One of the easiest and most effective cover crops to plant in your garden in the fall is "Annual Rye Grass".  It grows in a relatively short time and is so easy to plant. It's a seed that you basically "throw it on and let it grow"!  It will grow fast in the late fall and winter when the garden is idle.  Besides the abundant top growth, it produces incredible quantities of small hair roots which break up the soil, decompose quickly and add humus to the soil.  Just till it into the soil in the spring! 

16 elements are essential for healthy plants to grow.

Three of the 16 come from air and water:

• Carbon
• Hydrogen
• Oxygen

The other six major elements and seven minor ones all come from the soil.

Most western soils are rich in all of these elements except for 3 major elements: 

• Nitrogen
• Phosphorus
• Potassium

AND 2 minor elements

• Iron
• Zinc

Once you understand what a plant needs to thrive you will have a greater desire to strengthen and nourish your soil, long before planting season begins.

Major elements include:

• Nitrogen
• Phosphorous
• Potassium
• Sulfur
• Calcium
• Magnesium

Minor Elements include:

• Iron
• Zinc
• Manganese
• Copper
• Chlorine
• Boron
• Molybdenum