Cover Crops!

Here's back to the cover crops I got from Johnny's Seeds. I used their spring mix of field peas, oats and hairy vetch. When the peas are inoculated, they affix nitrogen to the soil, which is one of the vital nutrients all plants need to grow. Last Friday night, I manually cut all the crops wit hedge trimmers, trying to minimize damage to the soil as much as possible, though I cut deep enough so that they would not grow back. This year I'm going to try minimal tilling. Soil structure is very important to having healthy soild, and thus growing healthy plants. Heavy and aggressive tilling destroys the organisms(worms, bacteria, fungus etc) that live in the soil and help it stay healthy. Look at that lettuce!