek, which is early in the season, but mainly in the southern half of the country as it is susceptible to frost; it gives excellent ground cover and weed control. Tares is the legume for winter control as it is frost tolerant and it leaves lots of nitrogen in the soil.
You may also include broad beans as a eld crop, leaving broad bean plants growing for as long as possible and then digging them in as this can serve the same purpose. Similarly, you can use old broad bean seed as a green manure.
This is not an exhaustive list; these are the ones I have tried and there are many more green manures out there. So, if you want to get ahead and keep the fertility of your plot through the winter, plant some green manures; and remember Kings’ catalogue has a whole section on these useful plants.
John Irwin
Living Memory
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Living Memory Project is encouraging the British public to reconnect with their war dead buried
in their communities and lay owers from their own garden or allotment as a mark of remembrance.
With increasing numbers of British people visiting CWGC sites on the Western Front, more than 300,000 CWGC graves and memorials in the UK are virtually ignored. The CWGC want more people to go out over the next few months and nd graves and memorials in their local area of men who died during the 141 days of the Battle of the Somme (July 1), nd their stories and lay owers as a tribute.
There is at least one war grave within three miles of everyone’s front door in Britain and they need to be explored and remembered.
There is a long tradition of laying
owers on graves as a tribute and act of remembrance. We’re all familiar with oral wreaths and the poppy wreaths, but this project encourages people to lay their own owers from their own garden.
The Commissions’ cemeteries are mostly planted with perennial plants which are left in place, rather than using plants which
are grown from seed. However, when the cemeteries were rst created more than 100 years ago, soldiers collected and sowed seeds in the burial places before they were formally laid out.
St Johnstone Football Club in Perth worked with children aged 10 to 12 at Our Lady’s Primary School, Perth.
Pupils and some of the older fans planted owers at the stadium and the owers were taken to the CWGC war graves at Wellshill during the anniversary of the Somme in 2016.
of the Somme, there are strong stories to tell here in Britain and the CWGC want people to explore and discover their own stories and then organise 141 events all over the UK to commemorate the centenary.
CWGC want the public to visit these sites and take a personal interest in one or two of those buried there by laying owers and looking up their details on the CWGC website. From there, we want people to champion these sites: tell their friends, tell other local community groups. They must not be forgotten.
Hugh Dennis, ambassador for the CWGC’s project, said “I have a very personal connection with the First World War as both my grandfathers fought at the Western Front. My great uncles also fought and all returned home apart from my great uncle Frank who is buried at Gallipoli, Turkey.
“I really want people to connect with this initiative and get out there and discover those who gave their lives for us. I hope that many people will join me on this journey as we reclaim this signi cant First World War heritage here in the UK.”
The CWGC are urging enthusiastic community groups to get together and think about organising an event during the 141 days anniversary.
Funding and a creative resource pack are available for community groups across the UK wishing to participate in this initiative. For more information, please email livingmemory@cwgc.org or visit www.cwgc.org.
Moving into the centenary of the 141 days
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