Description
This mix is a late season, winter cover crop and will provide vigorous late-season growth to loosen the soil and improve drainage, provide winter erosion control and add vital nitrogen, nutrients and organic matter to enrich and build the soil and control weeds. Plant this mix as a cover crop in orchards and vineyards or in rotation with vegetable and field crops from mid-September to October to get established before freezing temperatures arrive. The vetches are also excellent pollinator plants, attracting honeybees and beneficial predatory wasps. Sow the Green Manure Cover Crop Mixture at a rate of about 1 pound per 500 sq feet, about 50 days before the first killing frost. The winter rye and oats will grow over the winter even when the temperatures are barely above freezing and form a thick tangle of roots and tough stalks that add fibrous organic matter to the soil. The vetches and Austrian Peas are also winter-hardy and are prolific nitrogen producers, so you’ll need less fertilizer. This ‘green manure’ can be mowed or incorporated after flowering, before seed production if you don’t want volunteers sprouting up next season.
Contents: (innoculated) Percent Nitrogen accruement*
Austrian Winter Peas Pisum sativum subsp. arvense 30% 3.3 lbs/1000 sq. ft.
Winter Hairy Vetch Vicia villosa 15% 3.2 lbs./1000 sq. ft.
Common Vetch Vicia sativa 15% 1-2 lbs /1000 sq. ft.
Oats Avena sativa 15% 2 lbs /1000 sq. ft.
Winter (annual)Rye Secale cereale 15% 2 lbs./1000 sq. ft.
* Nitrogen accumulated in growing crop prior to tilling under
Seeding Rate: 5lbs./2500 sq ft. or 1lb./500 sq. ft.
