Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 2 Entries. Saturday, February 28 View Page Season two is getting close. The cereal rye cover crop will be greening up soon. There is 6300 sq ft that will be divided into 3 patches and placed in a 3 year rotation. The rye in the 2026 patch will be terminated soon to keep from causing a lot of nitrogen tie up. Rye for the 2027 patch will be allowed to grow longer but will be mowed a couple times before being terminated prior to starting a warm season cover crop. Rye in the 2028 patch will be allowed to grow to full height and accumulate as much biomass as possible, at anthesis it will be rolled down to terminate and allow the straw to start decomposing, for the patch that is 2 years away from being used I am hoping to grow a lot of plant material that will decompose and build the active soil organic matter. Warm season cover crop species is still yet to be determined. Saturday, February 28 View Page It seems that every spring we struggle with excessive moisture, getting the ground really fit to till often doesn't happen until May or the beginning of June. Last year I tilled when it was too wet which resulted in cloddy soil and a layer of compaction at the bottom of the tilling depth. The last 10 days or so have been dryer than average and the ground is starting to dry out. Unfortunately the Ag Weather (ag-wx.com) maps that I follow show us in above average precipitation for the next 4 weeks. I put down a 20ftx40ft piece of 6 mil plastic to cover the central area of the patch where the hoop houses will go and a little area beyond that. I plan to keep it covered on rainy days and uncover on dry days. Hopefully by about the beginning of April I can have a nice dry area to broadfork then till before I bury my heating cables and put up the hoop houses.