During winter, most gardeners are thinking about closing their garden and employing cover crops. For me, this time is summer. We’re on vacation, it’s too hot, the list goes on. It’s just not the time for gardening outside. But you don’t want the space or time to go to waste, right? Nor should you. This off-season time is perfect for amending you soil with a cover crop.
Cover Crops for the Home Gardener
Think: Protection, rejuvenation, even bug control. Vacant beds of soil can become host to weeds and bugs and it’s your job to prevent this catastrophe.
Trust me when I say “catastrophe.” I’ve neglected my garden during summers past and learned the hard way. Backaches hurt. Sweat stings. Bugs irritate. All of which could have been avoided with a little planning, namely cover crops.
Fabric Cover
The simple form of cover crops is fabric row covers. By stretching fabric covers over your garden soil, they act as blankets to keep your beds warm and weed-free during the winter months. Come spring—when you’re chomping at the bit to get those seeds in the ground—sowing them in will be a breeze. For summer crop covers, your goal is to rejuvenate your soil, or perhaps “solarize” it for pest control. Either way is a win-win for you.
Green Cover Crops
How do you rejuvenate the soil? By actively growing what’s known as “cover crops.” Basically, these are crops that once planted, serve to amend your garden’s soil. They vary depending on your region and can range from rye to legumes, Brassica to flowers, but most important—they serve a purpose. They will improve your garden soil by aerating it with their roots, then degrading into organic matter once turned back into the soil.
Say you’re an organic gardener and you want to employ a cover crop. You live in a temperate climate and can grow year-round. (Lucky, you.) Why not plant a crop of beans, or red clover? These legumes fix nitrogen into your soil, increasing soil fertility, not to mention they’re a delicious source of protein! Once they’ve outlived their usefulness, simply till them back into the soil. Not interested in the food aspect? No worries. Nothing will be wasted. When the crop begins to bloom (or just before), turn it over and allow it to sit and decompose. Then, you can work it into the soil as a green manure.
Another option is a heavy seeding of winter rye or alfalfa in your garden. It’s cold tolerant and thick enough to provide great weed prevention. (Gotta love that!) When spring sweeps in, simply till it back into the soil for maximum soil improvement. Both legumes and rye are considered “green manure,” because they improve soil fertility in the way of nitrogen, and nitrogen keeps everything green. Black-eyed peas are a good solution for warmer regions like Florida.
Some cover crops do more than improve soil and prevent weeds. Planting mustard has been shown to suppress fungal disease populations through the release of naturally occurring toxic chemicals during the degradation of glucosinolade compounds in their plant cell tissues. The Brassica species can also release chemical compounds that may be toxic to soil borne pathogens and pests, such as nematodes, fungi, and some weeds.
Cover Crop to Solarize
Speaking of nematodes, planting marigolds can prevent nematodes from reproducing. A good thing, because these microscopic beasts can kill your vegetable plants from the roots up! Very hard to fend off when you can’t see them.
Another nematode-eliminating method of cover crops comes in the form of plastic paper crop covers. I use this method during the summer months, because the power of the sun acts to “solarize my soil.” By covering your beds with plastic paper (red, black, or clear), you trap the heat, heat the soil, and eliminate the bugs beneath the surface. I like to think of this as my very own rendition of the “sun-bake” oven.
And if those aren’t reason enough to plant a cover crop, consider the benefits it will provide against soil erosion. A dense planting of any cover crop will physically slow down the speed at which rain makes contact with the soil surface, thereby lessening the amount of soil that can run off (and out of your garden!). Then of course there’s the added benefit of soil porosity created by the vast root network. I do love a multi-tasker.
So, whether you’re physically covering beds, or growing crops for cover—think of cover crops as a down payment on fertility come spring!
