Cover crop

Most of my gardening is experimental. I learn things and they stay put when I've put my hands on them and seen a result. I read a lot about gardening but the details and the reasons why don't seem to stick until I've done them myself.

Last year, I read a lot about sowing cover crops and green manure. Essentially, a cover crop is a grass or legume crop sown in the fall (or anytime in between harvest and a new planting) that keeps weeds from overtaking the area or erosion of the soil and adds nutrients into the area. Green manure happens when you cut down the cover crop and mix it into the soil. It decomposes and adds more nutrients for your plants to use. This is a very basic description. Please forgive anything left out for you who know this practice better than I.

Last October, after I'd cleaned out my beds, I decided to try a cover crop. I had some winter rye leftover from a previous project. I tossed handfuls of it on my beds and raked dirt over it. Winter rye is supposed to be planted after the first frost and I got it in just after.

It germinated and started growing. I got this picture when I first saw the green in my beds.

It stayed much this height and thickness until Daylight Savings. The corner of my yard these beds are in gets the most morning light -- in the summer -- but very little in the winter.  Now it is starting to grow and looks like a proper lawn.

As lush as this looks, it needs to be trimmed and needs times to decompose before I can use these beds. Since the weather has been so cold, I have waited. I hope this weekend will give me the warm weather I need to do the job. It should have time to decompose and be ready for my warm season crops (beans, cucumbers, zinnias,etc).

Has anyone ever used a cover crop in their backyard gardens? How did it work?