Growing mustard

Ok, so at the garden centre I was thinking autumn seeds. Mustard was labelled as one that you can plant right to Sept. But reading the instructions it talks about sowing right until the Autumn, but "digging in" the following year. What?

Apparently it revitalises the soil so is this about just digging the soil as you would and leaving it in there? Is white mustard a variety that you cannot eat etc? It's entitled "green manure" and a hardy annual. Will it be a bad idea to sow this to the raised beds?

signed : Very confused mustard virgin....!

Re: Growing mustard

Hi Annie farmers often grow entire crops to 'dig in ' as a green manure to replenish soil as part of a crop rotation .

If you don't need the space for sewing in the raised bed and can leave the dug in plants to rot down , the crop would be ok.

Re: Growing mustard

Used to grow it on blotting paper at school.

Re: Growing mustard

Thanks Meg Seems a very sensible idea rather than buying bags and bags of compost.

Re: Growing mustard

I think that was mustard and cress Muddy not Mustard ?
Mustard is about 3ft tall and has yellow mustard coloured flowers !
The farmers just plough it straight back into the soil to revitalise
it for the next year .

Donkeyman! 👍👍

Re: Growing mustard

I actually bought it with the idea that you can eat the leaves. 'We have a horseradish plant and I've just green binned all the leaves as they can be eaten but are not that good for you. The damned root is far too hot to make any blinkin sauce. I'm sure you can sell it as an alternative to pepper spray!

So I thought mustard is milder, hardy and can be sown now, maybe a bit of greens and the flowers look good. The raised beds have mostly been stripped of the first and second earlies so this was a creative idea. I had no idea it was a mulching solution.

I also bought coriander, broad bean and the unwins lettuce all seasons collection - it will be a fun Autumn!