OK, so we didn't get to harvest any tomatoes or cukes from our garden, this year. Um, I didn't quite get the drip system finished and the soil just didn't look friendly enough. So...I actually planted a cover crop last Friday. I've heard about them. Farmers do it all the time. I went to Peaceful Valley Organic Nursery and Garden Shop where they sell all sorts of cover crops. I bought the "soil builder". It's mostly beans, peas and vetch (who named that plant?) . It's all about the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, of course. I want organic material and nitrogen, so as not to need to add so much (if any!) next spring.
It turns out that the seeds need to be mixed with a bacterial inoculant before planting, so I did. I felt as though I'd earned my Ms. Greenjeans patch by the time it was all in the ground--an hour before we got a day-and-a-half of the most lovely, soft rain! So perfect! The first precip in six months!
Anyway, now I just need not to kill it before it does its magic--all for only $11. Doesn't look like much, at the moment (as you can see), but I'm pretty sure I'll have a veritable vetch jungle by December. And then, oh, the garden we'll grow next year! Of course, the way things are going, we'll need to grow our own food by then. And sew our own clothes, and cobble our own shoes, and...
