Experimenting with cover crops -- tiller radish

The other day I wrote a post about using cover crops in the back yard to improve soil.  I put down tiller radish and organic wheat.  The wheat grew so fast that I couldn't tell if the tiller radish did anything or not.

I threw more compost on the ground and moved my screened-box-thing over top of it.  This time I planted only tiller radish.  It didn't take long for them to sprout.

September 25.

September 28.

I have no idea at what density I was supposed to plant them.  There appear to be a lot of them in there.  I have no desire to thin them out.  So I'm just wait and see what happens.  I'm hoping they get enough light in this location.  They didn't come with any instructions.  I just have to hope for the best. 

Using cover crops to improve bad soil

I've written in the past that I have bad soil in my back yard.  I've made multiple attempts to get grass to grow.  It's a lot of effort and I have other things to do.

I thought it might be easier if I focuses on smaller areas.  I'm also going to get nature to do the work.

My old chicken tractor rotted and fell apart, but the wire mesh screen on it is still good.  Removing the screen was a pain, but it was worth saving. 

 

I built a wooden frame out of pressure treated 2x4 lumber and attached the screen to it.

Then I went to the nearest bare spot in my yard.  This soil is bad.  It's sandy on the surface and compacted and hard just below that.

I found tiller radish at the gardening store the other day.  I thought I'd give it a try.  Supposedly it grows a 32" tap root that'll break up hard soil. 

I also picked up some organic wheat.  I figured I'd throw some of this down and the chickens could eat it.  It'll also put down roots and grow green matter that can be used as mulch or composted.  I probably could have used plain old grass, but I thought I'd give this a try.

I threw some compost on the ground to give the seeds something to germinate in.  As soon as it hit the ground the chickens came to investigate.  They seem to think that everything I do is for them.

I placed my newly built box-screen-contraption thing over the compost and threw down some seed.  The chickens were clearly irritated.  They could see the seed, but couldn't get to it.

 It didn't take long at all for the wheat to germinate.

September 10, 2014

September 12, 2014

September 21, 2014

The wheat grew so fast that I don't know if the tiller radish is working or not.  I'll have to move the screened box and try this again just the radish and no wheat.  Then at some point I'll need to figure out how to get actual grass to grow here.  I haven't thought that far ahead...

Companion planting with hairy vetch -- Update

Last Fall I threw some hairy vetch seed into some of my raised beds.  It's supposed to work well with tomatoes.  It puts nutrients into the ground that the tomatoes need.  Once it gets tall you cut it down and use it for mulch. 

Here's what it looked like after the long winter.

My tomatoes are getting too big for my greenhouse, so I thought I might as well plant a few.  I know that it's still early.  Supposedly we still have another week until our last frost date.  I checked the 7-day forecast and the lowest it's supposed to go is 49*.  (I guess I didn't need that new greenhouse climate controller after all.  Knock on wood...)

These guys are ready to go.  I have plenty of them so I can risk losing a few.

Before I could plant the tomatoes I had to remove the hairy vetch.  That was a pain.  It was one great big tangled mess.  It pulled up alright around the edges.  It was more difficult to remove towards the middle.  I used garden clippers to cut it off just above the soil.  (I used a utility knife to remove the hairy vetch from the second bed.  That worked a lot better.)

Big pile of matted hairy vetch.  It was like a thick blanket.

I was pleasantly surprised once the stuff was out of the bed.  The soil underneath was beautiful.  It was black and moist.  It looks like this stuff is going to work well as mulch.

Hairy vetch removed from the first bed.  Working around the drip irrigation line made removing it that much harder.

Next I planted three roma tomato plants and put the hairy vetch around them as mulch.

The final step was to return the drip irrigation line back to where it belonged. 

I planted these tomatoes 16" apart.  I think I had my tomatoes too close last year and I want to give them plenty of space this year. 

Well, that's the end of it.

They finished it off.  It took them longer than I expected, but here's what's left of my cover crop test area.

Here's a close-up picture.

They really picked it clean.  It only took them 4 days. 

Just as a reminder, this is was it looked like when I took the fence down.

Release the hens!

That didn't take long.  Here's what the cover crop test area looks like after two days. 

It's still green.  I didn't get down close to investigate, but it looks like they ate all of the clover. 

Have at it!

My cover crop test area has been doing well, so I thought it was time to let the chickens have at it.

This is the best looking spot in my yard.

 I left two of the stakes in place and made a square adjacent to the last one.  As you can see from the picture, I'm going to have to do this a lot.  I have a lot of bare patches of yard.

This is a closeup picture.  You can see all of the tiny clover amongst the winter rye.

It took them a while to realize that the fence was no longer there.  They spent a lot of time investigating that area, but so far they've managed not to destroy it.  

Cover crops in the yard -- Update.

I was outside the other day and I thought I'd carefully pull back the straw and see how my cover crop project was doing.

Well lo and behold the stuff was growing.  And not just a little bit.  I kept removing the straw and found more and more green.  The stuff took off over the entire area.

Here's a closer picture.  I'm no expert at identifying plants.  To me, it all looks like clover. 

I'm going to wait until the stuff is really established and tall before taking down the netting.  I can only imagine what those chickens would do to it at this point.

Getting grass to grow with chickens.

I mentioned in a previous post that my back yard needed a lot of attention.  I have chickens and they seem to think that whatever I put on the ground is for them.  If given the chance they would eat every single seed of grass that hit the ground. 

I have to keep them fenced out somehow.  The cheapest solution I have found is 4x50' plastic netting at Lowes for $20.  To hold the netting in place I used 5 ft. garden stakes from Home Depot and wooded tomato stakes that I already had.

Not the best picture, but you can see how bare the yard is.

I had a big space to seed, so I used two rolls of the netting. 

The soil is bad in that area.  So I went back to Home Depot and picked up ten 40 lbs. bags of top soil along with two bags of composted cow manure.  I mixed the compost with the top soil in my wheel barrow and hauled to my back yard. 

It took multiple trips, and I still didn't have enough for the entire fenced area.  So I covered the spots that seemed to be the worst and raked it as best I could.

Then it was time for seed.  I was told that fescue is shade tolerant, so that's what I got.  The yard looks sunny in the pictures, but once the leaves come in on the trees the sun will rarely hit the ground.  I had some of my cover crop seed mix left over from the other day so I mixed it into the grass seed.  I know, I know, they go through all that effort to make sure no weed seeds get in that bag of seed, and I go and add them. 

 

I put down a layer of straw and drug out the sprinkler.  I have it on a timer.  It's set to water once in the morning and again in the afternoon.  With any luck I'll have a green yard in a few weeks.  Of course there's no telling how long it'll stay green once the chickens get at it.

Cover crops in the yard

My back yard has gotten to be quite a mess.  We've had a lot of rain this winter which has turned about half of the yard into mud.  The dog and the chickens haven't helped.  We've always had a few bare spots where grass wouldn't grow, but they've gotten much bigger.

The grass is sparse.

So, what should be done about it?  I figure since I have chickens that I might as well grow something for them. 

I went to my favorite gardening store and they happened to have some cover crops in stock.  I picked some crimson clover, alfalfa, and winter rye. 

I mixed them all together with what was left of my barley.

I knew that as soon as this stuff hit the ground the chickens would eat it.  So I took the fence down from around my kale and cabbage and set it up over a bare patch of ground.  I added some glow in the dark rope so it'd be seen at night.

Of course the chickens tried their best to get the seed near the edge.

I covered the seed with straw.

I'd guess that the chickens spent an hour or more going around the fence trying to get whatever they could.  I think they'll enjoy it more once it grows. 

Now all I can do is wait and hope that it grows.