Spring manure crop?

[RB1235]

I always put in a fall manure crop. Then till under in spring. I usually alternate every year with what it is. Last fall I was down in the back and couldn't do it. So I guess what I am looking for is a very fast growing cool season crop. Last frost is April 15th here. I am in zone 7. What and when should I plant? This will be for my vegetable garden.

Thanks

[bearmgc]

I start spinach and beets pretty early. Early May, I plant enough beets that I can use the young green tops as well. Taste great with spinach. I use small beets for pickling, and start culling pretty early, leaving the rest of the beets to grow bigger. I tried arugila last year, it grew like crazy, and tasted OK steamed. But admitted I'm not a fan of arugila, prefer spinach much more. I like leeks, but they require alot of cultivating and watering to keep them sweet and mild.

[Graybeard]

He's looking for a green manure crop I think. Ya know it grows, ya till it under and let it rot into the soil.

Spring seems kinda late for it to me. You can likely find something to spring up fast and then quickly till it under but I doubt it's gonna have time to do much good for this year's crop.

Wheat and rye both are fairly cold hardy and sprout and grow fast so could be used I think here in zone 7 but since you missed the fall planting I think I'd wait for this fall. If you can round up some leaves and run them thru a chipper/shredder and till them in I think you'd get more benefit for this year.

[bearmgc]

OOh, oops.

[charles p]

I put a load of peanut shells in my garden this fall.  Weather has been so cold in NC Coastal Zone that not much has decomposed.  Wondering if I should rake acorns out of garden before I till it.  Compost is slow to rot also.  Took a soil sample today.  Will mail it to Raleigh soon.  My usual recommendation is 6-6-18 for veg. garden with very little lime about every third year.  My garden is raised and I usually double the recommended fertilizer and get better results.  Fertilizer just leaches out of raised bed gardens after a rainy period on sandy soil.

[RB1235]

 I don't rake my leaves. They blow over to the fence then I mulch them over with the lawn mower in the spring. And till them in for the gourds. I'll try them on the garden this year. I have plenty of gourds put up for the martens. I also forgot that my tilling job last year left a whole lot of turnips. I didn't have time for the second tilling so a whole bunch made it until late summer. Between them and the leaves maybe things will be alright this year.

I appreciate the help guys.

[ohio_boy]

You can always just put in a good load of compost, or put in early peas.  They can take a light frost easily, and should finish up by may.  Then turn these over after a couple of harvests, and let them rot in a couple of good weeks before planting.

[red alder ranch]

small seeded favas, sometimes called bell beans, might work. Buckwheat, too.

[Empty Quiver]

Oats are seeded pretty early. I suppose it would have more to do with what sort of veggies you plant. Corn and pole beans are fairly late, whereas spinich, and peas, turnips and the like are about the same as oats.

I suppose if it were my garden I would till in some well composted manure, and wait till fall to start back in with the green manure plan.

[bilmac]

You may not have time in the spring, but I've used buckwheat in the fall. Seed is cheap, and I think it is a legume, so it fixes nitrogen too.

[docmagnum357]

we always used buckwheat to get new ground in a good tilth for planting.  It should be turned under before the stalks get hard, and just before the plants bloom, or the stalks will not rot to fast, and the seeds will stay around a long time.  If you leave the flowers a long time, it makes a good bee pasture, although the honey is dark, and not as tasty as say, clover.

[StrawHat]

we always used buckwheat ... it makes a good bee pasture, although the honey is dark, and not as tasty as say, clover.

My wife like clover, I prefer the buckwheat honey.  But I like black strap molassess and prefer B grade maple syrup also.  More flavor in the darker varieties.

[Drilling Man]

  Here's my spring manure crop...  I get it from my neighbors barn yard,





  Seems to work pretty good...   

  DM