Get the Cover Crops in the Ground
Open soil over the winter is a recipe for disaster. It introduces a blank canvas for spring weeds. It allows for erosion. And it even allows excess minerals and fertilizer to be wasted. Nitrogen, for example, that may develop from decomposing organic matter, will escape.
Our farmers rely on cover crops to help with all this. It's also referred to as "green manure" because in the spring it can be plowed down and the decomposing organic matter helps feed the vegetables. It's a beautiful system.
Popular fall cover crops include cereal rye, hairy vetch, and clover. The clover and vetch won't come up that fast in the fall, but in the spring they will be there and help affix nitrogen.
Rye and wheats grow very easy in colder times. Rye can germinate as low as 34 degrees, making it ideal for late seeding. In the spring, it can produce literally tons of dry matter per acre, all which is valuable for building organic matter and soil tilth when plowed down. Above is a photo of us plowing down rye a few springs back.
Rye is also magical in that it releases chemicals into the soil. This is called the allelopathic effect. These compounds prevent weeds from germinating. So in the spring, between the tall and dense rye out competing weeds and the allelopathic effect, it can help a farmer get off to a good start in the field.
The one down side is that if the rye isn't mowed off or plowed under before it goes to seed it can become a weed itself and reseed itself quickly.
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