Jim S" wrote in message
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:24:50 GMT, Tim W wrote:
Dobies have given me a free packet of mustard seeds. Now I have spooned
mustard into a ham sandwich once or twice, even cooked with mustard
seeds
but what am I supposed to get if I plant these Golden Streaks seeds? Do
eat it? Am I supposed to make, er, mustard out of it? And what of the
of great trees growing from the tiny seeds? Any advice?
Tim w

Farmers do use it as green manure, by digging it in. However I believe
that's from an August sowing. Better than chucking them in the bin.
--
Jim S

Jim
I have heard mustard plantsv are good at sterilising soil. Know anything
about that claim?

I found the answer to my own question using a google "Mustard green manure".
I never got this answer googling mustard before mind.

http://cekern.ucdavis.edu/Custom_Pro...en_Manures.htm
But the use of mustards as a green manure for organic matter is intriguing
because it also has the added benefit of biofumigation. Mustards, as well as
many other brassicas, are able to produce chemicals called glucosinolates.
When mustard green manure is incorporated into the soil, these
glucosinolates are converted to isothiocyanates (ITC). ITCs are well known
to kill or suppress many soil-borne diseases, nematodes, and weeds. The
active form of metam sodium, a widely used pesticide, is methyl ITC.

Mustards as green manure have been shown to help control several soil-borne
pests, by not only the effect of crop rotation and added organic material,
but also by its biofumigation effect. It is not likely that biofumigation
will provide the level of control as synthetic chemical fumigants. But may
be another useful tool growers can use to maintain soil-borne pests to
acceptable levels.
Many researchers are trying to learn more about these plants and how to best
use them. Further research is needed to find how to best take advantage of
the biofumigation effect, which cropping systems it may fit into,
identifying the best varieties, and how to manage these plants as a green
manure crop. Growers are just finding about these advantages and are working
them into different cropping systems. Perhaps planting mustards will become
another pre-plant routine that growers do to prepare the ground for spring
planting