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Summary: Cover Crops for Hot Weather

Thanks to all who responded to my question about recommended hot weather
cover crops for a sqft garden.  We usually have from 2-1/2 to 4 hot summer
months (Phoenix AZ) when the vegetable garden is not in use and the bare
soil should be protected from the blazing sun with either an organic mulch
or cover crop.  Organic material tends to dissolve in our alkaline soil and
not many things grow well in the summertime.  In the past I have tried field
soybeans, cowpeas, pinto beans and alfalfa.  Field soybeans like cooler
weather and cowpeas and pinto beans kind of fade away when the daytime
temperature exceeds 105 deg but both still endured with cowpeas lasting
longest.  Pintos were somewhat more drought tolerant than the cowpeas.
Alfalfa does well in our hot weather but is a little difficult to start late
in the season, needs a lot of water and its roots act as magnets for pocket
gophers.  I also tried teparies once with results similar to cowpeas and
comparatively expensive seed.
Based on the responses, next year I plan to try cowpeas again and compare
with red clover, Austrian field peas (Shawn;  where does one buy these?),
okra if I can find a small or dwarf variety and I might try Doreen's sweet
potato suggestion which we can plant as late as June 15.  One response
indicated the Sesbania grows rapidly to 5-6 feet and needs to be cleared
with a BCS brush hog - not suitable for a sqft garden.  -Olin




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