Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Liz <liz@allslash.org>]

At 12:21 AM 6/9/2008, you wrote:

> What I have found to be the most effective in loosening my soil without
> tillage has been planting cover crops. The roots do the loosening. I don't
> even turn my cover crops in anymore. Instead I just cut them down, cutting
> from the top down to cut them into smaller pieces and then cover that with
> some straw. In fact, I just pulled some mulch back today so I could sow some
> seeds and the cover crops had completely vanished. The soil was much softer
> in these beds than in areas where I haven't cover cropped regularly.

I've had really good results with daikon and other large root 
vegetables. I was afraid they wouldn't develop well because the soil 
was so hard, but they surprised me.

What cover crops are you using?

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com