Fall is the season to plant cover crops to enrich the soil for next year.

In this post, you'll see the progression of a fallow field as it's prepared and planted in cover crops.

cov·er crop

noun

a crop grown for the protection and enrichment of the soil.

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This field is a new, 5-acre property that has been out of use for many years. A neighbor has been cutting the grass for hay. Repeated cutting depletes the soil and now we're going to build it back up.

The pH of the soil is on the acidic side at 5.4 pH. Adding lime will bring into the range for growing fruits and vegetables, around 6.5 to 6.8. pH.

pH is a measure of how acidic/basic water or soil is. The range goes from 0 - 14, with 7 being neutral. pHs of less than 7 indicate acidity, whereas a pH of greater than 7 indicates a base. pH is really a measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the water or soil.

First the field is mowed short and lime is applied with a tractor pulling a spreader.

This is a spreader.

We used 4.5 tons of lime on the back half of this field or about 2.5 acres of it. Then I plowed it in.

I'm not a big fan of tilling, but in this case it will save us years of time in getting a food forest established and building up the soil with food production while we wait for the trees to grow. If everything goes right, it will be the first and the last time I plow here.

Then I tilled and raked the field.

Field ready for planting with cover crop.

Here is a sequence of photos showing the progression from a fallow field to a good cover crop stand.

One row in a field after years of laying fallow.

Field after tilling and adding lime to correct the pH.

Field after one month of cover crop growth.

Entire 2.5 acres in cover crop.

Next season we'll be planting strawberries, garlic, fruit trees and artichokes the first year.

To learn more about the benefits of cover crops and why we plant them read this post titled,

Cover Crops Can Grow Food Organically With No Fertilizers, No Pesticides, No Herbicides And No Chemicals

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