Cover cropping

I keep hearing about cover cropping, but I've never done it. Advocates say it:

- Keeps the weeds down
- Prevents erosion
- The leaf litter adds organic matter
- The roots loosen the soil, bring nutrients up, and add organic matter further down in the soil

Hey, we better do some cover cropping - with all those benefits, how can we not?

Turns out, there are dozens of choices of cover crops - some annual, some perennial, some nitrogen-fixing, some cool weather, some warm weather, some better than others at opening up compacted soil. So after much research, and in the end determined largely by what the local co-op was selling, we selected:

White Dutch Clover, a short (6-10 inch tall) perennial clover, for the hedgerow area and other areas where we will want to leave it in place. This may include overseeding on our "lawn" areas and on the soon-to-be formed pathways. When we plant the hedgerow seedlings in the spring, we will just open up a spot in the clover and pop them in.

Gardenway, an annual blend, for the areas where we plan to have smaller plants and/or vegetables. We will plant now, then hack it back and possibly lightly till it in, next spring - before it goes to seed (very important). This blend is 40% ryegrain, 25% Austrian winter pea, 20% triticale, 5% crimson clover, 5% common vetch, and 5% Gulf annual ryegrass.


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