Back when I was living on a farm and there was a war on, fertilizer was in short supply so my Dad planted clover to bring nitrogen into the soil. It is feeding my asparagus and berries right now while the bees enjoy the blosums. As I recall the chickens and hogs ate some also; the price is right-- Overbore
Clover seems to be pretty common, a lot of farmers in the area use to plant it. I haven't seen any fields planted with it lately, it seems that everybody would rather spray crap on the fields instead. I know rabbits loved it, I could always find them around a clover field. Clover honey has it's own unique flavor.
Manure and trespassers work well too. lol I havent tried the planted clover but have found that small fish under the plants in the garden make a HUGE difference for the plants.
Clover adds nitrogen to the soil.... good thing. Planting buckwheat and then tilling it under really improves poor quality soil also.
I was talking to my father the other day about this, he suggested planting soybeans. You can harvest the bean (although they are VERY HARD to shuck) and still get the nitrogen from the plants. They store it in nodules on their roots. Two years ago my father planted a hybrid cross of soy and lima beans. They made decent baked beans out of them!
Composted Manure works well. Composted leaves, grass clippings and kitchen left overs. Ashes from the bar-b-q pit. Crop rotation works well, like as started before with clover. After an area of the field has been planted in potatoes during the spring, that fall you should plant a crop of peas. The following spring plant corn.
here in the city i get shelled bean hulls from the agri. center's farmer's market. when mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with leaves and other ammendments the nitrogen in the damp bean shells raised the temp in the pile to 147 F after 3 days. and they are free. and the guys shelling the peas/beans even bag up the empty shells.
