Cover Crop in a Raised Bed
I've got a 12'x5' raised vegetable garden and I'd like to put in a cover crop in a section of the bed. What are the best and most manageable options for small scale gardening? I'd also like some winter options, as I'd like to have a crop in the bed over the winter. Thanks!
I just realized y'all might want a little more info. To clarify, I've got a section of my bed that I'm saving for use later this summer, and I'd like to have a cover crop there for now. I'm looking for something I'll be able to grow and dig under before the end of the summer. And I'm also curious as to what will do well over the winter, to be dug under before the spring planting season. I'm in Memphis, TN, which is zone 7b, I think.
Brittle stems can be pushed over or turned under easily.
Yes, I have to agree, Buckwheat is a great cover crop:
it does a fantastic job of blocking out weeds.
it is very easy to turn under; or very easy to pull and toss in the compost pile.
it adds a good amount of organic matter when turned under.
One possible drawback, is that Buckwheat will be killed with the first frost. So, you will definitely want another option for a winter cover crop. Also, Buckwheat is not a legume, and will not "fix" nitrogen in the soil. You may want to finish the Buckwheat in time to establish something that will over-winter... possibly clover, annual rye grass, or winter peas.
One potential drawback with Clover, is that it can be "heavily rooted", and therefor quite a challenge to turn under (or eliminate) by hand.
A good option might be to grow the Buckwheat in the summer, and then simply cover the bed with organic materials "lasagna style", and let those "compost" through the winter.
it does a fantastic job of blocking out weeds.
it is very easy to turn under; or very easy to pull and toss in the compost pile.
it adds a good amount of organic matter when turned under.
One possible drawback, is that Buckwheat will be killed with the first frost. So, you will definitely want another option for a winter cover crop. Also, Buckwheat is not a legume, and will not "fix" nitrogen in the soil. You may want to finish the Buckwheat in time to establish something that will over-winter... possibly clover, annual rye grass, or winter peas.
One potential drawback with Clover, is that it can be "heavily rooted", and therefor quite a challenge to turn under (or eliminate) by hand.
A good option might be to grow the Buckwheat in the summer, and then simply cover the bed with organic materials "lasagna style", and let those "compost" through the winter.
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rainbowgardener
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The Helpful Gardener
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Roots add carbon to the soil without tilling or turning; that's one advantage...
It might sound crazy, but two weeds spring to mind; purselane and lambsquarters. Purselane is very shallowly rooted and many other crops can coexist nicely (corn actually grows better with a green mulch of purselane).
Lambsquarters are annuals that can be cut down when you want to plant your crop and won't interfere. The roots open soil structure and add carbon that new roots will "channel" along as the lambsquarter roots rot. Beats tilling or turning (which brings up old weed seed, and maybe not yummy ones, either...)
And both these are quick growing edibles, and not just survival foods but good stuff. I found both the above on a weed walk I led today (among others), and folks found purselane (and I quote) "sweet" and lambsquarters "better than spinach". I agree.
It sounds whacky, but hey, some of the best ideas do...
HG
It might sound crazy, but two weeds spring to mind; purselane and lambsquarters. Purselane is very shallowly rooted and many other crops can coexist nicely (corn actually grows better with a green mulch of purselane).
Lambsquarters are annuals that can be cut down when you want to plant your crop and won't interfere. The roots open soil structure and add carbon that new roots will "channel" along as the lambsquarter roots rot. Beats tilling or turning (which brings up old weed seed, and maybe not yummy ones, either...)
And both these are quick growing edibles, and not just survival foods but good stuff. I found both the above on a weed walk I led today (among others), and folks found purselane (and I quote) "sweet" and lambsquarters "better than spinach". I agree.
It sounds whacky, but hey, some of the best ideas do...
HG
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applestar
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Well, buckwheat is pretty prolific about reseeding itself if you let it go to seed so you want to push them over or cut off the flower heads before the seeds mature. The flowers are great nectar and beneficial insect attractor so you do want to let them flower though.
If the timing works out, you can let them be frost killed and leave all the dead tops as mulch through the winter. I don't think this will happen with the first sowing if you're sowing the seeds right away though-- buckwheat grows fast.
I like using clover but not IN raised beds as they are biennial or perennial. Vetch would be a better option. I can start oats in late summer to be winter kill mulch in my area. I think I could do this with barley as well but oats is what is commonly sold for cover crop. For winter living cover crop Winter Rye is commonly recommended but I don't till so I prefer something that winter kills.
For production and heavy N-fixing why not bush beans during the summer and fall peas?
If the timing works out, you can let them be frost killed and leave all the dead tops as mulch through the winter. I don't think this will happen with the first sowing if you're sowing the seeds right away though-- buckwheat grows fast.
I like using clover but not IN raised beds as they are biennial or perennial. Vetch would be a better option. I can start oats in late summer to be winter kill mulch in my area. I think I could do this with barley as well but oats is what is commonly sold for cover crop. For winter living cover crop Winter Rye is commonly recommended but I don't till so I prefer something that winter kills.
For production and heavy N-fixing why not bush beans during the summer and fall peas?
watch out for vetch, some of it is perennial. check your zone carefully, or better yet ask local deer hunters.
clover - if you get a variety that does not tolerate mowing, and buy yourself a sickle - now that is some good stuff along with your other cover. Clover does have deep roots, but not as deep as alfalfa if I recall. It would be nice to get your bed hooked up to the subsoil.
Don't forget radish! You can get a big ole cheap bag'o radish seeds, and have your cover mown down and rotting in the ground 40 days from now. Some corn farmers have figured this one out, and use it for cover, despite the relatively high cost.
HG, I see Cocanouer's book is still with you. I think about it all the time as well, although I am not seeing much purslane yet this year. I am eager to compare purslane supporting soil vs. bare soil under the scope.
clover - if you get a variety that does not tolerate mowing, and buy yourself a sickle - now that is some good stuff along with your other cover. Clover does have deep roots, but not as deep as alfalfa if I recall. It would be nice to get your bed hooked up to the subsoil.
Don't forget radish! You can get a big ole cheap bag'o radish seeds, and have your cover mown down and rotting in the ground 40 days from now. Some corn farmers have figured this one out, and use it for cover, despite the relatively high cost.
HG, I see Cocanouer's book is still with you. I think about it all the time as well, although I am not seeing much purslane yet this year. I am eager to compare purslane supporting soil vs. bare soil under the scope.
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The Helpful Gardener
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Flowers first, then seed...
Toil, you are darn tootin that book still is, and I get more and more confirmation he was onto something daily. Yesterday on the weed walk we wandered by a spot Tom had tilled but not planted, and I stopped and took stock. There were four weeds that were prolific in the now "weedy" bed; rye was everywhere (no surprise as the spot was old pasture, followed closely by purselane, lambsquarters and the occasional pig weed (our native amaranth; and yes, the same common name as we sometimes see applied to lambsquarters, or Chenopodium).
So in Tom's absence of intervention, Nature provided a grain, a green, and two that double as both grain and greens. There was not a plant there that could not be used, but I bet Tom tills them in again (he is smitten with his tiller and gets squinty when I talk about no-till). He will lose all that food already there, beat his soil up, depleting the carbon there, and fracturing the tilth, all in the name of another food crop he will have to labor to keep "weeded" and free of all that food Nature was just throwing at him...
So I ask you all, what about that makes sense compared to using the "weeds" (as they are only weeds if we don't want or use them)? Or leaving the soil alone by cutting at the surface, adding carbon instead of gassing it off (increasing the CEC instead of decreasing it), adding fungal mass as well as roots to the soil (weeds love bacterial soils even more than row crops do, so every tilling makes the soil more weed prone, as we expose seeds and destroy fungal mass), and skipping the labor of tilling, weeding, and planting?
Maybe I am getting lazier in my old age, maybe smarter; maybe there's no difference between the two. I certainly know a lot more about soils than I used to, which is why old ways make less sense to me now than the "new" way I am talking about (if one can call eons old indigenous technique from primitive cultures new). Maybe, just maybe, there are better ways to garden and feed ourselves than busting our humps fighting Mother Nature, tooth and nail, every step of the way.
I'm just sayin', is all... carry on...
HG
Toil, you are darn tootin that book still is, and I get more and more confirmation he was onto something daily. Yesterday on the weed walk we wandered by a spot Tom had tilled but not planted, and I stopped and took stock. There were four weeds that were prolific in the now "weedy" bed; rye was everywhere (no surprise as the spot was old pasture, followed closely by purselane, lambsquarters and the occasional pig weed (our native amaranth; and yes, the same common name as we sometimes see applied to lambsquarters, or Chenopodium).
So in Tom's absence of intervention, Nature provided a grain, a green, and two that double as both grain and greens. There was not a plant there that could not be used, but I bet Tom tills them in again (he is smitten with his tiller and gets squinty when I talk about no-till). He will lose all that food already there, beat his soil up, depleting the carbon there, and fracturing the tilth, all in the name of another food crop he will have to labor to keep "weeded" and free of all that food Nature was just throwing at him...
So I ask you all, what about that makes sense compared to using the "weeds" (as they are only weeds if we don't want or use them)? Or leaving the soil alone by cutting at the surface, adding carbon instead of gassing it off (increasing the CEC instead of decreasing it), adding fungal mass as well as roots to the soil (weeds love bacterial soils even more than row crops do, so every tilling makes the soil more weed prone, as we expose seeds and destroy fungal mass), and skipping the labor of tilling, weeding, and planting?
Maybe I am getting lazier in my old age, maybe smarter; maybe there's no difference between the two. I certainly know a lot more about soils than I used to, which is why old ways make less sense to me now than the "new" way I am talking about (if one can call eons old indigenous technique from primitive cultures new). Maybe, just maybe, there are better ways to garden and feed ourselves than busting our humps fighting Mother Nature, tooth and nail, every step of the way.
I'm just sayin', is all... carry on...
HG