Almost covercrop time.

cjp1953 · August 26, 2015

Has been a good year for tomatos here in Ohio.Only down side is lack of rain the last month.With things slowing down,I think I'll get my garden ready for my winter covercrop.In the past I have used Hairy Vetch,yellow clover and winter rye.Only problem has been turning it under.The rye has such a thick root system.I use a very nice garden fork that bought last year so I would not harm my many worms that I have.I keep a 12 inch layer of straw as mulch and it works out very well.This year I'm thinking of just Hairy Vetch as my covercrop.Killing it only takes cutting it back around the first of May and the after 3 weeks turing it under.At the time I would add cotton seed meal and garden tone.Mulch after the soil warms up and hope to repeat the kind of year I had this past summer.With 200sq.ft I only need a pound of vetch seed and that's only a few dollars.Going to do this the second week of Sept.

The cotton seed meal(15lbs) and garden tone(3lbs) applied just one time in May held up very well.

August 26, 2015	#1
cjp1953 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Cuyahoga Falls,Ohio Posts: 818	Almost covercrop time. Has been a good year for tomatos here in Ohio.Only down side is lack of rain the last month.With things slowing down,I think I'll get my garden ready for my winter covercrop.In the past I have used Hairy Vetch,yellow clover and winter rye.Only problem has been turning it under.The rye has such a thick root system.I use a very nice garden fork that bought last year so I would not harm my many worms that I have.I keep a 12 inch layer of straw as mulch and it works out very well.This year I'm thinking of just Hairy Vetch as my covercrop.Killing it only takes cutting it back around the first of May and the after 3 weeks turing it under.At the time I would add cotton seed meal and garden tone.Mulch after the soil warms up and hope to repeat the kind of year I had this past summer.With 200sq.ft I only need a pound of vetch seed and that's only a few dollars.Going to do this the second week of Sept.The cotton seed meal(15lbs) and garden tone(3lbs) applied just one time in May held up very well.