"George.com" wrote in message
...
Does anyone here maintain a permanent living mulch/cover crop on a vege
garden. If so, what do you use.

I am looking for a permanent living mulch that would broadly fit the
following parameters

I am looking for something that would do ok on raised garden beds roughly
1.5 m wide and 3-4 m long and 200-300 mm high.

ideally a nitrogen fixer
smething that does not grow too high or too quickly
something that does not grow dense mat across the garden
something that will survive a few winter frosts and dry summers
something that I can cut back but which will slowly works its was back to
health
something that will last a few years

I have thought of various clovers. In my lawn I have Dutch/New Zealand
white clover which is ok but does run quite wild and is quite thick. A
mate
suggested maybe red clover. I have investigated both, red clover is edging
ahead as it has a shorter life than white. This will be useful if I want
to terminate my trial

My growing conditions.
1200 mm average annual rainfall - most falling in winter
Winter - frosts (maybe 10-15 per year with perhaps -3 or 4 celcius at its
severe worst) highs less than 14 dgrees C.
Summer - dry between jan - march, average temp around 24 but highs from
time
to time up around 28-30 and humid
Inland setting

Any tentative suggestions welcomed. Thanks

After some research and thought I have decided to trial blcoks of
subterranean clover and red clover. I will put them in at the end of summer
and monitor how they go. Ultimately, you can do much reading but if you
can't observe someone else doing it, only way to find out is do it yourself.

rob