Savaan Davis

That's a great list, thanks Tyler. The chance of perennials getting dug up or ran over the first summer are too high so I will be very selective with these the first year.

Most of the trees and herbaceous plants you listed made it to my list for later. The black eye pea is a great nitrogen fixer and looks like it will work well in my soil. I have never heard of the tepary bean before, it works with alkaline soil but haven't seen anything on how well it fixes nitrogen.

I have also added white or yellow sweet clover( Trifolium repens L.) for it's fungal relationship in regards to P deficiency. I need more plants that help the fungi with phosphate release but haven't found much.

I have purchased some land with neglected soil and a few challenges. I'm trying to make a plan to repair the soil and could use some help. My priorities are to cover crop the soil, grow and haul in organic matter, increase microbial life, modify the land with swales possibly adding a wetland area, then finally planting perennial trees and shrubs. My farm equipment consists of hand tools and a pickup truck. I wish to avoid commercial amendments and I want to avoid using manure because of salts, unwanted seeds and pathogens. The nutrient sources I want to use are compost, leaves, wood chips, rotten logs, straw, diluted human urine and growing the right plants that will both break down minerals and fix nitrogen. The only commercial product (other than seeds) I plan to use will add mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria.

My first step is to give the land a quick spring cover mix and I need some ideas that will actually grow in my alkaline, clay soil with flood irrigation. I will not kill the cover crop or till the soil so perennial grasses and legumes that will re-seed themselves are kind of what I'm looking for. While that's growing the second step is to fix the erosion situation with swales, wetlands and finding a better solution for watering other than flood.

The previous owner died so little is known about the land other than what can be observed from Google Earth image history and what a soil test told me. Looks like it was used for a few grazing animals probably horses, the land was tilled every few years and the land is watered with flood irrigation. It looks like the last few years (probably due to owners health) it didn't even get water so most of the veg is either dead or dormant. The land is located in Colorado around 5000ft elevation.

The bad:
7.9 pH
high lime, low N, low P
3.6% organic matter
Under 12" of annual rainfall

The good:
All other nutrients, metals and salts are at acceptable levels
Irrigation water rights grant significant amounts of water
Irrigation head gate opens mid April and closes the end of October.

What cover crop seeds should I use to start the repair? Any constructive comments or suggestions on my soil repair plan are welcome.