Cover crops

[rick9748]

Don't know how region specific this is but may apply to most of South East.Fall & Winter garden, my location Central South Carolina, planted from seed in November; lettuce, mustard greens, collards, carrots,kale, lettuce and spinach and there are MANY others.Have been eating and giving away all Fall & Winter and they are still going great.
Will till in in everything at end of February to compost for Spring Summer garden.Don't need anything to eat plant Red Clover.Clean up Summer garden, till lightly and just throw out seeds by hand.Rake over and water.By February you will have a MASS of thick clover with a massive root system.When you till this in you are adding a huge biomass to your garden.
They sell NOTHING like this in a bag for you to add to your garden.Very little cost and energy.
Rick

[bri80]

Just a small but important note... you want crimson clover, not red clover, for cover cropping. Crimson clover is an annual that, when dug in before it sets seed, decomposes fast leaving a nice seed bed. Red clover is a perennial, aggressive weed that will take years of meticulous weeding to rid your garden of.

[imafan26]

Red clover is a nitrogen fixing cover crop. According to Cornell site it is a short lived perennial. However, I have done buckwheat so I know that most cover crops if not tilled in at flowering are weedy. If you have a good population of mycorrhyzae then you don't need to inoculate to get good nitrogen fixation. Otherwise inoculating the seeds first will boost the nitrogen fixation.
Apparently timing is important as to when the cover crops are sown to get good growth. Red clover is usually planted in the fall in the North.

Crimson clover though, is also a cover crop and one that is recommended for the south. It can be planted in the Spring or Fall.
https://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/p ... c1252.html

I use buckwheat and cowpeas for cover crops because they are the easiest for me to get. Cowpea inoculant is available from multiple sources and cow peas are easy to till in and prevent from reseeding. The buckwheat needs to be tilled in when the flowers appear or it does reseed and pops up as weeds in the garden. At least they are easy to pull. Unlike alfalfa, sunhemp, sorghum and pigeon pea with their deep roots.

https://www.groworganic.com/cover-crop- ... lants.html
https://covercrops.cals.cornell.edu/late ... egumes.php
https://covercrops.cals.cornell.edu/red-clover.php

[Taiji]

Here in this arid climate, there's nothing more beautiful than a healthy stand of clover, especially in mid winter. This is crimson clover. Though I'm using it as a cover crop to be turned in, I'm gonna save just a little to see the red flowers it produces! We don't have this locally; I had to order it online.

[imafan26]

Looks beautiful. Clover is supposed to be nitrogen fixing, but not the highest fixer. It is also supposed to be good for erosion control.

I don't use clover of any kind here. I have enough wild clover as weeds so I don't want any more.

[ButterflyLady29]

I bought some crimson clover seed to mix in with flower seed when I plant the pollinator habitat this spring. I'm thinking of planting some in a pot just to see how it does and if hummingbirds feed on it like they do mammoth red clover.

[Gary350]

We use to plant RED CLOVER right after harvesting 100 acres of corn. Soon as the clover started making red tops we cut it and baled it to make clover hay. Clover put nitrogen back into the soil that the corn removed. The milk cows loved the clover hay it made good milk, cream, butter and ice cream.

[ButterflyLady29]

Red clover hay is the best for cows. Ours always loved clover. It would be a good overwinter crop and allow for a third crop on a biennial rotation but the local farmers grow only soybeans and corn. Clover hay is hard to find. I would buy it for the rabbits if I could find it.

[jal_ut]

Around these parts alfalfa is the big crop for hay for cows. Alfalfa is a perennial clover. The bees work the blossoms. Alfalfa honey is quite common.

[ButterflyLady29]

Yes, alfalfa is the go-to for hay. You get more bang for your buck with alfalfa. Red clover isn't as long lived and doesn't come back as quickly.

[jal_ut]

For a cover crop I often use wheat. It is easy to come by and comes up quickly giving you some lush green grass. You can till it in whenever you like. I spread the seed with one of those hand-held seed spreaders. I keep bagged wheat as a food storage item. It will keep for years in a dry spot. I grind my own wheat for making bread. Thursday is bread making day here.

This morning 21 degrees sunny and a slight breeze. I went out to take the wild birds some seed and was happy to come back in.