| Show COVER CROPS AND I 1 COMPOST ADVISED successful victory gardening calls for planning f from born season to season as well as strict attention to the current jobs harvesting and taking care of late planting states dr arvil L stark horticulturist odthe the utah extension service af his i s means its time right inow now to think about two important factors that can increase inci incz ease the output of next years victory gardens cover crops and compost cover crops planted in the early fall keep the soil f from rom washing 9 during the winter when turned under they add plant food and humus to the soil As city victory gardens are usually small and I 1 level washing of the soil is rarely a major problem but almost all gardens can benefit greatly from a cover crop turned under in the spring legume cover crops such as winter peas enrich the soil by adding nitrogen in this natural process the legumes work with bacteria that take nitrogen out of the air and store it in the plants when the plants are turned under as agreen green manure and decay the nitrogen goes into the soil and makes it more productive if the victory garden produces vegetables right up to cold weather little or no growing time is left for cover crops in that cased case the city gardener will do well to turn under any available organic matter such as manure or compost this will help condL condition tion the soil so il for next years k garden compost is a mixture of rotted waste material such as leaves straw lawn clippings clumps of grass roots vines and even certain kitchen refuse such as peel ings and discarded vege vegetable tabletops tops stable manure is very valuable where it is available but it is not necessary commercial fertilizer sprinkled on each layer of organic matter in the compost pile will hasten decomposition of the material the gardener can dig a hole for the compost or he can pile the material in a corner out of tile the I 1 wa way frequent wetting with the hose s e will help along the rotting process which takes a year or longer A good practice is to start with a layer of leaves and other refused refuse followed by a thin layer of soil additional layers can be added as material is available the heap will gradually become a mass of decayed organic matter and soil which when worked into the garden soil will make the ground easier to work and help it hold moisture |
