As your vegetable garden winds down for the season, it can be tempting to simply let it rest until spring. But what if you ...

From mitigating soil compaction and reducing erosion, to adding nutrients to soil and suppressing weeds, there are many reasons to plant fall cover crops.

Winter conditions can make soil compact, eroded, or nutrient-poor. Growing this unassuming member of the legume family will ...

For an Earth-friendly garden, keep a succession of plants in the soil by planting cover crops. These are plants grown to improve the soil rather than for harvest. I prepare the soil for the next year ...

Put your garden to work over winter by planting a cover crop this fall. Covering the soil with plants that are turned into the soil or smothered and allowed to decompose in spring provides many ...

Have you heard of cover crops? While farmers usually use these during the off-season to protect soil, gardeners usually ...

When the Southern Cover Crops Council held its annual conference recently in Baton Rouge, I was fortunate to sit in on panel discussions with farmers and specialty crops (vegetables, fruits, nuts and ...

While farmers plant millions acres of plants like rye and clover to boost soil health and crowd out weeds, a cover crop does the same thing in the smallest home garden. With cover crops, a vegetable ...

Maybe after you finish your vegetable harvest, you mentally say, “I’m done this year,” and wait to start again next year. But a cover crop could benefit you in several ways. By researching now, you ...

A few weeks ago a reader and a friend from the pool who lives near Loudonville asked me if a person could leave his cereal rye in the field this season. I said I’m not sure, but I’ll find out if that ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – No one wants to think of harvest’s end as the vegetable garden reaches peak, but now’s the time to plant over-winter cover crops to improve your soil for next season. If you’re not ...

Your garden has done a great job of feeding you this season, why not return the favor? Instead of leaving the ground open over the winter, consider planting a cover crop, also known as green manure.