Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
fertility and reduce dependence on purchased fertilizers. To
that end, cover crops should be grown over the winter to start
the spring compost pile and should also be planted in any bed
not in use to prevent leaching of nutrients and promote higher
fertility. The careful use of green manures as cover crops and
as specific compost ingredients can entirely eliminate the
need for outside nitrogen inputs. For example, alfalfa makes
an excellent green manure during the growing season in that it
leaves 42 percent of its nitrogen in the ground when cut plus
provides biologically fixed nitrogen to the compost pile. I
recommend that 25 to 35 percent of a mini-farm's growing
area should be sown in green manures during the growing
season, and all of it should be sown in green manures and/or
cover crops during the winter.
Table 4: Cover Crops/Green Manures and Nitrogen Yields
