In agriculture, green manure refers to crops which have already been uprooted (and have often already been stuffed under the soil). The then dying plants are of a type of cover crop often grown primarily to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil (i.e. nitrogen-fixing crops). Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period of time, and then ploughed under and incorporated into the soil while green or shortly after flowering. Green manure crops are commonly associated with organic agriculture, and are considered essential for annual cropping systems that wish to be sustainable. Traditionally, the practice of green manuring can be traced back to the fallow cycle of crop rotation, which was used to allow soils to recover.
Read more about Green Manure: Functions, Nutrient Creation, Green Manure Crops, Use in Organic Farming, History
Famous quotes containing the words green and/or manure:
“O Paddy dear, an’ did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick’s Day we’ll keep, his colour can’t be seen,
For there’s a cruel law agin the wearin’ o’ the Green!”
—Unknown. The Wearing of the Green (l. 37–40)
“I see that I must get a few dollars together presently to manure my roots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)