Price range: £9.95 through £116.00
Sweet clover is a legume, part of the pea and bean family and will fix nitrogen in the medium to long term. It is biennial so can be overwintered. Can grow up to 2m tall. Sow April – May for spring establishment or August for autumn sowing and over-wintering.
Rate per acre: 4Kg
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Green Manure, Sweet Yellow Clover
Latin name Melilotus officinalis
Approximate coverage 600m2 per Kg, 6Kg 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.
Sweet clover is a legume, part of the pea and bean family and will fix nitrogen in the medium to long term. It is biennial so can be overwintered. Can grow up to 2m tall. Sow April – May for spring establishment or August for autumn sowing and over-wintering.
How to grow
Sow April – August
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
Yellow Clover is a good overwintering variety. Dig it in or mulch it out the following spring as you need the ground for planting. If spring sown it can be dug in any time after establishment and can even be left until the following spring.