Green Manures. This is the 1st year of our 7-year field rotation of crops.

This field had squashes growing in it last year, they were undersown with the Green Manure that you see before you. This will stay in place next year too, giving us nearly 3 years of fertility-building herbal ley.

This is the most important part of our rotation! The purpose of Green Manure is to build soil fertility, and give it a rest from cropping, while helping retain nutrients, aid water infiltration, and store carbon. Green manures support a huge diversity of above and below ground life, feeding the soil fungi and bacteria, insects and invertebrates, and birds and mammals.

We sow a diverse mix of deep-rooting, nitrogen-fixing, carbon-building plants, including Red, Crimson and White Clover, Lucerne, Vetch, Trefoil and Chicory, plus Grasses and Wildflowers like Wild Carrot, Cornflower, Poppies. Of course there are many unsown visitors too, weeds and wildflowers alike. They are all encouraged to flower and set seed, increasing diversity in our weed seed bank, which builds resilience against bare soil.

At this point in the rotation, we will apply around 50 cubic metres of composted woodchip from our compost heap, this provides carbon and a wide range of fungi to our soils, keeping them very healthy. The green manure will be cut twice each year allowing the lush green material to decompose on the surface to feed the soil biome.

Did you know?! We are the first certified Stockfree Organic farm in the world, and the Green Manures are the basis of this farming system. Read more about Stockfree Organic here.