One of the new ways of farming and gardening is to use cover crops to improve the soil structure and nutrients, instead of the traditional tilling and chemical fertilizers.
Here’s a free book on the benefits of using cover crops on a farm. I’m going to try and bring some of these concepts to the home garden.
Managing Cover Crops Profitably.
Here’s another great source of Cover Crop Information from the USDA.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/services/software/263/CCC%202016_1.22.16_final.pdf
I decided to try this on a test area that I use mainly for tropical milkweed. It’s one of the few areas in my yard that is open enough to plant extra seed.
March 16th I planted the Interseed Mix from Walnut Creek Seeds. I used half the packet and will reserve half in case the first seeding does poorly. I will later on plant my milkweed and hope all the crops will co-exist.
Below is what the cover crop looks like on April 27th.
I next used my trimmer and cut most of plants down to a couple inches high so that I could plant my milkweed. I’m not sure how much the cover crop will recover.
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You can see from the picture below that the cover crop came back dramatically and is growing faster than my milkweed in some places.
- Angelia Phacelia – pretty flower – dead by July 1st.
- Barley – gets large and turning brown around July 1st. I would not plant this again – too much maintenance.
- Crimson Clover – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 –
- Flax – poor germination
- Millet – poor germination.
- Radish – fast grower and tall – cut it down about June 1st.
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Other Cover Crops
- Buckwheat = available on Amazon – Terminate within 7 to 10 days after flowering to prevent seed production. Note – mine got a bit tall and doesn’t look nice after flowering. Don’t plant this again
- Other Cover Crops
- Crimson Clover – doesn’t seem to have deep roots. Needs a fair amount of water to keep it going by itself.
- Try annual ryegrass in the fall.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1kMm2bzDk
Crimson Clover – planted in the fall.
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Fall Cover Crops
This is another seed mix from Walnut Creek Seeds
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Notes from video below.
- Legumes add Nitrogen, but they have to be inoculated – most come pre-inoculated.
- Crimson clover – his favorite cover crop – usually winter kills, makes a lot of Nitrogen.- earthworms love it – easy to kill.
- Radish tops scavenge more nitrogen than the tubers – don’t throw this away. Leave on the soil?
- http://plantcovercrops.com/ – articles are old.
- dave@plantcovercrops.com
Crimson Clover
Butterfly Gardening 