cover crops

Yesterday I went to Portland Nursery www.portlandnursery.com to attend a seminar on cover crops.

Cover crops are the unsung heroes of the garden – supplying multiple benefits for a minimum of labor! Eric will highlight the different types of cover crops and their benefits. You will also learn how to plant and dig in cover crops.

Cover crops are annual crops that are planted in bare areas of the garden (annual flower bed; newly-tilled bed that won’t be planted until spring; vegetable bed that is empty over the winter), and tilled into the soil in early spring, before planting time, while the cover crop plants are still small, long before they can flower and go to seed.

There is a cover crop for every situation, and can give a vital boost to the overall health and vitality to the garden!

This is buckwheat

I always thought it would look like a regular grain - some sort of grass. It is kind of pretty.

Fava Bean

It is not really a bean, but a member of the pea family. It is an excellent nitrogen fixer with a deep taproot to loosen hard soils.

Crimson Clover

It will form a dense carpet by winter. It also fixes nitrogen. I planted crimson clover last year.

Rye grass

This will just provide organic matter to till into the soil

Austrian peas

This is a legume and will provide lots of organic matter to till into the soil. It likes something to grow/climb up on. In my case it will climb up the rye grass.

Common vetch

Vetch is also a legumes and great for providing nitrogen.

Wheat

This year i purchased a mix instead of using just the clover. The mix contains
45% Rye
25% Austrian Peas
20% Yamhill Wheat
5% Common Vetch
5% Crimson Clover

I think i will add some fava beans to the mix because they look so pretty and some additional clover. As soon as beds become available i will start putting down the seed.