A winter-hardy climbing legume that covers bare beds through the cold months and hands back a large nitrogen supply when cut down in spring.
Vicia villosa · also called Winter vetch, Sand vetch
30–45 days before the first hard frost, so plants reach 4–6 in tall.
Late summer, right after pulling a finished summer crop.
As soon as soil can be raked, for a short 60-day green manure.
One fall sowing protects soil from winter rain, smothers early weeds, and banks nitrogen in its roots and stems for the crops that follow. Few cover crops give more spring biomass in a home bed.
A little history. A winter annual legume native to Europe and western Asia. Bacteria living in nodules on its roots take nitrogen from air spaces in the soil and convert it into a form plants can absorb.
Sow seeds ¾ inch (19 mm) deep, and aim for 2 inches (5 cm) between plants once thinned. Rake seed under ½ to 1 in of soil, tamp firmly, and keep the surface damp until sprouts show. Uncovered seed on crusted ground fails. Seedlings emerge in 7–14 days.
Water at sowing and every few days until seedlings are 3 in tall, then rely on rain. Water when water if the top inch is dry during the first three weeks. Aim for about 1 inch per week while establishing.
No nitrogen at any point; add phosphorus or potassium only if a soil test is low. What to use: coat seed with pea and bean inoculant powder before sowing instead of fertilizer.
Mow or shear tall spring growth back to 4 in if vines start climbing into neighboring plants. Leave the clippings on the surface as mulch.
It's ready when terminate when the first purple flower spikes open, usually mid to late spring. That is the point of most nitrogen with residue that still breaks down quickly. Cut or mow at the soil line, or crimp vines flat with a board. Either leave the mat as mulch and plant transplants through it, or turn the top 4 in of soil and wait 2–3 weeks before sowing seed.
Not a food crop. Keep leftover seed in a sealed jar in a cool, dry, dark place; it stays sound for about five years.
Spring sowings can be cut and turned under after 60 days, then followed by a summer crop in the same bed.
Overwinters as a low mat with no protection once plants reach 4–6 in. A light straw mulch helps in beds that lose snow cover to wind.
Rye
Rye stems hold vetch vines up off wet winter soil so growth stays open and dry, while the vetch banks nitrogen that helps break down rye's tough straw the following season. Sow the two together at about half rate each.
Oats
Oats grow fast in fall and give young vetch something to climb before cold sets in. Oats usually winterkill and collapse into mulch, leaving the hardier vetch standing with a ready-made frame.
Wheat
Wheat's stiff stems lift vetch vines into the light, and the mix produces more total growth than either sown alone. The nitrogen the vetch stores is released as roots break down for next season's crop.
Barley
Barley establishes quickly and gives the climbing vetch support through winter; the pairing covers bare ground faster than vetch on its own, which cuts weed germination in the bed.
Spelt
Spelt's tall stems carry vetch tendrils upward instead of letting them mat on the ground. Mow both at vetch's first bloom so the coarse grain straw and soft vetch tops break down together.
Emmer
Emmer gives the vines a sturdy ladder over winter, and the vetch adds nitrogen to a mix that is otherwise all carbon, so the residue rots down faster after mowing.
Einkorn
Einkorn's fine stems are enough to hold vetch off the soil surface in a small bed. Sow them mixed rather than in separate rows so the tendrils find support within a few inches.
Tomato
Mowed hairy vetch left on the surface has been shown to work well as a planting mulch for tomatoes: it holds soil moisture, keeps splashing soil off lower leaves, and supplies nitrogen as it breaks down. Set transplants through slits in the mat.
Fennel
Fennel's roots release compounds that reliably stunt most garden plants, and vetch seedlings are small and slow enough to suffer badly. Grow fennel in its own corner, where its flowers can still feed hoverflies and tiny parasitic wasps.
Asparagus
Vetch twines onto anything nearby and drops hard seed that sprouts for years, so it can tangle a permanent asparagus row and make spear cutting awkward. Keep it in annual beds you will mow and turn.
Onion
Old companion charts have long kept the onion family away from peas, beans, and vetch. No mechanism has been demonstrated, so treat it as tradition; the practical concern is simply that a vetch mat crowds slender onion tops.
Give the pea and bean family 2 years away from this spot before any of its relatives return.
The cabbage family, the beet family or grasses and grains thrive in this ground next season.
A giver: it leaves nitrogen behind in roots and residue, released as that residue breaks down. Follow with hungry cabbage-family crops, beets and chard, or a grain. Wait two years before returning peas, beans, or vetch to this bed.
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