Green manure: For good soil
There's one thing every gardener should avoid: unused, fallow soil. Whether it's a large garden bed or a small balcony container, it doesn't really matter. Giving the soil a break is well-intentioned, but simply not cultivating it for this reason isn't very helpful. If you really want to do something good for your soil, then use green manure! Never heard of it? Well, then pay attention!
Green manure: What is it actually?
The term “ fertilizer ” can be a bit misleading at first. Fertilizer sounds like horn meal and cow dung. But green manure really just means sowing fast-growing plants on unused land that are not intended for your own use - but really only to improve the soil. Although, of course, you are basically doing it to keep the soil fit for growing vegetables next year ;-) Theoretically, you can sow green manure from March/April right up to October. So, for example, if there are beds that you know for sure that you don't “need” them at all all season, you can sow green manure there at the start of the new season. In other beds, you can plant green manure after harvesting peppers , tomatoes , etc. to improve the depleted soil.
Advantages of green manure
- The soil is covered so that important nutrients remain in the soil and cannot escape through the bare surface.
- Weeds or, as they are otherwise called, unwanted weeds, have no chance of spreading on the unused area due to the planting of green manure plants
- Green manure is perfect for restoring soil structure: Deep roots loosen the soil and ensure good aeration. This allows water to drain well, oxygen to circulate, and later-sown vegetables to take root more easily.
- Green manure stores nitrogen. When the plants are later incorporated into the soil and decompose, the nitrogen spreads throughout the soil, providing natural long-term fertilization.
Different plants = different benefits
- Oil radish, alfalfa, sunflowers & bitter lupine : ensure good soil structure with their deep root systems
- Phacelia, vetch, peas, beans, clover & lupins : produce many leaves & flowers and, after incorporation, provide sandy soils with fresh humus
- Tagetes : fights the invisible but nasty nematodes in the soil
A little tip: If you decide on a season with green manure, you can also do something good for the bees and choose plants with beautiful flowers such as vetch, sunflowers , marigolds , marigolds, borage or phacelia 
Attention: pay attention to plant families!
As always in gardening, you should be careful not to plant certain plants before or after others when planting green manure. If plants from the same family are repeatedly grown in the same area, the soil will become tired, and soil pests will have an easy time. Therefore:
- You must not sow yellow mustard, oil radish or rapeseed as green manure after and before all cruciferous plants (cabbage, radishes & radishes ).
- You must not sow clover, vetch or lupin as green manure before or after beans and peas
Whatever works: Phacelia belongs to the subfamily of aquatic plants and is not related to any known vegetable. With its lush purple blooms, it turns out to be a true bee friend (and is often colloquially called that).
What also works well: buckwheat (except before and after and around the rhubarb )
The right time
- Alexandrine clover: April-October
- Bee friend: April-October
- Blue flax: April-June
- Fertilizing lupins: April-October
- Fodder beet: April-May
- Beans : March-June
- Peas : April-June
- Yellow mustard: March-September
- Oil radish: April-September
- Tagetes: May-June
- Spinach : March-October
- Sweet peas: April-September
