Cover Crops in the Garden-Part 1

Cover Crops are great way to improve your garden's soil and they are one of the easiest ways to start a new garden bed. This video explains the basics (the why, when, and how) of cover crops.
Hi, I'm Amy with gardensthatmatter.com and I believe that your garden is the key to better food, a better life, and a better planet.
I also believe that the key to a healthy, productive garden is the soil.
And that is what this video is all about. Helping you create healthy, abundant, living soil through cover crops.
We make and use a lot of compost to use in our garden, but compost is just one tool in the healthy soil toolbox. Cover crops is another and I hope this video inspires you to give them a try.
Part of this video is an excerpt from our premium course on creating healthy soil called "Foundations of a Happy Garden--How to Bring Your Soil to Life With Compost, Mulch, and Cover Crops."
To gain access to this class (and all of our classes) head over to
www.gardenstha...
IF YOU LOVE GARDENING AS MUCH AS WE DO, CONSIDER JOINING OUR EXCLUSIVE COMMUNITY.
www.gardensthatmatter.mn.com
If you want to learn how to compost, here is a link to our
Quick Start to Composting playlist here on KZbin.
• Quick Start to Composting
Below are links to resources we mention in the video.
USDA Cover Crop Chart (download button on their site)
www.ars.usda.g...
Cover Crop Calculator
smartmix.green...
Here is a great video from another farm in our area on soil health/cover crops you might enjoy. It's a deep dive video. We are not affiliated, but we enjoy their workshops and videos.
Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem with Gabe Brown Part 1, The 5 Tenets of Soil Health
• Treating the Farm as a...
Here is the cover crop seed we are spreading in this video.
(We are not affiliated, nor do we receive compensation)
www.kingsagris...
Photo Attributions:
Diverse by Ben Lardy/NRCS South Dakota/Flickr, CC BY-SA-2.0 www.flickr.com...
Pollen Crop by Tracy Robillard/NRCS Oregon/Flickr, CC BY-ND-2.0
www.flickr.com...
Mixed Field by Tracy Robillard/NRCS Oregon/Flickr, CC BY-ND-2.0
www.flickr.com...
Crimp Roller by Tracy Robillard/NRCS Oregon/Flickr, CC BY-ND-2.0
www.flickr.com...
Woman Spreading Seeds by pedarilhos/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Fertilizer spreader by nd700/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Field of buckwheat by Soru Epotok/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Daikon radish plants by sirisris/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Carrots in the garden by Lukas Gojda/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Outdoor garden plow job with a motor cultivator by Roman/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
The Rye by Valery Sibrikov/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Rototiller in the garden by Philipimage/stock.adobe.com
stock.adobe.co...
Cover Crop Chart by USDA-ARS NGPRL
www.ars.usda.g...
Our theme music is from the The Let 'Em In Sessions album that is part of Wistia's free music collection.
wistia.com/res...

[@coroshah7344]

Best video on cover crop and how to terminate it. Great information.

[@briandowning5297]

Love to see that you are using these mixes on a small scale. I have a small farm in central NC and have been using cc blends for going on 5 years. ALL synthetic applications of fertility have been removed from my operation. I terminate my covers with grazing livestock which I greatly encourage anyone with the ability to do also. Again, love the video esp for folks wanting to incorporate these practices at home. "Heal the soil, heal the body"

[@GardensThatMatter]

Thanks for your comments Brian. Love the idea of terminating with livestock. We are working toward that. We agree with "Heal the soil", heal the body". I might add "Heal the planet" too.

[@umagandhi8422]

Very informative video.. not many out there for home gardens! Thank you!

[@rianajansevanrensburg2444]

Thank you for this very informative video. I have just started with cover crops in my urban garden and are very excited to see how it is going to perform

[@phillywister9957]

very very precious video, hope your channel explodes the next few months! more people should know about this as its more important than ever. im gonna try out cover crop/no till gardening next year for sure. wouldve wanted to try it this year already but i heard from this idea too late so ill have to plant in spring :D youre doing the world a service, thank you!

[@GardensThatMatter]

Oh wow, thank you Philly Wister. It's comments like yours that energize us and inspire us to produce more videos. So glad to hear you are planning to try no-till gardening. You won't be sorry. Please keep us informed of your progress and don't hesitate to reach out if we can help you. There are some more lessons and tips (blog posts) over on our website that you might find useful too. www.gardensthatmatter.com/ Thank you so much for watching our video(s) and for the kind words. Happy Gardening.

[@kwikitti]

Thank you very much! You've answered several questions I had re: how to best terminate my first little cover crop using a minimally disruptive method.

[@GardensThatMatter]

You're welcome Karen. Glad we could help. I love how you put it . . . "minimally disruptive". Happy Gardening.

[@ceepark114]

I used a cover crop, winter rye, in one of my raised beds last fall then covered it with black plastic for a couple months and it decomposed and left a beautiful dark soil that the veggies love. This fall I will do the same with the other beds.

[@Silrielmavi]

I'm just barely doing research in cover crops for my tiny yard, I'm excited to see how it goes!

[@chrisamos5075]

what a sweetheart! great information to boot! liked and subscribed! :) Thanks so much for all the effort you put into these quality videos

[@mopeaceproductions218]

Thanks for this tip I plant some in my small beds

[@manjushreetsl2531]

Explained wonderfully. Will try this for sure. Thanks for sharing.

[@stephenowen1644]

Great video! I have a deep mulch garden and with current events decided to more than double its size. I dont have enough hay and will not go to town so... I got a 50 lb bag of wheat localy. I mowed a 40 x 50 area, scalped it, and planted wheat plus wood ash. I plan to crimp it down with the lawn tractor which the mower Not running. This will be my watermelon bed, in in the south, long growing season. Only optimists plant gardens! Thanks again Stay safe, stay home!

[@GIOVANNI-vf5ox]

That was very informative... thank you. I didn't know these features of Buckwheat and clover

[@joannc147]

Fabulous! Delighted I just found you. I’m in central NC on a 1/2 acre plot…..lots of shade and way too many weeds. I have some kind of white clover that came with the ppty. Just broadcast some buckwheat today along with a bit of kale (I know, too late in the season, but the hens will like it anyway). Growing some of these for my hens and eventual meat rabbits. I plan on getting sunflower and pearl millet planted tomorrow. I have some sunn hemp seeds as well. All experimental for me! Crimson clover, kale and chard for cool season planting is already purchased.

[@spadezaspade7677]

Nice vid and personality, just subscribed, have nice day.

[@growmorton9054]

Good information well presented, literacy without the effort. I have subscribed and bookmarked

[@GardensThatMatter]

Thank You.

[@wblack751]

This is a great video on cover crops. I threw some winter rye seeds in my garden last fall and just tilled a row for my cabbage. The soil is really nice plus I have mulch for my plants. I'm gonna grow some in an area outside of my garden so I can cut it and use it as mulch. This fall I will get more serious about it and also put tiller radish in with it. Can you do a video about legumes and inoculating? Thanks !!!!

[@ybly6627]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge about cover crops!!! Broadcasted buckwheat seed on small scale and plants are flowering don't wish for them to go to seeding...is it time to cut them off and leave them on the soil with roots intact? Will utilize that soil for spring garden...how to protect the soil until then?

[@EDLaw-wo5it]

I am a new gardener and also a new sub. Your information was very,very good. I will be asking for your information you mentioned at the last of your video. I ordered cover crop mix from true leaf and wonder if it needs inoculation. Guess I better call them and find out. Thanks and y’all havagudun.

[@robox2725]

Great video!!!!

[@GardensThatMatter]

Thanks.

[@davidbass7593]

I've used clover and winter rye and turnips in my garden I usually keep something green growing year round as well as pine straw for mulch during my veggie growing season with only tilling once in spring and fall I've noticed a huge improvement in my soil and no need for commercial fertilizers anymore and have earth worms galore now

[@foxman3374]

Hi. Thanks for an informative video. How is coriander as a cover crop in a kitchen garden?

[@sharaudramey9336]

thanks

[@jfp778332]

Love your videos and the details you share! I’m doing my first cover crop this year. Would you mind sharing the local company name who you buy your seeds from? I live in WNC as well.

[@miastaysko]

This was a really nicely done video! Although the concept of cover crops is so simple I've had trouble finding information on using them in very short growing seasons like ours here in Alberta. Seems like the winter kill varieties are going to be my best bet. We just don't have 'a few weeks' to let something break down during the growing season. Going to give it a go this fall. I may try buckwheat in a small patch in the early spring just to see how that goes as well. Like. Subscribe. Done

[@GardensThatMatter]

Thanks Mia. Glad to hear you are going to give cover crops a try. We don't have experience with super short growing seasons like yours. Buckwheat is a great choice to get started. It matures really quickly, like in 4-6 weeks. We have grown cover crops under row covers too, which extends the season, giving them a little longer to mature. We planned on doing a video this year on row covers, hoop houses and other ways to extend the growing season, but we didn't get it done. But a good resource for short season and extended season growing is Eliot Coleman. Have you ever heard of him, or read his stuff? He has several books and he grows many things through the winter in Maine. He doesn't talk much about cover crops but his ideas of using low tunnels works for cover crop growing. Here is a link to an article about his low tunnels in mother earth news. www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/low-tunnels-quick-hoops-zmaz09onzraw And here is a link to his website where his farm is called Four Season Farm. fourseasonfarm.com/ I wish you luck with cover crops and gardening in general. Thanks for watching and for your kind words about our video.

[@miastaysko]

@@GardensThatMatter Thanks! I'll check out these links.

[@laurielyman9185]

@@GardensThatMatter Thanks. I live "next door" to Mia in Saskatchewan and have been wondering about short-term cover crops as well. So, if we plant buckwheat say...late august? Maybe mid-August, it will just die a natural death? Or should we wait longer, so it doesn't go to seed. We usually have frost by October, but it's hit and miss lately. Then, just let it rot over the winter, and plant with no extra "work" in the spring? By the way, I just found the Gardens That Matter here on You Tube and will be checking your website. I like the straight-forward way you present this information. Thanks a lot.

[@maritanwyzam665]

Because of some health problems I have to eat a fair bit of buckwheat....what an idea...grow my own and use it as a cover crop! We live in a drought area in the mid north of South Australia, but we have bore and rain water (tanks). Our soil is heavy and very compacted clay. Would we need to till the soil before we plant buckwheat?

[@GardensThatMatter]

Hi maritan, I wouldn't think you would not need to till before planting. We too, have heavy clay soil. I am not sure how it compares with yours, but even tilling is a struggle in ours (the areas we haven't worked yet). The tiller just bounces around on top. You could try forking the soil before planting buckwheat. Not a labor intensive fork and dig, but more like just poking holes in the soil so air and water can penetrate. The other thing you could try is what we did in the video. Plant a mix that includes tillage turnips and/or daikon radishes, along with buckwheat. They are hearty and have long taproots that can penetrate and break up compacted soil. Or if you are just wanting a good stand of buckwheat and are worried it might not do well in your soil, you could do a cover crop mix of radishes and turnips first (probably in fall) and then after you terminate them (in spring), then come back and plant buckwheat alone. It's really all about timing. Buckwheat is a good spring and summer cover crop (it will die with frost) so you have to make sure it has time to mature. But it matures quickly. As a cover crop, it is ready to incorporate in soil is 30-40 days, and as a grain 70-90 days. Sounds like you will be using it as a grain to eat. If it were me, (and assuming its not a huge field) I would probably just poke holes (fork) in the soil, lay down a nice layer of compost (and amendments if needed based on a soil test) inoculate the buckwheat seeds with mycorrhizal fungi and then broadcast the seeds, and water it in. See what happens. I try to avoid tilling at all costs. Good luck and let us know what you decide. And thanks for the question.

[@lynnwilson1797]

Changes in latitude changes in altitude. I try to garden with a very short growing season, but I keep trying

[@GardensThatMatter]

I hear you Lynn. Where are you located? An excellent book to consider is Eliot Coleman's "The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses". Have you ever heard (or read) Eliot Coleman? Inspiring guy. He lives and gardens in Maine. He really goes into detail about how to grow in a short season and extend that season with cold frames, low tunnels, and other low tech (and organic) methods. Our growing season here is pretty average (zone 7) but we use his techniques to grow longer and throughout the winter. Keep on growing Lynn. Love that you are trying.

[@rileybohannon373]

Can you plant conver crop mix over dead brown grass or should I cover the grass with tarp for a little while

[@NightfallHomestead]

I'm still way early into the video.. so maybe you touch on this. When should we plant Fall cover crops? Now? August?

[@joczapiewski6195]

Im planning on doing a covercrop this fall. I was wondering if I should not put any other seed on top of my asparagus plants? Im thinking that I should leave that area alone but not totally sure. Also, what about strawberry beds? Thankyou for this video .

[@savingmayberry387]

I have a big side yard , is there a cover crop that i could grow as a perennial and just cut/mow as i need to for mulch for the veggie garden ?

[@BeckyElkins-nd8bg]

I have a very difficult weed throughout my garden that’s given me problems for years now. Would improving the soil (w/ cover crops) actually frustrate its growth or promote it more? It’s Canada Thistle. Can’t dig it. Can’t smother it. It drives me crazy. Maybe cover crops would help?

[@Ryin88]

when you till, how do you prevent the destruction of the mycorrhizae and earthworms in the till depth ?

[@opencoop4268]

Thank you. It looks great. I see your mix has rye in it. Any concern over it's allelopathic nature? I tried over summer having some cover crops (very similar to your mix) nearby annual veggies and the veggies didn't do well. Could have been for another reason, but as I learned more the allelopathic characteristic in grains and grasses got me wondering....

[@GardensThatMatter]

So far, we haven't had any problems with allelopathy from rye or other cover crop grasses affecting our vegetables. As far as we understand, the allelochemicals are only active when the grasses are alive or have just been terminated. We try to wait a few weeks after termination before planting into those beds. In our big row garden (Grandpa's garden), the cover crop gets tilled in (early spring), so it breaks down rapidly. In some of our no-till beds, in which we use cover crops as mulch, it breaks down more slowly, and probably does still contain some allelopathic residue, but it is such a vast mix that only a small percentage is rye. Last winter (and we will this winter too) we planted a bed of cold hardy greens (collard, kale, etc) under a low tunnel that is right next to some beds with cover crops actively growing, but, as I said, we haven't had any problems. But, it is something that we are aware of and will always keep our eye on. Thanks for the question. I hope you are able to figure out why your veggies didn't do well. If you suspect that it was the rye, then I might eliminate it from the mix in the future, or at least not plant it while veggies are growing nearby. Good luck.

[@leemaclennan2640]

Great video, thank you. Would a fall rye, crimson clover and buckwheat mix work?

[@GardensThatMatter]

Yes, however, it kinda depends on where you live. If you live in a warmer region, the buckwheat should have enough time to mature. If you live in a cooler region, the buckwheat might not make it very long before getting zapped by the cold. Fall rye and crimson clover should do fine.

[@umagandhi8422]

I had planted winter rye and I dug in the grass 2 weeks ago . I covered it hoping it would decompose faster. But not rotting yet. When can I start to plant in my raised bed?BTW.. we live in Halifax, Canada..east coast🙂

[@GardensThatMatter]

Sorry Uma. I need a little more detail to answer your question. When did you plant rye? What do you mean dug in the grass 2 weeks ago? And covered it with what?

[@umagandhi8422]

Hi..I planted in the fall.. the grass was still green and short in the spring..we dug it up and worked it into the soil. I have covered it with tarp.

[@GardensThatMatter]

@@umagandhi8422 And this is in a raised bed? It should be close to decomposing. I wouldn't cover it with a tarp. The microbes in the soil responsible for decomposition will do better with air. I would also water it in. This will help it decompose faster too. Often we mow or shred the material if we are going to dig it into the soil. Smaller pieces will decompose faster. In our beds, we chop and drop and just leave it on top of the bed as mulch and plant into it. Did you see our Part 3 of the Cover Crops in The Garden playlist? In part 3 , we show how we do it. Here's a link if you haven't seen it yet. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6ebeICqfrdlbqM

[@umagandhi8422]

@@GardensThatMatter ok.. I will uncover the raised bed and start sowing in a week or two. Thanks so much for responding. Yes I did see part 3. I will use the dug up grass as mulch then if I understood it right. Thanks again. Excited to begin sowing!

[@Sibs123456]

I was thinking of using barley in my raised beds but I think it's too late to plant any cover crop... It's early November on Long Island

[@billvivianmaddox793]

When you recommend inoculating your seeds with mycorrhizal fungi, did I understand you correctly to say that there are different species of mycorrhizal fungi that are compatible with certain plants? Or, is there a mycorrizal fungi that will fit the need for all the plants a gardener is working with?

[@hallpaintandbody7717]

I found some native fungi under leaves, looks like white mildew in nearby woods. If you find pinkish, stay away. I broadcast leaves an all over my garden. Hope this helps.

[@shadyman6346]

I wanna try those tillage radish, just mow them down and let it rot where it grew. Wonder how I will mess it up, lol...

[@GardensThatMatter]

Nah, Shady Man, you won't mess it up. Cover crops are easy and very forgiving. Give it a try. Your garden will thank you.

[@shadyman6346]

@@GardensThatMatter Took that advice! Legumes...so happy with results!! Thanks! 800 sq. Ft of beans! Now, I guess I’ll chop and drop maybe half, for N. Eat half of that and the remainder for seeds. Decisions...Thanks for the encouragement!

[@craigdonald551]

Any suggestions for cover crops in tropical environments?

[@OSGCourtWatch]

Thought this started off well until it became a commercial for your course. Also, I see u link to Gabe brown but he is pretty adamant to NEVER till your soil and tilling in the organic matter destroys the mycorrhizae fungi the cover crop worked so hard to build...

[@GardensThatMatter]

Thanks for the comments. We agree with Gabe Brown (and you). Tilling is bad for the soil, however, some people are set on tilling (like my dad) and they can still get benefit from cover cropping (just not as much). We have 2 sets of gardens, one is ours which doesn't get tilled and the big row garden that belongs to my dad (on the same property 12 feet from each other). He has been tractoring and tilling his garden patch for 40 years and is adamant about doing it that way. Hard to teach old dogs new tricks. But we've been trying to show him the difference between his garden soil and ours. One day, when he is no longer able to help in the garden, the tractor and tiller will be retired. Sorry to discourage you with the talk about our course. Got to make some $ somehow, and gardening education pays better than selling organic vegetables. Thanks again for your comments. We like to get critical ones for they help us understand people better and make better videos. Happy Gardening.

[@lawrenceeichenlaub9880]

@@GardensThatMatter Your ability to accept and appreciate criticism is impressive and rare. It is nice to witness. With best wishes from the Bitterroot.

[@1990cwa81625]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@oddopops1327]

👋😊

[@kimberleyandrewsintegrativ1422]

How would this work in garden beds?

[@GardensThatMatter]

The same, whether a big garden or a small garden bed. We use cover crops in our big row garden, our 50 ft long x 4 ft wide in-ground beds, and in our smaller raised beds (6ft x 4ft). In smaller beds, terminating the cover crops involves cutting or pulling by hand rather than a mowing or using other machinery.

[@bontomain]

Language translation is not available

[@ThakurJogendrasingh-sq2pg]

जय श्री राम