Legumes and cover crops and nitrogen?

Do plants that are grown along side Legumes benefit from the nitrogen that is fixed ? Does it actually diffuse into the soil while the plants are alive, or is it only until the plants docompose back into the soil that the nitrogen becomes available to other non legume plants?

also, does any one have any good looks to info on cover cropping ?


Chris

oh yeah.. how long does nitrogen remain available once it is incorporated into the soil ? I seem to remember reading something that said it doesnt tend to stick around for long.

I can recommend "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon, the founder of Territorial Seeds. He discusses the best cover crops for the maritime Northwest.

I think you need to till them back into the soil--while the plants are growing, they fix nitrogen into their own root systems, I wouldn't think much would get released into the soil as long as the plant is alive. That's why you typically grow a cover crop during one season, then till it into the soil before you plant whatever it is that you want to grow.

Actually, legumes will fix quite a bit of nitrogen into the soil just with their roots. We put the green bean vines in the composter when we pulled them last fall. The cabbages planted on the side of the bed where the green beens had been grew quite a bit faster and bigger than the ones on the other side of the bed.
I have clover growing as an undersown cover crop mulch at the moment. Unforturnately my soil test shows I don't need anymore nitrogen, so I'll be cutting that down and replanting with oats.

The Peaceful Valley Farm Supply catalogue has an excellent section and chart on cover crops.
You can download the chart as a .pdf. www.groworganic.com

GM - where did you get your soil test done?

I use International Ag Labs for my soil testing.
http://www.aglabs.com/