Busy springtime - Cover crops, broad beans garlic plants
17 March 2015
A busy springtime up at Wild fields, as Roy and Matt get on planting for the season ahead!
In the first picture below you can see a mixture of Vetch and Rye grass, which Matt uses as a cover crop to keep the soil in good condition, ready for when he plant veggies.
Why put down cover crop? It is a good way of preventing soil erosion and ensuring that the nutrients & nitrogen are retained on the land. The Rye grass puts its roots quite deep into the soil and clings onto lots of nutrients down there, whereas the Vetch is good at fixing nitrogen content from the soil.
Next month, Matt will chop up the Vetch and Rye mix and blend it into the soil, ahead of planting next season's celeriac in May. It is a good natural way of keeping the soil healthy - a kind of free compost if you like. This is common practice amongst organic growers, and though Matthew is not organic certified, he has taken many of the good skills and practices from his time working on organic farms.
Vetch & Rye Cover Crop
Broad Beans showing good progress
Broad Beans, close up
This coming season's garlic, planted last Autumn, showing good progress
Matt's Uncle Roy cultivating the land
