Cover Crops To Recharge Your Soil This Winter!
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
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Cover crops, or green manures, are a great way to protect your garden from weeds and soil erosion over the winter period.
As well as protecting your soil, cover crops can be dug into the earth before spring, improving the soil ecosystem and feeding your plants with essential nutrients.
In this short video we explain which cover crops are right for your garden and demonstrate how to get the best from these soil superchargers!
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I like to cut and drop cover crops rather than dig them in. Keeps the roots intact and doesn't disturb the microbes. I plant my main crops straight into the cover crop where the roots can hook up with each other, the roots left over from the cover crops break down and share their nutrients with the main crop. I try to use a companion cropping method and also leave strips of cover crop for beneficial insects. Building up healthy soil reduces the need for crop rotation.
Brilliant!
What you're talking about is called regenerative agriculture. I've recently learned about it. Tilling soil kills our critters in the soil that our plants need..
what about mowing the crop down, it makes the pieces smaller for easier breakdown?
I planted a mixed cover crop in my raised beds as I pulled out spent vegetables. Last spring I cut down the cover crop and left it on the soil. As I was planting I was amazed to find lots of worms which I had never had in my raised beds before. My garden has been spectacular this year.
So pleased to hear first-hand accounts like this. Proves it's all worth it!
What cover crop did you use Nancy? Ive never done this before
@@paulinemcleggan7585 Outside Pride has a winter mix that is very reasonable, 5 lbs for $12.
I use a different method to achieve fantastic results. During grass mowing season I use a bagger, place grass clippings as cover between the 3 foot wide walking rows between all my huge raised planter beds. During Fall, I rake & collect tree leaves piling them atop the grass clippings.
This does a fine job of eliminating weed growth between the planter beds.
Right before winter, I rake up all the dried up grass clippings & tree leaves placing them on top of the planter beds then till all of them to a 1 foot depth inside the beds where they are allowed to rot in the soil.
2 weeks before Spring planting season, I re-till the soil to a depth of 6 inches & dress the top with 2 inches of aged sheep/goat manure which has been sitting covered for 6 months raking it into a mix with the soil & all the powdered egg shells which I have accumulated during the year grinding into a powder & saving in jars particularly for the pepper & tomato rotational beds.
I also have 1 adult Moringa Oleifera tree now producing beans - in central Louisiana. My other 20 trees, I cut at 8 foot heights stripping the leaves to be used in salads, dehydrated for green tea & grinder to a powder then encapsulated as a supplement.
Happy Organic Gardening from a retired international oil driller.
Wow - you've got a really great system there. Love the way you get two uses out of the grass clipping and collected leaves - first to suppress weeds between the beds then added to the beds to contribute organic matter to the soil. Way to go!
I'm a moringa junky too. I just stepped out to pick a branch to go into my salad. I have seven trees and try to keep them all cut down low enough to harvest from. Like you I use it fresh and also dehydrate and powder it for use in cooking and to feed into my chocolate lab's kibble morning and night.
As a "soil builder" I enjoy using "cat grass" . Buckwheat is definitely a favorite of mine drought tolerant, able to sow in fall and early spring , food for nectar lovers when it's scarce to find late in the season, and not to mention beautiful when grown in masses.Thanks for promoting healthy alternatives to chemical gardening!!
Sowing cover crops for the first time this year. I've picked up a winter green manure mix from Suttons which is a mix of Rye and Vetch.
That should do you proud - a great combination.
Buckwheat is one I use a lot.. for weed suppression as well as soil enrichment and to boost my bees honey production. Thanks!
Thank you so much! This was exactly the video I’ve been looking for. Quick simple very easy to understand and the explanation of the types is just what I needed. Good visuals.
Cheers Ryan!
Just this week I planted a green manure mix that includes legumes, vetch, clover and rye grass. Plus I save some rye grass for areas that I can't plant until late in the fall because they are still producing veggies, like peppers and tomatoes. The cover crops will all die back in the winter and come back up in the early spring. Later in the spring I will cut them down, turn the soil over, and lay the cuttings down as mulch to protect the bare soil until it's time to plant my spring veggies.
I took over a garden (in Switzerland) and there was an area that the previous owner could get nothing to grow. We grew phacelia and now that soil has normalised
Hi there, when did you sow the phacelia and how did you dig it up in the end? Was it left over winter? Thanks
I have raised beds that I cover crop in both fall and spring. Depends on the bed location and crop rotation. However, I have a rabbit tractor...lol....yes rabbit and not chicken. When the grasses get about 4-6 inches I move the raised tractor over it for the bunnies to get some fresh food. Then when they are ready to be moved to the next grass bed I have plenty of poop to turn in with the remaining grass. It has been working really well for me in both the green house and field for a few years now.
JO LEACH brilliant I was learned about the magic of bunnie poop
And as we have plenty of wild bunnies they will love it..
Is there something special they prefer ?
I have planted winter oats for a few years and like it because it is killed by winter frost and then becomes a mulch as well as organic matter for the soil
I do the same. I use a cover crop mix of winter oats and field peas exactly because it is killed by winter here (Northeast USA) and I don't have to worry about chopping. The peas also help with fixing nitrogen.
Creating a mix of cover crops is a great idea - then you'll enjoy the benefits of multiple plant types.
Sandra M When do you usually plant your winter oats and field peas...I’m in the Northeast too.
I planted them late August/early September (can't quite remember) and they're about a foot tall now. It's usually when I've pulled a summer crop and have open space. You might be able to plant some now and get some growth before the cold hits.
I use Mustard Greens as well as mixed with Austalian Winter Peas, Wheat and Oats.. Wildlife love them and has greatly (so it seems) improved my soil adding lots of Nitrogen and Humas.
Good video. After watching you do I’m not afraid to do it myself. Thank you 👍
I've used oats as a cover crop for a few years now. In years past I've used winter wheat. Winter wheat goes into hibernation during the winter months and needs to be dug up in the spring about a month before planting. Oats, however, will die when the weather gets cold, so no digging in the spring. I have seen some others I will try in this video as well. The biggest problem is getting the seeds; you need to think ahead so you can send away for the seeds. I cannot find cover crops near enough to my garden so mail order is the best choice.
50 Pounds of oats under 20 bucks, check your area for a grain and feed store.
crimson clover, winter rye, fava bean, dutch white clover. Not too keen on dutch white clover because once established, they are hard to get rid of. crimson clover doesn't make good feed for pasture but once you mow it down, no more. I don't disc my field so it becomes mulch after mowing. For winter, winter rye.
2/3rds of all Organic Matter in your soil comes from roots. That is one good reason for cover crops. The biology in your soil needs roots to feed the fungi and the rest of the biology in the soil will eat your cover when you chop and drop it at the end of the season.
I have used field beans and they grew wonderfully, about 4 foot in height. We did the chop and drop method and it seemed to help that part of the garden. They certainly suppressed weed growth. My clay soil seems quite depleted after this extremely hot summer (in Portugal) so will plant more field beans again and will try phacelia in one section.
I love watching his videos. Gardening is so exciting. And I love your British accent. It's so cool. I wish I had a British grandpa to read books to us.
Thanks so much for watching. :-)
“Dig them in”. No they won’t increase OM if you dig them in. They will if you cut them and don’t till. I used balansa and red clover as a cover crop this year with some rye mixed in. Plan is to chop the cover crop down in rows, and put a thick (three inch) layer of mulch over top the rows leaving the other ones to flower and produce next years cover seed. To plant, dig a furrow in the mulch and lay down some peat moss or potting soil or something to sow seeds in and plant. Cover with mulch when seeds are mature. The balansa didn’t take as well as the red clover becuz it’s seeds are much smaller, but those that did have much higher vigor. Both are growing very fast, and will be left for about 20 days until I plant my garden.
nice. i love ideas about cover crops and when to plant them. i think that it's too late now.
I use Red Clover
Thank you! I was wondering how to do this since I have a large garden since this year. You just saved me a lot of googling! :)
That's great to hear. You'll find cover crops are your natural helpers. Enjoy!
I like red clover. The seed is cheap, fixes nitrogen and can be cut as forage.
Not sure if I would call it a cover crop but I like to grow peanuts (nitrogen fixer) in a few rows. Of course I harvest the peanuts and bury the plants back into the soil and plant something different the next year in those rows.
That sounds like a cover crop to me - and a very tasty one!
I tried mustard last fall in my raised beds!
Hope it did well for you Darlene.
you forgot to mention, that mustards are of the brassica family and need consideration in crop rotation! also: buckwheat ripens a lot of seeds while stile in bloom, there's some truth in the saying "once buckwheat in your garden, *always* buckwheat in your garden!" as these seeds tend to turn up again year after year. it's not always good to let covercrops freeze of, sometimes there is a right moment to cut them of! if your winters aren't cold enough dealing with resprouting cerealplants can be a pain, especially if you're tuned in on no dig.
your backyard garden needs 0 consideration to crop rotation.
I just put in rapeseed, having read that the leaves can be tilled in and will discourage root knot nematodes.
It's always worth considering crop families when choosing your green manures - so selecting a legume cover crop before brassicas etc. As you say, some cover crops can seed if left to flower, so must be dug in before they reach this stage. But it is worth letting some flower (in specific areas) for the benefits they bring in insect life.
I used fenugreek as a cover crop and an intercrop because it stays 'polite'. Doesn't grow too tall, adds nitrogen to the soil, and easy to chop and drop. I'd chop it off where I would be putting in the next crop and use it as a mulch.
Also planted crimson clover in empty spots that are hard to reach like the back corners. Rather crimson clover than weeds.
The phacelia went to seed and now here we are in September and the little plants are growing. Not a problem. At least they are easy to identify. Plus they fit into the general 'jungle look'.
Grew some buckwheat and dropped it around other plants as a mulch.
Now growing the field peas, fava beans, black eye peas, and daikon radish for winter cover crop. The beans are 4 feet high and producing little pods! It's interesting. They were attacked by black aphids at one point but soapy spray solved that problem and the aphids disappeared totally. There are so many flowers on the fava bean plants! Next spring I'll plant them as a regular crop.
I don't dig though. Just put more compost on top and mulch the surface so there's space between the snow and the soil. This is Canada, not England. I still get some weeds but not too bad.
Truth be told - I'm using the weeds themselves as the cover-crop - well, actually, the place I'm planning to turn into a garden is filled with goldenrod, and other thick-stemmed weeds, and I hope to use them as sort of a mulch as I mow them down.
Soft-stemmed annual weeds often serve the same purpose as a cover crop, especially if you can turn them into the soil before they have a chance to flower and set seed.
Good to know.
The bit about cutting them down before they seed is important, by the way. Unlike domesticated crops, which are programmed to ripen at the same time, and germinate as soon as conditions are ready, weeds ripen their seeds over a wide range of time, and have seeds that can remain dormant for years before germinating. Domesticated crops are better for management, because they lack those 'weedy' characteristics.
Of course, repeated mowings tend to help out.
That's for sure; I pulled up morning glories about 10 yrs ago and they are still coming up.
Thank you for the information! awesome channel.
I was wondering if i should use all the beds for veg in the winter but i am back to using a cover crop for the nightshade beds as i can't put onion sets everywhere! The tomatoes, which grew very quickly, were so tiny when i planted them that i pulled my cover crop out last year before planting them and left the leaves of the cover crop on the bed - so next year i will dig it in sooner while young like you suggest. Here in France i have to find the latin names of the crops so i can order on the French site that i use.
Yes, having the Latin names should avoid any discrepancies. Hope you have had a good growing season.
I worry that digging in would hurt my babies(worms etc) so I like just leaving them on top. would that work?
You could leave them on the soil surface, but to do that I'd recommend either 'harvesting' the green manure/cover crop while still quite young, or chop it up finely, possibly by running a lawn mower over the material to break it up, so that it is easier for the worms and other organisms to take down/incorporate into the soil. Another option would be to remove all the material to the compost heap, compost it, and then apply the material back onto the soil surface, but that seems like a lot work!
I have done really well with the tomatoes, but made a mistake of watering them from the top and the plum tomatoes went black at the bottom as soon as i watered from the roots they were OK. The peppers got too hot (must use shade cloth next year) they were better from September and some are still out ripening! The 'black beauty' aubergines were incredible i have just pulled the plants up this a.m still have baby ones to eat. The garlic has gone in it was great last year! Have a big problem with cabbages being eaten and lettuce not coming up. Also don't know which green manure to use overwinter - I have sown some rye and buckwheat but wonder which one to grow in the aubergine and pepper patch - mustard? Perhaps i am being too picky. Thanks for the garden planner it saves so much paper and continuous separate drawings; just discovered the planting table!
Sounds like you've had some great successes. Winter is fast approaching, so there may not be time to sow more green manures. That said, if it's still mild where you are I would try either mustard or perhaps winter field beans.
I am eating the beans the broad beans were a great success last year the peas went wrotton but the beans were delicious and i froze some have planted more - I am growing mustard in the brassica beds. My kale hasn't shown! I
I have a south facing front garden with very hard poor soil. Even the weeds have a hard time. I would like to improve the soil so that by fall I could plant a small fruit hedge as a fence. By next spring is would plant herbs and flowers. My questions are: what sort of cover crop would work right now (may) and would be able to deal with this ground?
I would be more inclined to add a really generous (2 inches / 5cm plus) layer of well-rotted organic matter to the soil instead. The worms can 'dig' it in over the summer and this should go someway to helping improve your soil by fall.
Winter rye - stupid easy - germinates easily, turns in easily - plants the following years are supercharged.
I think my winter crop will be dandelions... okay, couldn't resist that, lol. My garden plot is tiny, though. About 6 x 15 feet. Is it worth doing the cover crop?
Absolutely! It not only adds organic matter to the soil, but probably helps support important microbes that assist your plants in extracting nutrients. Some cover crops also help release certain minerals into forms that your later plants can assimilate better.
In addition, a crover cropped garden looks better than a bare-ground one.
Daniel's right Neko. Cover crops are worth sowing even in tiny plots - the benefits are the same whether growing in a tiny plot or rolling acres of farmland.
Never rake the soil, you will dig out all old hibernating weed seeds into the surface, just apply compost on top and then spread the green manure seeds
I’m a balcony gardener. Would you advise using a cover crop in containers over winter? If yes, which one would you suggest? 🙏🏼
At that scale it probably isn't worth it. Better to dig out the top four to six inches (15cm) or so of potting mix and replace with fresh.
GrowVeg cool. 🙏🏼. Btw I love watching your videos. I learn SO much from them! 🙏🏼 for sharing your wisdom 😃.
I top my containers with grass clippings and leaves in the fall, and it all gets compressed by snowfall over winter. In the spring, my containers are full of rich, brown goodness. If you don't have grass clippings, you could chop down what's left over from your vegetative crops (pea, bean and corn stalks, salad greens, kale and chard), using that as green manure in your containers instead.
I'd love a suggestion for my inherited community garden plot. Last year had great results, this year it was hard as rock and nothing will grow even though I added compost and fresh soil. What would be a good overwintering crop?
Tanya Kucey dandelion, beet, radish, perennial peanut
It's definitely worth growing an overwintering green manure to help break up the soil and add organic content to it. Winter field beans are a great choice, for example.
Soak them first and they pop up quickly.
thank you all for your replies! I have decided to do one half of my 10 by 10 plot with winter rye and the other half with fava beans. I dug down on one half of the plot to 1 foot and couldn't get any further because it was so hard! Then amended to the top soil with a peat/seasoil manure. then planted some spinach, winter greens and cilantro. nothing yet but I think the rye will do it!
Grow Veg - Which kind winter beans have you used?
I have only had experience with Austrian Winter peas.
The beans used are winter field beans. More on this in our article: www.growveg.co.uk/guides/protect-your-soil-by-growing-winter-field-peas-and-beans/
I guess this doesn't work where you have snow cover all winter 😉, any suggestions for us Northern Gardners?
For Northern gardeners the solution would be to sow as early as you can, so the plants put on some growth before the snow hits. Then when the snow melts the remains of the plants can be dug into the ground before sowing begins in earnest in spring.
Is it true that winter field beans can only be used on rotation every few years?
If you're including them as part of a crop rotation, then I guess so - they are legumes so you'd follow on with a different crop family after that. But to be honest I don't think there's a big harm in growing them two winters in a row.
What's a good cover crop for Prescott Valley Arizona???for nitrogen?
Hi Carl. This article gives some great specifics for Arizona-specific cover crops: extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/attachment/CoverCrops_0.pdf
Can i put buckweat in my garden in beginning of november in scottish border ( south west ) ?
Too late for it now I would think. Best to wait till next year. You could potentially try field beans though.
@@GrowVeg
Would i be better of put woodchips down just to cover the soil?
Buckwheat for flowers for pollinators in spring, in the UK? I'm having difficulty establishing buckwheat in spring. It's very tender. But you say you can have it flowering in spring?
Hi Luke. Buckwheat is usually sown from spring to late summer. So a sowing in spring would flower later in the year.
@@GrowVeg Yes, I thought so. Do you know it produces one of the highest quality honeys?
Can cover crops be sown now in October in London? Ive never done this before.what do I do?
Hi Pauline. You could sow grazing rye, mustard (but be quick), and field beans now. This RHS web page has a good summary of what to sow when: www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/green-manures
Perfect timing! My green manure seeds arrived this morning. I'll be growing rye, mustard and red clover for the first time.
I have a question. Traditionally you would dig the ground over for winter so the frost kills any nasties. Would you still do this at any point when growing green manure?
There's a lot of debate about digging versus no-digging, with advocates of the latter extolling the benefits of not digging in improving soil microbial life and resilience of the plants grown within ground managed this way. I would be inclined to leave the green manures as they are for as long as they are alive and not flowering - so that will probably mean waiting until later winter/early spring to cut them off and dig them in. Many people also grow clover in-between established crops, specifically to add further nitrogen to the soil and to allow them to flower to attract beneficial insects.
The most I've done is stick in the gardening fork, lift the soil, then poke holes into it with the fork. Sometimes I'll use The Claw which twists the soil but doesn't not turn it. Generally though I just add compost and vegetable matter to the surface as mulch and let the worms do the heavy lifting. The soil is teeming with life. So many different creatures, I keep having to consult Mr. Googlepants for identification.
This year a nest of European Fire Ants moved in. I don't mind them so long as they don't sting me which one of them did. They ate every single Cucumber beetle larva. They eat other things too, some that probably are beneficials, but surely they can't eat all of them. They however do not appear to eat flea beetle larvae. Or slugs.
Is it good to sow seeds now at end of november?
It depends on where you are. Here in the UK you could probably still sow winter field beans as a cover crop/green manure, but it's probably a bit late for most other alternatives.
Enjoyed the video but I'm wondering if these approaches work for my "no dig" approach? Thanks.
There is some digging involved, in digging the plants in. However, you can as an alternative cut them down at ground level then simply leave them on the soil surface as a mulch. The roots etc that are left in the ground will gradually rot down. If you do this, I would probably cut the cover crop down earlier than if I was going to dig it in, to give it more time to rot down.
It's a late start (nearly November), but it has been so warm (New England), is it worth trying a cover for some very heavy soil? You mentioned cereal rye. Are there others good for heavy soil?
You could try cereal rye. It is a very late start though and I'm guessing cold weather will descend pretty quickly. Worth a try though, especially if you can then cover the ground with row covers to keep things moving along before the really cold weather arrives.
I'm starting this year in my garden and I face two of the problems mentioned above, since I have (obviously) quite a lot of weeds and the soil is very heavy, clay-like soil. Can we combine several of the varieties to obtain "combined" effects?
You can buy cover crop mixes, which contain two or more varieties that combined, offer a number of the benefits described in the video.
Great, I'll look it up then! Thanks!
should I rototiller before I place in cover crop as my soil is very claylike, and hard? I use crimson clover as a clover crop BTW.
If your soil is really hard, then yes, digging over or tilling the soil will help to create a finer, crumblier soil surface to sow your cover crop into.
So, how does the cover crop fit into the crop rotation schedule? For example, if I want to use my box for peas in the spring, should I use one of the grass cover crops for that box, instead of the legumes? Or doesn't it matter?
If it's not too chilly, Rocket is good. Cut it with scissors for salad and it keeps growing. I've got a bed of escaroles and chards with dill added in where I had green peas earlier. They are all growing close together and I cut the escaroles 2 inches up from the soil so they keep growing back. But cutting them down like this gives the chards more light so they grow nicely. Lots of salad. Eventually they'll all freeze down to be mulch and their roots will maintain soil integrity. Come spring, the earthworms will be very busy 'turning' the soil for me and with very little amendment, I can put in the spring crop.
I mix the seeds in two cups of potting soil in a little plastic bag and then just strew it all, rake it a bit, tamp it down, and water. (Slug pellets were a necessity because these creatures love chard.)
Hi Kathy. Don't be overly concerned with where they fit into a crop rotation schedule. Just consider how the cover crop will benefit the vegetables that follow. Our article on winter cover crops will help you and has some good suggestions for which cover crops to use in what situation: www.growveg.com/guides/overwintering-cover-crops-for-crop-rotation/
If you think about it another way many farmers are using those cover crops as a rotation. If you grow corn. Then you sow a cover crop after it, then it is like growing something utterly different than corn. The pest and fungus and herb cycles are confused/broken as the cover crop is a new crop. So you don't need to rotate necessarily. There are many out there doing this. Acres magazine had a great article about it too. Good stuff!
would you do the same in raised beds? My raised beds are on year 4 and noticed this is the first year my yield started to lessen by a bit. looking to recharge them now.
Yes, cover crops can be sown on standard and raised beds. It's a great way to protect soil over winter - no matter where you grow.
Can any of these grow in shade?
Growth will be a bit slower, but it doesn't matter too much as you're not growing the plants for harvesting, just as green matter to dig in at a later date. I would choose one of the hardier cover crops for shade - so perhaps field beans.
First class info. I cringe however when I see you walking over the soil in your beds.
Yes, fair comment! I do try to avoid this but the occasional heavy foot lands on the beds. The plan for next year is to set up a proper raised bed system that will allow access from the sides only - no boots on the beds!
Charles Dowding recommends walking on the bed with his no dig method.
@@portiaholliday8741 what a bootiful piece of advice😂
i DON'T DIG.
Many of these cover crops can simply be cut off at ground level then left to rot down. The tops can either be left on the soil surface as mulch, moved elsewhere for use as a mulch, or added to the compost heap to rot down and return to the soil as compost at a later date.
Ha! Sorry bud, but if you understood this subject even a little, you wouldn't have dug, scratched & stripped your soil bare, before sowing your cover crops. Educate yourself.
Thanks Niko. I'm learning all the time and now no longer dig my soil - better for soil life etc. I take your point. :-)
@@GrowVeg im learning also its been many years since ive been able to garden and am just now getting back into it and am pleasently finding some new practices and cover crops is one of them its not new persay but has grown in popularity for sure