To the poster who mentioned how he liked the soft fluffy soil after tilling and how to get this from no-till: Well, if your soil is compacted and you want a jump start you can till the first year, afterwards you won't need to. But what you want to do is make beds that are no more than 3-4 feet across (so you can reach in without walking on the soil), and put permanent paths between them that are at least 2-3 feet across. The only reason your soil gets all compacted is because you walk on it, when you are planting, weeding, harvesting, etc. Box the beds in so you know where they are. To keep your no till you can still cover crop the boxed beds, just don't ever walk on them. Heap them up with organic matter and the worms will keep them tilled up for you. For some really interesting ideas on gardening for the household check out Square Foot Gardening. There's a website aptly called www.squarefootgardening.com that you might check out. Before anyone flies off the handle about how its not sustainable because of the peat and the buying of soil. Just look at the good stuff that it points out. 1. Don't walk on the soil. 2. Make beds small enough so you can reach across them. 3. Divide the planting area into squares so you know what is where. 4. Don't plant 2000 carrots on a Saturday all in a row, plant 20 this Saturday and 20 more in two weeks in a little square. 5. Use 20 percent of the area to grow 100 percent of the produce (think of the long rows in a row garden where tons of space (nearly 80 percent of your soft tilled soil) is wasted. 6. Use compost, its good stuff. 7. Lots more stuff I can't remember. If it bothers you, don't use peat and don't buy potting soil and use it for your garden. But don't discount the whole idea because of a few things that tick you off. Thanks for reading. -Kyle

Ditto kimmsr's advice...but you may also want to consider that the roots to a cover crop are an additional level of ammendment. How about splitting the area and grass-mulching-turning under one side and cover-cropping-turning-under the other side...and see if you notice a difference in tilth, water-retention, productivity, etc. And, of course, report back to us on the different results [or lack of differences] BTW do you use the eelgrass for mulch in the summer? And, greedy me, I'd be tempted to green manure AND use eelgrass in a compost pile. :) /// There is a study from the Rodeale Inst. about the need for beneficial soil fungi needing roots as a host to remain active. I couldn't find that study, but the following link might help. ...snip....WeÂve found these mycorrhizal functions provide many direct and indirect services including increased agricultural productivity, improved water-infiltration and water-holding capacity, and soil carbon sequestration /// FOUND THE STUDY LINK http://rodaleinstitute.org/node/441 ....snip....Yet because endomycorrhizae are 'obligate symbionts'--they must have living plant roots to colonize in order to complete their life cycle--their numbers will decline under conventional agricultural monocultures, which have living crop covers fewer months of the year than organic rotations. The drop in yields typically seen after the first year of cultivation on virgin prairie or forest soils is probably attributable in part to the loss of native mycorrhizae, Douds says. ....snip...."Over-wintering cover crops. . . are very beneficial to mycorrhizal fungi," Here is a link that might be useful: Mycorrhiza

I'm only in my second full year of "gardening" at my father's house and it's been a roller coaster ride. With all the development around my father's house over the years the deer have reproduced uncontrolled and now have much smaller grazing area. There's simply too many for the available food. They always ate what people consider "deer candy" but it's gone way beyond that now. I must say, though, that I pass fields and fields of Alfalfa and other forage material grown year round which deer could eat but prefer garden plants. When I spray with Liquid Fence and other repellants they bite off buds and drop them on the ground. A plant without the first flush of buds left as bare stalks isn't much help in the garden for some time even though deer didn't technically "eat" them. Nothing with 4 legs has eaten: Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) Asclepias tuberosa (Orange native) Asclepias curassavica (Tropical Milkweed) Eupatorium maculatum (large Joe Pye Weed) Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' Lychnis Coronaria (Rose Campion) Stachys byzantina Nepeta 'Walkers Low' & 'Blue Carpet' Lavender 'Hidcote' & 'Vera' (Lady) Agastache aurantiaca 'Apricot Sprite' Agastache rugosa 'Honey Bee Blue' Agastache rupestris Agastache cana 'Purple Pygmy' Delphinium x elatum 'Magic Fountain' Penstemon digitalis 'Huskers Red' & 'Mystica' Lobelia cardinalis 'Queen Victoria' & 'Ruby Slippers' Lobelia siphilitica (Great Blue) Lobelia speciosa 'Fan Blue' Monarda didyma (species) Monarda didyma 'Petite Delight' Verbena bonariensis Lantana Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red', 'Coral Nymph'& 'Hummingbird White' Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna' (ate half of a 'May Night') Bearded Iris (a few blooms nipped off) Nicotiana sanderae (Limelight, Rose & White) They eat our Holly and Boxwood...Holly to the point of large bare spaces but only exterior browsing of Boxwood. Rhododendron get browsed because they're intermingled with Azalea which are defoliated even when sprayed. Resorting to burlap covering this winter since I'm tired of having them decimated each year. I tried to grow a Hydrangea, which I love, for a few years but they ate every leaf repeatedly until it just died. Again, sprayed repeatedly. If it's not deer then it's groundhogs, rabbits and slugs. I don't know which critter eats them but Zinnia & Marigolds have to be fenced or put on the deck to survive anytime from seedling stage until frost kills them off. The plants...not the deer! It's upsetting when you research and give care to planting things that are supposedly "deer resistant" and they get decimated. I consider half the plant being eaten "decimated" but others consider it browsing. If it won't bloom at all or a few measly blooms it's a bust for the year. If it dies from repeated heavy browsing I struggle to find something that's shown to survive. I think if you've got enough sunny areas your options are greater than if you want things that bloom in much more shade. It's trial and error which can vary from year to year. Cameron has a great running account of her experience with her "Deer Resistant Garden" and I find it encouraging to check it regularly. Different geographic locations and years vary but it's nice to look at her gardens to see what's working...and drool more than just a little! I can't remember if you linked your blog, Cameron. If I go back to thread to check I'll have to type this all over again so sorry if my link is redundant. :) When I make my early morning rounds to check for critter damage and plant conditions I can come upon damage that makes me utterly exasperated and crestfallen. I don't have that much space converted to amended beds or places where I've dug out cement clay down 2' and replaced with organic top soil. Lots of container grown plants with green rabbit fencing around "pot ghetto" along south side of house and stakes planted facing outward like sharpened javelins...LOL. Looks like hell with all the layers of protection this year but I refuse to lose more plants than I already have this year. The deer won't jump into this area since it's too close to house for that. Farther out and it's every plant for itself. Good luck with selecting plants and finding a mix that works reasonably well for you in your area. Just remember that the deer are variable in their behavior so you're ready if/when they browse things they haven't before. One can only grow so much Nepeta, Salvia, Agastache and few other things they very rarely even nibble. Here is a link that might be useful: Defining Your Home -Cameron's Blogspot

ij: I think you're on to something. But here's a caveat first: All exotics are potentially invasive. And that doesn't mean just plants from outside of California. Even California natives can be "invasive" in the right location -- such as those that are not native to the specific locale of your garden surrounds. With that said, I'd encourage you to try one or more of the many species of annual Lupines, one or more of our native true clovers (e.g., Trifolium bifidum, T. gracilientum, T. ciliolatum, T. macraei, T. dichotomum), any of the annual Lotus (especially L. strigosus and L. salsuginosus), and our own Vicia species (V. exigua, V. californica, and even V. americana oregana). These are all legumes, of course, and would be one component of a good cover crop or green manure. You should also think about some of the annual, vigorous native grasses (these are the guys that put down deep roots to bring up leached-down nutrients. MANY native grasses would fit this bill. Joe