I do different things for different beds. On those that are cleared early enough, I have added things like leaf compost and/or some partly rotted horse manure [with hay and straw] and till these into the bed for faster breaking down. Then i planted tillage type radishes. These die down about Christmas in cold climates and need no extra work for spring planting.

Other beds are cleared later and don't get cover crops, but may get some enrichments.

As far as fall mulching goes, it depends on some things. one thing to consider is your soil's spring warmth and drainage. A heavy covering can slow down warmth and soil dryness for spring planting. I have fairly level ground with excellent drainage and mostly 'raised' beds....still I work things into the soil in fall to expedite spring planting warmth and dryness.

Agree. But in Zone 8 you can have winter crops without cover. Kale, collard, arugula, miner lettuce, corn salad, mustard greens, spinach, radicchio, and other crops. Other than that, I do not mulch everything, only the beds that will receive plants or large seeds. Some beds have to be kept free of debris for direct seeding. You can cover them with something already partially decomposed, and rake them clean in spring.

With a mild winter climate, I keep growing things that can handle an occasional short freeze with moderate protection. Through October/November we're planting beets, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, English peas, carrots, radish, arugula and spinach. There are others that can be added to the list.

I would either cover the soil with shredded leaves from the deciduous trees or grow a cover crop of Field, Winter, or Cereal Rye with maybe Vetch or some other winter hardy crop that the seed of was readily available. Oats and Buckwheat are both frost tender and would be killed off if temperatures dropped that low.
Since winter does give me some time to replenish the organic matter in the soil I would only continue to grow something in a mild climate if I planned on a rotation schedule that would allow replenishing the soil.
A cover crop would be tilled in in the spring when the soil was workable. It is difficult to give a more specific time frame because it depends on the soil and weather. One year you might be able to work the soil the first week in March but the next not until the third week of April.

"... I would only continue to grow something in a mild climate if I planned on a rotation schedule that would allow replenishing the soil. "

Adding mature compost to the soil between rotations is a great way to keep the soil healthy.

TXEB, I have a question: Where do you get all that compost?

I have 8,000 sq. ft.

wayne - you're a bit out of the ordinary for a home gardener. In your case it probably isn't compost, but rotations between production crops and cover crops/green manures. I somehow suspect you already do this, and rotate around your large garden seasonally or even annually. Is that about right?

I do rotate, but that isn't much of the answer for adding and returning organic matter and nutrients.

I chop up residue and leave it in place. if I do only that, eventually the soil would lack some available nutrients and likely the soil would get weaker in organic matter, nutrients, and bio life because I would be removing produce and exposing the soil to the elements.

I do have to bring in some organic matter and fertilizer from the outside to more quickly improve the soil. Cover crops helps hold the status quo....but I cannot easily utilize cover crops on all the beds in a given year. I wish I had a picture of the beautiful tillage type radishes that reach 15-18 inches high.

This post was edited by wayne_5 on Thu, Oct 3, 13 at 18:59

wayne - I guess there are basically three options, and which suits anyone's needs depends upon their scale and resources avaialable.

First there is the recycle-your-own, such as home composting in one form or another.

Next is import organic material. It can be for composting in one of its various forms (pile, trench, sheet), or simply applied as a mulch to decompose in place, which I guess is a form of sheet composting. Utility tree trimmings are a good source if available. Then there is the pt03 approach of get community support (dumping collected clippings, tree trimmings, etc.). It can also be manures to be either composted or applied directly.

Finally is grow it, as in green manure /cover crop.

Any and all will work. Each has it's limitations and it's benefits. In the end the key is to get some C in those soils, and keep adding to it as it wants to disappear.

I can only grow year round because my scale is small relative to my ability to supply OM to the soil via finished compost in an ongoing manner. I couldn't easily do this over an acre.

I'm in the same boat as Wayne, with one plot of about a half-acre (except I have very light soil instead of Wayne's best soil type in the world!). So without occasional input of some kind of OM there is a gradual diminishment of SOM and fertility.

I am considering going to a rotation of two seasons in legume/radish/etc cover for every one season of a harvested crop for a given area to see if this would eliminate need for inputs.

Well said TXEB and Pat.

Pat, if you do plant the radishes, wait until the end of July or they will try to seed instead of making the deep root. The radishes are likely the easiest of cover crops in the north where they winter kill and make no difficult residue to deal with in the spring. I get seed from Fedco which because of trademark considerations calls them forage radishes instead of the trademarked line called" tillage" radishes. There are also farm supply dealers for the trademarked line which I believe isn't really different than forage as mine grow big and deep if not planted too crowded...4 or 5 inches apart.

I just carefully broadcast the seeds and getting them too thick is the main problem.

I find that growing sweet corn or onions and then chopping up the corn stalks right away and stirring them in allows an immediate opportunity to plant the radish seeds which come up quickly if the soil is moist.