Why Plant Cover Crops

Planting cover crops is the practice of building soil, microbial matter, fixing nitrogen and overall increasing the health of your soil. 

The process of planting cover crops takes place in the fall, for overwintering crops like organic red clover, organic tillage radish and organic field peas | oats | vetch.  Depending on what your soil is in need of nitrogen, aeration, soil structure, increasing organic matter content or promoting beneficial soil microbial activity, cover crops can be your ally.  

Cover crops can have a significant impact on the environment and agricultural sustainability by playing a crucial role in nutrient cycling. They can scavenge excess nutrients in the soil, such as nitrogen, preventing them from leaching into water bodies and causing pollution. When cover crops decompose, they release these nutrients back into the soil, making them available in your next gardening season. 

Planting cover crops can help suppress weeds by outcompeting them for resources like sunlight, water, and nutrients. Moreover,  cover crops increase biodiversity providing habitat and food sources for beneficial insects, birds, and other wildlife, contributing to a more balanced and resilient ecosystem by diverting pests.

There are several ways to benefit from your cover crops, after they have completed their lifecycle. The process of creating green manure, with your cover crop, is the practice of mowing in or chopping in the cover crops into the soil.  What this does is it builds organic matter with the act of the cover crops breaking down into the soil.  You can leave the roots intact or remove the plant matter and place it above the soil.  Each practice has a different benefit. 

Planting cover crops have a role in climate change mitigation through the process of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building soil. 

Many cover crops are edible as a food sources, such as the tillage radish!  We have enjoyed it sautéed with other vegetables and even raw in kimchi.  We dry red clover buds and use them as a delicious and comforting tea. 

Even if your garden is small, it can benefit from the many attributes cover crops can offer from improving your soil health, enhancing biodiversity, increase water retention, increase nutrient retention and the recycling, strengthening soil structure and tilth.  

Cover crops are a gardeners assistant by working when many garden beds lay fallow.  Enjoy the many benefits of cover crops by planting them today!