overwintering Rejuvenating garden beds during winter?

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

Hi all

I'm trying to be more organised this year and start getting things ready now for next season as I will be having a baby at the end of June and know I will be busy/preoccupied for quite awhile.

I was thinking of planting a winter crop of something in my garden beds to enrich the soil and keep out weeds. On the other hand though I think then you have to go and turn this stuff over for it to work and I don't really want to do any physical work either. Usually each year I get a truck load of soil improver/good veggie soil mix and top up the beds,add some manure etc. which is hard work, but want to do as little as possible as I have lots of other things that I also need to concentrate on.

Is there something that you can suggest I do to replenish my soil over winter which doesn't require much attention or after care work? Most of the soil here is very sandy so nutrients don't hang around very long. I have put some Zeolite in in the past which is supposed to help bind and hold nutrients and some humic acid which I will probably do again. Perhaps maybe add some more active enzymes etc?

If not I may just cover it with weed mat or black plastic in the mean time.
I'm open to any ideas???

Thanks

 

[ZanderSpice]

I planted a patch of non-dormant alfalfa to choke out weeds, break up soil and add organic matter. I only watered it a bit over the winter and it did really well. The soil became so loose that I just pulled the alfalfa out by hand and threw it in the compost pile. I'll be doing cover crop in between vegetable crops from now on.

 

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

I planted a patch of non-dormant alfalfa to choke out weeds, break up soil and add organic matter. I only watered it a bit over the winter and it did really well. The soil became so loose that I just pulled the alfalfa out by hand and threw it in the compost pile. I'll be doing cover crop in between vegetable crops from now on.

So how does it add back organic matter if you are taking it out of the soil?
I could do that and if we don't eat it throw it to our chickens, I'm sure they will like it.

 

[srin2]

lime your garden patch b4 winter.

 

[ZanderSpice]

So how does it add back organic matter if you are taking it out of the soil?
I could do that and if we don't eat it throw it to our chickens, I'm sure they will like it.

Well, I put down some compost before planting and when I removed the alfalfa I only pulled the tops up. When I pulled them up it broke up the soil and left a ton of roots down below. Eventually the tops will be composted and go back down in the ground. I wish I took before and after pictures of the soil. It's now very healthy and much easier to work.