This little video might help ... scroll about half way thru to avoid all the "cute" chatter. This device might help scare deer ... has benefit of being portable so can change placing to keep deer from learning where it is and going around it. Depending on how large an area you want to protect ... maybe put poles every so often in the field with a noise maker ... or battery light source, or ?... sort of scare crow? Here is a link that might be useful: Deer repellent

Thanks to both of you for the advice & information. Very good stuff! Not dead set against tilling, but with good soil tilth & health, it seems uneccesary. Unless needed to incorporate the green manure. If I can realize the green manure benefits through other methods (cutting & mulching/composting), I'd rather leave the roots & worms to do their work in peace. If the dozen or so shovels full I turned up are any indicator, they're doing a better job of it that I could with a spade & fork anyway. I seed by hand, using a small trowel & dibble, so the winter pea remains shouldn't cause much trouble on that front. Raises another question though, since I'm growing some heat loving crops: Will the "mulch" delay warming of the soil? Sounds like alfalfa might be the ticket. Would this plan make sense- Grow the alfalfa for three years, mowing & mulching/composting along the way. Then convert the bed for vegetables, and grow the alfalfa in a different bed for three years. In other words, rotate the green manure bed with the vegetable beds.

I use winter rye each year and I believe it is essential for the way I garden. I can't speak for hairy vetch. I throw down the seed about this time, (already down) and in the spring, depending how high it gets, I either mow it and till it in or just till it in. Depending on how much labor you plan to use, you might just be able to turn it over with a spade. But I suspect that 625 square feet might be alot to do. Some have said that cutting it close with a mower is enough, but I feel working it in the soil is a must. It can be a tough grass to kill sometimes. I think a few on this board will chime in on a no-till method for you. Good luck!

Yes, I use a lot of these sort of things as I hate to see bare soil and never have enough compost to have a good deep mulch. I have a mix of stuff like clover (white and alsike) around my fruit bushes as a living mulch, and I allow short annuals such as nigella to colonise the area underneath my roses. Although it is often said that roses do not like competition, I tend to grow fairly robust roses, close to the species, and also ensure that I grow annuals and perennials with shallow and undemanding roots (many hardy geraniums, night scented stocks, wild strawberries, potentillas, geums.....and many, many bulbs. However, it is a fairly untidy and informal look which would not be suitable for some garden styles (because I am not that conscientious about weeding either).