Alfalfa Seeds (Medicago sativa)

Medicago sativa

Alfalfa, cultivated lucerne, Burgundy hay: cultivated for more than two thousand years, alfalfa is nicknamed the “queen of forage plants.” Its roots can reach more than 3 meters deep, a record that explains both its legendary drought resistance and its extraordinary ability to restructure soils.

Characteristics:

• Nitrogen-fixing: its root nodules capture nitrogen from the air and accumulate it in the soil, benefiting subsequent crops.
• Exceptional rooting: its deep taproot loosens the lower soil layers and brings up minerals inaccessible to other plants.
• Long-lasting perennial: once established, it occupies the land for several consecutive years.

Sowing advice:

• Exposure: sunny.
• Soil: deep, healthy, and above all well-drained, with a clear preference for calcareous soils. Crucial point: it dislikes acidic soils and wet or compacted ground, where it quickly declines. No nitrogen fertilizer is needed; it produces its own.
• Method: broadcast-sow directly in place in spring, on finely prepared soil, then roll or firm it down to ensure contact with the soil. No pots or pre-soaking. See how to sow your seeds.

Care advice:

• Almost none once established: its taproot seeks water deep underground. As green manure, mow before flowering and leave it in place or lightly incorporate it into the soil.

Beneficial pairings:

• An excellent preceding crop before nitrogen-hungry vegetables. Mixed with white clover or red clover, it forms a highly complete legume cover crop. Our guide: sowing green manures.

Benefits for biodiversity:

• Its purple flowers are highly attractive to pollinators and particularly prized by bumblebees, the only insects powerful enough to trigger their opening mechanism.
• An alfalfa plot left to flower provides an outstanding refuge for beneficial insects and soil fauna — see the basics of living soil.
• Its drought resistance makes it an ally of water-wise gardens.

Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few plants to flower and then form their characteristic pods, coiled into spirals. Harvest them once they are brown and dry, then shell them. See how to store your seeds.

Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, sorted and carefully packaged, without any chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.

Enrich your soil sustainably with these alfalfa seeds, one of the gardener’s best allies.