Mulching VS Cover Crops in the Backyard garden | Which is Better
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46 Comments
Very informative. Thanks for the information.
Would you consider wood sorrel and plantain a form of cover crops. ? I have an over-abundance of both growing in my garden.
Solid information 👍. Soil food web is what it is all about!
Question sir. Do fall leaves need to be shredded to be used as winter mulch for my Permaculture beds?
Too much repetition, and you never actually showed what we came to see, I.e. cover crops either being sown or in situ.
Was that a big rainbow tomato? I replanted my bushes elsewhere, put a fence up and planted a garden. First time ever. My garden came out great, in what I am told was the worst year ever. Gardening is going to take a great deal of study to really get good at it. Thanks for the info.
What type of clover did you plant? Will it winterkill because I don't want to have to kill it using newspaper and I don't till
What about white ants? They are attacking the tree roots.
Do you turn the cover crop under? or just terminate it at the top and let the root system decompose underneath. I've gotten really good results in my sandy loam soil by only broadforking lightly without inverting layers an mulching with maple leaves and leaf mold. I've tried having living roots in but they are hard to work around. I've found the immune system of my plants are much better when I don't invert the soil layers. I only do when I have to which is only for potatoes. When I plant root crops I get better roots if I don't have much other plant roots decomposing in the soil. All above ground plants that fruit and aren't underground roots I've found that I can just get a spade fork after aerated the bed and just crack the soil open and drop a transplant in and just close it back up. Seems all the buckwheat,daikon or rye roots feed the plants the whole time. I'm in zone 5a Michigan. I'm like the only one in my area that I know that doesn't have any black spots on the base of the tomato plant near the ground. Totally clean all the way up until frost
I love my comfrey. I like to chop it down to the base 3 or 4 times a season, mulch plants with it and then put a layer of hay or leaves on top to keep the nitrogen from off gassing into the air
both! right good point, the mycorrhizae gets its food from the plants
you always need your soil covered. and mulch grows the bio mass. to seed under the mulch might be the best bet
hate to break it to you and hate to bust your bubble but even though you think your are good if you're not I'm going to let you know I was pretty mad when I found out too because I am a Michigan Gardener who is organic and found out that our government has been chemically spraying us from the airplanes above onto our ground so anybody saying that there are ganic is really not organic when they're being sprayed with lithium aluminum barium strontium and stuff like that so the little dots that you're seeing on your tomatoes and leaves that are like black that's the chemical Mist falling from the air that's being sprayed out of the airplane in those cracks is where all the let's say most of the chemical landed so it's going right into your tomato as it grows that's why most of the tomatoes nowadays are forming cracks on the top
Wood mulch builds soil. It just takes a long time to get there.. I think cover crops get there quicker…
Wow, that tomato must have been delicious!
I added some wood chips two years ago to some beds. This year, I want to put a foot or two of fall leaves on the beds. I want to stay with fall leaves from now on because they are easier to source. I'll also use some cover crops, and I have perrenials in each bed to keep a living root. My question is: do I need to pull out (or back) the wood chips and put the fall leaves on top of the soil? Or can I just put the fall leaves on top of everything, wood chips and all? To clarify, my wood chip level is only a couple of inches deep at the most, and there are some spots where there are none at all, so it wouldn't be too much of a chore to pull them out (or back).
A point for cover crops, in a new area, is to build nitrogen (as well as building soil) until the system is up and running properly. We've a glut of carpenter ants in my neighborhood, so I daren't use wood chips. I've burnt downed limbs to create biochar for my new garden and added some sand and lime to break up some of the excess clay. I didn't burn the wood all the way through to let the inside decay naturally while the charred exterior deters any termites and ants. Next year I hope to use some of the information you've shared.
Have you ever inoculated any edible mushrooms in your woodchips?
Thanks for the video and that tomato was huge! I appreciate the information you share with us.
Clover has the added benefit of being nitrogen fixing. So although you didnt fertilize per se, the clover adds natural fertilizer and then addition nutrients when it dies and breaks down.
Great video! How do you plant starts or seeds in the spring, though? Do you just chop the cover crop and transplant in that area, same-day and the cover crop becomes mulch? How does that work if i'm starting with grass and not a prepared bed?
I put compost on then a cover crop this year. See what happens😎
So living roots establish the soil aggregates and build the soil. Wood mulch regulates moisture, temp, brings in worms, and adds fertility. Therefore the worst thing you can do is till your soil and leave it uncovered.
Really nice video! Thank you for sharing!
Tomatoes sandwich sounds good
I really have benefited from your soil video series… It's a shame you don't have more views… But I do look forward to seeing how much the nutrition value in your crops improve as time goes on.
"lovely state of NJ" pfff….. lol, funny, but the video was good.
I live in NJ as well. Right before you said winter rye I was thinking of annual rye as an over winter crop. I can’t wait for that video, or do you have one out already?
Is the clover a perennial cover crop? And do you just make a hole and plant the tomatoes or do you have to cut the clover down?
Exactly the information I needed, thank you!
Very clear and easy to understand explanation of how cover crops work!
I’ve learned so much with just this one video thank you!
How often can you "harvest your comfrey"? Can I just clear cut the comfrey each time it get as bushy as yours does in the video? or do I need a leaf or two to keep the plant alive?
Here's the thing. I backyard garden in zone 3a. We get many weeks of -25 to -30 celsius and some days of -35 even (nights potentially colder) in the coldest parts of the year.
There are zone 3 perennials that will overwinter and we of course, have those. However, they are not in the annual vegetable garden because that would make no sense. You'd have to kill or uproot them every spring, to get your actual vegetable crop in.
An annual vegetable garden in zone 3 quite simply has months of the year where there is no living root because it is not practical. Unless you are suggesting we take up vegetable gardening space with comfrey or other perennials?
I am considering doing some cover cropping beginning about mid-august next year (interplanting) with maybe alfalfa for deep roots, tho it will die with the cold and would end up as a chop and drop sort of situation.
only theories?
I'm new to your channel, I have a bit of conflict, if I use wood chips such as cedar and decide to put a cover crop in fall, let's say winter rye, isn't it a problem planting your rye with the wood chips in the way? Do I need to remove them? Thanks for any help…
Now that I have inherited a neglected garden I'm starting with mulching while the groundcovers I planted grow. Great to see lifeless dirt go to being filled with fat worms and healthy.
I watched a video where the person said you have to space out all your vegeys in a raised garden so they don't compete for root space. But from listening to your explanation it seems as if roots are good to have. what are your thoughts?
Do you move away the leaves or wood chips to grow the cover crop or do you grow in it?
Okay, I’ve put down about 6”-8” of leaves covered by a 2”-3” layer of horse manure. That’s on top of adobe soil that used to be a horse corral that’s very compacted. The corral was never cleaned so I know that the dirt already had quite a bit of manure anyway. We tried to till the garden area 2 years ago with limited success because of compaction. So this year I’m just trying to build soil and building raised beds. I need more clover!
Hi, currently I have a layer of mulch in my one year old 100 square ft garden. It was nice fertile soil and was existing when we bought the house but not really used. I want to practice a no till method and plant some crimson clover cover crop as I live in Canada. How would you recommend planting the clover with the existing mulch ?
chips are good for no till gardens where you let your crop till the soil naturally
Thanks! I saw this video just in time as fall is quickly approaching. I went thru my pantry and took out all the 'old' peas, whole mung beans, cowpeas, garbanzo beans, fenugreek seeds, pinto beans, etc. Soaked them a couple of days in water and then spread them on all my raised beds. I now have a good layer of 'cover crop' going everywhere! The recent rains were a blessing!
you have a great video but,, please let me know, how do the plants get nutrients like phosphorus and potassium when you say that (at 5th minute) your plants did not use the fertilizers and did not use the compost, pardon me my english is not fluent and I new commer in agriculture, because I just known that covercrops works with nitrogen fixation,, many thanks for your responce
I'm gardening/ growing all year since I live in Florida. So I'm guessing I don't need to do a cover crop?
I don't think many home gardeners use cover crops and that's a shame. Education is key and videos like this one are essential. Thanks.
I planted red clover and alfalfa cover crops in most of my soil beds. The first frost on average is September 11-20 and I think cold fall temperatures could kill it. When should I terminate them if I want to do chop and drop for maximum benefits?
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I believe you have the best videos on YouTube for this topic, thanks.