Hi, Pumpkin. I learned alot from the catalog of Peaceful Valley F&G supply I tried hairy vetch because it is fairly cold tolerant. Being a legume, it fixes nitrogen into the soil but, I understand, only when you cut it and churn it under. Basically on a large plot you need a tractor or at least a tiller. The catalog tells when, how, etc. Their website is www.groworganic.com.Obviously they would not recommend Roundup.There are annual cover crops, perenials, warm weather cc, and cold.Do you compost? Have chickens? those would help too if your soil is depleted. Good luck Gloria

I am by no means an expert but I will try to answer your questions.

1. You don't need plenty of available soil. A small patch will work or in some instances you can interplant a cover crop. A larger area will of course work just fine. Recently I harvested what was left of my corn and cut it off at the ground, raked out most of the mulch and planted a mix of cereal rye, winter peas, alfalfa and hairy vetch.

2. The easiest place to find seeds is online. Some garden nurseries will carry some items.

3. I've been turning it over with a spade about 3 weeks prior to planting.

4. I'm not sure there is a preferred crop. Different cover crops should be planted at different times. Examples - Cereal rye can be planted after tomatoes, squash, peppers have died back. Buckwheat is a warm season plant. Winter peas can be planted anytime after ~ mid August. Unless it's very dry cover crops don't need much irrigation.

5. One season is probably not enough to see much improvement.

I didn't look at this yesterday because I'm not "Colorado local." But, I see that you are new to cover cropping and want to share my experience.

If I plant cereal rye in late July, the plants will be waist-high by May 1st! At that height, they are fairly easy to pull. If I plant rye the 1st of September, the plants are short and very difficult to pull by mid-Spring. Also, I don't think they contribute much.

Field peas, planted late, have no better than a 10% survival rate thru sub-zero winters here.

Obviously, it wouldn't always work to plant a cover crop in July. It could follow Spring salad crops or sweet onions or early potatoes. Still, rye can really produce tall plants and lots and lots of roots if it can become well established before the ground freezes. Plant it late and it takes repeat tilling to kill those small plants! I suppose that you could allow it to grow until June but I haven't done that. That may be a good way to prepare ground for planting sweet corn - don't know.

Once pulled, I dig out the bed to about 10", toss the rye into the trench and cover with the soil. If I dig down at the end of the season, it is still possible to see evidence of those plants. So, they've made an important contribution right thru the growing season and, after the ground thaws the following Spring, there will still be some organic material left in the soil for the start of another growing year!

. . . my 2â. I hope it is of some help.

Steve

I use Excelsior to hold the soil against the wind and as a mulch in summer. Cover crops, when used regularly, do improve tilth and add some nutrients (esp N), but you must expend energy to turn them in and time it properly - you can't put it off and must get it under in time for the critters to work to break it down enough to plant. I don't turn my soil so don't cover crop. I fork in manure and compost in fall (caveat: I only veggie ~200 sf and use ~75sf over winter, so small benefit. If I had, say, 650+ sf I'd probably do a cover crop in a bed that was resting for a season).

Dan

Thanks everyone - great information.

Gloria, I downloaded the catalog you mentioned and it does have a lot of good information. I do compost, and I'll be working compost into the veg garden this weekend, but the rest of the garden has awful clay soil and can use all the help I can give it. I thought if there's something easy I could plant that would actually grow in the winter, that might be a good solution.

Steve, I'm glad to hear that pulling works just fine. I'd probably pull the plants and then fork them under, or trench them like you mentioned. My veg garden in particular is very small - only 12'x4', so hand-tilling is not a problem.

Dan, I haven't heard of Excelsior, but I'll check it out.

Thanks again, folks.

What you might try to break up your clay soil is oilseed radish. It's getting a bit late to plant it but it might still work. It has a vigorous taproot. After it winterkills it leaves channels in the soil that next seasons roots use.

I was happy with the alfalfa I planted in my bare beds last fall. It germinated and stayed very tiny through the winter, then sprung up in the spring. I cut off the tops and used them for mulch and just left the roots in the soil and planted among them. In a couple of plants I missed a few and the plants kept growing, but didn't seem to bother anything. I have perpetual nitrogen problems even with yearly compost additions, so I'll put some in again this fall.

I used alfalfa when I was not able to plant a garden for for one year due to work commitments. I just rototilled the plants when I planted again. Can't say that there was a significant improvement but it is just one data point. I am sure having N fixing plants in the ground for a year improved soil!

One more thing alfalfa makes sence if you are going to let the garden lye fallow for more than one year. For one winter the alfalfa does not grow too much. Plus alfalfa seed cost a pretty penny.

Resurrecting this thread as I thought I'd try an attempt at a cover crop. I bought a package of Crimson Clover seeds. Has anyone tried this as a cover crop? It says it adds nitrogen to the soil, and can be planted in fall or spring.

So debating which time to sow it. I should plant it soon for the fall, but my tomatoes are still producing and that's where I planned to sow the seeds. I suppose I could plant the seeds around them, and then when ready to till get the cut clover into the tomato area. Would that work?

Marj

Crimson clover as far as I know is only hardy to zone 6 so it may die over the winter. I plant it around because the flowers look awesome.

Hi Greg! I won't matter if it dies, since it's just being grown for it's mulching purposes. Have you seeded yours in the spring? Just wondering about the soil being tillable if the ground is too cold. Guess I could do it right after the last frost, and that would give it time to grow big enough, and then till under, before planting the vegies. I wouldn't mind leaving some of it growing on the sides, I do love clover blooms as well!

I wonder if I did both a fall planting and a spring planting if that would give my ground a double shot of nitrogen?

Marj

I have planted both in fall and spring. I was surprised last fall's made it through the arctic blast of November. It does self seed somewhat. Probably too late to get flowers in the fall. If you have not planted clover before then you might need innoculent.

I usually plant various different cover crops in the same area. Winter wheat,winter peas, oats, alfalfa, clover, oilseed radish etc.