Selected Seeds (see Chapter 5 for their address). Poppy seed used
for cooking will often sprout. Sown densely in October, it forms a
thick carpet of frilly spring greens underlaid with countless
massive taproots that decompose very rapidly if the plants are
tilled in in April before flower stalks begin to appear. Beware if
using poppies as a green manure crop: be sure to till them in early
to avoid trouble with the DEA or other authorities.

For country gardeners, the best rotations include several years of
perennial grass-legume-herb mixtures to maintain the openness of the
subsoil followed by a few years of vegetables and then back (see
Newman Turner's book in more reading). I plan my own garden this
way. In October, after a few inches of rain has softened the earth,
I spread 50 pounds of agricultural lime per 1,000 square feet and
break the thick pasture sod covering next year's garden plot by
shallow rotary tilling. Early the next spring I broadcast a
concoction I call "complete organic fertilizer" (see _Growing
Vegetables West of the Cascades_ or the _Territorial Seed Company
Catalog_), till again after the soil dries down a bit, and then use
a spading fork to open the subsoil before making a seedbed. The
first time around, I had to break the century-old plowpan--forking
compacted earth a foot deep is a lot of work. In subsequent
rotations it is much much easier.

For a couple of years, vegetables will grow vigorously on this new
ground supported only with a complete organic fertilizer. But
vegetable gardening makes humus levels decline rapidly. So every few
years I start a new garden on another plot and replant the old
garden to green manures. I never remove vegetation during the long
rebuilding under green manures, but merely mow it once or twice a