August 30, 2020:

Once the land was cleared and levelled, it was time for us to sow some cover crop. This became a bit of a rush as we were late in the season and we had to get the land ready for winter.

After some research we chose a 60/40 mixture of tillage radish and red clover.

Tillage radish is a daikon radish with a thick white tuber that can grow up to 18 inches in length as a single long taproot. It can exert 290 pounds per square inch of pressure as it drills down, which allows them to punch their way through compacted soil and hardpan. This works out perfectly to loosen and aerate soil. When naturally left to decompose in the soil, it retains water and air movement channels and great source to nitrogenate soil.

There are a number of benefits of using red clover as cover crop. It adds considerable biomass and improves conditions for soil microbial life. Once established, it controls erosion and improves soil infiltration and structural strength. Red clover also improves infiltration and permeability of the soil.

This combination of cover crop took root really quickly. This may have been largely due to some diligent ground preparation on part but mostly mother nature being kind to us. It took only a few weeks but soon we had acres of a lush green field with almost a foot long tillage radish. Funnily enough we picked a fair share of tillage radish. We roasted it with other root vegetables and enjoyed it for dinner throughout the fall season