Whats a good winter cover crop for my vegetable garden?
CS: I like a combination of fall rye and crimson clover. Seed the rye at 3 pounds per 1,000 square feet and the clover at a half-pound per 1,000 square feet. Because of the difference in seed size, don’t mix rye and clover; seed them separately. Otherwise, the tiny clover seeds will sink to the bottom of your container and make even distribution impossible. Though rye seed will germinate at temperatures close to freezing, clover isn’t as hardy and needs to be planted now. The advantage of including crimson clover in the mix is that it can fix significant amounts of nitrogen in the soil. Q: Is there any risk associated with using windfall apples for cider? If there is, will washing make the apples safe? CS: Food scientists warn us against using windfalls for cider. Once they’re on the ground, apples are more easily contaminated by domestic and wild animal droppings. And those droppings could harbor E. coli and other pathogens we don’t want in our food. Washing apples for cider has been
