Winter Rye Cover Crop

The cover crop I planted 2 1/2 weeks ago is finally taking off.   It started to pop up last Friday.  The day time highs have been relatively warm the last week, but previous to that things were fairly cool so it took some time to get the grass coming up.   The lows have been at or below freezing every night for weeks. 

This cover crop will do a few different things for the soil.  It will help prevent erosion and compaction.  It will help keep the biology in the soil going.  It will suppress weeds.  And it will also make a nice green manure that will be tilled back into the soil in the spring adding organic matter to the soil.  

What I'll probably do is amend the planting area and till it in the early Spring.  About a 10x10 space.  The rest I'll mow down from time time time to keep it manageable until June, when I'll till the rest in, about the same time that the pumpkin plants are about to grow out of their hoop houses.