Helen Atthowe, Missoula County Horticulturist (1995-2010) speaks about a variety of experiments with living mulch. She covers minimum till, no till and full till.
Helen talks about creating beneficial insect habitats: bees, parasitic wasps, (in april she was experiencing a 1-to-1 ratio of parasitized aphids to non parasitized aphids), spiders, ground beetles ...
Broccoli, brussel sprouts and cabbage yields are explored. Using three foot wide raised beds.
The minimum till was done with a single shank chisel plow followed by a light tilling with a tiller/rotovator.
Living mulches experimented with include clover which contributes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but also competes with the production crop. The trick is to find the balance and get the best of all worlds.
