Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Question:

Hi, I have a question about cover crops…I am an organic garderner and I am looking for a cover crop to put in my naked beds that will winterkill. I do not till my beds, Everything I have tried does not die back. Thank you for your help

One of our customers is experimenting with covercrops in their landscaping and I thought you would all enjoy their pictures and story. The following is posted below with permission from Chris from his blog, The Urban Dirt Farmer.

Hi, I’m Buckwheat.

According to several sources, Buckwheat is a very good ground cover/soil builder.

After learning that the buckwheat these sources spoke of was not the character from the Little Rascals, but rather some sort of plant that grows in the ground, things made a little more sense.

Buckwheat is a fast growing, drought tolerant, heat resistant cover crop. Additionally, it builds soil and forces out weeds. We planted in early July and it was over 100 degrees for several days in a row.

Here’s what we did:

1. Tilled up the entire front yard with a tiller. It took all day, but beat the alternative of walking on it for a few days with those spiky shoes your dad had to aerate the lawn when you were a kid.

2. Took the seed mixture (Buckwheat/Cowpeas) we purchased from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply, followed the instructions and then spread them with a seed/fertilizer spreader.

3. Used a rake to even out the dirt and at least partially cover the seeds.

4. Watered 3 times a day for the first two weeks.

After one day, you could see the seeds sprouting and putting down roots. After a week, the plants were all about an inch or two inches high.

Little House on the Prarie

Uh. So our front yard has some buckwheat in it. This is after about 4 weeks of growth. The highest plants are about 3′ tall. The stuff that gets more shade isn’t as robust. Here’s another picture from further back.

So the stuff is really blowing up. There are a few bald spots which we re-seeded yesterday to help fill in.

It also just so happens that our next door neighbor is a bee keeper. I’m not making this up. She said that her bees are now off the sugar water (literally) and using our front yard. This is great news because bees are important to human life and stuff. Here’s a photo of me in the front yard.

The plants have these teeny tiny white flowers that the bees actually prefer to larger blooms for some reason.

I’m Ready for My Closeup Mr. DeMille

Say cheese Buckwheat!

Oh, own it, Buckwheat. Give me some emotion! Make love to the camera!

The Sand Lot

We have another part of our property that was just beat to hell when the house was being built. The ground got so compacted that it looked like it’d never grow anything again. It was another one of those things I didn’t take a picture of, but the following photo reenactment sums up what it looked like:

We had a similar mission to our front yard: build soil and prevent erosion. Because this side yard area is covered with trees and due to the abundant shade, buckwheat was not an option. My wife, who likes to read, figured out that the perfect ground cover would be Strawberry, or Palestine, Clover. It is heat tolerant, builds soil well, grows moderately fast, and can even be mowed if one so desires. The seeds were again purchased from Peaceful Valley. These things look like poppy seeds, but sadly can’t be made into street-grade heroine. We again tilled up the ground (hard in spots where there was just bare limestone, but I did my best to ruin the blades on my tiller) and then planted. Here’s what it looks like after three weeks:

Now bear with me for a sec. Please understand that this used to look like a scene from the 70’s D Movie Cannibal Holocaust. Allegedly the clover is supposed to grow quite thickly once it’s established. Here’s a closeup of the little guys:

They are a little slower growing than I’d like, but they are getting the job done. They stand up to being walked on and stuff (like when I have to move the sprinkler and whatnot). This will hopefully be our default ground cover once we decide what to do with our overall landscaping plan.

A PVFS customer email - with reply from our staff.

Question:

I have 5 beds, 3′ x 8′ that are comprised of 6″ high cinder blocks.  The soil that the blocks are sitting on is clay and poor.  What cover crop seeds would you recommend for a 70 year old woman to be able to “turn under” by hand in the coming spring and that will not become invasive?

Answer:

Since you want to turn under your cover crop in Spring, I’ll assume you want a cool season seed that will be put out in fall. I don’t know where you live so you’ll have to check for appropriate hardiness zones. One of my favorite small clovers is Nitro Persian. It’s easy to work with and the flower smells wonderful. Foenugreek & Garbanzo Beans will be taller but also worth a try. If you cut the cover crop in spring before it makes seed, it shouldn’t become invasive.

Hope this helps,

PVFS Staff reply to customer questions:

In response to our conversation of your situation, of which I understand the following:
-want low growing
-want to incorporate wildflowers
-need shallow roots (since above septic)
-will not water in the summer

It’s important to note that many wildflowers are not low growing.  If this is acceptable, the mix I would say best meets your needs is our Premium Erosion Mix. As you can read in the description, the grasses and clovers are low growing with strong roots, but it does have a taller wildflower mix added.  An alternative would be to purchase all the same grasses and clovers individually, but add our Low Growing Wildflower Mix instead of what it already contains.

The very best way to ensure a good stand is to plant in the Fall and make sure it is consistently watered during germination.  If the timing is right, the seed should germinate and the roots start growing while the soil is still warm enough for it to do so (I don’t know where your cabin is, but in Nevada City, October is a good time).  The winter rains will then take over and since the root system will be established, the seed will not wash away.  The top growth is slow due to cool ambient temperature, but in the Spring, the plants will come up quickly.  Since the mix consists of annual plants, they will go through their life cycle, through flowering and seed forming, then drop their seed for the next year.  The plants themselves will brown and die.

If this kind of care and timing is not possible, plant when you need to, but realize that your success rate may not be great (you might consider seeding at a heavier rate).  The dangers of planting seed in summer is that they may dry out or get eaten by birds (put some straw over the seeds to minimize those effects).  I would suggest NOT watering if you are planting this summer, because if the seeds germinate, the seedlings will perish without consistent watering through the summer; just let the rains take care of them when the rains come.

Hope that helps and thank you for growing organically!

Can anyone recommend a cover crop for planting now (late June) in Reno, NV. If you’re not familiar with the high desert climate, it’s arid, warm to hot during the day and cools off quite a bit at night. Average last killing frost is May 12, average first killing frost is Sept 15.

I have a plot of sandy loam with low nutrient levels that I’d like to plant with veggies next year. I’ve heard that planting a cover crop adds nutrients when tilled under.

Thanks,
Dave

Emailed Question from PVFS Customer - Reply By PVFS Staff Member.

Question:

I purchased some Cowpea inoculant for some black-eyed pea cover cropping. I was wondering if I can also use that to inoculate some bean seeds (royal purple and golden wax). I know it isn’t the perfect blend of bacteria, but your bean inoculant is $18 which is way more than I need for the two seed packs I’m buying. So do you think that the cowpea inoculant will actually hurt the beans?

Thanks,

Answer:

The inoculant you have won’t hurt nor will it help your beans.  I’m including a short explanation of how it works to help you understand the two different reasons you would need the inoculant.

In fact the bacteria has a shelf life and if you have some left over at the time of the expiration date on the pk. you can simply sprinkle it into your soil for next years cowpea or other pea cover crop thus lessening the need to use inoculant next time.  However I prefer to inoculate my cover crop seed each year anyway to insure that the bacteria is sufficiently surrounding each individual root ball and forming those nitrogen nodes which stay in the soil when you till it in.  This is the whole point of the cover crop in the first place.

Bean inoculant is a different strain of the bacteria that is attracted to the beans and forms the nitrogen nodules to bean roots  thus insuring that the plant has sufficient energy to form fruit as well as grow.  Those nodes will be largely used up by the plant rather than incorporated into your soil (unlike the cover crop.)  You can use other sources of nitrogen to accomplish this if your prefer to.

Our Combination Garden legume inoculant will inoculate both peas and beans and is very reasonably priced,  A pack that covers 8 lbs of pea/beans item# ISE350 is $4.99 and the pk that covers 50 lbs is $4.99 item# ISE505.
Your cowpea inoculant should be good for your next pea cover crop if you keep it cool and use it some time close to the expiration date (generally three and sometimes up to six months after the date on the pk.)

Hope this helps.  Thank  you so much for your question, your business and for growing organic.

- Long time organic gardener and Nursery Staff @ PVFS

Hi,

Can you suggest a ground cover for the summer for my five raised beds? I want to enrich weak soil and give the beds a rest for the rest of the year.

In the past I’ve used green manure for the winter for the soil on the ground. Is there anything like that for raised beds?

Thank You!

A PVFS customer email - with staff response.

Question:

I have made a raised bed garden past month. The soil needs preparing for Spring. What do you recommend? I would like to get something planted down to get some nitrogen fixation and to make the soil more loamy. I live near Pasadena and the soil in the raised beds is more sandy with little clay component. I am currently growing several fruit trees in the center of each raised bed. Plenty of .

thoughts? I do have plenty of Azomite, sun and non-chlorinated mountain water for irrigation

Answer:

Our most popular cover crop is called the Soil Builder mix. It’s a mix of vetches, peas, bell beans, and oats. It provides a lot of growth for organic matter and fixes a lot of nitrogen, especially when you use an inoculant. The part number is SCM120, the inoculant is ISE350.

Since you have trees in the beds, be careful when incorporating the cover crop into the soil in the spring. You might consider not tilling in the crop inside of the drip line of the trees, but pull it out and compost it instead. Outside of the drip line, you can dig in the crop manually or with a rototiller. Wait 4-6 weeks after incorporation to plant anything in the beds.

Hope that helps! Thank you for growing organically!

An email question from a PVFS customer - and answer from our staff.

Question:I have a question about one of your products. In a catalog our relatives
recently received it is called Premium Soil Builder Mix, but on your
website it is called Organic Soil Builder Mix. In the catalog, it has two
versions, “Organic” and “Raw”. My question is what is the difference?
What does “Organic” vs “Raw” mean.

We would like to order some of the Soil Builder Mix and plant it right
away but want to be sure of which product to order.

Answer:

This requires a two-part answer, as the terms “Raw” and “Organic” have little to do with each other.
“Raw” just means that a seed has not been rhizocoated, which is a method of inoculating certain types of seeds by coating them with beneficial bacteria, which helps to stimulate nitrogen production.
“Organic,” on the other hand, is merely certified organic seed. However, you will not see, at least through us, an organic cover crop seed that is rhizocoated — however, the inoculant we do sell is certified organic.

Contributed by Bill from his Bay Area community garden plot.

This year we are making a more concerted effort to actually, like, plan meals and buy what we need as opposed to ending up with the world’s most expensive compost heap from the wasted food bought at the farmer’s market with best of intentions.

As a part of that, I’m also taking a more serious run at the whole gardening thing in our community garden plot.

This actually started last fall when I turned and planted the entire 20′ x 30′ (approx) plot with fava beans. Now, we happen to love fava beans, but not that many. There was an ulterior motive.

Namely, fava bean plants do a brilliant job of pulling nitrogen out of the air and fixing it into the cells of the plant itself. As well, since favas are such a vigorous over-winter growth in this climate, they nicely shade and choke out most of the weeds that would be sprouting about now.

To put the nitrogen into the soil, the bean plants must be worked into the soil. Last year, I did this largely by hand (with a much smaller number of favas) by digging holes, chopping up the plants with a shovel and turning them into the soil. It worked, but not terribly well as it leaves potentially large air pockets in the soil that plants hate.

This year, I used Blue Blade (pictured below). Or the scariest damned Make-style hack ever. It is one of the various inventions used by the gardeners in plots around mine. (No, I didn’t make this — if I had, the sides would be a bit sturdier and I would have used nylon nuts to keep the damned thing from falling apart.)

It is a pretty simple device.

• Rip apart an old lawnmower
• Cut a piece of plywood in a circle the same diameter as the lawnmower’s deck
• Drill hole in middle and bolt lawnmower engine to plywood
• Attach blade to bottom
• Attach plywood to a sawed off barrel (In this case, plastic… lending to the fear factor)
• Cut a 2.5″ in diameter hole to the side of the engine
• Attach a plastic tube used to feed in the favas
• Grab a handy stick and jam the engine’s throttle wide open because you don’t have a throttle cable or dead man’s switch anymore

Then? Fire the damned thing up and feed favas, weeds, and any snails/slugs into the tube.

The end result is green gold. A thick mat of minced favas that are easily spread and turned into the soil. Not only does it add a ton of nutrients to the soil, but the fibrous matter loosens the soil quite a bit and makes subsequent planting and weeding tasks a ton easier.

I’m still letting a good sized patch of favas grow to full maturity. Which is frightening. I picked up fava seeds from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply along with a rhizobacteria that grows in symbiosis with the plant to maximize nitrogen yield through excellent plant growth & health. In my case, this means a solid mass of 6 foot tall favas!

Peaceful Valley or “groworganic.com” is an awesome company. They have been very helpful and have an amazing assortment of heirloom seeds.