Source:
Farmers and their Innovative Cover Cropping Techniques [DVD]. V. Grubinger. 2006. University of Vermont Extension. Available for purchase from: http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/Videos/covercropvideo.html (Verified 31 Dec 2008).
This is a Vegetable Farmers and their Innovative Cover Cropping Techniques video clip.
Watch video clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFniQHo8ZBU
Featuring
Hank Bissell, Lewis Creek Farm. Starksboro, VT.
Audio Text
I like to get all the fields covered with a cover crop, but some crops come off too late in the season to get a cover crop in. The last seeding date for winter rye is October 15th, so for crops that are harvested after that date, you either have to leave the field bare or you can inter-seed them.
We came in with buckets of rye seed, each person taking one row and scattering seed up through the row. One person could do an acre in 40 minutes. I use this technique of inter-seeding rye on most of the late season cole crops: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts.
This was a field of cauliflower, the rows are closer together than brussels sprouts, you have to be a little bit careful not to get rye seed into the cauliflower plants. You don’t want to get the rye to get in the plants because it will actually grow in the head, just from the moisture of dew alone.
This is a field of brussels sprouts that was protected through winter by winter rye. We got the rye on here the first week in September, cultivated it in, and now we have a good crop of rye protecting the field and something to plow down as well.
This video project was funded in part by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (USDA).
