Green manure directly in the roots of tomatoes...

+1, green manure here is fresh animal droppings (never heard it used any other way). Manure is a term used only for animal by-product, not sure how it jumped to plants. The term "cover crop" is used for the plants. Interesting how things are different from region to region.

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
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You've actually got that a bit backwards!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manure

Martin

Once in awhile the cows would discover that the electric fence was shorted out and get into the corn field. Now, that was green manure!
geo

Have you been playing cow patty bingo again George? Use wheat pasture for blackout games.

Windy,
Brylcream? No, no, it was Wildroot Cream Oil that held the D.A. in place back there. (Thankyouverymuch....)

ok,ok uncomposted newly excreted, animal waste matter. We call vegetable matter green manure but even I knew what the subject was. How about Still Steamin?

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Suicide

Then you assumed that if the OP was totally in error with the statement concerning the nitrogen requirements for tomatoes, then the thread title was also in error? From then on, it would appear that we simply have some who are claiming that the English language dictionary and long-established gardening terms are wrong. We've had some crazy threads over the years when replies have been based on assumptions totally opposite what was posted. The OP used both green and fresh in the post and that implies that he or she does know the difference as would 99.8% of all other gardeners. And after this, that may be reduced to 99.9%!

Martin

ive only been gardening a few years, and have never heard of the "green vegetable matter" refered to anything other than a tilled under cover crop. green manure is and always will be fresh horse manure to me. probably a southern thing, we still call every carbonated beverage a coke at my house.

But due to this thread, you now know that green manure has been around a long, long time and also how manure came to be called what it is. Learning such things is why we have a written language, schools to learn it in, and teachers to teach it.

Martin

Uhhhh, Martin......
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/green+manure
http://www.yourdictionary.com/green-manure


The English language has many exceptions and colloquial expressions, and apparently we have come across one. Another one is that people in the northern half of Madison County, Indiana call it a "beanie flipper" instead of a slingshot or another kind of "n------ flipper". Or the expression, "gay" Or the Southern expression Can I "carry you home"?

I can live with either, as long we establish that the OP was using the secondary meaning, as some others may do, too.
geo

Geo, appreciate your taking the time to find more confirmation that the #1 definition of green manure is a cover crop after it is tilled under. Lots of secondary meanings for a lot of words or combinations but there is always only one primary meaning.

Martin

To put it in another perspective, try this. Take any instructions for using green manure, substitute fresh for green, and try to make sense of it. Then you will find why there is a very important distinction between the two terms.

Martin

After his retirement from the Presidency, Harry Truman--who was famous for his salty language--looked up from his morning newspaper and told Bess, "I think I'll put manure on the lawn today." His daughter, Margaret, was horrified. "Mother!, she exclaimed, "Tell Daddy to use the word, 'fertilizer'." "Humph," she answered, "It took me forty years to persuade him to say 'manure'."