Crimson clover growing as a cover crop.
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Joshua Peede
Landscape Designer & Gardener
ISCO Landscaping • Wilson, NC
SCC Landscape Gardening Graduate
Home Grown
Botanicals with SCC Graduate
Benefits of Cover Crops
by Joshua Peede
As we look forward to the new year in our
plans for vegetable gardening, we may already
have our ideas either laid out on paper or in
our minds for the things we want growing in
our spring or summer garden. This planning
stage is important, as well as thinking of
ways to replenish the things that our annual
vegetable garden needs from the soil in order
to produce and thrive. In today’s article, we
will briefly look at a method of naturally
adding back nutrients into the soil, shading
out excessive weeds in the off season, and even
reducing the need for man-made fertilizers.
The practice is called cover cropping, and I
want to overview some practical applications
for our Carolina gardens, as well as highlight
the benefits we gain from these practices.
Since many gardeners have something
growing nearly year round in their garden,
this practice may take a bit more planning to
make it feasible. One way of doing this is to
consolidate the fall garden to one side, while
leaving the other part open for a winter cover
crop. You can follow this same method the
following year by flip-flopping to the opposite
side to reap the benefits of last year’s cover
crop, while sowing a new one in the area of
last year’s winter garden.
So what is so beneficial about this cover
crop you might ask? Well, there are a variety
of benefits that come from this practice, so
let’s look at them in a little more detail. Two
main goals in using cover crops include the
following: rebuilding the soil and reducing
weed populations. Both of these remain
vital parts in growing a successful, vegetable
garden. In our local gardens, most cover crops
are seeded in late September or early October.
Many gardeners choose to use a legume
as their cover crop due to one ability that
so importantly sets them apart from all
other plants. That ability is the conversion
of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, an
available form of nitrogen for plants to uptake.
This is made possible by soil bacteria called
rhizobia that form nodules along the plant
roots of the legume crop. This is where all
the action takes place beneath the soil. Some
of the most common legumes used as cover
crops in our area are crimson clover, Austrian
winter pea, hairy vetch, and white clover. As
mentioned before, it is best to plant these
crops in late September or early October. The
reason for this is that it provides 6-8 weeks for
the seed to germinate, develop, but not fully
mature and expend all of its energy on fruit or
flower production. The reason for this timing
is so that there will be a hard frost to halt the
further growth, while leaving as much of the
nutrient value in the plant as possible.
Legumes are not the only type of cover crop
for sure. If you mix some other selections such
as winter wheat, cereal rye, mustard, barley,
or rape, then you can get additional benefit
from their weed suppression capabilities, as
well as the additional organic matter that they
will add when tilling under while preparing
for your spring garden. Many times, you can
actually buy a wildlife forage seed mix for use
as a cover crop with a good blend of clovers,
ryes, mustard, and other selections.
I recommend that you mow your cover
crops down with a mulching mower a few
weeks ahead of tilling to allow time for the
material to break down and dry out for easier
workability. Some gardeners will actually cut
hay or rye, lay it over on top of the planting
area, then crimp it into the ground for a
natural weed matting. Obviously, you would
not be able to utilize this method with raised
rows, but you could direct sow seed, or dig
holes for plants to be placed within the hay or
straw. When you cut down or till under your
cover crop before its seed bearing stage, then
you prevent another crop from germinating
among your vegetable garden, which would
then re-define your cover crop as a weed.
Whether or not you are an organic
gardener, cover crops are a great way to add
much-needed nutrient value back into your
garden soil, because everything from rainfall
to fruit yield can deplete the supply. ☐
If you are looking for some more references
on this subject, please visit the following sites:
www.ces.ncsu.edu/winter-annual-cover-crops
www.growveg.com/guides/cover-crops-torecharge
your-soil-this-winter
No. 141 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.29
/winter-annual-cover-crops
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