As you may know, I’m off on holiday soon and as we will be away for a very naughty six weeks I’m going to take the opportunity to sow a cover crop of mustard. I haven’t sown a crop in this patch of ground for a few years so it’s sure to do some good. And I can’t abide empty patches.

So this weekend I’m going to bite the bullet and prematurely take out the capsicums and eggplant, older broccoli and my zinnias that are still flowering profusely and lightly dig over the ground

 

I’m then going to heavily sprinkle on my mustard seed and lightly rake it in. It germinates in around five days and grows about 50cm high. Taking about a month to six weeks to flower it will be just at this stage when we come home. Perfect for digging in and improving the soil

Any vacant ground can be sown with a green manure crop such as mustard or lupin, or you can mix them together. My bed is quite narrow only being around 1m wide so the shorter growing mustard suits it best.  The roots of the plants penetrate the soil allowing better air and water penetration – especially good in our heavy Havelock soils.

They are also called “catch crops” because they catch the nitrogen and other mineral nutrients that rain normally leaches away.

When you dig in your green crop in late winter these nutrients are returned to the soil – they feed the soil and improve the soil structure.

Keep your vege garden working over winter.  Don’t let it grow weeds when it can be growing nutrients instead!