Things You'll Need:
- Vegetable debris
- Rakes
- Sprout seeds
- Organic nitrogen
- Digging fork
- Organic Mulch
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Step 1
Get all you can from this season's annual vegetables, then turn their debris under and till or dig it in. Rake the garden smooth to prepare the seed bed.
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Step 2
Plant seeds that sprout and grow quickly for your green manure crop. Use what's popular in your area or choose from alfalfa, white clover or ryegrass.
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Step 3
Or, recycle any kind of seeds for green manure - leftover flowers, outdated or extra veggies. Use small seeds and sprinkle them thickly over the entire planting area to get a fast, dense cover.
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Step 4
Fertilize once with organic nitrogen if it seems slow to get growing.
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Step 5
Let the green manure crop grow 3 or 4 inches tall. Leave the green manure on the garden until it matures to control erosion and existing weeds in the bed - call it a cover crop, cut it down and compost tops before replanting. THIS IS UNCLEAR TO ME.
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Step 6
Use a digging fork to turn the plants and their roots completely into the soil.
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Step 7
Cover the newly dug bed with a blanket of organic mulch until planting time. Give the soil and its worms time to reap the benefits of green manure: nitrogen fertilizer and organic matter to nourish your soil.
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Step 8
Use green manure crops in every unplanted vegetable, herb and flower bed. Plant also in compacted areas - such as under trees - and newly graded lots. Allow little roots to break up the soil, which will aerate and renew its structure, before you plant a new lawn.
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Step 9
Take advantage of the natural power of peas and beans to take nitrogen from the air and hold it in their leaves. Turn vines and leaves under, after picking the vegetables, for another green manure crop.
