Organic Spring Vetch - Green Manure - Ferme de Sainte Marthe seeds

The Spring Vetch is an annual legume cultivated as a forage plant and green manure. Like all legumes, it has the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil while protecting it from heavy rain. It is sown from March to April, at a rate of 50 grams per 50 m2, and is destroyed in June-July.

The Cerdagne Vetch has compound, pinnate leaves with numerous leaflets. The terminal leaves often take the form of tendrils that allow it to climb neighboring plants. It can be sown in association with a cereal crop, such as oats or rye, which serves as a support. Its flowering occurs in the form of a papilionaceous corolla with five petals, mauve-red in color, characteristic of legumes.

Widely used in permaculture, green manures have numerous benefits: they enrich and loosen the soil while preventing the establishment of weeds. They also provide a vegetative cover that protects clayey soils from heavy rain and sandy soils from leaching. They can be sown throughout the year, and can be either incorporated into the soil by shallow digging before they go to seed, or left in place as mulch.

The Vetch stands out for its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Its roots have good loosening power and it produces abundant foliage in a few months, which is ideal for suppressing weeds and for on-site or pile composting. It is a green manure that is suitable for heavy and poor soils.