Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Excellent summary of benefits. We have more sources on cover crops if
interested.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 10/4/2007 at 6:48 AM Douglas  Willhite wrote:

>Our neighbor, Julie, who authored the following, and her husband Sean,
>majored in horticulture. How fortunate we are to have them as a local
>knowledge resource. Doug
>
>Cover crops are a benefit to everyone's soil because:
>
>1. You can buy less fertilizer. Green manures can help unlock soil
>nutrients that may be locked
>up in insoluble rocks or minerals. For example, Rye, buckwheat, and sweet
>clover extract phosphorous from some insoluble minerals. When crops like
>these are turned under, the phosphate they mine from the earth is
>released to plants grown later in the same area.
>2. Cut Nitrogen Purchases. This is what I mean by "free" nitrogen. Tons of
>nitrogen hang in the air over each acre we have, free to use- we just have
>to get it down to our soil- and one way to do this is to plant legumes as
>green manures. Legumes are alfalfa, beans, peas, and vetch - are just some
>of them - but these plants have the ability to host bacteria that can fix
>nitrogen in the air. Alfalfa, is the best of the nitrogen fixing crops and
>can add as much as 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre. This not only saves
>you money, but saves our earth from polluting it with fertilizers. The
>amount of nitrogen you get from just planting alfalfa on an acre is the
>same amount of nitrogen you would get from spreading a ton of 10-10-10
>commercial fertilizer on that acre - so you can see how much money and
>time you save by using cover crops.
>3. Stops the weeds. If weeds are a problem in your garden and you're tired
>of pulling weeds or spraying an expensive herbicide then consider using
>cover crops.
>There are many benefits cover crops will perform in this area:
>4. Improves your soil structure
>5. Increases the life in your soil
>6. Saves time and energy
>7. Stop wasting nutrients
>8. Growing healthier plants
>9. Improves soil's ability to hold water
>10. Make your garden more attractive
>
>I hope this helped with your questions on crop covers. Our email address
>has changed to oakedokey@wildblue.net. If there's any way Sean and I can
>help, please ask us.
>
>Julie
>