Cover Crop

The end of the Spring/Summer growing season marked the end of production on certain areas of our garden.  On some areas, I rotate directly into the Fall/Winter rotation, but in others I use cover-cropping.  We just harvested a bunch of sweet potatoes.  In fact, we've had our best harvest ever.  Once all the sweet potatoes were dug up, it left a pretty large open spot in the garden - one that lends itself perfectly to cover cropping.

Cover cropping (some call it 'green manure') helps improve the soil in numerous ways:

1. By having something growing, the impact of erosion is lessened from wind and rain runoff,
2. Having thick cover crops crowd out problematic winter weed growth,
3. Working the cover crop into the soil adds much needed organic matter,
4. The root system of the cover crop adds to the soil structure by opening channels for air/water movement in the soil.
5. If you cover crop with peas, you'll fix nitrogen in the soil.

The plants that you are growing are pulling nutrients from the soil.  Think about it like you're removing money from your savings account.  If you keep removing money from your account without adding or replenishing it with funds at least as much as you're withdrawing, you'll find yourself in a deficit situation.  (Exhibit A: US Federal Government)  Similarly, with your soil, you'll want to build it by adding at least as much and hopefully more nutrients than the crops used.  For health of your soil and your budget, you must not take out more than you put back in.  Simple agronomy and financial wisdom.

I mixed a bunch of cow peas and bean seeds that I saved from a couple of years ago to make my cover crop mix.  You can also plant clover, soybeans, rye grass, etc.


My cover crop mix for this year

Here is the area from which we just harvested a bunch of sweet potatoes.  Benjamin really enjoys finding the sweet potatoes after I turn over the soil.  I made some trenches lengthwise and about 2 feet apart and will plant my cover crop seed mix in it.


Cover crop plot that is ready for seeding

I'm not too particular about spacing.  I just walk along the trench and sprinkle the seed as evenly as possible.


Broadcasting the cover crop mix

  

And finally, I use a rake to put a little dirt over the seeds that I just sowed to cover the crop (ba dum bum!)  We got a nice rain shortly after planting that will hopefully germinate the seeds and produce some nice growth to cover the barren area of the garden and provide some good benefits to the soil.


Covering the newly planted seeds

One additional thing I'll do is sprinkle some radish and turnip seeds between the areas I've planted.  These root crops will open up the soil, provide cover and produce some "candy" for the cows on those cold, gray winter days.  Once the peas have grown up and just prior to them setting seed, I'll turn them under and incorporate all that good organic matter in the soil.  I think of it like my own deficit-reduction plan providing money in the bank!