Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Oats as a crop?

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Oats as a crop?
  • Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 06:21:13 -0400

On 10/22/2010 12:43 AM, Tradingpost wrote:
Question: how do you grow a winter cover crop and still keep the ground
mulched for winter? I'd do buckwheat if I could, easy access to bulk seed
from Plants of the Southwest.

paul

Paul, I grow winter cover crops for the same reason I would mulch over winter: to feed/improve the soil while covering/protecting it. Since a winter cover crop performs both functions, I think of the CC as *in lieu of* a mulch, not *in addition to* one.

Of course, vigorous seeds like small grains and peas can come up through a light mulch laid over them, so in that sense you could both CC and mulch. Also, many winter CC's sowed would grow right into/through quite a heavy mulch, *if* the mulch were well wetted through before seeding--don't know about the nature of your fall rains there. But you could lay out the mulch as early as possible, wait until rain had thoroughly moistened right through, then sow the CC on top.

As for buckwheat, amigo: *Forget* it as a winter cover--it is extremely frost-tender. Great summer CC (only). Much better would be cold hardy CC's like small grains, peas, various crucifers (turnip, mustard, rape, forage radish), possibly some clovers.

To my mind, growing cover crops over the winter is the very best thing you can do for your soil in a part of the year you can't do harvest crops but you sure don't want to miss the chance to add to OM. My garden is at present almost nothing but cover crops (mixes of all the ones I mentioned above) and they are "cranking"--I *love* it!

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

My book, THE MODERN HOMESTEAD POULTRY FLOCK, will be published next year by
Chelsea Green Publishing.





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page