Sweet clover green manure: characteristics and what is good, how to sow a plant

Many gardeners seek to improve soil structure. To do this, they often use green top dressing. With the right choice of green manure for specific crops, it is possible to saturate the soil with valuable substances. Using sweet clover as green manure is considered a very effective method. This plant provides the soil with everything it needs and is considered low maintenance.

Features

Clover is a herbaceous legume that can grow up to 2 meters in height. It is characterized by small flowers of different shades. There are a number of varieties of sweet clover - arctic, white, yellow, notched.

Culture is considered undemanding to the composition of the soil. It is resistant to cold and needs good lighting. The plant grows quickly. With the advent of spring, its shoots are often added to salads. Subsequently, the foliage is not suitable for this.

Pros and cons of sweet clover as green manure

Using sweet clover has many benefits:

• possibility of use for carbonate alkaline soils;
• ability to accumulate a lot of nitrogen;
• loosening the soil and improving its structure - this effect is achieved through developed roots;
• decrease in soil salinity - this result is achieved due to the release of carbonic acid by the root system;
• fertilizing the soil - both the roots and stems of the plant are considered fertilizer;
• soil improvement - the culture easily copes with various types of rot, destroys nematodes and wireworms.

At the same time, sweet clover has a number of disadvantages. These include the following:

• the formation of an abundance of greenery - if the shoots are not cut in a timely manner, they become too tough and cannot be used as top dressing;
• risk of developing powdery mildew;
• poor acid soil tolerance - sweet clover grows best in neutral soils.

Before which crops to sow

Sweet clover can be used for almost all cultivated plants. The only exceptions are legumes. Grass is often used as the first plant to be planted in very neglected or uncultivated ground.

The use of sweet clover before potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini is especially effective. It is also permissible to plant it in front of garden strawberries and bell peppers.

Landing

To achieve the desired results, it is important to carry out planting work correctly. In this case, it is worth considering a number of rules.

Soil preparation

Before planting a plant as green manure, it is recommended to pay attention to soil preparation. It needs to be dug up and leveled, removing all large particles, the root system of plants, and debris. Also, phosphorus and potash fertilizers are required to be added to the soil.

Then you need to make furrows in the ground for planting. Their depth should be 3 centimeters. It is important to ensure that the ground is not too wet. Groundwater must be at a depth of more than 1 meter. After planting is completed, it is recommended to roll the soil.

Spring planting

To sow sweet clover in the spring, it is recommended to do the following:

1. Before planting, soak sweet clover seeds in water and leave for 24 hours. This will speed up the growth process and strengthen the seeds.
2. For accelerated germination 1 month before planting, it is required to damage the hard shell of the seeds. To do this, they should be wiped with sandpaper. Thanks to this, sprouts will appear in 1 week.
3. If the soil is too dry, it needs to be well moistened.
4. Planting seeds is required to a depth of about 2 centimeters. At the same time, the interval between rows is 55 centimeters, and between plants - 25-30.
5. After the germination of the sweet clover, the planting should be loosened. This is done until the plant reaches 10-15 centimeters in height.

It can be quite difficult to stick to the right interval, since sweet clover is characterized by very small seeds. To facilitate planting, the grains must be mixed with sand and only then sown in the ground.They germinate within 2 weeks. After that, it is worth thinning.

With this type of planting, the plants will begin to bloom in the first year. However, they do not have enough time for the seeds to ripen. This will only happen next year. If sweet clover is grown exclusively as green manure, it is not necessary to let it ripen until the seeds are ripe. You can cut the shoots much earlier.

Autumn planting

Before planting, it is recommended to do the following:

• remove tops and weeds;
• loosen the soil - this is done to a depth of 3 centimeters;
• water the beds;
• scatter sweet clover seeds and arrange in rows.

If the culture begins to form buds by the time of the onset of cold weather, it needs to be mowed and left in the garden. When small sprouts appear in severe frosts, the upper parts will die under the snow cover.In the spring, the soil will be ready for planting the main plants. When planted late, sprouts will appear in the spring and begin to actively build mass.

Care

Mature crops do not need frequent watering as they are drought tolerant. However, they need to be fertilized with phosphorus and potassium.

When growing grass 2 years old, there is a risk of flooding its roots with melt water. This will lead to the death of the culture, as it will provoke rotting of the roots. This is the merit of an annual culture. It is planted in the spring and harvested in the autumn season.

Cleaning

It is important to avoid overgrowth of the crop, because at some point the coarse stems cannot be used as top dressing. Therefore, it is recommended to mow sweet clover when buds are formed, when the stems grow up to 40-50 centimeters.

To trim the sweet clover, you should use a flat cutter. Previously, the bushes are recommended to be treated with EM preparations. This improves the saturation of the ground with valuable elements.

Sweet clover is considered an effective green manure that helps improve soil structure. At the same time, it is important to properly plant the grass and provide it with adequate care.

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