GREEN MANURING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 64, 2 April 1937, Page 12

GREEN MANURING

The actual manaring of the kitchen garden must be left to a later chaptev, but there is one aspect of the manuring problem that must be treated here. Where compost and leaf mould or leaves (which are largely a substitute for animal manure) are not available and where it is not desired t« purchase quantities of manure, the sowing of crops to be dug in as "green. manure" should now be undertaken. An impression seems to ■ prevail in some quarters that, while green manuring may, certainly be appiicable on a farm, ,it 'is out of place in a garden. That is quite wrong. The prineiple is the same, whether it is applied to 10ft., 10 rod-s or 10 acres of ground; if it is beneflcial in one case, it must be equally so 'in any of the others. Three things, at least, are accomplished by it. It makes the soil rielier in humus, preserves the food matei'ials in the soil and eni'iches the soil by adding uitrogen gatherea from the air. Many dift'erent p^mta can be used for grees manuring, among which may be mentioned mustard, while turnips and clover or vetch, the last two being especially useful where nitrogen is deficient. Probably the most popular of all, especially for the present season, is mustard and for general purposes i.t would be inipossible to excel this. It makes a great deal of "tops" (thus giving a very good bulk) within a really short time, say six weeks to two months. The growth, too, is very soft and sueculent, so it is easy to dig in and it quickly decays and becomes available for the succeeding crop as food. Immediately the summer crops have been cleared then and nothing more can be done until spring, the ground should be sown with mustard or other green manure. ' This should be allowed to grow on until a short while before the land is again required for planting purposes, when the crop may be crushed down with the garden roller and then dug in