Cover crops

[caascher2]

I have 2 raised beds that I am going to let rest this fall/winter. My friend is giving me some well composted horse manure next week which I am going to put in those beds. Does anyone recommend or use cover crops for their raised beds? What are the benefits? I won't plant in those beds until late spring.
Thanks,
Carol

[Worth1]

I would plant legumes my self as they fix nitrogen from the air and store it in the roots.
That nitrogen will then end up back in your soil for your plants with no reduction in fertility of your soil.
Ever wonder why clover will grow in some of the worst soils.
This is why!
We grew in our grazing pastures for the cows in the late winter/early spring and for the added nitrogen it put into the soil.
There are many legumes in the world, to large trees down to the smallest plants such as beans and clovers.

Here is a good link that will help you decide on what you want and why you want it.
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1252.htm
I hope this helps.

Worth

[dice]

Benefits:

http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/ccrop/C...CoverCrop.html

Cover crops in action on commercial no-till fields in
Pennsylvania:

http://www.cedarmeadowfarm.com/Publi...es/News10.html

So, if you put the manure in first, then plant a cover
crop, the cover crop is going to use the fertilizer in
the manure to grow, then release it back to the soil
after you mow it, weedeat it, etc in spring, available
faster if the soil is amended with it than if it just sits
on top as mulch, with the caveat that there will be
an initial nitrogen drop if incorporating cover crops
like mowed rye or winter wheat (higher carbon/nitrogen
ratio than legumes like vetch or field peas, clovers,
faster decaying cover crops like mustards, etc).

Whether tilling it in or not, you want to cut it down
a few weeks before you plant to give the cover crop
time to break down. If you just plant the cover crop,
then add the manure in spring, the cover crop will
end up tilled or spaded in with the manure. You still
want to do that a few weeks to a month before planting.

Whether tilling them in or not, in a mild, moist climate
I would cover with a heavy mulch for the few weeks
that they are sitting there decomposing in between
mowing them and planting vegetables, to make sure
that they don't come back as weeds during the summer.
You can pull the mulch off to let the soil warm up when
you plant out, then put it back when the weather stays
consistently warm.

If growing a tall cover crop and not tilling in spring,
then the mowed cover crop itself may provide enough
mulch to make sure everything under it is dead by the
time you are ready to plant vegetables in it. (This
assumes that you added any manure, rock phosphate,
lime, or other amendments in fall. For lime and rock
phosphate, this is a good idea in any case, to give
bacteria and weather more time to make their
nutrients available to plants. They aren't going
to be washed out of the soil by winter rains.)

[Gimme3]

Carol, yes...i grow Crimson Clover on raised beds that i dont intend to be growin a winter vegetable in. I also sew it anywhere else (down garden walk-paths that are not gonna be trampled for awhile, around pines, under fencelines, around fruit trees, around the mailbox post....u get the idea)...in October.

Crimson Clover will develop into a beautiful, lush, heavy(succulent) plant about 18 inches high ...in early Spring. If one waits till it expresses it's deepest greens, JUST prior to bloom-set, there will be (drought factor not present) a very heavy lush green manure available for the incorporation into what will still be ...cold soil, normally. CC has its maximum nitrogen accumulation (which it acquired from the air)...at this important time. It makes a wonderful mulch if cut an raked, a wonderful hay and animal feedstock, an i guarantee ya, if you incorporate it into a bed...wait a week an then transplant lettuces into it, you will grow some luscious lettuces...))). I use a weedeater, an cut it down, leaving the nitrogen -storing roots in place. Timing is the key, because...one can determine whether to cut it or not...depending on desire. If one desires to provide a smorgasbord of health to early pollenators, beneficial insects, in Spring, one might leave a few areas to Bloom. There is a lot of beauty in witnessing Spring insect exhuberance on brilliant Crimson Clover...))) But if one wants maximum soil improvement, then u need to cut it...just prior to bloom-set, because its at THAT point,... roots,... still retain their maximum nitrogen fixation.

Other legumes also follow the same principle. It's also...a rare, but mighty pretty sight, here in NE Georgia, to get a snow, an see your CC standin so beautifully lush an Green, in February...))) Cold we have here...it laughs at. Good Luck...)))

[Worth1]

I think I will go get some seeds today.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/mitchell103.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifolium_incarnatum

Worth

[Gimme3]

One other thought, forgotten to state in the prior post...Cover crops...are meant to be killed, or die off naturally. The roots are left in place typically, not only as nitrogen-fixation sources,but... a very Key aspect to also appreciate, is this,...if u leave root intact in the ground... the natural friability created by decomposing root. The organic material left by the decomposed roots, helps in so many ways. Nematode prescence might be a factor, but here is where one might ponder rotation...over root-removal. Earthworms love the condition created by decomposing roots, so they join in the Game...))) Natural channels of air and water penetration into soil, benefit all life that Lives in your soil. Additionally, there are a few cover crops like buckwheat, that express deep rooting systems, and their deep-rooting actions not only aerate an serve to break up hard-pan, but also extract and bring closer into the normal root-zone...elements only found deeper in the ground.

Things to appreciate...)))

[caascher2]

Thanks to everyone's responses. Gimme..what do you do with the stuff you weed-whack? Do you compost it or dig it into the bed?
Carol

[Gimme3]

Carol...it all depends on the application and where an how grown. To explain...if i grow it around fruit trees, i simply cut it low , sometimes even by hand, at the base, and use it to gather in a thick circle around the tree as a mulch. I dont wanna be tillin around the roots of the fruit trees, because they have a lot of roots at the surface or just below. I DO want, to leave the Clover roots right there, to die out an help the soil around the trees. Mailbox-grown CC is raked up an carried somewhere else to be of better use...lol...but i allow it to bloom, an get through it's life, first. I might mulch with it, or apply it on a walkpath. I might cut it by hand and gather a good pile of it, and place in the bottom of a tilled, but raked back, exposed bed, then pull soil back over it by hand, knowing whatever i plant there...once its roots reach it, will be happy, later. Raised beds are cut down a little differently..if i intend to immediately transplant into them. A weedwhacker can be used many ways. On a bed i intend to stick lettuce transplants into, i start high on the CC, because i want to chop the foilage up. I work down to the base, then, i rake that stuff up, throw it back on the bed, and either by light machine tillage or by hand garden fork, work it into the upper layer, about 2-4 inches deep. It will heat up the soil for a few days, jus like alfalfa, so...its a good way to raise soil temp a few degrees, and lettuces appreciate that in March/April, ...here . It gives lettuces a wonderful available nutrient, jus at the time, they really want it. Theres a lot of ways, to employ green manures, and one comes to appreciate them, only by...practice and experiment.

Anytime one cuts a Cover crop, it needs to be incorporated, even if done shallow, because the green manure nitrogen will be lost to the atmosphere, if not covered over into the soil. But i use CClover on the surface as a mulch, frequently in Spring, but when i do, its because i let it bloom, therefore, its value to me as a green manure is not high, but it's OM (Organic Material) value still is, as well as the roots i try an leave in place. Beauty and insect attraction, are a trade-off, one either gets these, by allowing full bloom....or goes for maximum nitrogen fixation, by mowing and incorporating, prior to bloom. In either event, one always gets a good OM available for several purposes.

If allowed to Bloom and die naturally, CClover will self-reseed itself, provided one really waits till summer heat arrives. Mowing it after full bloom but before death, generally causes the seeds to immediately re-sprout, an then quickly die off as it gets warmer. It wont sprout in Summer, thats why...if self reseeding is desired, you have to let it die off from summer heat, THEN...lightly till it in, or even wait till early fall an till it in, lightly.

[dice]

One other thing you can do to speed the availability
of nutrients in mowed cover crop is to shred it finer.
Cut it, then rake it up and pour it through a shredder
before incorporating it into the soil, spreading it
on top as mulch, or adding it to a compost pile.

You don't want it growing in your raised beds during
the vegetable season (competes for water), but you
do want the roots left in the soil for all of the reasons
that Gimme mentioned and for the nitrogen in the
case of legumes. Tilling or spading in the mowed
cover crop or mulching with it represses the tendency
for cover crops to grow back during the summer.

If you have any left over, it does make great
compost.

(I haven't tried Crimson Clover. Wikipedia claims that
it won't grow back after the first mowing. Clovers and
vetches in general tend to be year-around plants in
our climate, so I would have to see that to believe it.)

[creister]

I like to use hairy vetch and wheat or cereal rye. When I cut it in the spring, I use it as part of my mulch. I also cover this with shredded leaves in the spring. By July this past year, there wasn't a shred of the cover crop left under those leaves. Plenty of dark compost and worms though. I don't till.

[caascher2]

I did plant Crimson Clover this past fall in the beds I am going to use for tomatoes. I cut it down and have mixed it into the soil. It smells so good after cutting it down. I have seen my dogs out there eating on it occasionally as it was growing, I guess it must taste sweet as well. This is the first time ever using a cover crop, so I will have to let you know how well my plants do this summer. Thanks for everyone's advice.

[Farmette]

Am resurrecting this thread due to a question on cover crops, which I've never used before. Live in WI, zone 5. Have seen a Fedco product, PVO Soil-Building Mix. Is anyone here familiar with it. I think it is too late to plant now. If I interpret it correctly, it appears as if one needs to use this on soil that is left fallow for a year. True?

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/ogs/search...1&listname=Pea


Anyone have recommendations for a good cover crop for my zone. I have @10 raised beds?

Thanks for any replies.

[fortyonenorth]

If you plant by mid-September, you can use hairy vetch (for nitrogen) and winter rye (for bio-mass). If you wait until the end of harvest in October, the vetch won't have enough time to establish before winter, so you would use just winter rye.

There are other options, including those for spring and summer sowing, but these have worked well for me in Zone 6 (NW Indiana).

[Jeannine Anne]

We have 18 new raised beds waiting for Spring and have decided to plant peas..

XX Jeannine

[dice]

Originally Posted by Farmette

If I interpret it correctly, it appears as if one needs to use this on soil that is left fallow for a year. True?

That is how their instructions read (incorporate in fall). Perhaps the oats
and peas that they include would be winter-killed in your climate. (If I
were going to leave a bed fallow for a year and grow just a cover crop
in it, I would use spring planted annual alfalfa, maybe mixed with mustard
for soil-borne disease suppression. Seed is expensive, but it roots very
deep, and it adds a lot of plant food when incorporated into the bed.)

I have tried a few different mixes from Peaceful Valley that contained
peas and oats, and they did not make it through the winter to put on
more growth in spring. Hairy Vetch will do that if started early enough,
and Winter Rye will do that. Bell Beans (small bean fava bean variety)
varies. In mild winters, it makes it through to spring and puts on good
spring growth before cutting it prior to planting. In winters where we
get some nights below 10F, that usually kills it. Tomato plants that were
planted where bell beans or fava beans grew have done well.

This vendor site has notes on winter rye and "tillage radishes" (probably
Daikon or oilseed radish) in the upper Midwest (although it appears that
they do not stock seed for either of those):
http://www.elkmoundseed.com/SeedFram...iles/Index.htm

A cautionary note on using "tillage radish" for a cover crop in open
fields (mentions that the radish is winter killed, so this is an expected
effect in the upper midwest):
http://ipcm.wisc.edu/WCMNews/tabid/5...oil-types.aspx

This document has information on timing of planting winter cover
crops in the upper midwest (amid a great deal of other information):
http://www.organicriskmanagement.umn...r_cover13.html