It would be ideal, but I don’t have a compost pile. I have field mice and critters that would love a winter home like that, so my options are somewhat narrowed when it comes to adding organic matter back into my garden soil. What I have decided to do is to plant a cover crop. I’m not sure yet how often I’ll need to do this, my research isn’t complete yet regarding the required timing for home gardens, but field crops do it at least every 3 years, some more often than that. There are plenty of choices and each of them adds organic matter, replenishes soil nutrients, supresses weeds, breaks up pest and disease cycles, and encourages soil integrity. There is life in the soil folks, and it needs to be protected. You can use grass or legume cover crops to accomplish this.
Oats are a grass cover crop which absorb and store nutrients and protect bare ground with the dead mulch they leave behind….and they don’t require turning over. In a “low-till” garden they are ideal since you only turn the ground over if you desire or even just rake the residue before planting… in fact, they don’t even need to decompose before planting the next crop. How easy is that?
Winter Rye. Another grass cover crop that gardeners use because it’s hardy. Rye has a thick tangle of roots and tough stalks that adds lots of organic matter to the soil. About 3 weeks before you’re gonna plant, just turn it into the soil to decompose and release the nutrients for your crop to be.
Legumes are my favorite cover crops. They give the soil a nutrient recharge so very needed. Crimson Clover, Winter Peas, and Hairy Vetch are common legume cover crops.
Hairy Vetch is particulary attractive to me because it is a prolific nitrogen producer. It has even been shown to have a Nitrogen fertilizer replacement value of 80 pounds of Nitrogen per acre in some studies….which means less fertilizer needed….which means less money spent. Now we’re talking my language. I’ve read that it can be incorporated before flowering (to prevent reseeding) or after flowering…..your choice.
Any way you look at cover crops they nourish the garden and give the spring planting a stronger start.
Well, hairy vetch may be a prolific nitrogen producer, but something makes it VERY attractive to every pest known to mankind. I did plant it, it sprouted and was eaten by insect, mice, rabbits and birds. Much like an African watering hole, I saw every imaginable pest on it, in it or around it, at any given moment of time that I gave it a glance. Can’t fight this one, the draw is too fierce for them to resist. I do know to pick my battles, so I gave them this one and am hoping that at least the roots of the hairy vetch did my ground some good. I’ll try again in another year when I have motion detecting lazer weapons at my disposal.