T wrote:
....
My wife is scared to death of buckwheat as thee is
a severe allergy in her family to it (but not her yet).

interesting! i've never heard of an
allergy to it before. they are no fun for
sure as i have reactions to some plants too
ones that i actually like (lilacs, lavender,
yarrow).


Is Winter Rye the same stuff that gives you diabetes,
such as what is used in Rye Bread, etc.? Is so, I'd
rather plant something I can eat. My purslane is
already giving me seeds, so maybe ...

it doesn't bother me. no, the point was, when you
have extra space that you don't have planted with
veggies is to fill it with a benificial ground cover
plant, to help suppress weeds and create topsoil/humus.
weeds are opportunists, fill the niche with a more
useful plant and you get topsoil faster. winter rye
is one of the most common used plants to break up
hard soil. it sends out huge amounts of roots. i've
done it here in this clay in the fall, turned it under
in the spring and the soil was great that season. you
don't have to let it get to seed/head stage, just chop
it back and turn it under before the soil dries out.


songbird