Mustard is often grown as a cover crop to provide fertilization. Find out below why mustard makes an excellent green manure and how you can use mustard as a catch crop yourself.

Mustard as green manure prevents soil erosion and provides more nutrients in the soil

Why green manure?

Cover crops are often used on fallow land to enrich the soil with nutrients and to prevent silting and leaching of nutrients from the soil.

What does mustard do as green manure?

  • The deep roots of the mustard plants loosen the soil.
  • The dense plant cover prevents the soil from silting up and nutrients from being washed out.
  • After cutting off the mustard plants, they release the nutrients they have absorbed back into the soil as humus.
  • The mustard plants prevent weeds from overgrowing the empty beds.

How is mustard used as a foundation?

Mustard can be planted as green manure in practically every frost-free season. As mentioned, it is often used as a cover crop, e.g. after you have harvested early vegetables such as lettuce. Sow the mustard seeds as described here. If you sow late in the year, you can plant the plants closer than 20cm. Water and care for your mustard like any other garden herb. You can also harvest some of the aromatic leaves every now and then and use them in a salad.
Cut the mustard plants down to the ground in autumn, at the latest when they are in bloom, before the seeds develop. Leave the leaves and flowers in place so they can continue to protect the soil and also provide nutrients.

Green manure without effort

Alternatively, you can simply leave the mustard in the fall. The leaves freeze and can simply be dug under in spring. However, in this case you run the risk of the mustard sowing itself. Therefore, you should better harvest the seeds in autumn.

When should mustard not be used as green manure?

Since mustard belongs to the cruciferous family, the usual crop rotation must be observed. Cruciferous plants may only be planted in the same location every four years. Therefore, mustard must not be used as green manure in locations where cabbage plants, radishes, radishes or other cruciferous plants have grown in the last three years.

tips

You can also just plant a row of mustard between your garden vegetables and use them as green manure.

Category:

Vegetable garden