Cutting down the green manure
Remember when you were a kid, and the best thing about building a sandcastle was jumping on it at the end?
That’s how I feel about green manure.
I planted it, I cared for it, I even defended it against judgmental comments.
Today, it met the whipper snipper.
“Hi” it said.
“Pleased to meet yarrgghh…..”.
Help with digging in the green manure
It really was that satistfying- cutting down something I’d grown especially for the purpose. P cut it down for me and dug it into the soil, little D helped with the digging, and J enthusiastically swept up at the end.
While my little family was doing all the hard work, I planted out my leek, red onion and spinach seedlings from the greenhouse. That fills the last gap in Bed A along the front. It is now officially jam packed full of vegetables.
Chinese broccoli harvest
For dinner tonight I cooked some of the chinese broccoli (Gai lan) from Bed A. I really can’t describe just how much better it was than store-bought. It was better than good- it was perfect. I even defended its ego by not offering it to the children.
P and I kept it all to ourselves. Every. Last. Leaf.
500m2 in Sydney 
We really enjoyed the chinese broccoli too. We ate it with poached chicken. Yum Yum!
Good to hear. That stuff grows fast – great to have someone to share it with.
My question is: Why so much grass…just think how many more veggies you could grow and enjoy…rip it up, I say!
Oh Hazel – I’m tempted! If it was on the North side it would be gone already, but seeing as it is shaded for a good portion of the day in winter it stays for the moment. Extending the depth of the front bed is possible though.
Lovely to see all that green manure! What did you have? Your Chinese broccoli looks so healthy.
I used the clever clover mix from the CSIRO, minus the lucerne. Seemed to work pretty well.
I have to come visit and get some!! It’s my favourite chinese vegetable 🙂
Oh, please do! I actually need to plant some more, but more regularly. I need a continuous supply instead of these random gluts. I’ll learn eventually!
Hi There 🙂
Just been enjoying “back issues” of your blog.
I agree, my Mum first gave me some home grown (normal) broccoli a few years ago and I couldn’t believe it was the same stuff as what we buy in the store. Home grown veggies are amazing.
Hey Donna, thanks for reading. I just hope the home grown veggies translate into higher vegetable consumption by the kids 🙂 Results so far are inconclusive…
I’ve been watching Phil in the NRMA thing. Hope he wins!
Just left a comment on your “planting green manure” post, so glad to have found the other end of the project!
I forgot to leave this tip on the other post – an electric hedge trimmer is a really quick and easy way to chop down green manure before digging it in. Way faster than a line trimmer, especially if you have a large area to do.