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@@FujitheChef "It sounds like a great idea to reduce waste! 🍻 Who would have thought that beer waste could 'go gardening'? 😄 Maybe the beer waste will make the plants feel more 'optimistic'! If plants could drink beer, which one do you think they would choose to 'relax' after a long day? 🌱🍺"
Last October I planted garlic, then scattered the soil builder peas and oats, plus a few handfuls of home saved mustard seed, and spread an inch of compost over top. Everything grew and grew until mid January here, where we got down to 15°. About 95% of the cover crop died off, which i just mulched over with shredded leaves. The garlic grew right through it all, and gave us the biggest heads we've grown so far (even though conventional wisdom keeps saying garlic doesn't like having neighbors). It was totally worth it!
Thank you for sharing! I've been wondering about interplanting alliums with cover crops, since the in ground beds i planted them in last year ended up really dry and clay-y by the time I harvested in summer. I've been trying to figure out which areas I can fit in which cover crops and which will be already occupied by overwintering plants.
I have like 3 bags of soil builder peas and oats but I only grow in containers so, I’m holding them for the day I finally have an in ground garden lmao
It's crazy that most people buy dry bean seed packets for a couple dollars for maybe a dozen seeds, when they can just go to the grocery isle and buy a half pound bag for the same couple dollars. Just goes to show how greedy the seed companies can be.
I’m up in the northern plains. Things freeze pretty early and stay that way. So in the fall when I’m emptying my patio pots, I replant the whole pot into my empty raised beds. It could be flowers, basil, hot pepper plants, a patio tomato that seems to still be kickin. And then the whole thing dies and it buried under the snow for several months. In the spring I mulch it all in. I am not allowed a compost heap where I live, so this was the next best thing.
I did winter rye last year, and my garden this year was ridiculous! Giant flowers, fruits, and vegetables compared to last year. It was a bit of a challenge to cut and till in a small raised bed, but it really worked so well!
This is just the video I needed, thank you! I built a bunch of raised beds over last winter and filled them up with soil that had 30% compost + the compost and organic matter I added myself. I thought that'd be enough for great soil, but the first rain made the soil like, rock hard on top. It definitely needs MUCH more help so I'll absolutely be doing some cover crops to get it headed in the right direction for next spring.
I have done several voiceovers for Birch. In fact, some of the footage from Birch was part of the commercial. lol love it. One of my favorite companies I have ever worked with. Right on Epic!
Up in Lake County, Cali, Field Morning Glory, a bindweed and another invasive weed, grows everywhere. Even though it demands water, it breaks up our clay soils. In my raised bed I planted comfrey. I'll snip its leaves off, let them dry in the Sun, then crumble those leaves so it returns those nutrients back to the soil. Crimson Clover for a cover crop, for sure!
Up here in 2/3, I use winter wheat and pile on wheat straw. We hit -30° , and colder every year. It comes up in early spring, even if its cold. I kill it when it's about 3 inches tall. Works great.
I remember when yall went after those cover crops with machetes 😂. Watching you and Jaques play in the backyard like kids is hilarious and joyful. Never grow all the way up ❤
I live in south east Queensland ( Self Sufficient Me territory) no need for cover crop just grow food through winter, the trade off is fruit fly, lots and lots of fruit fly.
Crimson clover is my fav here in zone 9b. Beautiful mass of green with bright maroon flowers that bees go crazy for. Rabbits discovered it last year and they had a party. i let neighbors Irish Setter pup run thru the clover, smashing it down, rolling, leaping, and playing. He had so much fun as the Terminator!
I scatteted seeds of 15 varieties of lettuce in one bed and left them alone. I had lots of lettuce through winter, enough yo feed the neighbours as well. Our winter has been mild this year. I grow lettuce that way every winter. Melbourne Australia.
Cover crops also force a bed to rest and forces alternating crops. I find seasonal cover crops to be the most effective at building soil structure and nutrients. Way too few gardeners use cover crops 🌻
Elbon Rye in milder zones like 8A will survive winter and studies show the roots can trap and reduce root knot nematodes. The roots are super dense if planted thick so cultivator is needed to break them up. I use it annually because of RKN issues I have to deal with.
Roots draw nutrients from lower down and bring it to the top and when you chop and drop, or harvest and compost those nutrients are at the top. It will also keep the good life in the soil alive, especially if planting varieties that are sufficiently different what you will plant (e.g like rotsting crops). It can also help stop your soil from going dry and hydrophobic.
Thank you so much again for showing wheat again! It was my dream to be able to grow grain while making the soil better for future generations. Can’t wait to see what you guys do in the future if you decide to continue with grains
It would be great if you had a more real-time notification of what you're planting so people can follow along. Jaque's got maybe a month's growth in those fava beans by now? I would have loved to plant some in August had I know that was the time.
oh god I saw the hairy vetch and immediately went NOPE. I live in northern ontario and that stuff is super invasive - i'd never put it in a bed intentionally lol
I have been pulling up the vetch from our newly built home's backyard which was a former tobacco field. Duh! Vetch was the cover crop. No wonder so many weeds loved those areas. It is also incredibly invasive here in Raleigh, NC. Thanks for the cover crop tips!
Woah!! This is good advice. I am new to gardening and learning so much. Thank you so much and good luck to all of the gardeners including beginners ❤❤❤
Timely video as usual Kevin... I just purchased my Botanical Interests cover crop seeds today & decided to go with Crimson Clover for under my fruit trees & Peas & Oats for my raised beds. While I was at it, I also purchased large packages of BI's Snap Peas, Spinach & Cilantro. Cheers my friend...
I need a clarification based on what Jacques said. At the end of the season, do you just chop the eggplant, peppers, tomatoes etc, and leave the roots in the soil or do you rip the whole plant out??
This year is my first using a cover crop. I'm zone 6b. It's a mix of peas, hairy vetch, oats, and other seeds. They're already growing and I'm looking forward to the soil improvements 🥰
In coastal southern California I have used fava beans as a cover crop. When the pods are plump, but still tender, I steam them as I would string beans or pea pods. when they are mature, but still green, they must be taken out of the pods, and from each bean remove the shell. Then they can be steamed like lime beans. The plants themselves can be composted or just cut down to serve as mulch.
To build our house, the land had to be scraped down to hard clay and rock. One of the things I did was scatter daikon radish seeds. They drill down and help break up the soil and then die off and decompose and enrich the soil that way . I scatter those seeds every fall.
Is there any reason that you didn't mention alfalfa? I was considering planting it to boost my soil while I am not using an area because I have heard it is the best nitrogen fixer.
Why do few people talk about Mustard cover crops and their benefits. I think it might be the best solution for people who can't rotate, have had problems with pests (including disease). I'm trying cover cropping in my raised beds for the first time this year- Trifecta Power Blend Mustard. Anyone thinking about doing this must know how to terminate it properly to get the benefits of pest/disease elimination/reduction. I am in zone 8a
We're in Zone 8a (AL) as well, and we were wanting to try a cover crop in a couple of our raised beds as well. I have watched a couple of videos on Mustard cover crops. I am interested on the proper way to terminate it if you care to share. Thanks 😊
I use mustard every winter. Terminating is easy and if you do it right they don't come back. Mustard is a good biofumigant. I chop it, pull it, and turn the plants under. I plant a variety called Florida mustard.
oh fun! Hairy Vetch is native to my area. It grows wild all over the woods! Yes I would have to manually kill it because I'm zone 5 and it for sure overwinters no problem.
I've been researching cover crops for my area this last week. Going to do clover, buckwheat and oats for my soil. First year with it.. fingers crossed I remember to terminate before seeds.
I have hairy vetch up here in zone 5a NH that has popped up in my flower beds...I personally find it's is terribly hard to get rid. of. Pops up everywhere, would not use as a cover crop ha ha just my experience.
Hairy fetch has become invasive here in south central Alaska. It's creeps and vines and slowly kills what ever it vibes on. It is horrible here in Alaska.
I'm in zone 8a near memphis, and I've planted hairy vetch, clover, and wheat as a cover crop. I've noticed that depending on what I plant afterwards, I might not need to terminate it. The summer heat terminates it for me. So if I plant something in May or June, like a late squash, I don't need to do much to any of them. By that point its dying off on its own, and I just need to remove the debris, and plant like normal.
Do you have any good ideas for how to keep the soil nice over winter, when you are just growing on a balcony/way smaller space in smaller planters? I'd hate to have to constantly keep buying new soil.
Sooo, I grew sweet potatoes up here in zone 2/3 this year. I didn't know, until today, that it was successful. They produced despite starting them inside, up-potting them 3 times inside, and finally planting in large totes, yes toted, outside in June. And... despite fighting every imaginable fo, and I do mean every fo. I'd tell you how, but honestly, everything I did goes against everything I know from 35+ years of experience, in gardening, and in growing sweet potatoes. Oh, and yes, I kept it 100% organic. I'm blown away. I should have just had beautiful plants/vines growing over the trellises that are in the totes, and over the sides of the totes. Possibly some small skinny potatoes. These sweet potatoes are beautiful. Now.. I'm figuring out a way to cure them, because it's a cold dry climate. They need 80° to 85° and humidity to cure. I'll rig something up.
@@carolann1906 Birdies beds are going to be a few years away of an expense for me. I've got 4 raise beds I built out of salvaged pallets. 2 will need to be replaced or majorly repaired for next season. Mulching with leaves seems like my best best too as they're free and plentiful coming soon!
Thank you for this video! What are good cover crop options for a partially shady planting area, i.e. less than 6 hours of sunlight a day. My neighbor's big ugly house looms over our garden space and sunlight is minimal during the winter months :/
You can! I cover crop all of my containers. Last year I planted mustard greens. I am in 7b so I need something cold hardy that isn't a pain to terminate and work into the soil.
We don't have winter in the tropics but I suppose a cover crop would be needed if not growing any food crop during the rainy season (pretty rare in rice fields since they plant multiple cropping over the year. The question is what plant. 😅
Ok gentlemen; my biggest question has always been: which season is best for which CC, and which crop families benefit most from certain CC. Eg. I plant clover over summer between my lettuce patches, but I would never plant buckwheat at this time. Similarly, I like oats during winter because they help with soil compaction which seems to happen more over the winter months.
What do you suggest for NW MT? Like a comment said above, I’m a couple weeks away from first frost. I’m not sure if these apply with frost coming so soon
I planted fava beans partly because I heard it was a great cover crop but I wanted to have the beans, also. The plants came up in the fall shortly after I planted them. They grew pretty slowly and then before I knew it they were buried under about a foot of snow. Chicago has some brutal winters. When the snow melted they were completely unaffected! They were still growing around July and I needed the space so I cut their season short. Aphids love the tops of the plants also.
My bed is dry and covered. I’ve been growing inside hydroponics I plan to move into my new greenhouse. The raised bed is dry as I’ve not planted anything for 3 years. Does buckwheat need a lot of water? Temps are dropping to freezing soon.
I'm helping my aunt out with building raised beds and having a plan for her garden. Here in South Carolina it gets so hot in the summer she has little interest in being out in that sun then especially as she gets older. In passing she has just mentioned leaving the beds bare and I know that is not the right option. This is a great video and while winter focused I think Crimson Clover is a good option for her. I think anything that might seed has a chance of dominating her garden. Any advice?
Not spent beer hops alone, but I've used spent beer grains mixed with hops. They're very hot and bioactive once they come out of the mash. Great way to reinvigorate a hot pile that's gone a bit cool, but fair warning, use lots of brown waste with them - if you don't cover them with brown waste you will have a smell as they break down.
I made a 1 sqft garden section all around the edge of my backyard fence. I recently planted wheat 🌾 sprinkled all over. I should get 10-15 lbs of winter wheat next spring. Plus my dog likes to eat it so maybe less than that?
Crimson clover has one issue though, it doesn't like alkaline soils. If you have a pH around 8, like at my place, it will NOT grow well. Also 2 big things you're not mentionning and are at the base of cover crops. 1) You should NOT chop and drop rye, wheat or oats. A lot of them WILL grow back. What you need to do is roll them over or squash them with a plank of wood WHEN THEY FLOWER. If you do it before they flower, they grow back. Annuals die when squashed at the flowering stage. 2) You shouldn't plan a monoculture of cover crop it's not ideal... The minimum number of plant FAMILIES (and not just varieties) you should plant in a mix is 4. If you plant less, you lose biomass. If you plant more, it plateaus, so the optimum is around 4 according to scientists. The reason why you need to have different plant families is simple : plants are good at different nutrient absorption, and share the excess with other plants. They also share the types of bacteria and fungi they interact with. For winter, a classic mix would be rye, vetsch or pea, phacelia, and something like daikon or rape.
If u mix ur mulch into ur soil it will deplete ur soil of nitrogen. Pull mulch aside then plant cover crop. If ur area is already cool, keep mulch aside to keep soil warm enough 4 seeds to germinate n get a few inches growth b4 re-covering w mulch. Hope that helps.
I’m in zone 10a in south Florida so I need to summarize. Any idea on crops to protect my soil in the summer? I can’t grow much in the heat of June, July or August. Thanks!
How do you do chop and drop if you are using wood chip mulch. Do you drop the cuttings on top of the wood chips or move the wood chips out of the garden for the cover crop?
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do you if anyone has experimented with using spent beer hops as a compost ingredient?
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@@FujitheChef "It sounds like a great idea to reduce waste! 🍻 Who would have thought that beer waste could 'go gardening'? 😄 Maybe the beer waste will make the plants feel more 'optimistic'! If plants could drink beer, which one do you think they would choose to 'relax' after a long day? 🌱🍺"
Last October I planted garlic, then scattered the soil builder peas and oats, plus a few handfuls of home saved mustard seed, and spread an inch of compost over top. Everything grew and grew until mid January here, where we got down to 15°. About 95% of the cover crop died off, which i just mulched over with shredded leaves. The garlic grew right through it all, and gave us the biggest heads we've grown so far (even though conventional wisdom keeps saying garlic doesn't like having neighbors). It was totally worth it!
Great idea. Def trying this. Thank you for the tip 🎉
Thank you for sharing! I've been wondering about interplanting alliums with cover crops, since the in ground beds i planted them in last year ended up really dry and clay-y by the time I harvested in summer. I've been trying to figure out which areas I can fit in which cover crops and which will be already occupied by overwintering plants.
I have like 3 bags of soil builder peas and oats but I only grow in containers so, I’m holding them for the day I finally have an in ground garden lmao
Super cheap buckwheat seed tip: buy whole buckwheat at the grocery store (in the dry beans section). It sprouts!
Lentils from the grocer store also grow in my beds. Very pretty and green plants. Easy to dig under.
I planted some grocery store dried beans for my cover crop as an experiment. I planted them less than a week ago… they are two inches tall already!
Love this idea!
It's crazy that most people buy dry bean seed packets for a couple dollars for maybe a dozen seeds, when they can just go to the grocery isle and buy a half pound bag for the same couple dollars. Just goes to show how greedy the seed companies can be.
and you can do the same with popcorn too, but they take nutrients from the soil, but I digress.
I’m up in the northern plains. Things freeze pretty early and stay that way. So in the fall when I’m emptying my patio pots, I replant the whole pot into my empty raised beds. It could be flowers, basil, hot pepper plants, a patio tomato that seems to still be kickin. And then the whole thing dies and it buried under the snow for several months. In the spring I mulch it all in. I am not allowed a compost heap where I live, so this was the next best thing.
I did winter rye last year, and my garden this year was ridiculous! Giant flowers, fruits, and vegetables compared to last year. It was a bit of a challenge to cut and till in a small raised bed, but it really worked so well!
Love to hear it!
Stardew valley taught me the importance of cover crop in the winter too!
No more wasted expensive fertilizer gone between seasons or during winter.
Pea's and Oat's is my favourite cover crop band ...
I did the cover crop as suggested in another video you all made. Did the chop and drop and just rotor tilled. Best soil ever.
Crimson Clover...Over and Over
This is just the video I needed, thank you! I built a bunch of raised beds over last winter and filled them up with soil that had 30% compost + the compost and organic matter I added myself. I thought that'd be enough for great soil, but the first rain made the soil like, rock hard on top. It definitely needs MUCH more help so I'll absolutely be doing some cover crops to get it headed in the right direction for next spring.
I have done several voiceovers for Birch. In fact, some of the footage from Birch was part of the commercial. lol love it. One of my favorite companies I have ever worked with. Right on Epic!
I planted a mixed winter kill cover crop on 3 new beds I just made in preparation for next spring. Everything is about 4” so far after about 10 days🎉
Up in Lake County, Cali, Field Morning Glory, a bindweed and another invasive weed, grows everywhere. Even though it demands water, it breaks up our clay soils.
In my raised bed I planted comfrey. I'll snip its leaves off, let them dry in the Sun, then crumble those leaves so it returns those nutrients back to the soil.
Crimson Clover for a cover crop, for sure!
Up here in 2/3, I use winter wheat and pile on wheat straw. We hit -30° , and colder every year. It comes up in early spring, even if its cold. I kill it when it's about 3 inches tall. Works great.
I remember when yall went after those cover crops with machetes 😂. Watching you and Jaques play in the backyard like kids is hilarious and joyful. Never grow all the way up ❤
What is this thing you refer to as up?
I love the butterfly cameos while Kevin's speaking 🥰🦋🧡
I live in south east Queensland ( Self Sufficient Me territory) no need for cover crop just grow food through winter, the trade off is fruit fly, lots and lots of fruit fly.
Crimson clover is my fav here in zone 9b. Beautiful mass of green with bright maroon flowers that bees go crazy for. Rabbits discovered it last year and they had a party. i let neighbors Irish Setter pup run thru the clover, smashing it down, rolling, leaping, and playing. He had so much fun as the Terminator!
I scatteted seeds of 15 varieties of lettuce in one bed and left them alone. I had lots of lettuce through winter, enough yo feed the neighbours as well. Our winter has been mild this year. I grow lettuce that way every winter. Melbourne Australia.
Cover crops also force a bed to rest and forces alternating crops. I find seasonal cover crops to be the most effective at building soil structure and nutrients. Way too few gardeners use cover crops 🌻
0:38 clover is the traditional one for that as it helps to nitrate to soil
Elbon Rye in milder zones like 8A will survive winter and studies show the roots can trap and reduce root knot nematodes. The roots are super dense if planted thick so cultivator is needed to break them up. I use it annually because of RKN issues I have to deal with.
Roots draw nutrients from lower down and bring it to the top and when you chop and drop, or harvest and compost those nutrients are at the top.
It will also keep the good life in the soil alive, especially if planting varieties that are sufficiently different what you will plant (e.g like rotsting crops).
It can also help stop your soil from going dry and hydrophobic.
Thank you so much again for showing wheat again! It was my dream to be able to grow grain while making the soil better for future generations. Can’t wait to see what you guys do in the future if you decide to continue with grains
If you have to start your cover crop later than you’d like, fleece them, and if you get an untimely frost; elevate the fleece above the tops of the cc
Came here for this info, thanks!!
What do you mean by "fleece" them'"
@@snazzyd8866 it's a winter blanket for your plants!
@@snazzyd8866 Frost fabric, you lay it over frost-sensitive plants to protect them when the temperatures dip too low.
I have a ton of buckwheat seeds... Somewhere. Think I got them from a farm supply site online. Stupidly easy to grow, as is mustard and clover.
It would be great if you had a more real-time notification of what you're planting so people can follow along.
Jaque's got maybe a month's growth in those fava beans by now? I would have loved to plant some in August had I know that was the time.
It's still a great time to plant, even in colder zones. And set a reminder for next year! Good luck 🫡
oh god I saw the hairy vetch and immediately went NOPE. I live in northern ontario and that stuff is super invasive - i'd never put it in a bed intentionally lol
Fair!
Same in Michigan! No thank you. We plant rye for a cover crop.
Same in northern California. I grew up weedeating a few acres of land and lots of it was hairy vetch. It outcompeted a lot of other invasives.
It is also toxic to dogs and cats.
I have been pulling up the vetch from our newly built home's backyard which was a former tobacco field. Duh! Vetch was the cover crop. No wonder so many weeds loved those areas. It is also incredibly invasive here in Raleigh, NC. Thanks for the cover crop tips!
Woah!! This is good advice. I am new to gardening and learning so much. Thank you so much and good luck to all of the gardeners including beginners ❤❤❤
Timely video as usual Kevin... I just purchased my Botanical Interests cover crop seeds today & decided to go with Crimson Clover for under my fruit trees & Peas & Oats for my raised beds. While I was at it, I also purchased large packages of BI's Snap Peas, Spinach & Cilantro. Cheers my friend...
Thank you guys, I was looking for a perfect winter kill crop literally yesterday.. Perfect timing.
Got you!
I need a clarification based on what Jacques said. At the end of the season, do you just chop the eggplant, peppers, tomatoes etc, and leave the roots in the soil or do you rip the whole plant out??
You can also harvest your buckwheat for an interesting pillow filler.
In the NE we plant winter rye as a cover crop….buck wheat gets killed with the 1st frost
This year is my first using a cover crop. I'm zone 6b. It's a mix of peas, hairy vetch, oats, and other seeds. They're already growing and I'm looking forward to the soil improvements 🥰
In coastal southern California I have used fava beans as a cover crop. When the pods are plump, but still tender, I steam them as I would string beans or pea pods. when they are mature, but still green, they must be taken out of the pods, and from each bean remove the shell. Then they can be steamed like lime beans. The plants themselves can be composted or just cut down to serve as mulch.
So you do let them produce beans before cutting them?
@@Isaacgfs Yes. I think they taste good.
I love this idea.
Gonna do this for my grow bags.
We used winter rye and cover radish, I needed aeration and further breakdown of my new composted soil. I plan to put alot more variation next year.
Woot! Cover crops for the win! I just started experimenting with cover crops this season!
To build our house, the land had to be scraped down to hard clay and rock. One of the things I did was scatter daikon radish seeds. They drill down and help break up the soil and then die off and decompose and enrich the soil that way . I scatter those seeds every fall.
Is there any reason that you didn't mention alfalfa? I was considering planting it to boost my soil while I am not using an area because I have heard it is the best nitrogen fixer.
Tring Crimson Clover for the first time this year in my raised beds.
Why do few people talk about Mustard cover crops and their benefits. I think it might be the best solution for people who can't rotate, have had problems with pests (including disease). I'm trying cover cropping in my raised beds for the first time this year- Trifecta Power Blend Mustard. Anyone thinking about doing this must know how to terminate it properly to get the benefits of pest/disease elimination/reduction. I am in zone 8a
How does it help with pests?
We're in Zone 8a (AL) as well, and we were wanting to try a cover crop in a couple of our raised beds as well. I have watched a couple of videos on Mustard cover crops. I am interested on the proper way to terminate it if you care to share. Thanks 😊
Mustard cover crops are less favorable because if they aren't fully terminated, you now have a noxious weed problem on your hands.
Charles Dowding just did a video recommending mustard.
I use mustard every winter. Terminating is easy and if you do it right they don't come back. Mustard is a good biofumigant. I chop it, pull it, and turn the plants under. I plant a variety called Florida mustard.
oh fun! Hairy Vetch is native to my area. It grows wild all over the woods! Yes I would have to manually kill it because I'm zone 5 and it for sure overwinters no problem.
I've been researching cover crops for my area this last week. Going to do clover, buckwheat and oats for my soil. First year with it.. fingers crossed I remember to terminate before seeds.
Just reminding you to terminate your cover crops.
@@SkyKid002 A tad bit early perhaps, lol
@@snazzyd8866 not my fault I got the first shift
I have hairy vetch up here in zone 5a NH that has popped up in my flower beds...I personally find it's is terribly hard to get rid. of. Pops up everywhere, would not use as a cover crop ha ha just my experience.
I'm in 7b and would never recommend hairy vetch. You can't get rid of it.
I’ve had crown vetch. Impossible to get rid of!
hey NH here too! woo!
Great suggestions. Like the fava beans and crimson clover
Hairy fetch has become invasive here in south central
Alaska. It's creeps and vines and slowly kills what ever it vibes on. It is horrible here in Alaska.
I was thinking the same thing! It's lovely growing along the roads in Wasilla, but I would never plant it on my property!
I also don’t like hairy vetch in Washington
I'm in zone 8a near memphis, and I've planted hairy vetch, clover, and wheat as a cover crop. I've noticed that depending on what I plant afterwards, I might not need to terminate it. The summer heat terminates it for me. So if I plant something in May or June, like a late squash, I don't need to do much to any of them. By that point its dying off on its own, and I just need to remove the debris, and plant like normal.
you let it go to seed then?
Loved seeing the butterfly swirling around. I saw zero butterflies this year.
Butterfly bush! You'll have hundreds
I did the buckwheat for garlic, I'm brilliant😅
Do you have any good ideas for how to keep the soil nice over winter, when you are just growing on a balcony/way smaller space in smaller planters? I'd hate to have to constantly keep buying new soil.
Woodchips with a slow release fertilizer
You can still cover crop them. Depending what zone you are in and with the right choice the plants should last all winter.
Are the butterflies flying around Kevin at the start paid actors or is he just a Disney princess?
Cut your plants off above the roots in the garden and that will feed the soil along with the cover crop
Getting into cover crops, using legumes and spice seeds from the grocery store and deer food plot mixes from the farm/feed store.
Sooo, I grew sweet potatoes up here in zone 2/3 this year. I didn't know, until today, that it was successful. They produced despite starting them inside, up-potting them 3 times inside, and finally planting in large totes, yes toted, outside in June. And... despite fighting every imaginable fo, and I do mean every fo. I'd tell you how, but honestly, everything I did goes against everything I know from 35+ years of experience, in gardening, and in growing sweet potatoes. Oh, and yes, I kept it 100% organic. I'm blown away. I should have just had beautiful plants/vines growing over the trellises that are in the totes, and over the sides of the totes. Possibly some small skinny potatoes. These sweet potatoes are beautiful. Now.. I'm figuring out a way to cure them, because it's a cold dry climate. They need 80° to 85° and humidity to cure. I'll rig something up.
Great perseverance !
Thank you!! Mind blown 🤯🎉❤
Loved this video! Thank you from Lakeside California!
How about putting dead leaves? I will have plenty soon, I live in Northeast!
not a bad idea, Ive been putting my leaves in compost so far.
@@Dansull123 I put leaves on my birdie beds. We grind them up and add to the soil. I also throw in slow release fertilizer and bone meal to the beds
Works really well!
@@carolann1906 Birdies beds are going to be a few years away of an expense for me. I've got 4 raise beds I built out of salvaged pallets. 2 will need to be replaced or majorly repaired for next season.
Mulching with leaves seems like my best best too as they're free and plentiful coming soon!
Great for helping structure but not adding any nutrients if that makes sense. These other cover crops fix nitrogen for the next year crop!
Have you ever grew “green manure?” Like with a leafy green? That’s what I was thinking about doing.
The video is valuable, thank you for the helpful sharing🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴
Jacques: "Who doesn't like a good old wheat product?"
Me, sitting here with gluten sensitivity: 😭😭😭
Plant native buckwheat!!
Are there plants that one in zone 6b during the winter that will help to feed wildlife?
Thank you for this video! What are good cover crop options for a partially shady planting area, i.e. less than 6 hours of sunlight a day. My neighbor's big ugly house looms over our garden space and sunlight is minimal during the winter months :/
@epicgardening Great video! Would love to see full cycle on the wheat cover crop to wheat berries and harvest to straw production!
Should I start crimson clover now in zone 9b? Would they grow in part shade? I’m planning to grow them under my citrus, nectarine and pear.
Mmm, think I prefer Lupine.
Since they are adjacent to beans, they add nitrogen to the soil.
How much heat would they tolerate? Like, can they survive tropical heat?
How would these ideas translate to grow bags? Could you just treat a 5, 7,10, 15 gallon grow bag as as micro-raised bed and go from there? Thank you!
You can! I cover crop all of my containers. Last year I planted mustard greens. I am in 7b so I need something cold hardy that isn't a pain to terminate and work into the soil.
great idea and always great explanation 😊
GREAT videos guys!
I really should do this.... but Ive got about 3 or 4 weeks until first frost.
We don't have winter in the tropics but I suppose a cover crop would be needed if not growing any food crop during the rainy season (pretty rare in rice fields since they plant multiple cropping over the year. The question is what plant. 😅
Ok gentlemen; my biggest question has always been: which season is best for which CC, and which crop families benefit most from certain CC. Eg. I plant clover over summer between my lettuce patches, but I would never plant buckwheat at this time. Similarly, I like oats during winter because they help with soil compaction which seems to happen more over the winter months.
Hairy vetch makes me crazy. I pull it up everywhere. Roots super long. But do u eat the buckwheat?
I want to know what you’re growing that explodes when you pitch it. Is it available at Botanical Interests?
Các bạn rất có nhiều kỹ thuật trồng cấy ,mọi thứ trong vườn phát triển rất tốt .
What do you suggest for NW MT? Like a comment said above, I’m a couple weeks away from first frost. I’m not sure if these apply with frost coming so soon
Some brassicas are used as cover crops, and they tend to tolerate a bit of frost.
I planted fava beans partly because I heard it was a great cover crop but I wanted to have the beans, also. The plants came up in the fall shortly after I planted them. They grew pretty slowly and then before I knew it they were buried under about a foot of snow. Chicago has some brutal winters. When the snow melted they were completely unaffected! They were still growing around July and I needed the space so I cut their season short. Aphids love the tops of the plants also.
My bed is dry and covered. I’ve been growing inside hydroponics I plan to move into my new greenhouse. The raised bed is dry as I’ve not planted anything for 3 years. Does buckwheat need a lot of water? Temps are dropping to freezing soon.
Thank you. 😊
nice for share
Will cover crops like the peas/beans, buckwheat, and clover still germinate and grow if scattered on the ground and covered with wood chips or mulch?
What a great idea. Thanks
I'm helping my aunt out with building raised beds and having a plan for her garden. Here in South Carolina it gets so hot in the summer she has little interest in being out in that sun then especially as she gets older. In passing she has just mentioned leaving the beds bare and I know that is not the right option. This is a great video and while winter focused I think Crimson Clover is a good option for her. I think anything that might seed has a chance of dominating her garden. Any advice?
What would you recommend to plant and have winter kill to correct fungus or diseases in soil?
I live in eastern Tennessee what would be a good cover crop for me? I have nine raised beds that I usually have nothing in for the winter.
same here, up near the VA border. going to try a couple beds each of peas/oats and fava, then the rest of my beds in wheat
Try a winter kill crop
Has anyone in the comments experimented with using spent beer hops as a compost ingredient?
Not spent beer hops alone, but I've used spent beer grains mixed with hops. They're very hot and bioactive once they come out of the mash. Great way to reinvigorate a hot pile that's gone a bit cool, but fair warning, use lots of brown waste with them - if you don't cover them with brown waste you will have a smell as they break down.
I only have 27 days until first frost....oooof
I made a 1 sqft garden section all around the edge of my backyard fence. I recently planted wheat 🌾 sprinkled all over. I should get 10-15 lbs of winter wheat next spring. Plus my dog likes to eat it so maybe less than that?
Crimson clover has one issue though, it doesn't like alkaline soils. If you have a pH around 8, like at my place, it will NOT grow well. Also 2 big things you're not mentionning and are at the base of cover crops. 1) You should NOT chop and drop rye, wheat or oats. A lot of them WILL grow back. What you need to do is roll them over or squash them with a plank of wood WHEN THEY FLOWER. If you do it before they flower, they grow back. Annuals die when squashed at the flowering stage. 2) You shouldn't plan a monoculture of cover crop it's not ideal... The minimum number of plant FAMILIES (and not just varieties) you should plant in a mix is 4. If you plant less, you lose biomass. If you plant more, it plateaus, so the optimum is around 4 according to scientists. The reason why you need to have different plant families is simple : plants are good at different nutrient absorption, and share the excess with other plants. They also share the types of bacteria and fungi they interact with. For winter, a classic mix would be rye, vetsch or pea, phacelia, and something like daikon or rape.
I cleaned mine out and put black cow in. Nothing is sprouting. Well maybe spring.
GREAT INFO!!
I have straws on my birdie now. Do i need to till/mix the straw & soil together before throwing in the cover crop seeds?
If u mix ur mulch into ur soil it will deplete ur soil of nitrogen. Pull mulch aside then plant cover crop. If ur area is already cool, keep mulch aside to keep soil warm enough 4 seeds to germinate n get a few inches growth b4 re-covering w mulch. Hope that helps.
@@lyndelgado6138thank you!! I’ll do that.
Great info and demo. Isn't there a cover crop that produces a gas in the soil that might kill the eggs of squash bugs and such? mustard greens?
My beds immediately fill up with creeping charlie, wood sorrel, and purple dead nettle. Natural cover crop. Lol
Weeds are ugly, I like that your making something edible! 😎
Quick question we have turtles in the house what r your thoughts on using the water from the tank when we clean it out as a fertilizer
I’m in zone 10a in south Florida so I need to summarize. Any idea on crops to protect my soil in the summer? I can’t grow much in the heat of June, July or August. Thanks!
How do you do chop and drop if you are using wood chip mulch. Do you drop the cuttings on top of the wood chips or move the wood chips out of the garden for the cover crop?