You will need to play around a bit, because different plants behave differently in varying climates. When I grew Austrian winter pea in Z7, in partnership with hairy vetch, I found them easy to cut down at the base. The ideal application is, indeed, to simply let the foliage dry on the surface. Then make openings in the dried mulch for various plantings.

It sounds like your soil looks like mine does, in a patch of alfalfa I seeded in Oct. and kept under a rowcover all winter to protect it from deer (gone now). I'm opening rows in it to plant brassicas, and transplanting some of the clumps to other parts of the garden. The tilth of that soil with live roots in it is amazing, isn't it? I've seen alfalfa interplanted with spring broccoli at a CSA and it worked well. By June I'll be able to see any differences between a couple of varieties grown in the alfalfa and elsewhere in the garden.

I like working with winter wheat and crimson clover, too, and in summer buckwheat is always a delight. In my intensive garden, I'm much more likely to either mow and mulch a cover crop, or pull it up and compost it. The soil is easy to turn by hand, so at this point I have no need for a tiller, which is required equipment for efficient turning under of cover crops. In my opinion, turning under cover crops is a tek appropriate for farms or commercial organic growers, but not so much home gardeners. We can, however, make great use of climate-specific cover crops as soil builders, plants for permanent pathways, mulches, and plenty of green stuff for composting.

Here is a link that might be useful: my website

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Yes, the roots & worms seem to do a better job of "tilling" than any equipment I've used!

My thinking seems to be in line with yours... since the soil has good tilth & is healthy, really no reason to till, unless I did it for the sole purpose of incorporating the green manure. If the benefits of the green manure can be realized by simply cutting & mulching with it, so much the better.

Question - with all the earthworms you have brought up with the cover crop, would you be concerned about killing all of them by tilling? I just keep hearing that if you want to keep the worms happy, don't till.

Billie

Billie,

Yes, that is one of my reasons for not tilling at this point. The system in place (worms, roots, & who knows what else I can't see) is working well... I figure the best thing I can do is keep it fed well with plenty of organic matter, and let it work for me.

If you want to keep your Soil Food Web happy and funcioning well don't till. No till is not just about earthworms, although they are part of it.