Living in Harmony with Nature and teaching others to garden the natural (organic) way, with emphasis on practices that lead to NUTRIENT DENSE produce!

Harmony Gardens

Harmony Gardens
Bey Home designed by Stitt Energy Systems, Inc. 2002

Welcome To Our Site

Our intent is simple: to provide useful information on gardening, health and sustainability issues. We will include class and meeting announcements, gardening information, and book reviews. The articles that Calvin writes for Garden Thyme, the Master Gardener Newsletter will be included. We will try to make this site easy to use and relevant.

About Me

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Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States
Harmony Gardens is the home of Calvin and Doris Bey. As the name implies our goal is to live in harmony with the Laws of Nature. We are concerned about the environment, energy efficiency, organic gardening, alternative health, and sustainability issues. We love our Stitt Energy Systems Inc. energy efficient home, which received a First Place NAHB National Award for 2003. Calvin is a retired USDA Forest Service scientist. Each year he teaches classes in Organic Gardening in February and March and again in September. Doris is a retired RN. Calvin and Doris have put their energy efficient house up for sale (by owner). See first post for description, pictures, and house design.

August 20, 2012





Fall Cover Crops  --  Simple and Useful




It is almost time to plant your fall cover crops.  Those who have adopted this simple practice know that it is as essential as adding fertilizer.  It is easy to do, and for a few dollars worth of seed most can do their whole garden.  For Master Gardeners in Washington County, AR, see me at September  MG meeting for oats and Austrian winter pea seed in small packets.  



Cover crops are grown to provide soil protection and improvement. In the process, they serve to; add organic mater and nutrients, improve tilth, reduce erosion, improve crop vigor, and control weeds.  Cover crops are the backbone of any annual cropping system that seeks to be sustainable.  





Cover Crops To Use for the Fall.  There are many choices on what to use.  Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply lists 52 cover crops, each with a slightly different  characteristics.  I have settled on two cover crops for the fall -- Oats and Austrian Winter Peas.  Both do well in the area. They can be planted together, but they have different purposes, so I suggest using one or the other.  See November photo above --  peas on left, oats on right.


Austrian winter peas, when planted in the fall, will grow rapidly and make a nice cover in a short time. When it freezes, they will partially die back, but then resume growth again in February.  If you let them grow in the spring, by mid May they will have flowered and produced a lot of organic matter, while fixing nitrogen on their roots. At that time, the peas can be cut off or pulled up, and be ready to go to the compost pile, or used as a garden mulch. 

If you have a healthy soil (i.e. have not used a lot of chemicals), you will likely have Rhizobia bacteria present in the soil.  This is required for the bacteria to fix nitrogen on the pea roots.  If  not, add a Rhizobia inoculant.  

 Caution:  If you wait and plant oats too late in the fall, you will not get a good stand, and plants will be weak in the spring.  Plant peas by September 15 for best results.  

Oats also grows rapidly and covers the soil quickly.  It does not fix nitrogen, but it is good for extracting phosphorus from the soil and making it available for the subsequent crops. It makes a heavy cover, shades out winter weeds, looks attractive, and generally dies back completely with very hard freezes (below 20 degrees).  It is  the choice cover crop for garden beds where spring crops are to be grown.  

Early to mid September is a good time to plant oats.  You want the plants to grow two feet or more, but not go to seed.  Normally, by end of February the plants will have died, and the root systems will be partially decomposed.  It takes very little effort to remove the oats cover in the spring.  The stems and leaves can be used as  mulch.  Caution:  Oats planted in October will stay green longer in the winter and may not die back in the spring.

Seeding rates:  For oats, 1 pound per 1,000 square feet.   For the Peas, 2 pounds per 1000 square feet.

1 comment:

Mary C said...

Thank you Calvin for this post. I did plant cover crops for the 1st time this fall - oats, austrian winter pea and berseem clover (had previously purchased seeds prior to reading your post). The berseem clover sprang up quickly but was killed by the early frost. The oats and Austrian winter peas are still going strong. Thanks again!

Garden 2007

Garden 2007
Heirloom "Country Gentleman" Corn