Building Clay Soil Health with Cover Crops (crimson clover)

 

Using Cover Crops (crimson clover) to Build Clay Soil Health

This video discusses how to broadcast sow crimson clover seed, annual ryegrass seed, and tall fescue seed to provide natural fertilizer to enrich clay soils to prepare them for spring and summer planting.  These cover crops make it so that plants that grow in clay soil may grow even better.  The roots of this clover and grass seed help to break up clay soil and act as a clay soil amendment when mulched in with a lawn mower.  The process is even easy enough for beginners.  

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Best Time to Plant Tulips

Tips for growing tulips 

Tulip flowers come in a wide variety of colors. They are often planted in drifts, groups, or along garden edges. They can grow anywhere from 4 to 30 inches tall depending on the variety. (3) 

When is the best time to plant tulip bulbs? 

Planting tulip bulbs in fall or winter depends on your zone.  The best time to plant tulips in zones 3 to 5 is in September, in October for zones 6 to 7, and from December to January for zones 8 and higher. (1,3)  

The ground needs to have cooled from the warm summer months before you plant your tulips. (3)  A good soil temperature to look for is 60 degrees F at 6 inches deep. (3) If you are growing tulips in zones 8 or higher like mine (8a), you will need to chill your bulbs (at 40-45 degrees F for 10 weeks (2)) or buy them pre-chilled.  If pre-chilled, plant them in December. The soil temperature needs to drop below 60F for at least 12 weeks. 

Can tulip flower bulbs be planted in the spring? 

If your bulbs are not dried out, soft, or rotten looking, you can still plant them. It is best to do this as soon as the ground can be worked. (1) 

Tulip Bulb Spacing 

Tulip flower bulbs should be spaced 3 to 6 inches apart at a depth of 6 inches. (3)  If frost is harsh in your area, plant bulbs at 8 inches. (3) You can also plant the bulbs at a depth of 8 inches if you are worried about deer, squirrels, or other animals eating them. It may be a good idea to put chicken wire or another barrier over your bulbs to protect them if animals are a significant threat. 

Watering Tulips

It is important to water bulbs after planting, but be careful. Overwatering can cause the bulbs to rot before they bloom. If you live in a dry area, water the bulbs as needed until the spring. Rainfall in your area may be all the watering your future tulip garden needs! (2) 

Use an organic fertilizer after planting and again in the spring once the bulbs begin to break the soil’s surface. A layer of mulch (1-2 inches) is a good addition to insulate your tulip bulbs and to maintain adequate water balance in your soil. (2) 

Growing tulips

Before removing tulip bulbs, let them die back naturally. This allows the bulbs to store enough nutrition for next year’s tulip flower blooms! These plants need full sun and tolerate partial shade. 

Tulip bulbs thrive in slightly acidic soil (pH of between 6 and 7) that drains well. Make sure to amend your soil with compost if it is poor (nutrient deficient, mostly clay, or sandy). (3) 

1) https://brentandbeckysblog.com/blogs/news/can-you-plant-tulips-bulbs-in-sprin 

2) https://www.dutchbulbs.com/blog/planting-tulips/ 

3) https://www.miraclegro.com/en-us/library/flower-gardening/how-grow-tulips

Planting fruit trees in clay soil

This article covers a method that I used for planting apple, peach, and plum trees, among others, in clay soil.

#1 rule for planting in clay - amend your soil.

Not all fruit trees will like the same type of soil.  Do research on what to add for specific trees before planting.

Most fruit trees need well drained soil. Amend clay soils with compost. Loam soil is a 40-40-20 mix of sand, silt, and clay. When planting the trees on my property, I used a mix of compost, partially composted leaves, sand, native soil, and Scott’s humus and manure. 

The Blend

Compost and partially composted leaves mix - 1.5 parts compost, .5 part composted leaves mix 

Scott’s humus and manure - 1 part 

Native soil - 1 part 

Sand - 1 part 

You can mix this in a five gallon bucket or a wheelbarrow. I used a wheelbarrow. 

I also carved out a “bowl” the size of what I imagined the canopy would be. I then replaced the soil with the mix described above and planted the trees into the holes. 

Take care to unbind the roots without damaging them too much. We planted the trees high up in this mix so that we could add a continuous garden bed around them. 

We mulched over the top of the soil with partially composted leaves and then mulched over that with composted wood chips from a fallen tree stump that was ground on our property. 

We planted 24 fruit and nut trees so far...apples (Gala, Mt. Fuji, Pink Lady), plums (Methley, Satsuma, Santa Rosa), peaches (Red Haven, Babcock White, Indian Free), mulberries, figs (Chicago hardy), paw paws, pomegranates (Russian, Russian Giant, Kashmir, and Wonderful), and hazelnuts in this soil combination.  

All of the trees have thrived in this soil combination with the exception of the Red Haven peach.  We still need to complete a soil test to see what was going on with this one.  

We built a continuous garden bed around the plum, apple, and peach trees. We brought in truckloads of composted manure, dry and partially composted leaves, “topsoil,” mushroom compost* (by accident - I asked for “Super Soil”), and "Super Soil" to build the garden beds. I only bought two of these truckloads (the mushroom compost and the Super Soil).  The rest we got from horse barns that don't use Grazon (this is important), raking our yard, and raking my mother-in-law's yard.

We layered all of this on the ground above the clay to build a “raised garden bed.” As I layered these, I mixed them with my rake. This is from a gardening method known as sheet composting.  Basically, you allow the materials to compost in place. 

Keep in mind that all fruit trees won't like this mix, but the ones that we planted have (except the Red Haven peach).  

I hope that his helps.  I plan to put pictures of the process up later.  (When I find them).

*If you use mushroom compost - be careful.  Check on the practices used by the mushroom farmer that produced it.  

Planting snowdrop flower bulbs in clay soil

 

 How to plant snowdrop flower bulbs (galanthus nivalis) in clay soil

Building Clay Soil Health with Cover Crops - Update

Video update on cover crops for clay soil

How to use cover crops to improve heavy clay soil.  Improving clay soil health with cover crops is easy.  Set your lawn mower to mulch and chop up the fast-growing ground covers to allow the cover crops to break down and fertilize your yard.  The mulched cover crops become compost for your clay soil!  The mix described here includes: Oregon Grown rye grass, Oregon Grown crimson clover, and Kentucky 31 tall fescue.

What is worm composting?

Worm Composting

Vermicomposting, or worm composting, involves using worms to speed up the composting process.  You can add the items that you would traditionally add to a compost bin to a worm bin.  The worms produce castings (worm poop) which enriches your worm compost.

Is worm composting difficult?  No.

What do you feed your worms for your worm compost or vermicompost?

Use kitchen scraps, but not meat 

Use fruit and vegetable scraps 

Compost citrus, leeks, and onions in another bin before adding them to your worm compost bin

You can use a food processor or blender to make the food particles smaller .

Worms have little mouths so doing this step makes the foods easier for them to eat.

Coffee grounds and tea leaves are good to add to your vermicomposting bin or your regular compost bin. 

Cleaned, ground, and baked eggshells are a good addition and can be added to a worm food mix.

If you are out of kitchen scraps, you can also feed your worms: 

• shredded dry leaves
• partially finished compost from other compost bins
• grass clippings
• pulverized bird seed

Worms are like chickens and need grit for digestion. Good options for worm grit: 

• azomite
• cleaned, ground, and dried eggshells
• fine sand
• coffee grounds

What is agroforestry?

Agroforestry is using trees in crop and animal farming systems. You can take it another step and use fruit and nut trees. These trees create microclimates which can create ideal conditions for food crops. Trees provide the added benefit of dropping their leaves to condition the soil.

What is composting?

Put your kitchen scraps (no meats or meat products), grass clippings, and leaves in a pile or a compost bin and let them rot! Keep them wet (moist, not dripping) and turn them with a shovel or pitchfork.

Keep a Carbon to Nitrogen ration of 25:1 or 30:1. Carbon rich materials are things like dried leaves, dried grass clippings, cardboard, and straw. Nitrogen rich materials are things like fresh leaves, fresh grass clippings, and kitchen scraps.

If the Carbon content is too high, it will take more time to break down. If the Nitrogen content is too high, you will get a smelly pile.

What is cover cropping?

These crops are grown to protect the soil and soil life.  Bare soil can be blown away (Think Dust Bowl!) or eroded by other means.  Bare soil gets baked by the sun.  Most living things have a temperature range that allows them to survive.  

Bare soil = dead soil life = poor soil health = poor water retention.

Cover crops add organic matter back to the soil.  They are sometimes called green manures.  They literally pull carbon (in the form of CO2) straight out of the air and help to put it into the soil when they die.  This is good for the environment and reduces the amount of CO2 in the air.  (Goodbye global warming?)

List of Cover Crops: Alfalfa, Rye, Clover, Peas, Vetch

What is Regenerative Agriculture?

For a more comprehensive definition of regenerative agriculture, we have added two definitions laid out by Terra Genesis International (2020) and C.J. Rhodes (2017). 

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic system of organic farming that aims to improve biodiversity; to revitalize and enrich soil health by sequestering carbon through cover cropping, composting, agroforestry, and reduced to no tillage; to produce as much food as possible on available land; and to eliminate the use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides by using the natural properties of plants and manures to acomplish the goals of these chemicals.  Composts and manures used are of an organic nature and sourcing.  Animal grazing can be implemented and rotated to incorporate manures naturally.

    Terra Genesis International. (2020). Regenerative Agriculture. Available online at:                       http://www.regenerativeagriculturedefinition.com/ (accessed October 7, 2020). 

   Rhodes, C. J. (2017). The imperative for regenerative agriculture. Sci. Prog. 100, 80–129. doi: 10.3184/003685017X14876775256165. 

What is reduced or no tillage?

No tillage soil practices help to reduce or virtually eliminate soil erosion that is prolific in tillage farming systems. The soil remains unharmed between harvesting and planting. Living organisms that are essential to soil health remain living in the soil and undisturbed. Many of these animals and bacteria may be killed by conventional tillage practices.

Benefits of preserving soil life:

1)increased water retention in soil (less watering!) 

2)incresed nutrient uptake of plants (healthier food!) 

Over time, crop yields increase in no-till systems. These methods also have a positive environmental impact, leading to higher quality soil and reducing carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.