MIgardener: Which Cover Crop Is BEST For Your Garden & Why
Cover crops otherwise known as green manure are an important part to protecting, building, and feeding soil. But which cover crop is best? Which one is my favorite? All that and more in today’s episode.
I'm panning on seeding as much of my land as possible with cover crops (a mix). We have an acre and a half of land, most of which is very heavy clay. We would much prefer doing this to bringing in a backhoe! 😅
I am in southern Arizona. We still have cucumbers 🥒 and tomatoes 🍅 and watermelon 🍉 and peppers 🫑 and pumpkins 🎃 going. My backyard looks like a jungle still. Lol Out temps are still in the 70-80’s and lows of 50-60’s.
I use hairy vetch and trying some clover this year also. But Like you I mulch most of my beds with grass clippings and leaves in the fall as I have an abundance on my property. One question … should the vetch and clover be terminated early in the spring before flowering to maximize nitrogen or would it be better to keep them growing as a living mulch?
Thank you Luke!🙂 I grew red clover last year. Yes, I had so many bees in the garden and it was really pretty! I dried some for my tea stash because it's also medicinal. I composted the rest. I also grew alfalfa. The chickens loved it!😁 Blessings!💜
Thanks Luke. I plant Collards, Kale, Mustard and Spinach, 25% of each over the garden. Then broadcast turnips over the entire garden. We pick through the garden, getting healthy greens until hard freeze. Although, Central Kentucky has had a hard garden year. We picked our tomatoes and peppers yesterday. 30° and snow last night. 25° tonight and tomorrow. No cover crops this year. God Bless and stay safe.
Hey everyone, please make sure you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. He is coming soon! Please don't be left behind! Repent and accept Jesus! JESUS LOVES YOU! John 3:16, Revelation 20:15 Please watch DLM Christian Lifestyle on YouTube to learn about Salvation.
Greetings from Arizona. thanks again for the tips on cover crops! we just pulled our yam vines that covered our ground for the summer. it kept our desert heat away from our soil and helped to keep our organic organisms alive!
I cant wrap my head around cover cropping. Like when would a northern gardener plant one? In the spring, and waste precious growing time? I’m in zone 4. Would you risk getting a ton of volunteer plants if you just till everything into your soil?
I'm in NW Arizona and am getting my garlic in tomorrow. Still great weather here in zone 8b. I'm still harvesting beans, peppers, tomatoes, and squash and just planted radishes, lettuce, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and more green beans. Our first frost isn't until Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm planting cover crops of peas and buckwheat for the first time. 🌱 My pumpkins didn't do that great this year due to chlorosis or some other kind of possible soil issue.
We warned you not to take the government shot (only 5% did). People still posting "normal" YT videos as if the end of free humanity was not around the corner (2030)
Hi a question. How do you tell the difference between root knot nematodes and those nitrogen fixer balls that were on the roots you showed?… I just searched Google for the answer and saw some pictures but still don't think I could tell the difference.
Cover crops I found most useful this year (Western side of Detroit area): Buckwheat and Lentils. I was surprised at how in the worst soil the root mass under lentil plants was like I pulled up soil in the fence rows or forest, dark and crumbly cake-like (so a lot life under the soil surface) and the deer didn't mow it all down like beans and chickpeas. Buckwheat kept weeds and grass out while bringing in all the pollinators and predators (like the big white/yellow/green garden spiders, huge wolf spiders, lots of lady bugs, and praying mantis). I ordered black lentils for next spring which are supposed to have better nitrogen fixing than the regular green supermarket type. I put down winter rye before the rains last week and hopefully we get a little more heat for them to sprout.
Radishes as a cover crop? Who knew?!! Well that's cool. I can use the Black Spanish Radish seeds, that I saved this spring, after they bolted. And I may even get to eat some before the ground freezes. Win Win!
my two faves are crimson clover and buckwheat. I like growing the buckwheat especially for the flowers, you get beneficial bees and wasps out the wazoo, some species that i typically never really see otherwise, and the honey bees seem to really like it too. Just gotta catch it before the seeds start maturing or you'll have little sprouts everywhere, but even then those are relatively easy to pluck up so no biggie for me personally.
Living in Wyoming, we get high winds and long stretches of very dry, cold temps throughout winter, so protecting the soil makes sense. We also live in a treeless plain, so high volumes of leaf mass isn't an option. I made my own mix this year. I'm growing oats and field peas. I feel I'm getting the best of both root mass and nitrogen fixation this way. Spring will tell…
37 Comments
I love these in NY:
Alfalfa, Jackhammer Daikon, Field peas and oats mix
I don’t like winter rye as it’s hard to get rid of in the spring.
Buckwheat. Till in after flowering.
I'm panning on seeding as much of my land as possible with cover crops (a mix). We have an acre and a half of land, most of which is very heavy clay. We would much prefer doing this to bringing in a backhoe! 😅
I am in southern Arizona. We still have cucumbers 🥒 and tomatoes 🍅 and watermelon 🍉 and peppers 🫑 and pumpkins 🎃 going. My backyard looks like a jungle still. Lol Out temps are still in the 70-80’s and lows of 50-60’s.
I use hairy vetch and trying some clover this year also. But Like you I mulch most of my beds with grass clippings and leaves in the fall as I have an abundance on my property. One question … should the vetch and clover be terminated early in the spring before flowering to maximize nitrogen or would it be better to keep them growing as a living mulch?
Thank you Luke!🙂
I grew red clover last year. Yes, I had so many bees in the garden and it was really pretty! I dried some for my tea stash because it's also medicinal. I composted the rest. I also grew alfalfa. The chickens loved it!😁
Blessings!💜
Thanks Luke. I plant Collards, Kale, Mustard and Spinach, 25% of each over the garden. Then broadcast turnips over the entire garden. We pick through the garden, getting healthy greens until hard freeze. Although, Central Kentucky has had a hard garden year. We picked our tomatoes and peppers yesterday. 30° and snow last night. 25° tonight and tomorrow. No cover crops this year. God Bless and stay safe.
What if you don/t want to till?
Hey everyone, please make sure you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. He is coming soon! Please don't be left behind! Repent and accept Jesus! JESUS LOVES YOU! John 3:16, Revelation 20:15 Please watch DLM Christian Lifestyle on YouTube to learn about Salvation.
God bless you! 🙏
Is hairy vetch the same as crown vetch? I’d avoid it. It’s hard to control.
Mustard is a great cover crop. When cut down and dug in it releases a gas that eradicates nematodes
Greetings from Arizona. thanks again for the tips on cover crops! we just pulled our yam vines that covered our ground for the summer. it kept our desert heat away from our soil and helped to keep our organic organisms alive!
I also put buckwheat in this year white clover and yellow clover .
I cant wrap my head around cover cropping. Like when would a northern gardener plant one? In the spring, and waste precious growing time? I’m in zone 4. Would you risk getting a ton of volunteer plants if you just till everything into your soil?
I'm in NW Arizona and am getting my garlic in tomorrow. Still great weather here in zone 8b. I'm still harvesting beans, peppers, tomatoes, and squash and just planted radishes, lettuce, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and more green beans. Our first frost isn't until Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm planting cover crops of peas and buckwheat for the first time. 🌱
My pumpkins didn't do that great this year due to chlorosis or some other kind of possible soil issue.
We warned you not to take the government shot (only 5% did).
People still posting "normal" YT videos as if the end of free humanity was not around the corner (2030)
What's the best cover crop for reactive clay?
I’m growing shelling peas. Can I just turn those into my soil also? Think they fix nitrogen also?
Buckwheat?
Hi a question. How do you tell the difference between root knot nematodes and those nitrogen fixer balls that were on the roots you showed?… I just searched Google for the answer and saw some pictures but still don't think I could tell the difference.
Oh my, I think I miss heard something 😮
I like a cover crop mix, one that includes daikon radishes to break up our hard soil. Clover is a little difficult to iradicate, but I have used it.
Cover crops I found most useful this year (Western side of Detroit area): Buckwheat and Lentils. I was surprised at how in the worst soil the root mass under lentil plants was like I pulled up soil in the fence rows or forest, dark and crumbly cake-like (so a lot life under the soil surface) and the deer didn't mow it all down like beans and chickpeas. Buckwheat kept weeds and grass out while bringing in all the pollinators and predators (like the big white/yellow/green garden spiders, huge wolf spiders, lots of lady bugs, and praying mantis). I ordered black lentils for next spring which are supposed to have better nitrogen fixing than the regular green supermarket type. I put down winter rye before the rains last week and hopefully we get a little more heat for them to sprout.
I planted crimson clover on half my garden and buckwheat on the other. Both are great for soil structure.
Radishes as a cover crop? Who knew?!! Well that's cool. I can use the Black Spanish Radish seeds, that I saved this spring, after they bolted. And I may even get to eat some before the ground freezes. Win Win!
Make sure you mow or turn clover BEFORE it goes to seed!
We use mustard as cover crop
We run sunflower stalks through our chipper.
Thinking about putting some purselane out this year. Definitely some radishes and carrots not just cover crop! food!
my two faves are crimson clover and buckwheat. I like growing the buckwheat especially for the flowers, you get beneficial bees and wasps out the wazoo, some species that i typically never really see otherwise, and the honey bees seem to really like it too. Just gotta catch it before the seeds start maturing or you'll have little sprouts everywhere, but even then those are relatively easy to pluck up so no biggie for me personally.
I like Buckwheat for the same reasons Luke likes Clover, except it's not a nitrogen fixer.
Thanks for all the great information on cover crops!
Living in Wyoming, we get high winds and long stretches of very dry, cold temps throughout winter, so protecting the soil makes sense. We also live in a treeless plain, so high volumes of leaf mass isn't an option. I made my own mix this year. I'm growing oats and field peas. I feel I'm getting the best of both root mass and nitrogen fixation this way. Spring will tell…
I like poison ivy.
Don't know if any other commenters have mentioned this, but hairy vetch is also a legume.
I want to plant a cover crop for the next owner of our house moving no idea if I should. Our garden was okay this year but… It could have been better.