I have been reading about cover crops and green manure(Ugh, why did i title it green mulch...) lately and have come to the conclusion that I need to start utilizing these gardening tools. I want to plant something to cover my vacant spaces, walkways, and that will leave my soil with a healthier layer of humus. I don't know where to begin to buy large quantities of cover crop, but have been directed to BAS lately to this product, a mixture of cover crop seeds. Feedback on this BAS mix? Any additional information leading me to other sources to buy cover crop blends for farms would be appreciated, as well as more literature on the subject... Edit: list of seeds in the pack: Barley - Haybet \t Oats - Jerry\t Flax - Brown\t Buckweat - Mancan\t Lentils - Indianhead\t Safflower\t Millet - Golden German\t Hairy Vetch\t Vetch Common\t Millet - White Proso\t Rape - Dwarf Essex\t Japanese Millet\t Clover - Medium Red\t Clover - White Dutch\t Clover - Crimson
I bought a "cover crop" mix of seeds very similar to that from my local health food store from the little vegetable seed stand. Feed stores might carry something like that too. TJ
I let the weeds grow then send in the chickens to do my weeding. I always wanted to do cover crops like buckwheat or rye.
I've got a bushog and tractor, so tall isn't that bad, but I guess it wouldn't be a good path cover; tall also means more biomass. Yeah, I'll have to check out some local shops; I just recently went to a nursery, but got discouraged when I saw the saddest looking little fruit trees being sold for upwards of $50. I'm just gonna have to read about taking cuts and propagating that way.
The field clovers, i.e. Red & Crimson, are widely used at organic farms. Hairy Vetch & Common Vetch are also popular. CC
I've seen simpler seed packs of just clover, rye, and vetch. I figure the more diversity the better, I'll probably be throwing in some more lentils and peas and things I can harvest, too. This is going to cover about 10k sqft
stevebomb You're right - clover, rye and vetch seem to be universal with cover crop mixes. I agree with you about diversity by adding different legumes and grass seeds. Garbanzo beans is a good one to use as well. Very hardy plants that create massive root systems. If you need something to break-up hard soil you might want to look at using oilseed radishes. Check it out to see what it contributes when developing growing spaces.
Ha, what a coincidence. I was just in the Mercado and picked up a bag of garbanzos, it will be cool to see them grow. And I'll have the makings for some completely organic falafel.
We have both Lebanese and Indian food every week so I'm pretty much a garbanzo bean addict - LOL! I went to India for the first time when I was a young man and I didn't have a lot of 'expendable income' so I lived on street-food for several weeks and there was a LOT of garbanzo beans in the different dishes we lived on.
Beat me to it! I was reading through and was going to suggest daikon radishes and turnips. Field peas are a good legume. Depending on your climate though, you have to be careful if you want/don't want a winter killed cover. I personally love all forms of clover. Small grains make nice cover, too, if height isn't a concern. I've always thought a cover of barley that you harvested would cool, could make beer on the side
^^^^ Pretty cool man...had no idea. I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever get an oyster/shiitake mushroom operation up and running.
RanchoDeluxe Check-out Rain Forest Mushroom Company in Eddyville, Oregon which is located in the Coastal Range between Corvallis and Newport, Oregon Certified organic by Oregon Tilth - check out their growing methods and strata... CC
I read that alfalfa is awesome cover crop. Especially with hard soils. With tap roots extremely deep and something about them being able to penetrate rock? Crazy. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
CD A field established 5+ years can have roots deeper than 30' which is 3x that of an tree in an orchard. Old time organic farmers jokingly refer to alfalfa as 'field kelp' EDIT: Correction to 30' and not 3,000' My bad......