Summer cover crops

We are trying to improve the micro-biome, increase organic matter in the soil and support soil structure. When we first began digging around the soil was incredibly compacted and nutrient poor with awful water retention properties. We know that this is a long term effort to reverse the decline in soil viability. and nutrition. The reason we leave grass strips between the rows is to try to preserve some of the micro-biome whilst tilling to allow water and nutrients to penetrate. We are lucky to live in an area where regenerative farming is seen as part of the solution in reversing soil degradation, sequestrating carbon into the soil and responsibly managing the environment sustainably. To this end we have planted a summer cover of Cow Peas, Radish, Lab Lab and Sorghum. Some of these can be eaten but their primary use is as a green manure to improve the poor soil at the top of the paddock so the we can grow garlic in these beds next winter.