Organic Green Manure Italian Rye Grass

Green Manure, Italian Ryegrass
Latin name Lolium multiflorum
Approximate coverage 100m² per Kg, 40Kg per acre

Green manures are plants grown specifically to improve the soil. They do this in a number of ways: by being deep rooted; by covering the soil to prevent leaching of nutrients; by fixing nitrogen; by breaking up the soil with fibrous root structures. In all cases they are dug or mulched back into the soil adding organic matter which helps retain moisture and feeds the soil’s beneficial organisms. To dig in chop up the green manure with a spade and turn it into the top few inches, 10-12cm or so, of soil. Mulching out is the easier option, cut down if necessary and leave the clippings on the soil then cover to exclude the light using cardboard and grass cuttings or a biodegradable ground cover. Keep covered for at least 6 weeks, but longer if you do not need the ground, by which time most of the green manure would have broken down and incorporated into the soil by earthworms.
Good soil is the major and underlying principle for organic growing and green manures play a vital role. Use them to cover bare ground particularly over winter.

Italian Ryegrass is quite similar to grazing rye except that it is a finer leaf, it is less bulky and easier to dig in. Italian ryegrass puts nitrogen back into the soil when it is dug in which is particularly good if you follow it with heavy nitrogen feeders like brassica. Italian ryegrass produces good ground cover which prevents nutrients from leeching out of the soil during winter rains and it suppresses weeds. It is a very useful overwintering green manure. Keep cutting it to prevent flowering.

How to grow
Sow March and April or August and September.
Normally you would have recently harvested a crop from the ground where now you are going to grow green manure. In which case not much cultivation is required. Fork or rake over to get a fairly good tilth and remove any weeds. Scatter the seed over evenly and lightly rake in. Water the seedlings if the weather is very dry.

When to dig in
Italian ryegrass is very hardy and will overwinter. Dig in the following spring or a few weeks before the ground is needed. Alternatively cut it down and mulch out.
Allow it to be properly broken down before sowing seed as it produces a chemical which can affect the germination of some small seeds. Transplants are not affected.