Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/vegetable-guide.html#a21
thanks to Steve Diver

 Eight Points to Remember

1. For many farms, cover crops offer the only practical means of supplying
the organic matter needed to maintain soil physical, chemical, and
biological properties. Barnyard manure and other manures cannot meet the
requirements of extensive areas.

2. Cultivation decreases the amount of organic matter in the soil and
increases soil erosion on sloping land.

3. As organic matter decays, it provides nutrient elements for succeding
crops. Cover crop legumes substantially increase the nitrogen available to
the subsequent crop.

4. The value of a cover crop is determined primarily by the amount of
organic matter and nitrogen it will add to the soil. Therefore, use the
crop that will produce the greatest growth in the particular region and the
alloted time.

5. Most winter cover crops should be planted with irrigation, since early
seeding is necessary for a good stand and a lack of rain coupled with no
irrigation can prevent satisfactory results.

6. Most winter cover crops should be seeded before the first of November.
Seedbed preparation is important.

7. The best way to work a cover crop in is with a heavy cover crop disk.
Two or three diskings may be necessary. In an orchard, you need not
completely incorporate the cover crop.

8. Allow legume cover crops to grow as long as possible before working them
into the soil.
Source: Cover Crops for California Agriculture. 1989. By P.R. Miller, et
al. University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Leaflet 21471. 24 p.