Hi all, Lane County Extension Service Master Gardener John Fischer here with KLCC's Good Gardening. This is going to sound like a commercial for cover crops because it is.
Cover crops like Hairy Vetch, and Austrian Peas can add valuable organic matter to your soil, and invaluable nitrogen while your garden would normally sit empty.
Cover crops like fava Beans and crimson clover can provide a nutritious food source all winter, and a flush of brilliant flowers in the spring.
But wait, there's more!
Cover crops like buckwheat and winter peas can reduce weeds, and conserve valuable soil moisture during the growing season.
I know you're sold on the idea by now, and the time to get your cover crops going is almost here. When a patch of lettuce has gone to seed, or a crop of corn has been eaten, keep that space ready for a late summer planting of fava beans, or an early fall planting of crimson clover.
Lightly scratch the soil surface for clover, and poke your fava seeds in about an inch. Tilling is not necessary. If we have a dry fall, you will need to water a little to get seeds to sprout.
In spring, cut down your clover cover crop, or mow it in the morning to avoid bees, and leave it on the soil surface. Don't till it into the soil. You can push the spent cover crop to the side and plant tomatoes, or rows of corn into pre-mulched pre-fertilized soil.
The plants may grow slowly at first, but will set roots for fast growth in the spring.
Fava leaves can be used in salads all winter and produce beans in the spring. The dried stalks can be composted or chopped and left as mulch under squash next summer. For vegetables like carrots or lettuce, you'll need to remove the vines of vetch or peas before planting.
Cover Crops! They've got all your garden's needs covered!
I'm John Fischer with Good Gardening.
