Green Manure

Today I had the pleasure of planting strawberries in a patch that I had planted with winter rye last fall. Unlike the hard, dry bare soil in the rest of the garden, the soil where the rye had been was moist and soft. I left as much of the broken-up rye roots in the soil as possible (that's where the nitrogen has been fixed).
CORRECTION- Rye doesn't fix nitrogen. But the hairy vetch I planted with it does :)

So not only does growing winter rye (w/hairy vetch) enrich the soil, it makes the ground easier to work the next spring!

Seedling update:
All the seedlings planted out a week ago were fine as of yesterday IF they were covered by plastic bottle cloches. If they weren't covered, they're dead now, or on the way to it. Last night all the tender beds were covered with black plastic and the 28 degree temperatures didn't bother them at all.

Still no sprouting activity for carrots or peas.