We plant cover crops as one of the main regenerative agricultural practices to build our soil, putting every annual bed under cover crop for the winter here in Northern California. Not only does cover cropping add organic matter and nitrogen to the soil, but it has other benefits as well,

• It protects the soil from erosion caused by stormwater runoff.
• The cover crops grow fast, out-competing even difficult weeds. Yaaaayyy!!!
• After several years of cover cropping, even our heavy clay soils have been transformed to beautiful loamy soil that holds nutrients and water for growing plants.
• Cover crops provide abundant spring forage for pollinators.
• Having living roots in the soil boosts the populations of soil microbes that help transfer nutrients from the soil to plants, benefiting our next crop.

This video takes you through planting a cover crop bed from start to finish. 

With all the rain, the weeds have been busy! We are on it! We have several strategies for organic weed management, depending on what is being maintained.

• For graveled areas like pathways, we find it easiest to cover them with weed fabric right after the first rain. That way, the soil is soft enough to put staples in but the weeds haven't started growing yet. If we miss the early window to get the fabric down, we'll do a cleanup on the pathways with a hula hoe to get the large weeds, then cover. When we take the fabric off in the spring, the area is perfectly weed-free, with no weeding necessary!
• For annual beds, we seed them with cover crops. In the spring, we mow the cover crop and cover with weed fabric for 3-4 weeks. When we take the weed fabric off, we have a perfectly mulched bed, ready to plant!
• For perennial beds, we do a thorough weeding first, then add a good thick layer of compost or mulch around the plants to prevent any new weed seeds from sprouting, leaving some clear space around the crown of the plant to discourage fungus.
• For grassy areas, we mow, trying to do it in often enough that the weedy plants don't have a chance to go to seed. It doesn't always work because we run out of time, but by April, we've usually got it under control.