Cover crops are great for soil building.   The cowpeas are as ‘high as an elephant’s eye’.   (You know, like in the song.    Well, actually it says corn in the song.       We didn’t have any luck with the corn this summer, too dry.)

Austrian Winter Peas were a great cover crop over the winter. They put lots of nitrogen into the soil. The cowpeas apparently love it. They are very lush and green and just now,  at two feet,  starting to flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the important thing here is to harvest the greens for the animals to eat before they flower and seed.     Because at that point they begin to use up the nitrogen that they have produced.

Keep two rows for seed for next year and feed the rest to the livestock.   They love  cowpeas!  And if you cut the stalks before they go to seed, the nitrogen stays in the soil for the next crop.  Win-win!!

Nice!

Happy Homesteading!

T.