I am in zone 5 and have question about cover crop.......I have small garden, about 800 sq ft.....about 300 sq ft is now available for planting, and I have just planted winter rye as a cover crop/green manure......Now I am having second thought...I have only small rotor tiller and am concerned that the rye grass will be difficult to till in spring....any advise appreciated.
After the rye, you won't need it.
Depends how high it gets. Too high, use your mower with a cacher, or a mulching mower, then till. Yep, the small tillers have a hard time with the high cover crops, takes several passes.
How high is the rye likely to get? And how late in the year can you plant it? Much of my garden has squash and tomatoes and plants that produce until a good frost kills them, which can be as late as mid October. Can you plant rye that late in the season?
I'd plant the rye now - reminds me I need to buy some seed myself. You can plant amid the tomatoes and perhaps other plants. I'll be planting where my zinnias are.
depending on the weather etc, my best rye crop was close to 3 feet high. It was great looking out to a mini field of green when everything else was dead and brown.
Kate - mid TN
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Would you want to plant rye in places where you want to grow early spring crops, like peas and onions? I would think not, at least not where I live, because spring planting here means planting in the mud. It doesn't stop raining long enough for the ground to dry out until May. In Jan/Feb, when we plant peas and onions, it is cold and wet and muddy, and we plant stuff in the mud. I have to prepare the bed for planting before the fall rains hit.
It's supposed to rain this weekend. Summer is over, and we may not see dry ground for a long long time...
Sounds like you should investigate raised garden beds.
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