North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["road's end farm" <organic101@linkny.com>]

Anything that comes up fast and thick (so as to prevent the weeds from 
germinating and crowd them out if they do), and that won't cause more 
problems than it helps with, can be used as a smother crop. What works 
best depends on your soils and climate, what season you have available 
for the planting, and to some extent what you're trying to smother.

Buckwheat's great for short season in warm weather; it comes up in dry 
or wet soil, only needs four to six weeks to accomplish something, and 
is easy to till in. If you're trying to smother a coldweather weed, 
winter rye may be useful. There are lots of other possibilities. Some 
people use a mix including a nitrogen fixer, such as hairy vetch or 
field peas.

If the smother (or other cover crop) goes to seed, it may establish as a 
weed itself. If you already have very heavy weed pressure, this may not 
be a huge problem, as if something's going to pop up anyway maybe it 
might as well be more buckwheat; but it's a good thing to be aware of.

-- Rivka (Finger Lakes New York, zone 5 mostly)

On Monday, February 17, 2003, at 06:51  PM, Helga and Bert Dunn wrote:

> Hello Gord
> Please explain "smother crops". I have , it seems, more than my fair 
> share
> of weeds       Cheers       Bert
>
> Bert Dunn   RR4 Tottenham   Ont    zone 4b
> www.hardygrapes.tottenham.on.ca
> THINK BLENDING, NOT VARIETALS