I want to plant a fall crop, Brassicas and the like, beans, peas, amending the soil first with compost. After this, I'd like to plant cover crops to add nutrients and prevent soil/water erosion over the wintertime. Any suggestions for cover crops? Perennial vs. annual? Winterkill vs. not?

thanks for the help!

I'm not familiar with anything that grows in the winter, zone 5, that would amount to much of a cover crop. Stuff stays green, like cilantro, but it isn't growing.

I just mulched all my berry beds with spruce needles and the soil underneath is much moister.

I'll be ordering a mix for green manures for fallow garden spots; field peas, alfalfa, rye or similar. I'll be making more bed toward the end of summer and preparing them for a spring garden.

I was thinking of planting buckwheat or oats in all the garden spaces that will be fallow. Do you allow these green manures to winterkill, then mulch them over with compost or leaves, then turning everything under in spring a few weeks before planting?

I have a booklet from Johny's Seeds about cover crops. I'll re-read it to see if there's any other recommendations.

- Paul

You can get a peek at my little corn patch with the buckwheat growing under it.

Having a couple months for a good start this year will make an amazing difference. You can also plant rye seed in September but don't expect that you'll have much by the time you'd like to till your Spring garden.

It is a little difficult to kill rye when it simply tilled in. Pulling tall plants isn't really very difficult. They then can be either buried in the bed or composted.

I realize this doesn't fit with your ideas for Fall veggie crops but just thought that you may like to consider it.

digitS'