Cover Crops in Gardens

Comments from several people about cover crops:

Having a cover crop makes a big difference in the condition of the soil when you are ready to work it for planting. A big advantage is that the ground is occupied with good seed and plants, preventing the weeds from growing there. We like wheat or rye with red or crimson clover. Some other legumes work as well, but clover is one of the best. In the summer buckwheat makes a good one. But at times we have scattered seed from kale & other greens that we grew and went to seed, along with grass. Then we could pick that during the winter, and plow it under for spring planting. It's amazing how many seeds a row of kale can make! God is surely a Multiplier of good things. When we add, He does the multiplying.

We use a variety of cover crops, especially legumes, for our fall cover crop. Legumes seem to add more to the soil. All of our wet garbage we save by mulching and mix into the soil when we tiller in the spring.

Our favorite mix for a winter cover crop to till in in the spring is Austrian Winter Peas, Hairy Vetch, and a grain such as Wheat or Rye.