Viewing post #2602496 by kwinch

Leftwood said:
Letting soil lie fallow for a year does some good, but it's pretty old school and growing a cover crop (or multiple crops) that you till in, or even just mulching fallow soil is far better. Letting soil lie bare, dry and exposed is really hard on soil flora that do the major work of building a healthy soil. I am not sure what kinds of cover crops do well where you are, but buckwheat is probably the quickest and easiest. Up here in Minnesota I can easily get two crops in. And when you till in cover crops, there is no need to add nitrogen.

I grew up on a small farm until I was 13. I remember my dad planting alfalfa every so often then baling it and plowing the remainder under. If I tried that would I need to plow or can I use a rear tine tiller like I usually do? The garden is only abut 36 x 80 and fenced all around so getting a small plow in there is kinda hard.