Ways of improving your garden soil

By Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru

When we purchased our home in Fort Frances, the vegetable garden was in place but needed some soil improvements. Like many gardeners in the Rainy River District my garden soil was mostly heavy clay. For the first few years it was like trying to grow crops in cement. I added yards and yards of peat moss each season and as many fall leaves as I could get my hands on but was only achieving small improvements to the soil, in my very large garden, each year.
As a gardener, I had heard about forage crops and knew that forage crops were used quite frequently on a large scale in the agricultural industry but not as much in the gardening community. A farmer would plant a forage crop in an area that needed nutrients added to the soil after years of agricultural crops. By rotating his crops and leaving some land to forage each year the farmer could revitalize the soil and plant crops there the next season. Although I liked having vegetable crops each year I was starting to seriously consider using a forage crop in my garden. A garden forage crop was going to achieve many things. A forage crop can also be referred to as ‘green manure’, ‘smother crop’ or ‘living compost’. By planting the forage crop and then tilling it into the soil you add compost to the soil at a great rate without very little effort. If planted densely the forage crop will successfully choke out both perennial and annual weeds from your vegetable garden, with the effects lasting for years to come. A forage crop is also an easy way of improving your soil and having a growing crop in your part of your garden or the whole garden when you are too busy or too ill to take care of the garden. One year when my job required me to travel a great deal we decided to plant a forage crop instead of our usual vegetable crops. The improvements and benefits that the garden endured that season were phenomenal. For an investment of $15.00 worth of buckwheat seed (50lbs) we accomplished a vast soil improvement in one season that we had been unable to accomplish in the past 6 seasons. By coincidence the year that we used a forage crop in our garden, was the year we had the heavy rains and flooding in the district. Having the buckwheat densely planted in the garden saved our soil from being washed away. A forage crop is a good way to rejuvenate your soil even in a year when Mother Nature might not be so kind.
There are two crops available locally that can be used as a forage crop. Buckwheat and annual rye grass. I stress that we are talking about annual rye grass not perennial. Perennial rye grass is a grass that is used in your lawn and will actually ruin your garden by establishing itself as a permanent crop. You can purchase the seed for forage crops, in the Rainy River District at our district feed supply stores. You will need to purchase 3 to 4 pounds of seed for each 1,000 sq. ft. of garden. The average gardener has a vegetable garden less than 300 sq. ft. but buying 3-4 lbs. will give you enough seed for repeat crops in the summer. This seed is very inexpensive so don’t be afraid to over buy.
You can plant a forage crop in your whole garden, an area of your garden or in an old flowerbed you want to free from weeds or improve the soil. Densely sprinkle the forage crop seed over the soil. Both plants germinate and grow very quickly forming a thick mat or canopy of leaves over the soil, blocking out the ability for both annual and perennial weeds to grow. In order to gain the maximum benefits from this dense canopy, make sure you add more seed to any thin areas you detect once the plants start to grow. The dense forage crop will keep the soil moister than with other crops so you shouldn’t have to worry about watering the garden this season. If you planted buckwheat let the plants grow until they flower. You can let the flowers stay on the plant for a few days but do not let the crop go to seed or you will be growing buckwheat for years to come. The buckwheat will be close to a foot tall but has hollow stems so it is easy to work into the soil. You can do this by hand or use your tiller. My husband developed a wonderful tip to save you some work. He found in our large garden that the tiller was continuously getting tangled with buckwheat so he first cut the crop down using our weed trimmer. He let the buckwheat lay on top of the soil for a few days to wilt but making sure it remained in a thick mat over the soil (you can fill in spots by raking the crop) and then tilling into the soil a few days later. This prevented the buckwheat from tangling in the tiller. After tilling you must immediately reseed the area with another crop of buckwheat. You continue to do this right up until the first frost. The summer that we used this method the weather conditions allowed us to plant the forage crop four times. Your soil will become looser and gain nutrients with each round of crop. If using the annual rye grass seed thickly and let it grow into a dense mat. Let the grass continue to grow until you start to seed small spikes of seed develop. At this time you till in the grass and plant again if the season allows. Your last seeding should be around the first of September and you can leave the dense mat on the soil over the winter and then till it in the spring. You can also use annual rye grass crop as your last crop when using buckwheat, leaving the grass mat in place over the winter or keep some on hand and plant in the areas of your garden that you have harvested the crops from to prevent the weeds from taking over the area, once the crops have been harvested.
I can’t emphasize enough the improvements that a forage crop made to our soil after just one year. The forage crop broke apart the dense clay soil making it very loose and dark black the next year. The crops the following year were a resounding success and we doubled our yield of potatoes because the plants could finally penetrate the soil. Best of all we eliminated many of our weeds. We had horsetail and bindweed that like to grow in tough clay soil, with low nutrients, so by adding the benefits of the forage crop we eliminated these weeds because we changed the soil structure in one season. Other weeds like quack grass, vetch, pigweed, etc. were choked out and reduced our weeding chores greatly. The effects of the forage crop have remained for years since we had done this. I was so impressed with the results of a forage crop that I planted buckwheat in the areas of the garden that still needed a little soil improvement (a few wet spots) and in between the raised beds over the next few seasons before we moved. Yu can also plant a forage crop such as buckwheat in the areas that you have removed the crops from, after final harvest.
Whether you have clay or sandy soil or soil that needs some nutrients added to it, you can benefit from a forage crop. Not only does it do wonders for your soil it is also and effective tools for keeping weeds under control. Give a forage crop a try and you will be pleased with the results. I guarantee it.