To innovate systems that reduce tillage and keep the soil covered using cover crops for organic vegetable production in southern Ontario, Ken Laing tested 60+ combinations of crops and ground cover over three years.

In a Nutshell

The most promising systems that emerged from his investigations included:

• Garlic no-till planted in the fall into a mown cover crop of sorghum sudangrass
• Potatoes no-till planted into winter rye, which is mown before potato emergence
• Winter squash no-till planted into hairy vetch or deep compost mulch
• Field tomatoes planted into winter rye and hairy vetch; with more trials needed to confirm