Article - No-Till Garden Cover Crops, How To Stop Next Year’s Weeds This Fall!

[TWP]

If you have garden space, (lucky you), look at this article for advice on using a cover crop which does NOT require tilling before you plant your vegetable crop.

This might be done by hand, using a scythe.  Consider a situation in which you have no fuel to run a mower...

https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2017/09/28/no-till-garden-cover-crops/

Look at the pictures for a better understanding of the process.

Also note the use of straw (not hay) as a cover to suppress weed growth.  I've used this myself, in Washington state, with some success, although the cost of the baled straw did increase the garden budget.

I had better luck by collecting forest mulch and covering between the crop rows.  The cost was my labor raking and hauling this mulch in a wheelbarrow.  There were a few weeds collected in the mulch, but far less than would have sprouted from leaving the ground bare.  Weeding was limited to a one-time pass a few weeks after planting.

[230gr]

SHTF, no-till or dust mulching (hoeing bare ground), seem like the most likely alternatives for weed suppression. Of those, no-tip actually feeds the garden and increases humus content of the soil. We usually used leaves over newspaper or cardboard because we could get those by the pickup load free. Both would be pretty well rotted down but spring providing excellent vegetable compost. You still need to rake it back and dig in animal based compost (we use chicken litter) once in awhile but we rarely rototill.   

We have shoveled and raked duff from the woods and pine groves. pine needs last much longer as mulch but are quite acid and less nutritious than leaves or straw. You can even place your unfinished compost under the mulch to slowly break down and leach nutrients in to the garden.