Green Manure. Organic White Mustard: Sinapis alba

Description

Green Manure. Organic White Mustard: Sinapis alba.

A green manure that is quick to establish. It dies back in winter naturally but the old foliage and roots protect the soil if you leave them and integrate in spring when you are ready, delivering plenty of organic matter into your soil. White mustard effectively supresses weeds. You can sow a bit heavier if you have a lot of weed seeds in your soil.
It can reduce a wireworm problem so it’s a good one for the year before a potato crop as part of a rotation.

How to grow:
Sow direct from March to September in rows 20cms apart at a depth of 2cms. It’s pretty robust for most soil types but like all brassicas it prefers a slightly alkaline soil pH of 6.5 to 7.5. Sow at a rate of 2g/square metre 8kg/acre. Reaches full growth in 10 weeks. If you don’t want the seed chop the flowers off as they start to die back, this can also be left as green manure.

Problem solving:
Considered a robust crop, it has a low input requirement with good disease resistance.

Favourite ways to use them:
You can grow on and collect the seeds, which is where the White mustard part comes in, despite its yellow flower colour. You can grow them as baby cress on the windowcill, the young leaves being great for salads.

Average seed weight: approx. 190 seeds per gram.