Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? maybe some stylos. go to the type of produce store in your area that supplies ranchers/farmers and ask what they are growing www.janahn.com.au
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? leguminous trees like desert ironwood, mesquite, palo verde and lupin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_fabaceae.php
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? trifolium ? Clovers etc. ?? Are you looking for a permanent ground cover ?
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? Check into alfalfa (lucerne in Oz), It grows there, and likes the alkaline soil. Mow it and let it lie as mulch. You might also investigate annuals that reseed readily in your climate. Sue
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? I am wondering if Pinto Peanuts would do ok? They are not perenial but they keep comming back fron the "nut"it sows each year and it seems pretty tough little thing.
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? We have acres of Pintos Peanut. Sprouts over night after being cut, fixes nitrogen, and looks really pretty. On top of that the chickens love it. The flowers are the first things they go for when they are let out of their pen.
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? no need to alert them to utter and complete failure pp, they will find out www.janahn.com.au
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? You can order a five-pound bag of Soil Builder Mix cover crop seeds (enough to cover 1,000 square feet) from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply (www.groworganic.com or 888-784-1722) for under $10. This mix is purported to choke out weeds, supply gobs of nitrogen, and provide excellent habitat for beneficial insects. In addition, the folks at Peaceful Valley are a great source of general information regarding cover crops and they will recommend a cover that is right for your garden based on your needs. you can enter "nitrogen fixer" in the search box and get more info here. https://ceriverside.ucdavis.edu/index.cfm
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? Don't know about the dry sub-tropics. I'm in the web sub-tropics.
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? I'm in the really dry subtropics, (less than 3 inches precip annually) not many n-fixer natives aside from the leguminous trees.
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? The african ground nut,try it with cassava, as an intercropper,crotalaria(sp) montana with correct innoculants,Certain varieties cajunus,acacia(sp).No point in trying to fix N without the correct rhizobium association. Sounds a challenge good luck. Bernado
Re: Perennial N-fixing groundcover? I am in the wet subtropics - but given the recent drought you could almost call it the mostly dry sub-tropics. I use ordinary peanuts as a ground cover in my vege beds. The plants drop off over winter, which is great for establishing other crops, and then they pop back up when it rains again in spring. They suppress weeds amongst the corn etc, and give me plenty of raw nuts to use in meals when I want too. I just picked up a bag of raw nuts from a local organic shop and thru them on a prepared bed to start with. As I pull them up, some nuts stay in the ground and make next years cover crop for the summer. To me its just a productive cover crop which suits my needs.
I was interested in planting a ground cover mulch over the wet season mainly to improve my soil and provide some free mulch. Is there anything wrong with the idea of grabbing a a bag or two of dried beans from the store and planting them all over the place?
So long as they are fresh they should germinate. You may not get the beneficial bacteria to do nitrogen fixing (see the other thread on this) but you'll get biomass for mulching and a ground cover. I'm not so confident that they'll be fresh. In Qld Green Harvest or Eden seeds are who I'd recommend - you can then order a known seed to do the job, with the inoculant, and know that they are fresh. They aren't expensive particularly if you are buying in bulk. Cowpea might do the job for you, or rice bean.
Make sure you ask for the innoculent if you want it because they probably won't send it to you otherwise. They didn't for mine and it didn't ooccur to me to ask for it.
Cody, what do you want to do with this perennial crop? Trees are entirely different from ground covers and soil improvement biomass for composting or tilling in. If you do a dense perennial like alfalfa you need to be sure you have heavy enough tiller/equipment to cut and till it in without blowing the engine. A regular mower often can't handle a high growth of thick grasses.
Ive ordered Mung, Soy and Millet from green harvest(with inoculant) and also planted some peanuts I had in the cupboard (fresh,raw in the shell ) Will also plant a few winged beans around.