One of my favorite ways to nourish the soil and, in turn, my plants is through cover crops. We often hear about the importance of feeding the soil to feed our plants. One easy and effective way to do this is by using a cover crops. Cover crops are plants grown primarily to improve the soil rather than for food, although they can be used for both. I love growing crops that can be both beneficial to the soil and food for us, but let’s dive into what cover crops are all about.
What Are Cover Crops?
Cover crops are typically planted outside the main growing season. For example, in the northern regions, they might be planted early in the spring before the soil is warm enough for summer crops. Here in Florida, we prefer to use cover crops during the scorching summer months when it’s too hot for most plants to grow well. However, you can plant a cover crops at any time, as long as they don’t interfere with your main growing season.
My Favorite Cover Crops
Cow Peas: These are a real powerhouse in the garden! Cowpeas are also known as black eye peas so they are more similar to a bean versus a pea. There are many kinds of cowpeas you can grow that can take the place of other popular beans like Puerto Rican black beans or Whippoorwill which are a great replacement for pinto beans. They’re incredibly vigorous and can take over an entire trellis. Cowpeas provide a nutritious food for us but they also help fix the nitrogen in the soil.
Sweet Potatoes: Although sweet potatoes don’t fix nitrogen in the soil like cowpeas, they have numerous other benefits like improved soil structure and protection from excessive heat during the summer. They grow well during our hottest months and their excessive foliage acts as a mulch that helps retain moisture.
Sorghum and Millet: While these grains can be edible, they’re often grown as cover crops and cut down before they produce the grains. They help build soil biomass from their plant foliage and protect the wildlife by providing a natural habitat.
Sunn Hemp: This is my absolute favorite non-edible cover crop. Sunn hemp is a huge nitrogen fixer and produces a ton of biomass. It’s excellent for enriching the soil, and I’ve had great success using it to naturally fertilize my fall crops. Sunn hemp produces one of the highest nitrogen fixing ratios of all cover crops and because it grows so tall and bushy, the plant debris can quickly fill a sunken raised bed back up.
Marigolds: These vibrant flowers are great for repelling root-knot nematodes, which are a big problem in our Florida sandy soils. Though they don’t fix nitrogen or provide a lot of biomass, they help improve the overall soil health by keeping these pests at bay.
Benefits of Cover Crops
1. Maintaining Soil Structure:
Cover crops help keep the soil alive and well-structured. The roots create channels that microorganisms and beneficial insects can inhabit, which is essential for a healthy garden ecosystem.
2. Moisture Retention:
The foliage from cover crops acts as a natural mulch, protecting the soil from the hot sun and reducing evaporation. This helps keep the soil moist and healthy.
3. Weed Suppression:
A thick foliage cover crop can suppress weeds by outcompeting them for sunlight and nutrients. This means less weeding for you and more time to enjoy your garden.
4. Nitrogen Fixation:
Legumes like cow peas and sunn hemp fix nitrogen in the soil, which is crucial for plant growth. They convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, naturally enriching the soil.
5. Wildlife Habitat:
While not my favorite aspect, these crops create a habitat for various garden pests, including beneficial insects that keep bad pests in check. This biodiversity helps maintain a balanced garden ecosystem, reducing the need for pesticides.
When to Plant
In the South, I plant cover crops around June or July, as my spring crops wind down. I let them grow through the summer until the temperatures start to drop in preparation for my fall garden. For those up north, you can plant cover crops early in the spring before the ground warms up or in the fall after the main growing season has ended.
Cover cropping is a fantastic way to keep your soil healthy and productive by improving soil structure, retain moisture, suppress weeds, fix nitrogen, and support wildlife. I hope this inspires you to try cover cropping in your garden. Happy Gardening!
