cover croping

[squashnut]

I am thinking about buying a 50 pound bag of whole grain,Such as the kind you feed animals. I want to plant it for a cover crop. What should I buy? How much seed would I need to plant a 100 square foot bed. I would probably need it to grow either in the spring or fall as an annual to add organic material.
I could probably get whole oats, wheat or barley for about $8 for 50. lbs.
I have also heard of people using grocery store beans and lentals to do this with. Is this a good Idea?
I have thought about saving and drying all my cross bred squash seeds and planting those real thick in the spring and digging them in right before they run. Or all my leftover seeds from things we decieded we did not want to grow after all.

How often do you grow a cover crop on a bed? I asume this is part of a rotation program.

[Bump]

.........for a winter cover, cool-season legumes include clovers, vetches, medics, and field peas. They are sometimes planted in a mix with winter grains such as oats, rye, or wheat........

[cowgirl]

Australian winter peas is what we keep planted in the cold weather for the hogs it is really pretty when thick.

[darryl]

For multiple succession warm-weather cover crops Buckwheat works well and is fairly inexpensive. It's easy to work into the soil just as it reaches it's blooming stage. For 100 sq. ft. I'd think just a few handfuls would be adequate. YMMV

[Talks With Beagles]

First of all, don't buy feed grade grain. You will get a much better sprouting rate with seed grade stuff, and it doesn't cost that much more. Also, many modern grains are hybrids and don't breed true. Talk to your local feed and seed store, or ask some area farmers what grows best in your climate. If you want to really get serious about it, have your soil tested by your local extension service and ask for their recommendations. Cover crops can be used as a winter cover, or may be put in a rotation to rest a field every few years. What you ultimately decide will mostly depend on what you future plans are for this plot.

[Pharmer Phil]

Here in Mn., unless you set aside ground, succession cropping isn't possible. I Do love buckwheat for it's fast growth!

[Talks With Beagles]

I tried buckwheat this spring out by my deer blind. It sprouted well, but quickly withered away to nothing. I knew that my ph was low, and then I made the mistake of fertilizing it. So I bit the bullet and put out 2 tons of lime. (This is about an acre). Then I put in a mix of rye grain and vetch in August. Voila: pastures of plenty! The deer just loved it, until I shot one of them and scared the other three away in the process. Too bad for them, because it is still lush and green after being covered with snow, which has now melted. As a matter of fact, when I shot this one, he and his companions were eating the green grass that was sticking up above the snow.

I plan to till it under next spring and put in some oats and vetch for the summer. Then I will till this under in August and plant rye again. Oats won't winter over in our climate, but rye will. Is this what you mean by succession cropping? I am not harvesting any of this stuff; I'll just let the deer do that for me. In my opinion, venison tastes much better than oats anyway.