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 ...

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 ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... 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 ...

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 ...

Have you heard of cover crops? While farmers usually use these during the off-season to protect soil, gardeners usually overlook this tool. Healthy soil is the backbone of every thriving garden and ...

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 ...

"Fall is not the end of the gardening year; it is the start of next year's growing season. The mulch you lay down will protect your perennial plants during the winter and feed the soil as it decays, ...

Cover crops are literally a green blanket for the soil. They are fast-growing plants grown in garden/field spaces opened after harvest. Cover crop plants serve to increase nutrients, introduce organic ...

As the growing season winds down, you might think your garden has reached its final stage for the year. But mid-November can still be a great time to improve your soil and prepare for next spring with ...

Living cambium is what the scratch test looks for. Green, moist cambium is alive; dry, brown or gray cambium is dead. White ...