Black River
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Cover crop?

I wondered if anyone here had any experience with cover crops? I'd like to hear what you've used, what you like/disliked? I have been thinking of trying the gardenway mix, but I'm unsure. I want something that will last most of the winter, but not reseed badly in spring when I'm trying to plant veggies.

SOB
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I used a mixture of field peas and oats last year. They both die off in the winter but remain on the soil (dead). This helps minimize erosion through the winter. By early spring there isn't much left to till under.

I don't think I'll ever do a cover crop again. To me it adds additional cost with little benefit. To cover half my garden last year it was over $50 and now my garden is even bigger. Others may have had better experiences...

DoubleDogFarm
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I'll let you know in the Spring.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 11&t=54203


Eric

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rainbowgardener
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How much land are you gardening? I sort of think cover crops are more for people who have acreage.

I am a city gardener. My veggies are mostly in 5 raised beds which I garden intensively. There's not much of the year there isn't something growing in them - in Oct I plant garlic and onions to over winter. I keep them mulched all the time, so there's never bare soil to blow away and the mulch adds nutrients too, just as the cover crop does.

DoubleDogFarm
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rainbowgardener wrote:How much land are you gardening? I sort of think cover crops are more for people who have acreage.

I am a city gardener. My veggies are mostly in 5 raised beds which I garden intensively. There's not much of the year there isn't something growing in them - in Oct I plant garlic and onions to over winter. I keep them mulched all the time, so there's never bare soil to blow away and the mulch adds nutrients too, just as the cover crop does.
"people who have acerage" Traditionally yes, but small scale works just as well.

"just as the cover crop does" In much smaller amounts.

I think you are missing a few important differences between mulch and cover crop. Nitrogen fixation and root tillage / deep organic matter.

Eric

imafan26
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I have done cover crops in the garden to add biomass and help with nitrification.

What I have available for seeds are buckwheat, clover, and oats. I don't have a winter so I grow them until they start to flower and till them in to add biomass. If they go to seed, they become weeds.

I only do a section of the garden at a time. The cover crop gets tilled in after about 6 weeks. I have to rotate some plants in different sections of the garden because of soil issues like water logging, nematodes, and the needs of some plants for shading in summer. The cover crops fill in.

Cover crops to promote nitrogen fixation are for the most part legumes. They nitrify better if they are inoculated first and I use a cow pea inoculant.

Cow peas, sun hemp, and soy are the crops I typically use. If I am using them strictly for fixing nitrogen they are tilled in just as they start flowering in 6 weeks. The nitrogen is released when the bacteria in the roots die and release the stored nitrogen and the plants provide biomass.

If I allow the cow peas and soy to mature the pods and eat them, the nitrogen in the pods are lost, but I still have biomass. I have allowed some of the cow peas to mature for the immature beans and dry seeds. The soy bean is not the most efficient nitrogen fixer, but the beans are something that everyone here knows how to eat.

Some of the Sun hemp is also allowed to mature since seeds are not readily available so I have to save some of the seeds. Sun hemp is a legume but besides nitrogen fixing and biomass it also is planted to reduce nematode populations.

Winter rye is usually planted in colder areas as a winter cover crop and might work better for your application.

DoubleDogFarm
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Sorry about the advertisement. This video has some very good points.

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/5kjF7HfgQ-8[/youtudotbe]

Eric

Black River
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My garden is about 60x60 ft.. I had some buckwheat seed we bought last spring and planted that along with some turnips.....I'm just mainly looking for something to overwinter in the garden to plow under in late winter or early spring to add some nutrients to the soil.

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grrlgeek
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Black River,

I'm new at this, but firmly latched onto cover crops as the way to go. We are gardening mostly in containers and a few small raised beds, but we have a space in-ground where I want to grow corn next summer and another spot for a perennial herb garden. In preparation for that, I have just planted a cover in those areas of oilseed radish and small fava.

The ground is so hard-packed and devoid of nutrients, so my goal with the cover crop is to combine deep-rooted (non-nitrogen) nutrient mining and compaction relief (the radish) with nitrogen fixation and green manure (favas). Might give the corn a fighting chance for its first year, and the soil will only improve as I go along.

I also have New Zealand White Clover planted on our hill, and a few other strips where I could conceivably add beds later. It's a low-growing perennial, 8-12" high, and quite pretty, and its flowers attract beneficials. My plan for those stands is to harvest green matter with the weedwacker for mulch and compost inputs, and then figure more out as I go along.

There's a lot of choices, but it really depends on what you want it to do. I wish I knew more at this point, as I was completely boggled with the choices but just knew I needed to plant something. I'll let you know how my picks went!

Greetings,
Devon

Black River
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I think I'm just going to go with the Gardenway, it's a mix of different nitrogen fixers, grasses, and grains that is supposed to add a lot of nutrients to the soil and provide compaction relief. Thanks for the ideas.

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jal_ut
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I have at times used a cover crop. I like winter wheat. It will survive the winter and grow in the spring too if you want it to do that. The seed is not too high priced. I get it at the local farmer's co-op.

Black River
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Jal_ut, can you tell me what you pay for winter wheat? Do you buy 50 lb. bag? The more I started thinking about it, winter wheat might just be the thing for what I want to do. I have already scattered bush bean, cowpea, fava bean, garden pea, snap pea, snow pea, and runner bean seed all over the section I have plowed for a nitrogen fixer. I think the wheat would do well just to add some green manure.

imafan26
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If you want some nitrogen fixing it is best to inoculate the seed first unless you are lucky enough to have a lot of natural microrrhizae present.

3 Pound Tomato
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I use winter wheat. It keeps the soil loose and keeps soil from washing away. I can till it in next spring, or if it gets too high, cut it down with the weedeater before tilling.

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freedhardwoods
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I plant soybeans after sweet corn. Next year along with the soybeans, I'm going to add Ground Hog radish that many of the farmers are using now. It grows as deep as 18" and breaks up the subsoil.

I got my soybean inoculant here - https://www.groworganic.com/. A bag that treats 300 lbs costs $10.
GROUND HOG RADISH 1.jpg



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