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Vegetable Gardening

No vegetable garden this year - what to do with soil in beds

7 years ago

I'm not planting a vegetable garden this year. I have raised beds with chopped straw sitting on top of them as mulch for the winter. My question is should I do anything during the growing season? I would rather not tend to a cover crop if avoidable. Is it ok to just leave my chopped straw mulch on the beds and do nothing for the season? I am also looking to do right by the soil in the beds...

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Comments (4)

Embothrium
7 years ago
Yes just leave them mulched.
digdirt2
7 years ago
Well the soil would love a good cover crop, maybe something you'd just have to mow once during the summer. You'll likely get weed growth anyway even with the mulch so a one time mowing wouldn't be too much work, right?

Dave
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Steve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years ago
Plant or just throw in some winter peas, they grow like weeds and fix a ton of nitrogen in the soil. Good stuff.
glib
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
agree with Dave. Ideally, it should be a biennial which dies this winter, so you have no re-seeding problem. I use forage chicory, but not really as a cover crop, mostly to underseed things and get extra greens. Also, it does not die in winter.

one of your best bets is sorghum scythed once. It will not make it to seed that way, and will die at first frost. It is a superb soil builder, with deep roots, and huge amounts of organic matter. It is really the #1 summer cover for everyone, along with cowpeas and sunnhemp (legumes both), which you may also want to consider. With everything in that bed 7 ft tall, you will have very few weeds. sunnhemp does not seed anywhere in the USA except Hawaii, being a truly tropical legume, so with that cover you are totally safe even if you do nothing.

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