Today in the larger part of the garden I began the first of my Cover cropping.Most of this area has been empty since early summer.I'm only using a small part of this field this fall so growing a cover crop in the rest of it is the best thing to do. In the past, sections of garden I did not use were left empty but now I'm taking the next step in building up soil fertility.
The seed I will be using is a mix of vetch and rye.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-rye-hairy-vetch-mix.html I have grown purple vetch in the past in other parts of the garden so I know it will do well. It also grows wild along the road near the Pinkerton avocado orchard planted by farmers who worked the land years ago.
First I removed all the weeds that were growing here I also removed any stones or large rocks that might get under or ruin the tiller. One plant that grows well here and is very tasty is purslane . The plants are too large to use now so tilling it in only adds organic matter to the soil plus the parts that have already gone to seed. Once the cover crop establishes itself the purslane will grow back along with it giving us something extra to add to our salad bowls.
Once my seed bed was ready I used the back of my rake to create furrows to plant my seed in. After my seed is spread I used the rake again to cover the little furrows.
Most of the seed that I planted made it into the furrows but some were left at the surface after I used the rake to cover them some will be picked off by birds but most of t will later germinate and root into the soil surface. I then water the entire area twice a day.
2 weeks later the first seedlings come through .
Today in the larger part of the garden I began the first of my Cover cropping.Most of this area has been empty since early summer.I'm only using a small part of this field this fall so growing a cover crop in the rest of it is the best thing to do. In the past, sections of garden I did not use were left empty but now I'm taking the next step in building up soil fertility.
The seed I will be using is a mix of vetch and rye.http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-rye-hairy-vetch-mix.html I have grown purple vetch in the past in other parts of the garden so I know it will do well. It also grows wild along the road near the Pinkerton avocado orchard planted by farmers who worked the land years ago.
First I removed all the weeds that were growing here I also removed any stones or large rocks that might get under or ruin the tiller. One plant that grows well here and is very tasty is purslane . The plants are too large to use now so tilling it in only adds organic matter to the soil plus the parts that have already gone to seed. Once the cover crop establishes itself the purslane will grow back along with it giving us something extra to add to our salad bowls.
Once my seed bed was ready I used the back of my rake to create furrows to plant my seed in. After my seed is spread I used the rake again to cover the little furrows.
Most of the seed that I planted made it into the furrows but some were left at the surface after I used the rake to cover them some will be picked off by birds but most of t will later germinate and root into the soil surface. I then water the entire area twice a day.