I have heard of cover crops for a long time, but didn’t know anything about them until recently. They have become so important that the USDA now gives farmers enough money to not only pay for the seed, but to pay for the airplane that spreads the seed. There are examples of farmers converting the first year and
- Producing a crop equal to their normal
- Eliminating fertilizer, chemical and expensive seed
- Producing normal crop yields while neighbor fields burn up from drought
While this revolution is going on in the farmers’ fields, the same processes can be adapted to our backyard gardens. I will try to show some results.
Under normal circumstances, one will broadcast cover crop seeds around 8 weeks before the last frost. As you can see, my crops by the 8-week time frame were almost as tall as the seed pods on my forever plant. As you go to the next picture, you will see the dahlia bloom barely sticking above the 8-week old cover crop (I have seen many gardens that by this time of the year are full of knee-high weeds.). I did not stake my dahlia s this year, otherwise, the blooms would have been well above the cover plants. Our normal fall frost date is around Oct 15th and this is the height around the first of Nov as we had a late frost. I broadcast a mixture of seeds that included 6 different kinds. Some farmers use over 10 different kinds in their mixture. Of the six seeds I
spread, only one kind came up (I am still fighting herbicide drift in my garden and after over 2 years still can’t get turnips or beets to germinate; Read Here). You will probably end up experimenting with different kinds of seeds as your conditions will change from time to time. Before I get into that phase, let me explain what your goals will be.
Our soil is a living soil. A teaspoon of a good, viable soil will have over a billion living organisms. When undisturbed and when not saturated with chemicals, the soil will maintain its ability to grow vegetation. A good example of this would be the Kansas Plains where a man had to be on horseback to see over the tops of the grass at the time Buffalo and deer roamed. The soil contains the minerals it needs and can produce all the nitrogen necessary for sustainable growth. Our cover crops will tap into this gold mine. You can read my previous article Making Sense of Fertilizer by CLICKING HERE.
So, how does the cover crop incorporate healthy soil? As you can see in the picture, this was the cover crop above and when the temperature went below 20 degrees, the cover crop died and created mulch. This mulch protects the soil from blowing or washing away and will help prevent weed seeds from germinating. It also gives earthworms and fungal mycelium food to convert into minerals and humus. The growth of fungi enables the roots of crops to utilize the minerals in the soil as it helps transport and save water. The fungi will even dissolve rock to produce more minerals (Where did you think minerals came from?)
- Provide Nitrogen
- Improve Soil Structure
- Add Organic Matter or Biomass
- Reduce Soil Erosion
- Manage Pests
- Suppress and Control Weeds
- Manage Nutrients
- Provide Lasting Residue or Mulch
from www.americanmeadows.com/...
But, while growing, the cover crops are also affecting the structure of the soil. For example, the crop that grew for me is the Daikon Radish. It will grow down into the soil some 2 or 3 feet. Some plants have roots that extend even 20 feet or more. This growth will bring up minerals and nitrogen in the soil. Then, when it dies, the radish will decay becoming humus and leaving an empty hole where it grew. This will loosen the soil and at the same time provide water storage. Some farmers’ fields have been tested to be able to absorb up to 7 inches of rain an hour without any runoff. The same soil, before, would have run off even after a half-inch of rain.
In addition, many of the cover crops will produce over 100 lbs. of nitrogen and some even up to 200 lbs. per acre per year. The farmer today will add more than 100 lbs. of nitrogen to his corn crop with anhydrous ammonia which is made from oil. One of the problems with it is that only about 40% will be available in that form to the crop and the rest will leach out and down the river to pollute our oceans. What nitrogen is made by cover crops remains and is available, naturally for crops.
American Meadows has an excellent article that covers a wide range of options for the home gardener. I will be posting on Daily Kos about my experiences. I have a website I am developing called Urban Homesteader and you can follow me there for a lot of gardening information.
Related articles I have already posted on Daily Kos: