Conferences and Cover Crops

Conferences

I have had a little flurry of arranging workshops, so if you have (educational) travel plans, check out my Events page. I’ve also got two interviews lined up, for podcasts, and I’ll tell you about those when they go online.

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This coming weekend (Thursday October 31 to Sunday November 3) I will be at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Agriculture Conference, Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center, Durham, North Carolina.

In the full day 8.30 am- 4.30 pm Pre-Conference intensive Advanced Organic Management, on Friday Nov 1, from 8.45-9.45 am in the Empire ballroom D, I will be presenting a 60 min workshop:

Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers

Use cover crops to feed and improve the soil, smother weeds, and prevent soil erosion. Select cover crops to make use of opportunities year round: early spring, summer, fall and going into winter. Fit cover crops into the schedule of vegetable production while maintaining a healthy crop rotation.

 In the Main Conference, on Sat Nov 2, 1.30 – 2.45 pm in the Empire Ballroom E, I have a 75 min workshop

Optimize your Asian Greens Production

This workshop covers the production of Asian greens outdoors and in hoop houses in detail, for both market and home growers. Grow many varieties of tasty, nutritious greens easily and quickly, and bring fast returns. The workshop includes tips on variety selection of over twenty types of Asian greens; timing of plantings including succession planting when appropriate; crop rotation in the hoop house; pest and disease management; fertility; weed management and harvesting.

 I will be participating in the Booksigning on Saturday 5.45 – 6.45 pm during the reception

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Winter Cover Crops

 

Cover crops have been much on my mind. Partly it’s that time of year – too late for us to sow oats, not so late that the only option left is winter rye. Here’s my handy-dandy visual aid for central Virginia and other areas of cold-hardiness zone 7a with similar climates.

If you are considering growing winter rye as a no-till cover crop this winter, check out this video:

Rye Termination Timing: When to Successfully Crimp, by Mark Dempsey

“Interested in no-till production, but unsure of how to manage cover crops so they don’t become a problem for the crop that follows?

The most common management concern is when to crimp your cover crop to get a good kill but prevent it from setting seed. Getting the timing right on crimping small grain cover crops like rye isn’t difficult, but it does take a little attention to its growth stage. See this three-minute video for a quick run-down on which stages to look for in order to get that timing right.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loKPRLdAUXw

 

A good cover crop resource is my book Sustainable Market Farming, which has 9 pages of detailed charts and a nine page chapter of cover crop info.

 

 

Managing Cover Crops Profitably from  SARE is the book with the most information.