"If you are fielding cover crop questions, could you please speak to the compatibility of that concept with no-till gardening (Back to Eden concept with wood chips). I live in the north with great availability of wood chips. I'm not certain how to combine the two methods. Thank you!"

--- merryann

For those unfamiliar with the concept, the Back to Eden system is similar to the the instant no-till techniques I outline in Small-Scale No-Till Gardening Basics (which is available in print as part of The Ultimate Guide to Soil). Basically, you lay down a cardboard kill layer in new ground, top it off with three to four inches of compost, then add wood chips on top as mulch.

Okay, back to merryann's question. It is tricky to choose cover crops that suit no-till gardening, but luckily there are several that work well once you weed out the problematic species. The tricky part is making sure you select cover crops that are easy to kill, either with winter cold (probably a good choice for you), mowing at bloom time, or hand weeding out. My top choices given those constraints are buckwheat for summer, oats and oilseed radishes for late summer planting with optimal fall growth, and rye for full winter and spring coverage.

The only major difference between the Back to Eden garden and my version of no-till from a cover-crop point of view is using wood chips instead of straw for mulch. You'll want to rake back the wood chips to expose bare ground before planting your cover crops, and since wood chips will likely smother your seedlings in a way straw won't I'd also rake back a bit of the compost/topsoil as well. After sprinkling your cover crop seeds, just pull the excess soil back over top (leaving the wood chips along the edge of the bed) and you're good to go!

I'd love to see your Back to Eden garden full of cover crops. I hope you'll drop back by next year once you have photos to share!