It seems like I was just fretting about planting the garden, and now it is frenzy of harvesting and preserving. But in the back of my mind on these cool nights, is that fall isn’t too far off and winter will be here before I know it.
I plant a variety of cover crops, and I plant them in succession too, just to fit them in with existing crops.
Cover crops can serve many purposes. They help build organic matter, hold the soil during winter rains, leave residues that can choke out problem weeds, and fix nitrogen in the soil.
The downside of cover crops in the home garden is that they can be hard to incorporate in the soil the next year when you are itching to get the garden in! There should be at least 3 to 4 weeks after tilling the cover crop in before most vegetable seeds and plants are planted just to make sure the cover crop has properly broken down and it’s allelopathic properties are no longer present.
Another downside I have discovered the hard way, is that most cover crops become a reliable food source for deer and elk in the winter, and provide cover for voles that like to eat my roots crops. However, if you have those critters under control – don’t let my mis-management sway you from using a cover crop. Each gardener has to do the pro and con list to find out what works the best for them in their conditions.
The most popular cover crop is annual or cereal rye. It is cold hardy and while it may remain short and dormant during the coldest of weather, once the weather breaks it will take off like gangbusters. Often rye is planted in conjunction with Hairy Vetch or Austrian Peas which are both cold hardy legumes that will fix nitrogen.
Winter killed cover crops such as Oats or Field Peas work well in home gardens because they make some growth in the fall, and then are killed by frost, leaving a mulch behind that will hold the soil through the winter, but will be easy to incorporate in the spring in a home garden setting. Sudan grass or Sudex is also useful and winter-kills reliably even here in our mild Pacific Northwest winters. However, it can be toxic to livestock if grazed when it is frosted, for that reason I don’t use it. But, if you don’t have livestock – go for it. Sudan really can break up hardpan and suppress weeds.
All in all I would say cover cropping is a necessary skill to add to your gardening repertoire. What cover crops work well in your area?
I am brand new at this, so I don’t know much about cover crops in my area (CT) and don’t have the space in my own small garden. But now you have me curious, so I think I’ll ask my local CSA and other farmers about it – they have been so receptive to all my questions about their practices. Do you harvest and use your cover crop, or is it just for land improvement/preservation purposes?
As a general rule, cover crops are used for soil improvement purposes, especially when farmers or gardeners don’t have, or use livestock manures as part of their fertility program. In the home garden a bed could be devoted to growing a dual purpose cover crop for instance the rye or oats, if allowed to grow to full maturity the grain can be harvested for seed and as grain, and the stalk which is straw could then be utilized as mulching material. Grown in this manner, a cover crop would be a very useful part of the rotation giving even more benefits than just holding the soil during the winter months.
Generally, I view my cover cropping endeavors as a weed suppressing tool, and soil protectant for the long, wet winters.
I need to plant some sudan to break up my tough clay soil in my newer planting areas. I’ll have to find a source and give it a go this fall.
Chiot’s Run, you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the sudan works! It puts on an incredible amount of biomass.
I have goats and horses, and as careful as you are, you can never guarantee something won’t get out, so Sudan’s out for me. That’s too bad because it would be really useful here.
We have so. many. voles here. Even the kittens are catching them. Our cats were having to be heavily supplemented at our old house with all of the owls and hawks around to help keep the rodents down. Out here, even with *more* hawks and owls, there is no shortage of voles, so I’ll have to keep that in mind when planting cover crops.
Sarah, I hear you on “people” getting out – I drool at my friends farm, her sudan is gorgeous!! She keeps her team elsewhere so no problems for her.
I heard voles were the state rodent in your area
Where getting low on cats here – but the voles seem to be a little less of a problem, this year, I have been religiously keeping my headlands clean and the grass grazed short around the gardens.
My worst experience with voles was one winter when I had the big idea to sheet mulch the milk cow’s bedding over winter. Each day I cleaned her stall and spread it on the garden – I didn’t discover until spring, that the voles loved the warm, composty straw and manure cover. They exploded in numbers – but I sure had nice soil from that sheet composting
It can be quite challenging to fit cover crop into the small home garden, but it is worth it. They build soil faster than about anything I know. Eliot Coleman’s book The New Organic Grower goes into great detail on types of cover crops and how to work them into your rotation/succession plan.
I tend to stay away from rye. It does too well over the winter here and becomes a real problem in the spring when I want to incorporate it. I would only use it on plots I was going to plant late in the season. Even then it is hard to turn under.
Alan…I am sure you know this but cereal rye will usually (usually) not be a problem but rye GRASS (often used in place of cereal rye and can be just as good) will often not die back here in my zone 7 area. The two are not in the same family for others reading this though both are used for cover cropping in the fall.
Alan, I agree with you on the cereal rye – I caution home gardeners about it, because it can get 6 feet tall before it can actually be worked into the soil, and to really do much good root-wise it should head out. I usually mow it several times and then till, but I have a tractor not a small tiller. It works well with a summer fallow program to get rid of quack grass. And is so cold hardy I have seeded it when the ground is frozen in December, as soon as the ground thaws a little, it germinates and goes to town!
Ive not planted a cover crop before and may try it this year. Either a cover crop or some aged horse manure from the local stable. Hmmm.
Annette, both will do wonders!
I like buckwheat as a cover crop in my gardens. It dies quickly at the first frost, protects the soil during the winter, and is easy to turn over in the spring.
Angie, when do you plant the buckwheat for winter cover?
I’m using a cover crop blend on some new soil I’ve tilled for nest year expansion. I don’t use cover crop on my raised beds unless it is buckwheat which I plant sometimes for hubby’s bees! Kim
Kim, can’t wait to see pictures of your blend! The bees absolutely love buckwheat!
On a small garden bed, you can mow a cover crop down with the lawn mower, put the clippings on the compost pile, and turn the bed with a fork and put any live roots on the compost pile as well.
My mom has heavy clay soil (piedmont of NC). She always plants field peas to eat. Daddy “turns them under” with a tractor after they are harvested, and she says that really helps the soil structure.
I frequently plant crimson clover on my sandy loam. I could probably get more biomass if I mowed it down before it bloomed, but it is so pretty blooming that I leave it. It is a good source of nectar for bees also though they prefer the turnips which I leave to bloom to attract beneficial insects. I am told that mustard and turnip blooms make a fine tasting honey.
Bonnie, I usually end up mowing mine too, unless it is something that will winterkill. Your mom is right, I think the ground feels the best after peas or beans. Hard to describe if you haven’t felt it.
I love the crimson clover, but I have never planted it. It is almost too pretty!
We may try buckwheat on the hill (where Son wants to do a hopyard). Our beds we will just cover with straw. On one of them we did favas last winter, and we got a gallon and a half of dried favas, and now the bed is planted for the winter cole crops.
Risa B…try the buckwheat…you will like it. It does reseed itself a bit in my zone 7 but it is easy to pull or cut down if it starts to shade out anything or gets where you don’t want it. It’s not aggressive though. I kind of let it reseed in some areas..but not in others. We did a large bed (twice) one summer to help in a really bad area and it was so beautiful. We had many people stop and ask us what kind of cut flower we were growing
risa b, the hops will like that treatment – our love compost. The ones climbing on the barn are very prolific.
I never have tried the favas either – that sound like a great yield.
I just got my winter coles weeded today – before your rain got here! I’m glad I didn’t wait.
Matron..
Good article. Most gardeners don’t realize how much improvement they will see in just a few years of using cover crops.
Not only do we use cover crops which have helped immensely but we also use heavy mulch cover. I try and use the fall placed mulches on areas where I will plant earliest since I won’t have to dig or wait for breakdown at that point. It does make it a bit more difficult to sow smaller (or tiny) seeds though since it can be a bit lumpier than tilled in decayed cover crop.
For my fall/winter cover crop I am trying broad beans this year. It’s a new one for me but seems to offer cover crop, soil building, food for human and animal all in one kind of small package. Plus it grows through some pretty cold weather but also (supposedly) consistently dies back in the spring. Hopefully it will work for me
Monica, do you have slug problems where you mulch? If we mulch we have terrible problems the next two years since we gave them such a nice warm nest for winter.
Looking forward to seeing how the favas work for you in your garden
Ahh..yes. I forget where you live Matron.
No..no slug problems. Well a few but very very controllable. I guess this just goes to show you that each micro climate requires different care. Your comment to Alan about cereal rye: It does not get that tall here and since it dies back it is easier to control. However the grass called rye …ick..what a booger it can be. For some reason it won’t grow as well in the pasture as it does in my garden and when it does it kills out there just fine. Isn’t that the case always?!
Monica, ahh the slugs – yesterday I think we got ten sprinkles to the acre in a “rain storm” and an hour later on the way to the barn, I saw (and stomped) at least 10 slugs! Unfortunately these aren’t our native wood slugs which don’t seek out gardens, but are the European red slugs Arion rufus which never used to be here 20 years ago. Now they are everywhere and are very voracious!
I’m puzzled about the winter rye dying back in your area, since it is one of the most cold hardy grains for fall planting. Maybe you just work up your soil sooner and it hasn’t began it’s growth spurt yet?? Our coldest temps usually are about 10 degrees sometimes it dips to 5 or so, but I have never seen the rye affected.
I never have used the rye grass, so I can’t really offer any insight on that.
Alan chime in and tell us about rye in your plantings.
My problem with cover crops is deer.
My main crop is garlic (which they wont touch but any legume I plant as a rotation crop attracts dozens of deer).
Milorganite seems to keep them away but it has to be applied every few weeks….and is expensive!
I want a legume that deer wont eat!
Any thoughts?
Marc, I have no idea on that one – that is my problem too. I have yet to plant any cover crop that doesn’t bring in the deer and elk. Legume or grass types seem to offer the succulence they crave in the off season. I don’t need the legumes so much because I have a readily available form of nitrogen – but they seem to relish anything that is young and tender. Sorry…