Cover Crop??

Kitt,

There are a lot of Arkansas Travelers, for sure. But after having lived in the humid midwest and the dustbowl drought, to the bone dry CA desert, and 14 feet of snow in the the Mountains of Idaho, and the big Cities, too, i finally figured out there is just no place as nice as the climate in Southern California. But it has to be good, or no one would live in CA because of the terrible Political Climate.

I had not grown anything for 15 years until i bought this house on a half acre in 2011. Nothing had been grown here for 20 years, just used as a car repair and parking lot.
Very rich, fertile soil beneath the crust, but we have actually had to jackhammer some parts of it. But i am improving the last piece of it now, with the Buckwheat, so the hard part is over with.

Ernie

Reading an article on cover crops this am and found this info for those that grow Fava beans for cover crops.

thanks for the link it re-affirms faith in Crimson Clover,The Mayor of Talihina has let me purchase 50lbs of seed to sow on some banks and in some planters or any where I deem it to be feasible ..May not help this rocky soil much but it will be pretty,,,Kinda strange about the Favas not being allowed to bloom before turning under..i don't think they would do all that well here as it seems a bit cold for most beans

crimson clover turns under abt bloom time- its because they are using them because they fixed the nitrogen, if you wait til reseeding- then the nitrogen fixing talents are reduced.

Well now I just plant it for the beauty it is a sight to see when it is blooming and the wind blows it just waves in the wind ,kinda gives me one of those lumps in the throat moments..

To get the maximum benefit fromt the clover i planted on the Tree Nursery, I would mow it with a flail mower, and let it remain on the ground. The roots would not be disturbed for the five years it took to grow out the trees. That way i was getting the benefit of the top growth for organic material and the nitrogen nodules on the roots were left to increase the nitrogen in the soil.

Unless the clover is part of an annual crop rotation that needs to be turned under each year, it might be left to improve the soil until you need the ground or the plants get old and weaken.

Each situation will be different, but the tops help amend the soil, and the nitrogen is in the roots, or so it seems to me.

Ernie

Christi here it seldom reseeds and even more rarely comes back once it has went to seed of course some of that is due to the city workers spraying weed killer on everything in their path ,but I think this year we have a deal they are not to spray or mow anywhere that we designate as a clover growing area ...Yeah Right..

Sounds like the infinite wisdom of the highway dept here. They spend large sums of dollars to plant wildflowers on the roadsides and then, before the blooms reseed, mow it down. I have noticed 'designated wildflower ~ do not mow' signs. Perhaps you might find someone there with artistic talents to paint you a few of those signs?

Good Idea Christi my favorite librarian where I also volunteer is great at drawing and painting so this will grab her attention thanks

Buckwheat is doing pretty good. Planted five weeks ago, and this partly in garden ground i worked one year and two years. Best ground BW is 16 inches tall and showing some small white blooms. worst ground where it looks like topsoil was scraped off years ago, is only 4 to 6 inches tall, but the small plants have done a good job of locating the trouble spots for me, so i will know where to add the most amendments.

I mowed a little bit of the taller plants to see what the regrowth potential is but will wait and see on that. Extreme temps since planting have been 30 to 90 degrees but vast majority of temps have been between 50 and 70. I will probably use it again as it is a pleasant crop to grow, but so far, I do not think it yields as much mass as some of the denser growing plants to.

Ernie

They did that on my road, a few years ago. I called the county and they said that was the schedule. Needless to say we have a lot less Wildflowers every year. Spend all that money to sow the seeds and all that money to mow the plants down. : (

I've just quickly looked thru these posts but am wondering what could be planted to crowd out all kinds of weeds and grow something that would actually be left to grow as a "lawn" instead of grass. Would the red clover work? Get too tall and have to be mowed? Haven't any experience with cover crops but would like something besides grass as lawn.

Red clover gets pretty tall. White clover stays fairly low, but it's tenacious stuff. Even Round-Up doesn't kill it completely.

I love the clover in my lawn. It attracts lots of bees. Someone with kids running around may not care as much for the plethora of bees and the way it stains clothes. But the clover really is only vigorous in the spring and winter. At the peak of summer, it struggles in the heat.

My "lawn" also has a high percentage of creeping charlie and violets, both of which I like I the lawn since they are pretty and low growing, but are a bear to deal with as weeds in your garden and landscape beds. They are also cool weather plants. They linger in the heat but the violets get a little scorched sometimes.

Someone gave me some creeping thyme, and it choked out a patch of sedum.

im going to plant buckwheat early spring here..
thinking i should do again in late fall too..
i dont have many weeds in the vegy garden..but from my reading
buckwheat grows fast and i can cut down then just plant ..i dont think i'll
spade under..
im thinking in some of my big flower beds i struggle with wandering morning
glory (they call it mormon moring glory here ) :) i might plant buckwheat in them
as well.. cut down..and spade roots over..
anyone else try buckwheat as smothering plant in their flower beds?
seems same principle..and i dont put any of my tropicals in till 2nd week of june..
buckwheat flowers in about 6 weeks...?? is that right??
much thanks :)

My take on the white Clover which I have always called White Dutch Clover and I don't have a clue if that is the right name for it..I live very close to the local High School football field and it has many large patches of white clover and it is many shades darker green than the grass that grows there..and this tends to make a kind of ragged appearance to the field..I know that it is the bane of many golf courses because it will bloom even when mowed quite short making finding balls a bit difficult ...as far me I wish that I had a lawn of white clover here we have almost all Bermuda lawns and they don't get nice a lush until later, like well into june some years

Tropical,
I planted buckwheat Nov. 1, here and it bloomed within six weeks, but growth slowed down as the weather cooled so i will plant a month earlier next year. Really a nice plant, lots of top growth and tilled under easy.

From what i saw, it was not dense enough nor aggressive enough to smother out anything, unless the shade from it would do it.

Ernie

Cover crops here do not break down well when turned under. I ended up cutting the fine root hairs off for the beds, and then composting the greens, (winter rye, clover, etc).

Now I throw straw over the beds, and turn under any really rotted stuff in the spring, use the rest for mulch along beds and rows, during the growing season, and then back on the beds in the fall.

Adding a little nitrogen might help them decompose faster.

Nancy I have only been to Madras once but seem like a very dry place it was a long time ago so maybe I have the wrong place in mind but if it was as dry as I recall that is likely why they don't breack down easily..Just Sayin