PlantSowGrowHow to grow Grazing Rye (Green Manure)
Secale cereale
🥕 Vegetable
🌱 Grown each year
The best winter green manure: sown in autumn on empty beds, its roots hold the soil through winter. Dig in a few weeks before spring sowing.
At a glance: Sow late August to early November, harvest from mid January.
When to sow, plant and harvest
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sow outdoors
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Grazing Rye (Green Manure): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 4+ hours a day
- Watering
- No watering needed once established
- Soil
- Any soil
- Spacing
- Broadcast thinly
- In pots
- Best in the ground
- Feeding
- No feeding needed
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 3–9
- Difficulty
- Easy
Step by step
- Late August – early November · 9 weeks before the first autumn frost
Sow on Bare Ground
Rake the soil, scatter the seed evenly, rake it in lightly and water if dry. Great for beds that would otherwise sit empty.
- 7–21 days after “Sow on Bare Ground” · Late August – mid September
Check It Has Come Up
A green carpet should be showing. It smothers weeds and protects the soil from rain.
- 150–190 days after “Sow on Bare Ground” · Mid January – late February
Cut Down and Dig In
Before it flowers or sets seed (or when you need the bed), chop it down, let it wilt for a few days, then dig it into the top 20 cm.
- 14–28 days after “Cut Down and Dig In” · Early February – mid February
Wait, Then Plant
Leave the bed for 2–4 weeks while it rots down before sowing or planting the next crop.
