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Southern Ohio | Anyone have any experience in planting mustard cover crop into winter rye?
I've been working part of a hardpan clay ridgetop for a few years growing produce and trying to find what grows best and sells best to consumers in my area. Oddly enough, that ended up being peppers. I've also been trying to improve my soil and develop a cover crop and nutrient program that can feed those peppers every year without depleting said soil. At this point, I should mention this is a much smaller work area than you folks are probably used to. We're talking about 1/8 acre. Tillage program is intensive, else the clay turns back into concrete. I've been doing some soil testing, but have been thinking about sending my soil off for testing as well. After annual harvest, I remove any questionable plants and disc/plow the rest in and have started liming when necessary. Last fall I put in rye for over winter (if I leave it unplanted the topsoil will run downhill or create a large drainage cut through the middle of my plot). Since we've been getting some warmer weather and the rye is growing again, I'm wanting to broadcast mustard seed into it for a N boost since I'll pretty much be slamming peppers in the same plot year after year (it'll be all peppers starting next year). Then mechanically terminating both cover crops with a sickle and tillage at the same time. So far my best "green mulch" ground cover while the peppers are in has been white clover and blocks of basil as breaks in my 90' rows.
I've also been looking for a source of SOB locally instead of $85-90 for a 50 lb. bag shipped from west of the Mississippi or Amazon.
I'm always open to suggestions on cover crop rotation that may work better to add/retain soil nutrient content. I do not have an organic cert., or plan to get one, but I am sticking to organic growing. The harshest I've sprayed has been Neem oil on squash when we had squash bugs and occasional insecticidal soap of needed. After 2 years of the squash bugs, we are taking a break from squash property-wide for the season.
Edited by Clayfoot 3/22/2024 07:49
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Spring mustard into winter rye?
