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Re: Green crops

Janet,

You must be in coastal California, somewhere south of the Bay?

Sweet clover grows as an annual weed here... but it's not a weed to
those of us who keep bees!

Steve  (Maritime...)


Meconella wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 98-03-27 21:21:11 EST, you write:
> 
> <<
>  I live in a maritime climate which, I think, is similar to yours.  Cool,
>  rainy winters with warm, relatively dry summers.  My soil type is a
>  silty clay.  I get the best success with Broad Beans, which we call Fava
>  Beans in the U.S.  They stand up well to the high moisture and can stand
>  temperatures below zero C, which we have fairly often in winter.  Our
>  normal extreme lows are -5 deg C (about 22F) although we have hit -15
>  (near zero F) some years and the beans did not survive those temps very
>  well unless they had snow cover -- which is rare.
>   >>
> 
> I too live in a maritime climate,  but I am relatively frost free.  2 frosts
> in 30 years according to the next door neighbors.   I have chosen to cultivate
> as sort of a green crop a legume that grows as a weed in my area,  originally
> from Eurasia.  Melilotus indicus,  sweet-clover.  It's a legume but not a real
> clover,  and germinates with the first rains of the fall.  In my yard,  it
> grows to about 2 feet tall.  It is a nitrogen fixer,  and easy to contain.
> That is,  easy to pull if it grows where I dont want it.  It was growing on my
> property when I moved in,  and I collected the seeds and brought them back
> into the veggie garden.   I love the stuff.   It grows quickly,  has lots of
> leaves,   is adapted to my area,  and it was free.
> 
> I also have tried to grow another sweet-clover,  Melilotus albus,  but it
> seems fussier,  and wont germinate for me until later spring.  Also,  its
> plants are tall,  and leggy.  Not what I want.
> 
> I have never thought of growing Lupin as a covercrop.  I had some grow on my
> hillside this year.  The first since I've been here in six years.  El Nino
> rains and all.  Maybe I'll collect some of their seed and scatter it in the
> garden.
> 
> Janet.
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