General
Cover cropping is a part of every well-managed sustainable garden or farm. Cover crops are useful in weed suppression, are important in building soil structure and add nutrients and organic matter to soils. Many of the cover crops we sell not only perform all those useful functions within your growing space but also serve to support beneficial insect populations and provide a secondary harvest of grain, if you choose to allow the crops to go to seed.
Difficulty
Easy.
Planting Seeds
Cover crops can be directly seeded, with not much earth covering the seeds.
Preparing Soil
Simply till the surface of the soil to ensure the dirt is broken up sufficiently.
Planting
Plant any time there is a bare spot in your garden. For winter cover plant late August to early September. Plan to dig or till the cover crop 2-4 weeks before planting your next crop to allow time for the cover crop to decompose.
Growing Tips
Eight reasons to grow cover crops:
- To protect bare soil from being washed or blown away.
- To keep nutrients from being washed out of your soil and to add even more when using our nitrogen fixers.
- To loosen the soil deeper than you can or would want to dig.
- To increase organic matter, improve soil structure, drainage, and aeration.
- To control weeds.
- To help beneficial insects and microorganisms overwinter.
- To increase yields and break pest and disease cycles.
- To grow your own mulch and compost material.
Harvest
Till in or cut cover crops before the seed heads mature. If you till in the whole plants, allow 2-4 weeks for them to decompose, as raw biomass ties up soil nutrients to the detriment of newly planted seedlings.
Cover crops provide the primary benefit of preparing your soil for further vegetable cropping. If you choose to allow your cover crops to go to seed so you can harvest the grain, be aware that their root mass can be extensive and difficult to turn over. That said, your own oats, rye or buckwheat straight from your own garden are really a treat and can aid the determined 100 Mile dieter.
Companion Plants
Cover crops can be killed and tilled into the earth to create "green mulch" for your plants. You may also plant cover crops amoung your regular crops as a living mulch to attract those beneficial insects to your garden.
Insects
Cover crops attract beneficial insects to your garden, such as bees and butterflies. These little guys are helpful in the garden, doing tasks so you don't have to!
