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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

New research has found cover crops that are viable in Washington's normal "off season" don't hurt the soil and can be sold as a biofuel source. After harvest, farmland often sits fallow and unused ...

Maybe after you finish your vegetable harvest, you mentally say, “I’m done this year,” and wait to start again next year. But a cover crop could benefit you in several ways. By researching now, you ...

As climate change threatens farmers’ ability to produce the world ’ s food, researchers and environmental advocates think they have a solution: playing in the dirt. How farming could become the ...

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, ...

In the fall, you might be tempted to remove the dead plant material, till your garden soil a bit, and put your garden to bed for the winter without another thought. However, you can also grow cover ...

As loathe as I am to start talking about putting the gardens to bed, especially when it’s 80 degrees as I write this column, I am acutely aware that the days are getting shorter, nights are slightly ...

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 ...