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Winter rape as green manure: sowing
No one doubts that it is necessary to fertilize the soil for planting vegetable crops. But each gardener chooses for himself how to introduce nutrients into the soil. Someone uses manure, someone buys mineral fertilizers. But the use of green manures is more effective – these are plants specially grown to fertilize the soil. A good candidate for sowing both on a garden plot and on a production scale is winter rapeseed.
Why choose winter rape for fertilization
The use of winter rapeseed as green manure solves three problems at once that any summer resident faces. The first is the fight against disease. Since summer residents do not always observe crop rotation, the use of phytosanitary is a prerequisite. These include rapeseed. The second is saving time and effort. There is no need to bring manure and level it all over the site. It is much easier to plant seeds. The third is financial savings. Rapeseed costs much less than the manure needed to fertilize the entire site.
Winter rape cannot be compared with any other fertilizer either in terms of efficiency or availability
You can also highlight a few more advantages of sowing this plant.
- Grows green mass quickly. This is especially valuable in autumn, when there is not so much grass.
- During flowering, rapeseed attracts pollinating insects.
- The structure of the top layer is improved, which contributes to better penetration of oxygen and moisture into the soil.
- Suppresses the growth of weeds. This can be used, for example, when planting between rows of strawberries.
And since rape is able to quickly gain green mass, this leads to the enrichment of minerals and trace elements.
Rules for planting winter rapeseed
Winter rape seeds are mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:50. Then they are scattered on the site and raked in with a harrow about 2 cm. It is necessary to mow in the flowering phase.
It is recommended to plant rapeseed where seedling crops will be planted next year, for example, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and others.
You can not sow it where there were cruciferous plantings and clover. These include radish, horseradish, mustard, cabbage, radish, turnip. This is due to the fact that they have common pests and diseases.
You can start sowing rapeseed in August, after the first harvest. For example, after onions, garlic, legumes. If time and temperature permit, then this green manure can be sown twice.
When the greens reach 30 cm, they need to be cut and left on top. Before the onset of frost, it will decay, which will enrich the soil with organic matter and at the same time reduce the amount of salts.
Sowing of winter rapeseed is considered more effective, since its yield is higher. At the same time, a natural organic fertilizer is obtained without special costs – both physical and financial. Plus, the reduction of weeds on the site greatly facilitates the work of the gardener.