Good morning, fall a year ago I seeded some New Zealand clover for bio mas and nitrogen. On a few hot days I burnt it back (using greenhouse film) to plant broccoli and cauliflower. I thought I had nuked it but it made a come back and became a living mulch under the broc / caul.
It filled in nicely and did not hamper the broccoli or the cauliflower. I meant to turn under this clover at the end of the broccoli harvest. Welllll Life happens and it did not happen.
Even though this bed had dried out the clover was still thriving, I first weed whipped the clover down so that I could raise the drip tape, then saturated the soil and turned under the clover.
It had developed an extensive root system with all kinds of nitrogen nodgels on the roots. I suspect that I will need to turn the clove again to completely kill and incorporate it into the soil.
Tomatoes are slated to go into this bed this coming February or March. It will be interesting to see how well the toms do with this bio mass.
If by chance I do not kill out the clover it could once again become a living mulch. I could then turn it under the following fall / winter only to reap more rewards from this clover. I also suspect that there is a lot of clover seed in the soil since the clover has been blooming for sometime.
There is a possibility I have created a monster or a sustaining means of fertilizing some of my beds.
This does intrigue my curiosity.. Push comes to shove I can solarize the next time the bed is empty.
Ever since the gentleman retired that would bring me bedding material to compost I have not been able to get as much fertility into the soil as I would like. This could be the key.
time will tell.
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