Thanks to the several folks who responded to my questions about
field pea planting times and summer green manure crops. Several
suggested Lakeview and some other sources, and it seems that there are
actually lots of non-GMO and even organic soybeans around. One outfit
that really impressed me was American Organic Seed in Illinois. They
have a bunch of interesting seeds for green manures and Art Scheele, who
I think must be the owner or partner is a very interesting and
knowledgeable guy. They've worked with all kinds of combinations of
green manure crops and seem to do a lot of pretty creative stuff. One
crop he suggested is Lablab purpureus! I never heard of it, but my wife
Liz knows it as a bedding plant. Anyhow, it's this crazy aggressive
vining bean that fixes a lot of N and is used mostly for deer pasture. (
maybe NOT what I need!) They suggest seeding it with Sudan or millet or
something like that so it has something to climb on. I'm going to give
it a try. They assure me that it will not become invasive. The
inoculent is really expensive, but if it works, I don't care.
Another thing I tried early in the spring was seeding field peas
into over-wintered rye. I broadcast the peas then went over the rye
quickly and shallow with my 8' tiller. Just enough to set the rye back
some to keep it from taking over the peas but deep enough to scuff in
the peas. Worked really slick until several families of Canada geese
moved in.
Again, thanks for the input.... very helpful. I guess this is what
this list serve is for.... Jake
