"Living mulch" project

[reliquary]

Earlier, I posted, on a thread here, that I'd broadcast Dutch White Clover on my garden spot...Mother Earth had a Fall article touting its use as a "living mulch" as well as a ground cover.  The ground cover idea worked very well. Except for a little henbit and vetch and a couple of mustard "comeups", it's all clover there.  I sowed it in early November, before the first killing frost here.
It appears that I sowed it too thickly, but it did a great job of preventing weeds and grasses from taking over the spot.  I used an old salt-shaker to distribute the seeds, which are about the same size as mustard/turnip seeds.  If I do it next year, I'll tape a few of the holes or find some other way to keep too many from going into the same area.
Yesterday, I used a string trimmer to cut a swath through the clover.  In a day or so, I'll use a hoe or small rake to make  furrows to plant purple-hulls and other peas in.  I've sowed other clover and flower seeds around the edges of the garden spot, to try to keep something blooming in order to attract bees. 
I'll report back periodically on how this works.

[longwinters]

I'd never heard of this before.  If you have the space, which it looks like you do, it could be a great way to go.  How many seasons will the clover last? 
 
Long

[reliquary]

I hadn't heard of this, either.  Mother had an article on cover crops in the Oct/Nov 2011 issue that included doing this.  Being just a "hobby gardener", I thought it was worth a try.  I have a few patches of this clover in my yard and it reseeds very well.  As thick as it is in the garden, it should do so there, too.  The seed is about $10 per pound through the catalog places.
 
One problem I've run into while opening the furrows in the "swath"  is that the soil is fairly compacted, due to the heavy rains we've had.  I may have to do some tilling before I plant.  Luckily, my tiller will let me  remove the outer tines and make a fairly narrow run.  Oh, well.

[keith44]

I read that article, and I am contemplating sowing clover where I will have corn next year (clover puts nitrogen into the soil).  Keep us posted.

[reliquary]

I am going to till the "swath" today.  Removing the outer tines and reversing the inner tines gives me a 12-13" wide till path, and that's my first chore of the day.  This would be a good spot for a Mantis.
 I've tilled leaves, grass clippings, finished compost, etc, into that garden spot for the last several years and it's still very heavy with clay, so it compacted over the winter with the heavy rains.  This will give the pea plants a good start, even if I have to put other mulch  in the open space around their stalks.
The way I see it...if nothing else, sowing clover just as a ground cover helps the soil.  I have crimson around my fruit trees and in the open areas.

[reliquary]

So far, so good.  I have 4 rows of purple-hull peas (two varieties) coming up in the furrows. 
 
A problem has crept in...the clover is so thick that it encroaches on the peas and I have to go in every week or so with a heavy hoe and "flat-hoe" it to keep it under control.  For next time, I'll not plant it so thick and maybe wait a little later to plant it, so that the peas get a better stand.  On the bright side, it sure helps keep the soil moist.

[longwinters]

I don't think I could take it.....my whole life all I've ever seen in a garden, during the growing season, is dirt and what we planted to eat. Any winter wheat, rye or clover was plowed under.  I'd have to till it all under or I couldn't sleep at night.  Probably some subconscious psychosomatic tendency on my part.
 
Long

[reliquary]

Longwinters:  What you said...it bothers me, too.  During the time I lived at home, we spent a great deal of time keeping everything NOTFOOD hoed out.  I still use two of the hoes from that time, 50+ years later...good steel back in those days. 
 
 But the ground between the stands of clover is moist and everything about the growth of the peas seems normal.  Apparently the clover roots are not deep and don't spread too much.  What I have to hoe back is the clover itself; it flops over into the pea-space.  Sometimes I just trim it back with a stringtrimmer. 

[Drilling Man]

  That's waaay more work than i want to do.  I don't think i want to plant something to compete with my veggie plants...
 
  I much prefer to put down grass/hay mulch between the rows, then tilling it in, in the fall to feed NEXT years plants...  Your garden will use less water, veggies will stay clean and the mulch compost out, building the ground up.
 
  DM

[reliquary]

"Dri-ling" man:  I agree,  this violates all the precepts I grew up with, but the concept seems to be working.  I have found that I need to go through about once every week or so with a weedeater and knock back the edges of the clover...and I did go in and spread mulch around the roots of the pea plants after topdressing them. 
 
The peas are starting to bloom and grow runners. 

[keith44]

I am thinking there is something else to consider here.  Water loss due to transpiration from the leaves of the clover, not the moisture near the surface, but the moisture in the root zone.  Since this water does not evaporate from the soil (at least around here) but can be used up by too closely placed plants. 


I am still considering this for a plot next year.

[reliquary]

So far, the ground has stayed moist, top and inner.  It usually rains about once per week at this time of the year, and I irrigate from the lake if it doesn't...those white stickups are sprinkler heads. 
 
As I noted before, the clover is planted waaaay too thick.  I'll have to figure out a better way to do that if I try it again next year; I hope for some return from these plants.

[Empty Quiver]

Back in college I had a prof. who was working on this sort of thing, the idea being farming severe slopes. Yields would suffer tremendously when dry weather was encountered. As I recall he found the best results by using grass and spraying it with a growth retardent. Clovers would give you a nitrogen source but are very competitive.


Good luck, though I fear you will not get what you desire.

[Gaz-52]

      Keep using your "string trimmer" . You can probably cut the clover back 2 - 4 times in a growing season .take around 2 to 4 inches off each time. this releases nitrogen from the roots into the soil ( for FREE) . The cuttings can be left where they fall if not too thick or if the weather is fine they can be turned into hay by drying in the sun for around 4 days , turn the cuttings over each day to allow for good even drying .
       Using Nitrogen fixing plants ( legumes ) in this way is a great way to prepare soil for a following crop . Farmers  commonly used this form of cover crop rotation to maintain soil fertility and production prior to the big chemical companies doing their "con job "to convince us that their synthetic fertirlizer was more efficient .   It is great to see people are rediscovering these old time proven techniques before they are lost and forgotten. The time may come that our lives may depend on this knowledge .   
         Gaz 52.

[reliquary]

Last report: 
 
I've started picking peas, have almost a bushel harvested so far, about two-three weeks early.  I took a chance on an early planting and dodged the late frost we normally have.  The peas are well filled out, and seem to be growing about as thickly on the stalks as a normal plant.
 
 I'm still not sure that this will be a repeat thing.  What work was supposedly saved by not having to hoe, I used up in Weedeater time knocking back the clover.  The one good thing, for sure, is the amendment to the soil that clover will bring.  I'll probably till everything under in the fall and spring and go back to the standard "row" method.

[Bob Riebe]

I used to try to keep my garden down to growing plants and black earth with the main weed being purslane.


One year I was gone for quite some time and came back to find the garden doing well with the sqaush doing well in a bed of purslane.
Well I got down on my hands and knees and pulled all the purslane I could, although I noticed that despite the hot dry weather, the ground under it was quite moist.
Well after I pulled it the squash started to wilt under the heat and I had to water often.
So now I have semi-tolerance for purslane as I pull only that which comes out with a handful of other weeds or is to thick around young corn, although I now also cover the garden with hay, straw or cocoa bean hulls rather than rely on purslane.

[reliquary]

I normally save my leaves from the fall/winter rakings, and other debris, to mulch around my plants.  Plus I have a good...albeit small...compost pile, and scavenge newspapers by the bundle.  I'll probably just leave whatever clover comes up or survives this year, and go back to a more traditional mulch system. 
 
I got 3 bushels of peas from my four short rows of 65 feet each, which is close to normal yield.

[bilmac]

Don't you think that you will have volunteer clover for a long time now? A little yellow flower clover is one of the primary weeds in my garde. I was trying to control it, but this year I have been letting it go. It is a small plant, and it is making me some N.
 
If you can control the clover, it doesn't go crazy volunteer on you, have you thought about planting the peas and clover at the same time and letting them fight it out? I would think the peas would overtop the clover.
 
I would think that planting the clover with something other than another legume might give greater benifits. Like growing it in corn.

[reliquary]

In fact, I've still got a lot of clover growing in the strips between the rows I made.  I'll turn it all under about frost time, and see what happens in the spring.  If I do try it again, I will plant both the crop and a thin scattering of the clover and let them mature together.  Corn should do nicely with the clover crop...no question about it outgrowing the clover.
 
The little yellow thing is really a pest in the yard, but it might be good as a cover crop in the right place.