Getting Started with Cover Crops - Ep. 166

Just Grow Something | The "Why" Behind the "How" of Gardening

As the growing season is winding down in many areas, we may be looking at some bare empty spaces in our gardens and wondering what to do with them. Should you just mulch it over? Add fresh compost and let it sit? How about a cover crop?

Using a cover crop gives back a ton of benefits: improving soil structure, preventing erosion, acting as a living mulch, and adding nutrients back into the soil. And, yes, this can be done in both in-ground beds and raised planters. What you plant and what you do with it when it’s done all depends on what you want to get out of it, so today we’ll cover all the options to help you figure out which crops work best for your individual garden needs. Let’s dig in!

Karin's Recommendations for Cover Crops:

Preventing soil erosion and providing weed control: clover, mustard, oats, peas, daikon radish, winter rye, and vetch.
Nitrogen fixation: alfalfa, clover, chickpeas/garbanzos, field peas, soybeans, lentils, and vetch.
Green manure: buckwheat, clover, mustard, oats, peas, radish, winter rye, wheat, barley, and vetch.
Creating biomass: alfalfa, mustard, oats, peas, rye, wheat and barley.
Breaking up the soil: alfalfa, clover, and daikon radish.
Attracting beneficial insects: alfalfa, buckwheat, clover, mustard, and hairy vetch in its second year when it flowers in the spring.
Forage: Alfalfa, clover, and mustard. (Mustard is a brassica so if you have animals that are sensitive to plants in that family, like rabbits, you may want to avoid that one.)

Episode References and Resources:

Get Magic Mind: Use code JustGrow20 at checkout

Check out True Leaf Market’s Cover Crop Mix

Marigolds as Companion Plants

The Great Marigold Debate: Friend or Foe?

Terminating Cover Crops | Southern Cover Crops Council

Using Cover Crops and Green Manures in the Home Vegetable Garden – Wisconsin Horticulture

Tips for Planting Cover Crops in Home Gardens (psu.edu)

Cover crops and green manures in home gardens | UMN Extension

Farm Seed & Cover Crops | Comparison Chart (PDF) | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

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