Cover Cropping vs Straw in Raised Beds?

[redwhiteblue]

Which should we be doing in Socal in our raised beds - cover cropping or covering the topsoil with straw?

 

[CelticEBE]

Which should we be doing in Socal in our raised beds - cover cropping or covering the topsoil with straw?

I did an outdoor run in SoCal a few years back and wound up using straw. In retrospect I think I would go with the weedblocker fabric from Home Depot and then some straw over the top of that.

 

[Seamaiden]

Which should we be doing in Socal in our raised beds - cover cropping or covering the topsoil with straw?

You can do either or both. I like cover cropping over straw IF the cover crops can get enough sun to actually grow. I found they allowed me to use significantly less water. If cover cropping, try for a 'guild', which is to say you want at least 4 species, the more the merrier. Go for shorter growing plants.

I've also found that wild birds LOVE to scrape through loose straw.

 

[redwhiteblue]

You can do either or both. I like cover cropping over straw IF the cover crops can get enough sun to actually grow. I found they allowed me to use significantly less water. If cover cropping, try for a 'guild', which is to say you want at least 4 species, the more the merrier. Go for shorter growing plants.

I've also found that wild birds LOVE to scrape through loose straw.

What plants are best for the cover crops? Any issues with snakes making nests in the straw? We have tons of rattlers on this property.

 

[Seamaiden]

I can't find many snakes on my property, and if I do I relocate them, rattlers included. What I have found are these legless lizards and the males are absolutely spectacularly blue, like something from the ocean.

What's 'best' for cover crops for me may be different than for you. I like fenugreek as a base cover, but also add damn near any and everything else I can find that doesn't grow too tall. Clovers, some grasses like rye, mustards, coriander, bush beans or low-growing legumes. I've done amaranth because it grows so well here but it *must* be chopped and dropped regularly through the season or it'll grow right up through the cannabis, and then when it's ripe it'll drop thousands upon thousands of tiny seeds, which are edible, but I don't want them in my bud.

If you get a stick and gently probe around I'm sure any snakes will let you know they're there, too.

 

[geologic]

I can't find many snakes on my property, and if I do I relocate them, rattlers included. What I have found are these legless lizards and the males are absolutely spectacularly blue, like something from the ocean.

Pics!!!...

 

[geologic]

Which should we be doing in Socal in our raised beds - cover cropping or covering the topsoil with straw?

I use chipped/shredded bamboo;
not this size or, ah--
this cured tho...

 

[kalopatchkid]

I recently picked up a bag of buildasoil's 15 seed cover crop blend, though it is too early to tell if i am seeing any benefits yet. I am using it in combination with some bark mulch to help with moisture retention while the seeds are getting established.

It has the following varieties:

1. Barley - Haybet
2. Oats - Jerry
3. Flax - Brown
4. Buckweat - Mancan
5. Lentils - Indianhead
6. Safflower
7. Millet - Golden German
8. Hairy Vetch
9. Vetch Common
10. Millet - White Proso
11. Rape - Dwarf Essex
12. Japanese Millet
13. Clover - Medium Red
14. Clover - White Dutch
15. Clover - Crimson

 

[Seamaiden]

Ooooh, NICE addition with the millet and the lentils, it's high in protein. Add some mustard to your mix, along with fenugreek (you can buy it for cheap @bulkfoods dot com) and you've got food you *and* the wildlife can munch on. :D

Pics!!!...

They're too fast! It was AMAZING. What I can show you is what I found online. :D
K, ready for this? What I saw was truly colored just like a blue devil damsel.

I enjoy the difference between the two species in their sexual dimorphism. You can *only* tell the damsel's sex by its anal fin conformation, the male's being much more pointed than the female's, and the female fish tends to have a more waspy 'waist' area. The lizards' dimorphism is much more marked, with the female being a drab brown and therefore resembling much more a snake of some sort. But NOT a snake. :eek:

 

[geologic]

Ooooh, NICE addition with the millet and the lentils, it's high in protein. Add some mustard to your mix, along with fenugreek (you can buy it for cheap @bulkfoods dot com) and you've got food you *and* the wildlife can munch on. :D
They're too fast! It was AMAZING. What I can show you is what I found online. :D
K, ready for this? What I saw was truly colored just like a blue devil damsel.

I enjoy the difference between the two species in their sexual dimorphism. You can *only* tell the damsel's sex by its anal fin conformation, the male's being much more pointed than the female's, and the female fish tends to have a more waspy 'waist' area. The lizards' dimorphism is much more marked, with the female being a drab brown and therefore resembling much more a snake of some sort. But NOT a snake. :eek:

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Wow!!! I've never seen a legless lizard that color--
an I've been into herpetology since I was ~12...
http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/a.pulchra.html

 

[Seamaiden]

The father of one of my son's childhood friends has a subspecies of California kingsnake named after him, IIRC. Kidwell is the surname, but I can't recall the features that made it so special.

I've gotta say, that day when I was weeding and setting up the veggie garden BLEW my mind when the girl who was helping me SCREAMED, and I mean SCREAMED, dropped her rake and ran. I was like, "WTF, girl? What are you doing?" And she screams, "Snake!" I said, "But it has no shoulders! What's it gonna do to you?" And she started jabbering.

Well, I wanted to see what the fuck was going on so I started digging around and soon enough saw the female, so drab in coloration and I knew that was no snake as soon as I saw it, but I've never seen anything like it, either. Honestly, that's how I ended up with a Mojave green rattlesnake by the tail back in '01, I'd never heard of or seen a green RATTLEsnake. Anyway, as I'm digging around I see flash of that blue that was so fast I thought I must be hallucinating. I kept digging and BAM! Found it again and got a good look at it, it was BLUE and hell if I could figure it out. So we got online, et voila, legless lizard.

 

[geologic]

Amazing how some of the California Legless Lizards at that CalHerp link look much like @Smoody 's--
in Bulgaria...

Bulgarian style- organic show 2014

 

[Califlower]

Perhaps a subspecies of the Western Skink? http://www.wildherps.com/species/E.skiltonianus.html
I mean are you sure it didn't have some little legs?

 

[Califlower]

Loose leaf lettuce and spinach too, just need to replant. Cats like to chomp on some of those grasses, like rye.

The food fenugreek seeds sprout ok? I mean some seeds you use for herbs don't germinate well, but if you buy the seeds for growing they do, like poppy seed. That's why I ask.

How about coriander seed?

This place has 200 packs of organic fenugreek cover crop seed, and pounds, but the pounds are a lot more:

 

[Seamaiden]

Loose leaf lettuce and spinach too, just need to replant. Cats like to chomp on some of those grasses, like rye.

The food fenugreek seeds sprout ok? I mean some seeds you use for herbs don't germinate well, but if you buy the seeds for growing they do, like poppy seed. That's why I ask.

How about coriander seed?

This place has 200 packs of organic fenugreek cover crop seed, and pounds, but the pounds are a lot more:

The fenugreek has been sprouting fine for me. In fact, I've been buying almost all of these seeds via bulkfoods.com and they all sprout for me just fine. It started when I decided to go through my cupboards with my granddaughter, we just grabbed everything that looked like a seed. Use coriander, too! I just got all mine from bulkfoods, coriander, caraway, fenugreek, brown and yellow mustard and now I can't remember what else. Even the 6yo popcorn that smelled all stale and nasty sprouted! Poppy is one I don't have on hand and haven't tried. The sesame seed wouldn't sprout because I toasted it.

I may want that organic alfalfa, and someone posted in the Post Your Soil Recipe thread that they've got a mix with one or two different types of millet in there, millet's high in protein IIRC. I do believe it grows rather tall, but it can live with the amaranth, then.

Oh, looks like bulkfoods sells organic alfalfa, too.

Perhaps a subspecies of the Western Skink? http://www.wildherps.com/species/E.skiltonianus.html
I mean are you sure it didn't have some little legs?

Absolutely no legs, but it does have a skink-looking head for sure, which is why I knew it wasn't a snake. Right now, between the kitties and the chickens our property is populated with a new, undescribed species of short-tailed lizard. :eek:
I've seen those little blue-tailed lizards around here, but nowhere nearly as often as the new short-tailed spp.