Cover Cropping Raised Beds? Yes You Can! 5 Amazing Benefits

[@KlandestineKoala]

Love your channel and your tips - thank you. In some of what you say and what I see in your garden, it reminds me of my grandfather. He saw his family of 10 through the great depression on a farm. He share-cropped for a large land owner in LA. By todays standards they were beyond poor. Mom said she went barefoot all week, even to school, but wore shoes (she had 1 pair) to church on Sunday. Still, their house was warm and dry, and they always had plenty to eat. He eventually moved toward a city, but always kept a garden and typically chickens. Years later, after he had retired, he bought a plot of land in the sticks and made a homestead. It was something to see - you would have loved it and him. You couldn't visit without coming away with a jar of plum or grape jelly, or canned green beans, okra and tomatoes, or some fresh sweet corn. Often it was a pork butt, or some frozen fish, quail or dove. I'd sometimes get a bag of spicy cracklings, he knew I loved them. He would also raise quail by the hundreds and release them into the woods to give back what he hunted. His pantry, a 12x12 outbuilding, had two huge chest freezers, and shelves from floor ceiling that was AMAZING. He and Granny worked the homestead all week, went fishing almost every Saturday, and to church every Sunday. He referenced the farmers almanac for his crops, and applied many of the same principals of soil protection you mention here - and animal manures 'cause he had it. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, if folks listen and learn, it will save lives.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you for watching and sharing your family’s story as well. I hope people will listen.

[@samsdaughterdehaven9990]

Sounds like he was a rich man to me. Such a great heart and soul.

[@zuzax1656]

Up here in Maine, I know of one gardener that plants dandelions as soon as the snow melts. Once the soil has thawed a couple inches, they plant clover. This helps to break up the frozen ground (the soil can stay frozen 6" down even in late May to early June), and more importantly, provides food for bees early on. Since the bees learn early where food is, they get lots of pollinators for their garden all year. They always have a very abundant crop yield.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

That is awesome and sounds like a great technique.

[@amandacottles5445]

Love the dog circles in the background 🤗💓

[@CountryLivingExperience]

He is hilarious. Trying to herd my chickens.

[@TheWest214]

Love the collie doing laps in the background. Great video!

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you

[@Mechanic21]

i am mechanic from Ethiopia Good works or nice jobs my friends Nice 🥰🥰🥰

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you

[@willbass2869]

For warm season cover crop just throw down some bird seed mix with millet, sunflower etc

[@rickthelian2215]

Agree does make a difference to soil structure, especially if you grow in winter and rest the garden in summer. If you let the bare soil in the heat, will make it dusty, using a cover crop will keep the soil more wholesome and the height of the crop will protect the soil below.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Absolutely!

[@Doc1855]

Thanks for the video. Our growing season is short here. Last frost is usually mid to late May. By mid September I’ve already turned our wax beans under. I’m about ready to do our 5th harvest of Swiss Chard. I buy 1-3 bails of Alph Alpha each summer to use around our fruit trees and garden areas to replace the nitrogen. We also burn a lot in the spring and fall, so we use the pot ash to help our gardens as well. We have about 6 weeks before the snow starts. Though we will grumble when we’re shoveling snow and using the snow blower, we still need a large snow pack. We got 5 ft last winter and we’re still behind. Hopefully this winter will bring 5-7 feet.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Cool. Yes, everyone will modify it to their area and zone. Hope you get some more snow this year.

[@flatsville9343]

SARE has an on line covercrop guide for specific info, planting, timing & termination. I was able to rehab some gards clay ground using their tips on cuttin sorghum sudangrass. The method dave abundant above ground mass & deeper rooting than just one cut then terminate. I geneally use Peaceful Valley "soil builder" winter-kill blend from Grow Organic. Sometimes you have to customize the cc to fit the problem as with that tough clay area.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you

[@valnpaulvanorden]

Nice subjects

[@valnpaulvanorden]

Build healthy soil

[@valnpaulvanorden]

Green manure....chop n drop

[@garyreneker6226]

Good advice IF you live in a warm climate AND have empty garden ground with plenty of time before freezing.. If you live in a colder climate and use succession planting throughout the season, so there's no non-producing areas, and you push your growing season out to early Oct, the cover crop will barely get started before frost hits. I live in PA (USDA zone 6b) with a postage stamp sized yard.. I can only get a 20'x22' raised bed garden area, so have to use every inch of space up until frost.. Before planting succeeding crops I turn under the old plants.. When the season is over (around Oct 5th) I turn under the year's final plants, and cover the area with a mix of Maple leaves and straw.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Plenty of people I know in Michigan (where I grew up) who grow cover crops. Try quick emerging cover crops include oilseed radish, oats, sorghum-sudangrass and cereal rye.

[@judymiller323]

Eric what a nice mix you have there. Thank you for the link !! wait, is it Johnny's?? I thought i saw a link but maybe did not....

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you. Yes, it is Johnny's.

[@roosatlgany7622]

The dog is getting his exercise on his small running track.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Lol.....every single day. He has worn it 10" deep at this point.

[@valnpaulvanorden]

Good word

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you

[@claudiarose4971]

Thank you for your channel! It has given us many good ideas! We bought a small amount of pasture in eastern Oregon almost 2 years ago & we would like to plant a cover crop but are concerned of the reseeding of the crops. Eventually we would like to plant food. We have a riding lawnmower to keep low whatever is in the soil that comes up & lots of things do come up, especially goat heads! Not in the budget for a tractor at this time. Do you think we can do this with the mower we have? We do not have the equipment to tile the acreage. BTW we are beekeepers & do keep a backyard garden...

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Awesome! Just cut those cover crops before they seed and you will be fine. You can till them under or chop and drop them for a few years before you plant the food there. A mower would work great.

[@lionofgod5843]

We are in zone 4. So we go to -30-40. There is little time between end of production and frozen ground. Could you make a suggestion on how to handle this. Also the ability to water becomes very limited inside the greenhouse very shortly now as things freeze up soon. Thank you. Just found you. Very good videos.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you. It all depends on how you can heat your greenhouse. Can you run a water line with a freeze proof hydrant into the greenhouse like we did?

[@sawmillmods1659]

How about an update on your new eg4 inverters

[@CountryLivingExperience]

I am working on a few videos about them now. They are performing great. Only difference is they are loud.

[@honeydew4576]

Loved the video, but was distracted in the last few minutes by the cute doggie in the background running around in circles! If you hooked him up to a plough, he could happily till for you, I'm sure!

[@CountryLivingExperience]

If I could harvest his energy, I would be a rich man.

[@dmark6699]

You can get some pretty bad gully washers in Texas.

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Absolutely!

[@kristyholman351]

Great video! I hadn’t thought to use the rake one way and then the opposite way after broadcasting. Definitely going to do that. Where do you get your cover crop seeds from?

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you. We got our seeds from Johnny’s.

[@Pogobattles]

The dog running in circles 7 and a half mins in 😂 is it trying to get those chickens?

[@CountryLivingExperience]

He does that in all of my videos.

[@zuzax1656]

I think it is because the dog is a border collie or Australian shepherd(?), a herding breed. So, he is just trying to herd the chickens even though they are in a fenced area, not to attack them. Or he's a ham that just wants attention. Or he's really, really bored. Now, if Eric could just figure out a way to harness all that energy into electricity for those cloudy days...

[@sislertx]

Those are good cover crops..bit vetch is a bugger ...real bugger

[@johac7637]

You didnt mention innoculant on legumes.

[@chubzeee1]

Great video and instructions, as always. I’ve heard you say you have gopher/mole problem. How do you keep them from destroying your beds that are in ground?

[@CountryLivingExperience]

Thank you. We do have a bad problem with them. We did this to our garden before we built it......kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHS3m3mjbah0nNE

[@chubzeee1]

Thank you. Read all the comments and looks like it’s still working after 5 years. Will try to implement this. God bless.