Cultivating Cover Crops for Novice Gardeners: A Comprehensive Guide
Ready to make the most of that leftover garden space? Instead of just calling it a day, consider embracing the multi-beneficial world of cover crops!
From newbies to expert gardeners alike, cover crops can be intimidating to tackle. But don't fret! Let's dive into some top tips to help you pick the right cover crops and have them growing in your own patch before you know it.
What Exactly is a Cover Crop?
If you've never heard the term "cover crop" or it's left you scratching your head, you're not alone. In a nutshell, a cover crop is a crop you plant torestore nutrients to the soil and enrich the life of the soil below.
SemisheLL YoU NiCk, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A well-tended cover crop can help your soil become healthier, more nutrient-rich, and perfect for growing hearty crops. The happier your soil, the better your plants will thrive, the bigger your harvests will be, and the fewer problems you'll encounter with pests and diseases.
Cover crops are also fantastic for feeding the fungal networks buried deep in your soil over the winter, when there isn't much else blooming in that space.
How Do You Choose the Best Cover Crop?
You'll find all sorts of cover crops online, and it's easy to get overwhelmed with the endless options. Remember that different cover crops have different tasks, but that's a good thing! It can be overwhelming, though, to figure out what's best for your garden.
Consider cover crops like legumes, which will add nitrogen to the soil, or radishes, which will help break up compacted soil. Some will suppress diseases, like mustards or winter rye, or weeds, like buckwheat or ryegrass.
Don't be afraid to ask yourself some questions before committing:
- What is your garden's purpose?
- When/how do you plan to terminate the cover crop?
- What's your garden zone?
1. What is your garden's purpose?
Decide what you want from your cover crop. Do you need to add nitrogen? Opt for legumes. Do you want to grow tons of organic matter? Choose grasses, since they create more biomass. Have compacted soil? Pick radish. These are just a few reasons for using cover crops for beginner gardeners.
2. When/how do you plan to terminate the cover crop?
Keep in mind that if you plant a cover crop that survives the winter and you want to plant spring seeds early in the season, you'll need to cut the cover crop down or work it into the soil before planting. As a no-till gardener, I prefer to use the trimmings as mulch in my garden space.
After planting, some cover crops may not have had enough time to grow to their full potential, and you might want to leave them to mature and sow your seeds later. Or you could mow them down or work them into the soil early. Having a cover crop in your garden for erosion control is still a huge benefit.
A third option is to plant a cover crop in the fall that will naturally winter kill. This means it'll grow most of its crop in the fall and the winter will kill it off, leaving you with decomposing root pathways along with decomposing vegetation that can contribute to an early spring crop.
3. What's your garden zone?
It's essential to know your garden zone, as most of the time, it will dictate whether a cover crop will survive the winter. My favorite source for cover crop seeds is True Leaf Market, and in the "attributes" section for a specific cover crop listing, it indicates if the cover crop acts as a perennial or annual in your zone.
Answering these three questions will give you an excellent starting point for choosing the right cover crop or mix of cover crops for your garden. Just like everything in gardening, experimentation is key, and you may find out what you enjoy growing and what works best for you through trial and error.
My Favorite Cover Crops and Why
1. Hairy Vetch
Hairy vetch offers many benefits! It's a nitrogen fixer and creates a mat which functions as a living mulch. This is handy in the spring when you're preparing to plant your crops. It will survive most winters down to zone 3. I use it for spring transplants like cabbage, broccoli, and even tomatoes. I wouldn't recommend it in beds intended for seeds since it creates a thick mat that can cast shade on young seedlings.
One more awesome quality of hairy vetch is that it flowers early in the season, attracting pollinators to your garden to help you get those first cucumber and squash plantings up and growing. Just be mindful that if you have a trellis nearby, it can climb up the trellis. While this may provide some shade to low-growing crops, it can also be a pretty addition to a vertical crop.
2. Crimson Clover
Crimson clover, another nitrogen fixer, stays more compact and dense than hairy vetch. It's hardy down to zone 6, so if you're chilling in a zone cooler than 6, be sure to plant it earlier in the season to give it enough time to grow before the cold weather strikes.
I like to use this crimson clover around my broccoli plants in the fall. Broccoli won't survive the winter, but the clover will be there to keep things going for me. It makes a fantastic living mulch around early spring crops.
Like hairy vetch, crimson clover flowers early, attracting pollinators in the spring.
3. Garden Cover Crop Blend
If you can't decide on just one cover crop but love the benefits of several, I recommend the Garden Cover Crop Mix from True Leaf Market.
Unlike choosing only one cover crop and potentially missing out on some of the unique benefits that each one has to offer, the mix has a little bit of everything that can help in different ways.
Planting is simple, just spread the seeds on the soil, rake them in slightly, and watch them germinate rapidly. One thing I noticed is that the seeds in the blend that wouldn't survive my zone 7 winter, like peas, grew quickly and their leaves were more prominent initially. Then, as the cooler weather settled in, I saw the crops that would survive my zone 7 winter begin to take more prominent positions.
As an added bonus, the crops that died off contributed organic matter and biomass to my soil. I saw real results about a month after my average last frost date when the legumes and brassicas began to flower, and the grasses grew tall.
For more on my experiences and other potential options, check out "5 Fall Cover Crops for Beginners."
- For organic gardening enthusiasts, the home-and-garden lifestyle, and those interested in enriching their garden's soil, consider investigating 'garden printables' to find helpful resources on cover crops.
- As you delve into cover crop gardening, you may find it challenging to choose the right crops for your garden. To simplify the selection process, consider opting for a 'garden cover crop blend' to reap the benefits of various cover crops all in one go.
- To accelerate the growth of your cover crops, utilize resources such as garden printables with recommended cover crops like legumes (e.g., Hairy Vetch, Crimson Clover) for nitrogen fixation, radishes for soil loosening, and mustards or winter rye for disease suppression.
