There is nothing better for your soil and for controlling weeds than a temporary ground cover or cover crop. Sometimes you can plant a cover crop to enrich your soil while deciding exactly what type of flower or grass you want to plant. Sometimes you might just need some protection while your soil is not actively producing a crop for you. Cover crops are one of the best ways of protecting, building and adding extra nutrients to your soil. Planting these types of crops is also one of the best ways to help control weeds. There are many weed seeds in the soils and if they have aggressive competition they have a very difficult time growing and reseeding themselves and causing more weeds.
If your project is small and you are not using large machinery, we recommend using our flower planting guide when you are trying to prepare for a flower bed or garden. This will help you condition the soil and clean up the ground when you are planning on planting flowers, lawn or any other type of garden projects.
Cover crops can be planted and mowed or chopped and incorporated in the soil before they set seed and will actually improve your soil naturally. The green manure that is produced can be worked into your existing soil, thus adding valuable nutrients and helping to reduce erosion. They can be planted in the fall after you have harvested your garden or early in the spring to give you a little added benefit.
If you have an orchard or vineyard they work great for ground cover in between the rows and help control erosion. Just get them established and mow them down before they seed off and they will give you great protection while adding nutrients back into the soil which help your crops. When broadcast seeding these plants you need to plant at 30-40% above the recommended rate. You need to work these covers in 3-5 weeks before you plan on planting something else in the same spot.
Winter cover crops
This type of cover crop includes vetch, wheat, rye grain, annual ryegrass, clover, oats and Austrian Field Peas and should be planted in late summer or fall in order to provide cover during the winter months.
Summer Cover Crops
Warm-season cover crops are great for filling in between your main crop rotations to improve or enrich soil and prepare for a perennial crop. We suggest legumes such as vetch, clover, buckwheat and Austrian Field Peas.
Living mulch
This type of cover crop is one that you plant right in with your annual or perennial crops. This type of cover will suppress weeds, reduce erosion and improve water filtration. Examples of this cover you might over-seed are oats, hairy vetch, wheat, rye grain, and annual ryegrass.
Catch Crop
This type of cover crop is a fast growing crop that is grown simultaneously with, or between successive plantings of a main crop. As an example you might plant a catch crop between the spring and fall planting of some crops. These types of crops also help prevent minerals from being flushed away from the soil. Some types of catch crop seeds are buckwheat, oats and rye grain.
Forage Crop
This type of crop can be both cover crop and pasturage for haying. Examples include oats, clover, wheat, fescue and annual ryegrass.
There are several types of seed and mixes to choose from that can help you maintain your soil. The mixes we sell at our online store in most cases should work for any type of application, but if you need something a little different just comment below and we will do our best to advise you.
