Background: Last year, we did a massive cleanup of our backyard, which included mulching up all of the dead leaves, sticks, and whatever else was in the wooded area of our backyard. We wanted to clear it because we eventually want to make it into a shade garden area that has dappled sunlight throughout the spring and summer months. Our backyard is on a downward slope, so every time it rained, there was a massive washout of all the good topsoil, leaving us with bare clay. After some research, cover crops were the answer to solve the issues of adding nutrients back into the soil and reducing erosion.
What are cover crops?
Cover crops are plants that are grown specifically to add nutrients into the soil or to help prevent erosion. They are annuals that serve different functions when planted together. If you look online or in your garden centers, you'll find that most cover crops are advertised to be used in the wintertime.
Why plant in the wintertime? Cover crops are a great way to help prevent erosion when grasses die back and germinate well in cooler temperatures. We planted ours in the late fall/early winter and it really helped to hold the soil back when it rained in the wintertime. When the tree leaves have all fallen, rain tends to wash away more of the dirt because the leaves aren't there to mitigate the raindrops.
Our cover crop plants and the benefits for each one
Austrian field peas
These peas are really good at pulling nitrogen from the air and incorporating it back into the soil through their roots. When these plants get too big, especially in the Spring, we like to trim them down and then let them decompose back into the soil. They're also edible as well!
Winter wheat
This is a fast-growing plant that provides nutrients into the soil when you mulch it up. Winter wheat is delicious for animals and even helps to reduce disease throughout your yard. Ours have gone to seed at this time and it really looks like wheat!
Triticale
A hybrid of wheat and rye, so it germinates quickly in winter and adds nutrients back into the soil when you mulch it. It can be eaten, so it does provide sustenance for deer and any other herbivores that pass through your yard. It can self-pollinate, so if you let it grow, it'll make more plants for you.
Collards
Collards make a great cover crop due to their large dark green foliage. The leaves provide shade for the other crops and help keep temps down in the warmer months. It's great to mulch up and provide nutrients back into the soil.
Hairy vetch
This plant is the absolute best for adding nitrogen into the soil. It absorbs it from the air and ground and puts it into its roots. The added bonus is that it has beautiful purple-violet colors flowers that are dainty and really pops into the yard. However, it is a vine, so it does tend to grab onto everything else when it gets bigger. We have to cut ours back fairly often but then mulch it back into the soil.
Driller daikon
Daikon is a great plant for helping to aerate the soil. If you are not familiar with daikon, this plant is a large white root vegetable that is similar to a carrot or parsnip. The driller daikon creates gaps in the soil if you pull it out, and this helps provide fresh air throughout the ground. It has long stems with small white and purple-hued flowers. These flowers were all over our yard and it actually helped tremendously with attracting bees early in the spring because it was one of the first flowers to appear. If you are wanting more bees, we highly recommend using this to get them in early spring when they wake up.
Crimson and berseem clover
Clover is great because it adds nutrients back into the soil and helps to crowd out other weeds that you may not want. In areas where clover has established itself, we hardly ever have issues with other weeds coming in. And clover has the great flowers that bees really love, so the benefits are really good!
Yellow mustard
This plant is a brassica, so it is fast-growing and can have a larger root. The yellow mustard in our yard also flowers early, so along with our daikon, the mustard provides bundles of small yellow flowers that the bees enjoy as well. It has long stems too, so it provides a lot of nutrients when we mulch it up.
How we planted them
Cover crops are super easy to plant! Most varieties that you can find are no-till, so there's really no prep work required. We waited for the day after a rain in September so the soil was nice and moist, and then scattered the seeds by hand throughout our yard. The yard was very bare when we first did it, but now we can probably throw them in anytime without worrying about seeds getting washed away.
Cover crops in the spring and summer
Our crops have really flourished in the spring when the rains come, the sun is out, and the temperature warms up into the 60's and 70's. It grows fairly quickly now, so we have to mow/mulch it every couple of weeks, otherwise, it gets a little too unruly. But this is a good thing because this is exactly what you want it to do. All these nutrients help our bushes like the Japanese Pierris, the Irises, and the Hosta Lillies. So far, it's really made a big difference. When summer comes, we expect the cover crops to die back and decompose back into the soil. If it thins out too much, we'll plant more seeds in the late fall when the temperature drops back to the 50's and 60's to allow it to establish itself before the winter comes.
Recap: Why you should plant cover crops
Cover crops are the easiest way to incorporate nutrients back into the soil in the off season for growing. These plants germinate in cold weather, so it's perfect for the end of fall through winter. The crops will help aerate the ground while helping to prevent erosion. If you let them grow and flower, it's a great way to attract bees in early spring, and they will love you for it.
Weather report: High in 80's and sunny! So warm for this time of the year!
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