New planting in Windmill Gardens
You may have been wondering about areas of? Windmill Gardens that are fenced off near Brixton Windmill. Well, it?s all about preparation for 2016, when Brixton Windmill needs to look its best for its 200th birthday!
Behind the windmill we hope to have a lovely display of wildflowers in 2016. The area was seeded back in September, and already lots of new plants are beginning to show their heads.
More recently, the patch of ground beside the windmill where we planted and harvested heritage wheat this year has been seeded with a green manure. This is done to put back into the soil the essential nutrients needed to make sure the spring wheat we plant in 2016 will grow well.
When sown in the autumn the green manure grows for between three to six months over the winter. It helps suppress weeds and makes nitrogen available for following crops. The mix we have planted contains crimson clover, mustard and red clover.
We will need to cut the green manure down before it flowers and then it will decompose and either be dug in or left on the surface for the worms to drag down the organic matter and aerate the soil.
