When I started gardening in raised beds. It was important to me to be able to keep the soil as healthy as possible for planting each season. So I started looking into the best ways to do just that.
Research lead me to many different ways of keeping the soil healthy. One way is by adding compost. Adding organic soil amendments to improve the quality of the soil in your raised beds. There is a pretty wide range a different methods depending on the needs of the soil in your raised beds such as vermiculite, worm castings, compost, coir, greensand, grass clippings, corneal, alfalfa meal, lava sand and even kelp meal.
Although, I will use some of the things listed above if need be. I also love adding a cover crop to each bed over the winter. Cover crops aren’t just for large scale farmers. They’re a benefit for raised beds too replenishing nutrients.
Cover crop is defined as a living ground cover that is planted to protect the soil. It can be planted into or after a main crop and killed before the next planting season.
* The benefits are adding organic matter and soil structure.
* Reduces Nematodes
*Suppress Disease
*Provides aeration
*Provides Nutrient Enrichment
*Aides in weed reduction
So when fall rolled around and the veggie-growing season had come to an end. I decide to plant a cover crop of Winter Rye. I picked Winter Rye because it does well in cold conditions and Is great to start planting in September and October. It puts down deep, fibrous roots. The roots can go down 18 inches and makes channels into the soil. The deep roots help water to filter into the soil. Rye makes a great biomass too!
I cleaned all the beds pulling all crops and densely seeded each bed with a winter Rye seeds I ordered from Johnny’s Seeds. Here is the link – https://www.johnnyseeds.com/search/?q=Winter+rye+&lang=en_US
I went with a a 50 pound bag which was more than I needed for my raised beds. But I have added a new area of ground garden space and have casted the winter Rye seeds on top of that area to use for our market garden next spring.
So if you are looking for a way to amended your soil over the winter. Cover crops are a great way to do just that! Plus, it adds a nice look to the raised beds during the winter when normally they would be empty and bare.
