Phacelia Progress

Friday was another warm day with a pleasant breeze in the afternoon.

Our first green manure crop of Phacelia is now progressing well after a very slow start. It was sown on the 20th March and then followed what seemed like weeks of damp cold weather. There were signs of germination by 12th April but even then growth was very slow not what I expected from green manure.

This is how the crop was fairing by the 5th May. This was 4 weeks after first signs of germination and I was thinking that perhaps I should have sown the seed rather more generously than stated on the seed packet.

Without me noticing the crop has suddenly taken off especially with the much warmer weather over the last week or so. 

Just like the grass it’s put on a spurt in the last few days. I guess it does look a bit untidy but perhaps that will improve when the grass is cut and edged. There is some grass growing in parts of the bed which will have to be removed as the bed is dug. Its now a matter of do we leave it to flower or dig it in before it has a chance to set any seed.

The Phacelia has certainly produced a dense carpet of vegetation and should do wonders to improve the soil once it has been dug into the soil. The crop will grow up to 1.0m in height so it has a way to go yet. The flowers are very attractive to insects and are even supposed to be good as a cut flower. On the downside it sets seed easily so its a difficult decision on whether to let it flower or not. Perhaps I might leave just a small patch to flower for the bees and other pollinating insects.