Organic Buckwheat Seed (Fagopyrum esculentum)

• Buckwheat is a fast growing short-term summer green manure.
• It produces a dense canopy of foliage that smothers weeds and once dug into the top layer of soil rapidly decomposes helping to improve the soils structure and organic matter content.
• Buckwheat does not fix nitrogen but is a very rapidly growing annual crop. It is good at scavenging for phosphate in the soil which it then takes up and makes available to subsequent crops after incorporation.
• If left to flower buckwheat produces attractive small pink flowers that are loved by bees and beneficial insects, but as with majority of green manures it is better to dig in whilst young and green rather than old and tough as they decompose more rapidly.
• Not related to other crops so can be sown anywhere in crop rotations.

How to sow green manures:

• Prepare a reasonable seed bed.
• Broadcast you seeds. If you have a large area to cover it is a good idea to divide the seed and the land into 4 parts to avoid running out of seed.
• Rake in and water if soil is dry.