These are cover crops.

Here's a run-on sentence for you: I'm learning so much so quickly so I'm going to try to make note of all of it here but to be honest I don't think I'll succeed at this ever because there is too much to know, oh well.

Now, here's my attempt at covering cover crops.

These are cover crops. Bell beans in the foreground!

Here's the farm and garden when we first arrived. Since, we've skimmed it all down and put it in our compost piles for brewing.

Cover crops are plants grown intentionally during off-season times to condition soil and supply 'green manure' for compost-making. Depending on what cover crops are planted, various soil conditioning services are rendered, ie. rye grass roots break up hard soil clods, bell bean roots fix nitrogen into the soil. In general, cover crops also protect soil surfaces from weathering/erosion from wind/rain while housing beneficial insects that eat pests. They're pretty functional but can be aesthetically pleasing, too.

Last year in Taiwan, I remember seeing flower ocean ['Hua Hai'] fields in the winter time. Farmers used cosmos and other attractive, flowering cover crops during the winter to promote tourism in their region. Um, at least that's what my taxi driver tour guide told me. She seemed like a genuine person, I don't know.