Good article on cover crops

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/covercrop.html#web

Introduction:

Cover crops could be considered the backbone of any annual cropping system that seeks to be sustainable. In this publication we summarize the principal uses and benefits of cover crops and green manures. Brief descriptions and examples are provided for winter cover crops, summer green manures, living mulches, catch crops, and some forage crops. To impart a sense of the importance of these practices in sustainable farming, we summarize the effect of cover crops and green manures on: organic matter and soil structure, nitrogen production, soil microbial activity, nutrient enhancement, rooting action, weed suppression, and soil and water conservation. Management issues addressed include vegetation management, limitations of cover crops, use in crop rotations, use in pest management, and economics of cover crops. A selection of print and Web resources are provided for further reading.

[...]

Benefits of Cover Crops and Green Manures
Organic Matter and Soil Structure
A major benefit obtained from green manures is the addition of organic matter to the soil. During the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, compounds are formed that are resistant to decomposition—such as gums, waxes, and resins. These compounds—and the mycelia, mucus, and slime produced by the microorganisms—help bind together soil particles as granules, or aggregates. A well-aggregated soil tills easily, is well aerated, and has a high water infiltration rate. Increased levels of organic matter also influence soil humus. Humus—the substance that results as the end product of the decay of plant and animal materials in the soil—provides a wide range of benefits to crop production.
Sod-forming grass or grass-legume mixtures are important in crop rotations because they help replenish organic matter lost during annual cultivation. However, several years of sod production are sometimes required before measurable changes in humus levels occur. In comparison, annual green manures have a negligible effect on humus levels, because tillage and cultivation are conducted each year. They do replenish the supply of active, rapidly decomposing organic matter. (1)
The contribution of organic matter to the soil from a green manure crop is comparable to the addition of 9 to 13 tons per acre of farmyard manure or 1.8 to 2.2 tons dry matter per acre.

Trumpet Vine

This is a volunteer plant growing on a fence behind the peach orchard. It loves the hot weather and blooms all summer, even during a drought.

A Few Drops of Rain

The San Antonio garden has been getting a half inch or more of rain every day since Wednesday. The Lockhart garden had gotten less than half an inch total when I got here Thursday evening. No rain at all yesterday, and only a few spatters late this afternoon.

But the little bit we've gotten, together with the 75% cloud cover has made a significant difference. I actually enjoyed being in the garden today and spent some time just sitting and relaxing this afternoon, breathing in the fragrance of 4 0'clocks, listening to the neighborhood sounds -- grackles, bluejays, cicadas, a neighbor's rock music (faintly), dogs barking. Every evening this summer until this one, a flock of wood geese has flown over toward the end of the day. I wonder where they are today ...

The Irish potatoes still survive, but I fear the heat stress has been too much for them. I don't expect a good crop. I dug up a marginal one last week. There were 8 tiny spuds attached to the roots. If the weather stays relatively cool like this, I may yet get a potato crop, but I'm not counting on it. I didn't plant the potatoes until February. It's always a crap shoot for me -- plant them too early, and they're likely to be killed by frost. Plant them too late, and they're likely to burn up before they have a chance to produce a crop. Don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong, or if this just isn't a good place to grow Irish potatoes.

There are baby melons on the cantaloupe vines.

Making Shade

I made the mistake of ordering an althea hibiscus shrub from Wayside Gardens without ascertaining the delivery date. I'd actually forgotten about placing the order when the plant finally arrived, way past the proper planting date for the climate here.

I made a second mistake. I should have kept the poor tiny thing in a container until fall, when the odds of its survival would have been greater. But no, I decided to plant it out, at my weekend home.

Since the baby plant has to go several days between watering, I mulched it heavily, but even that wasn't enough. Every weekend when I get here, I find it a little more stressed and crispy.

Clearly, its days were numbered unless I could think of some way to give it some shade. So I made a wire frame on which I draped branches newly cut from a pecan tree. Time will tell for sure, but the little althea looks a bit better already.

Hardscrabble Days in the Central Texas Garden

For a couple of years I've used this blog for purely selfish purposes, but this afternoon I was browsing through gardening blogs and came across a request for What's Blooming in My Garden Now blog entries. What a great idea!

It's hard times for gardening here in Central Texas. August weather came early this year, in the latter half of May, and the heat has continued with relentless ferocity into June. A few plants can be considered to be "blooming" only in the broadest sense of the term. I have a Reve d'Or rose, for example, that's producing flowers that are beautiful for about ten minutes, before they shrivel up and turn brown.

OK, here's the list of blooms I found in the garden this afternoon:

Ruellia (a couple of cultivars plus numerous wild volunteers)
Marigold
Zinnia
Sunflower
Plumbago
Bougainvilia
Perennial Phlox (variety developed by Fanick's in San Antonio)
Echinacea
Vinca minor
Daylily
Reve d'Or rose (sort of)
Older varieties of Hybrid Tea rose (sort of)
Knockout rose and miniatures
Star Jasmine (Rhynchospermum jasminoides)
Althea Hibiscus (sort of -- flowers shrivel up and dry out soon after opening)
Petunias (old fashioned purple ones)
Coral Vine (Antiginon leptopus)
Impatiens
4 o'clocks
Crape Myrtle
canna lily
lantana
penta athena
Mealy Blue sage (Salvia farinacea) and various cultivars

Here's what I'm harvesting for the table:

Tomatoes (tons of tomatoes)
Squash
New potatoes
Green beans
Black eyed peas and Mandy beans will be ready to begin harvesting in a few days
Speckled butterbeans
Chiles (lots of different kinds)
Last of the sweet corn (plants all dried up from the hot weather)
Edible amaranth (red Chinese variety)
Herbs (oregano, basil, last of the dill and cilantro (marginal), chives, garlic greens, parsley,chicory, stevia, sage)
Last of the beets
Last of the strawberries
Last of the mulberries

The peach crop has failed, due to not enough chilling hours for some varieties and late frost for others. Same with the pears. The blackberries have dried up on the vines. (I'm glad my garden is not my sole source of food -- I'd be in big trouble).

Viability of Stored Buckwheat Seed

Follow-up April, 2011.

I bought some buckwheat seed in 2008. Got close to 100% germination that year. In 2009 still had good germination. Didn't plant any in 2010. This year (2011), had zero germination.
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The effect of buckwheat seed storage duration on major indices of the quality was analysed. Seed collected in 1996 and stored for 30 days (analysed in 1996), seed stored for one year (analysed in 1997), seed stored for two years (analysed in 1998), seed stored for three years (analysed in 1999), seed stored for four years (analysed in 2000), seed stored for five years (analysed in 2001) and seed stored for six years (analysed in 2002) were investigated. The results of investigation have shown that seed stored up to two years had preserved its good production traits. Seed stored longer than two years have shown poor quality traits, and seed stored over three years could not be used - its production traits (germination energy and total germination) confirmed that such seed could not be used for planting. Seed stored over five years, regardless of storage conditions, had no qualitative traits, and therefore no value. It was also observed that longer storage duration induced decrease of seed mass. In regard to fr actions, it was observed that smaller fractions lost their quality more quickly than medium fractions.

Journal-of-Agricultural-Sciences (Serbia and Montenegro). (2003). v. 48(2) p. 135-141.
Jevdjovic,-R.; Maletic,-R.

http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=750565

March Planting

Tendergreen Improved (bush)
Golden Cross Bantam Sweet Corn