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Edible Green Manures and Mulches

On an organic plot, in most situations, you don’t want to leave the bare earth exposed. Rain can leach away nutrients and form a cap on some soil types, weeds can grow and most dangerously the soil can blow away. You are also missing an opportunity to develop and feed the soil for the next plants.

Mustard two weeks after sowing.

You might have a bare and exposed bed after you’ve taken one crop out before the next is ready. Or you may just be preparing beds for the coming season. Either way you can protect the ground with a layer of manure, compost or mulch.

This article deals with green manures and mulches; plants that you grow to do the job for you. Broadly speaking manures develop the fertility of the soil and mulches prevent other plants growing so your main crop has a better chance. And as one of the principals of permaculture is Usefulness – Multiple Functions, all of these suggestions are edible as well. How’s that for multiple function: feed the soil, prevents weeds growing, attracts bees and beneficial insects and you can eat them.

As with many edible plants – find out more about what quantities are safe to eat and how to prepare them. A useful site with such information is Plants For A Future.

Plant Name – Mustard Sinapis alba
Manure or Mulch use – Short term and fast growing mulch and manure. Usually dug in before it flowers. Frost tolerant. Rotate as a brassica, susceptible to the same diseases; avoid soil with club-root. Shallow rooted so avoid very dry areas.
Edible Description – Young leaves raw in salad or cooked. Older leaves as a potherb. Seeds used in salad. Seeds ground as a food flavouring or as the condiment when mixed with vinegar.
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Plant Name – Comfrey Symphytum uplandicum
Manure or Mulch use – Long term / perennial mulch and manure. Very deep rooting. Ideal under fruit trees which don’t compete well with grass. Comfrey brings up nutrients from deep in the soil that are ideal for apple trees. The wild variety is self seeding and can be invasive. Bocking 14 is a supposedly non-invasive cultivar.
Edible Description – Leaves raw or cooked (in moderation, see above). Tea from the dried leaves. Many medicinal uses worth researching.
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Plant Name – Alfalfa, lucerne Medicago sativa
Manure or Mulch use – Perennial quick growing leafy crop with deep roots which can improve the soil structure. Needs a sunny position. It fixes nitrogen in most soils. It can tolerate dry conditions once established and it attracts insects.
Edible Description – Leaves and young shoots raw or cooked (in moderation, see above). Rich in vitamins. Tea from the dried leaves. Seeds sprouted and used in salads.
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Plant Name – Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum
Manure or Mulch use – Fast growing, half-hardy, large annual, up to 1.5m. Grows on and improves poor soil. Has deep roots. Flowers attract hover flies which eat aphids.
Edible Description – Leaves raw or cooked, rich in rutin. Seeds raw or cooked, sprouted or ground into flower. The seed is gluten free.
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Plant Name – Fenugreek Trigonella foenum-graecum
Manure or Mulch use – Can fix nitrogen on some soils so rotate with legumes. It is a fast growing leafy crop reaching over .5m. Slow to become woody.
Edible Description – Very aromatic taste. Leaves raw or cooked. Seed raw, cooked or sprouted. Read the Plants For A Future entry for more info.
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Plant Name – Field Bean Vicia faba
Manure or Mulch use – Ideal for over-wintering. Leguminous so nitrogen fixing.
Edible Description – Leaves and seeds. As broad beans.
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