12.10.07 “SPRING” SPROUTS

The spring oats I planted as a cover crop on November 19 have sprouted! What joy they bring even as the rest of the garden settles down to a winter nap. I am hoping the oats will grow off and on during the occasional warm days of winter to provide protection to this bare garden bed and to create some "biomass" or green manure to improve my soil’s tilth.

11.19.07 COVER CROP

It's awfully late in the season for planting a fall cover crop in the vegetable garden. But warm bright days have me working cleaning out some of the growing beds. I plant spring oats on the exposed soil in the hope that they will germinate and grow in the continuing coolish weather, providing some protection from erosion during the storms of winter and some useful biomass, or green manure, to be worked into the soil in the spring.