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Green manure for onions

 
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DavidW



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 31
Location: South Wales
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 4:31 pm    Post subject: Green manure for onions Reply with quote
    

I’m looking to prepare my onion bed for next year (same bed as this year). It’s difficult to get horse manure, so I thought I could prepare the bed using green manure. I would need something that I could put in after my present onions are dug up and something that would give the right type of feed for the onions-any ideas from anyone.

PS :I know I’m planning early

Thanks
David

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

grow a crop ,eat it ,grow another ,plenty of humus (from wherever )plenty of nutrients from "mixture"and you can have all year crops with a few cloches .
fallow what is this concept
some folk are better at onions but my way feeds lots of us all year

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i do rotate crops and will grow a dense monoculture to suppress weeds but it is always a crop ( the weeds i tolerate all have a use ).
plenty of feed and all are fed
be worm friendly plenty of dead plant material on the soil , keep it damp by hoeing a smooth top layer when dry and only forked not spaded (they dont grow new head n tails usually ) when you change crop .
im turning into an old grower

oldish chris



Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dpack is right. Round here they charge for horse poo (shock horror). I cut out the "middle man" and mulch with grass clippings (delivered free by local gardener). You can't have too many compost heaps. Mulch with that as well, then more grass clippings and a bit of lime when the mood grabs you.

I've tried green manures and they are an alternative to food.

Not sure that I'd grow onions on the same patch year after year.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

oldish chris wrote:
Not sure that I'd grow onions on the same patch year after year.


Me neither

Penny Outskirts



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

How would an onion and potato rotation work do you think?

Next year we're thinking of having the plot at work as just potatoes and onions, and doing everthing else in polytunels at home.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'd go for a 4 yr rotation for either, they both pick up all sorts of infections if you're not careful, 3 at the very least

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I wouldn't grow onions staight after onions, but if I WERE going to, I'd go for a legume as a green manure. Either an 'early' pea so I could get a crop off it too, or I'd go for something like winter tares (an excellent green manure). Either way, I'd also add in plenty of pelletec chicken manure and/or some growmore/bone meal before the onions next year.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i ferment cabs ingredients(and dead things and any other rich source of mixed nutrients i can get ,such as nettles and comfrey ,or hair ,or ...?) and dilute the mixture for use , horrid smell but it works
a liquid feed supplies nutrients ,the plant material provides soil quality for both respiration and water / nutrient uptake
"plant nerd "run away run away

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

not grow more but blood /fish n bone which has a similar profile of nutrients .
somewhere i have a book with lots of rotations i will try to find it and give them a book plug
no typo

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dpack wrote:
not grow more but blood /fish n bone which has a similar profile of nutrients .


Eventually I'll go over to blood fish and bone, but that'll be after I've used this sack of growmore I've had for a couple of years. Goes a long, long way doesn't it?

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45375
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

it sorted my mum and dads roses 5kg /10 years and only a 4x2m bed .
works but there is something nice about accellerating decay to get good feed .
i'll get me coat
or plant me under a tree

oldish chris



Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 06 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Penny wrote:
How would an onion and potato rotation work do you think?

Next year we're thinking of having the plot at work as just potatoes and onions, and doing everthing else in polytunels at home.


I can see where you're coming from: both crops are relatively easy to look afte with a single harvest day. With brassicas for example, life is a constant struggle with pests and they must be cut at exactly the right time. However sweet-corn isn't too bad, or dwarf beans left to dry (someone out there is bound to have experience of maize and beans at the same time - old Red Indian trick allegedly).

I have had a tiny bit of white rot, so I'm taking care to rotate like a Whirling Dervish and bunging in compost with added enthusiasm. (Not to mention Fish, Blood and Bone alternating with pelleted chicken poo.)

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