When autumn arrives, and my warm season crops begin to die, I like to use this opportunity to improve my soil for next season. Above is a photo of my former melon and summer squash patch. I have chopped up the dead plants, added loads of fresh and not so fresh grass clippings, added generous amounts of chicken litter, spread them all out evenly, and tilled them right into the soil with my tiller, which I have named Aimee Mann. After everything has been mixed together thoroughly, I get to add my favorite winter green manure cover crop, oats! I buy oats from my local feed store, and spread them out evenly, till them in lightly to cover them, and then water it all in.
The oats serve a couple of purposes. First and foremost, they are valuable for securing the soil during the harsh winters we have here in northern Utah, and the roots not only keep my soil in place, they add additional valuable organic matter in that I work in when the winter is over. Secondly, with oats being an annual grass, I usually don’t have to worry about them resprouting in the springtime, and becoming pesky weeds. At that time they just look like dead grass, and the root systems have partly decomposed by the time tilling season rolls around.
I like using oats because they are relatively cheap and readily available in my area. If I have some extra pea seed available, I like to mix it in with the oats for some extra added nitrogen for my soil. Some green manure cover crops available in many areas include annual rye grass, hairy vetch, clover, wheat, and the options go on and on. There are also some professionally available cover crop mixes available through online retailers such as Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Shumways that I believe would be an excellent, and perhaps more effective option, but cost is a factor to be considered with such purchases.
As the fall season moves on, and as additional crops are finished and die, I try to prepare each section this way as weather permits.
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