If you want to promote higher populations of beneficial insects, cull your buckwheat crops within 20 days of flowering. If ...

Planting ground cover in fields between cash crop growing seasons is an effective way to prevent farmland from losing soil carbon from erosion, a factor that's underestimated in considering the carbon ...

As the vibrant colors of summer give way to the crisp air of late fall, gardeners face the critical task of preparing their soil for the upcoming seasons. One of the most effective strategies to ...

For an Earth-friendly garden, keep a succession of plants in the soil by planting cover crops. These are plants grown to improve the soil rather than for harvest. I prepare the soil for the next year ...

Farmers see a variety of benefits when using cover crops in their fields and home gardeners can do the same. “Having living tissue, living plants on the garden the whole year increases soil health, ...

With cool-season vegetable crops going into the ground, many gardeners who ventured into cover cropping last autumn may ask a familiar question: What do I do now? Their crops have fulfilled their ...

Cover cropping involves growing various plant varieties between cash crop rotations to ensure continuous soil coverage. This practice improves soil water infiltration, builds soil organic matter, ...

All good gardeners know that the real secret to having a great garden is all in the soil. Having a light soil, full of minerals and nutrients, plenty of organic material and lots of critters both ...

Burr Mosby of Mosby Brothers Farms in the Auburn area grew 34,000 pounds of various types of peas, wheat, and other crops on a single acre of his land last year. He and his crew harvested 8 pounds of ...

A field planted with cereal rye, one of the most common cover crops in Iowa. Photo by Ally Larson/Iowa State University. AMES, Iowa – Planting ground cover in fields between cash crop growing seasons ...