We’re committed to using cover crops whenever and wherever we’re not in active cultivation. The sunn hemp is doing well on the east side of Veg Hill. Now we must decide what to grow on the west side after the summer crops peter out. Cowpeas? Daikon radish? Rye? Something else? So many choices . . .
Also: can’t grow wheat for bread flour in Alabama, update on the blackeye peas, corn, tomatoes, melons, eggplant, edamame, and erosion control; problem with the module of the drip irrigation controller and with the mushroom log sprinkler
Here’s the blog post Amanda was remembering about using cowpeas as a cover crop.
Answering the question we discussed, rye is not a legume. Typically, people who plant rye as a cover crop pair it up with a legume like hairy vetch to get some nitrogen fixing at the same time. Here’s a good explanation.
General Links:
The Longleaf Breeze Planting Database
I suggest clover. It’s a legume(strangely enough) For three reasons 1. It’s a native species 2. Bee’s love it and will foster native bee species growth. 3. it will probably be less work to convert back to your crop.
Good thought. We may do that. The interesting challenge, though, is that the Farmer-in-Chief has extended her growing season. She won’t let me have the ground yet because we’re still harvesting food!
I have to say I agree with the Farmer-in-chief there. You want to let your plants produce for as long as they will. It might not be a bad idea to go ahead and seed a cover crop though if you expect production to stop soon. Timing it so the seed germinate just after production stops would be ideal, though I’m not sure how feasible that is.