November 1, 2024 – One way to protect and enrich your garden soil for next spring is to plant a cover crop, and one of the best cover crops is cereal (annual) rye. Cereal rye is a grain crop planted/sown on bare soil immediately after removing vegetable crop residue. It grows very fast and so thick, it quickly outpaces any weeds trying to recover or newly landed weed seeds that sprout.
First off. cereal rye’s thickness of growth will protect your soil from erosion during winter winds and rain. Then, it protects the soil next spring from new weeds. On top of all this, it helps to aerate and enrich the garden soil next spring when it dies and decays. How? Well its roots can penetrate virtually any type of soil, breaking up compaction (loosening the soil), making it easier for next spring’s crops to penetrate.
When cereal rye dies back next spring, the decaying roots provide organic matter for vegetable crop roots. Hollows left by decaying roots provide channels for air and water. On the soil surface, decomposing foliage provides more nutrients, as the crop doesn’t have to be removed. Simply plant right through it! Again, the thickness of the growing cereal rye prevents from getting the other hand. Basically, it creates a barrier that outgrows and smothers weeds
A major asset is low maintenance. You don’t have to till it into the soil. Just sow it, perhaps run a rake over it, and give it some water. It will quickly sprout and start covering the soil. To terminate, just cut it back (more than one trimming may be required) and plant your vegetables right through it.
Make sure you buy a cereal (winter, annual) grain rye. Its seeds are much larger than perennial or annual rye grass seeds, which won’t die off!
