Plot · field guide
Cover Crops for the Home Garden
An empty bed over winter is a wasted bed. Bare soil loses nutrients, packs down, and grows weeds. A cover crop fixes all three for the price of a few dollars of seed. You sow it after you pull a crop, let it work through the off-season, then cut or turn it in before you plant again. Here is how to pick one and use it.
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What a cover crop does
A cover crop is a plant you grow to feed and protect the soil, not to eat. Its roots hold the ground so winter rain does not wash away the topsoil. Its leaves shade out weeds. And when you cut it down and work it in, it feeds the soil as it breaks down.
Gardeners also call this green manure, because a turned-in cover crop acts like free compost you grew in place.
Pick by your goal
Different cover crops do different jobs. Choose based on what your soil needs most.
- Add nitrogen: crimson clover and field peas pull nitrogen from the air and leave it in the soil for your next crop of heavy feeders.
- Hold soil and smother weeds: winter rye and oats grow thick roots and tops that stop erosion and block weeds. Rye survives hard cold; oats winter-kill in the North and save you the trouble of cutting them.
- Fill a fast summer gap: buckwheat grows in about 30 days, so it covers a bed between spring and fall crops and its flowers feed bees.
When to sow
Sow a cover crop as soon as you pull a finished crop, so bare soil never sits open. Fall is the busiest time, right after summer crops come out and before the ground gets too cold to sprout seed.
Rake the bed level, scatter the seed by hand, rake it in lightly, and water it. Most cover crop seed sprouts fast and needs no fuss.
When to cut or turn it in
Kill and work in your cover crop 2 to 3 weeks before you plant your spring garden. That gap gives it time to break down so it does not tie up nitrogen or get in the way of your seeds.
You have two easy ways to do it: cut the top growth and dig it into the top few inches of soil, or cut it, leave it on the surface as mulch, and plant right through it. Turn in the crop before it goes to seed, or you will be pulling volunteers all season.
Is it worth it for a small garden?
For most home gardeners, yes. A packet of cover crop seed costs a few dollars and covers a bed that would otherwise grow weeds all winter. You save on compost, cut your weeding, and end up with looser, richer soil in spring.
The trade-off is one job in fall and one in spring. If you will not get out to cut it in time, pick oats in the North, which die back on their own in hard cold.
Questions, answered straight
It depends on your goal. Crimson clover and field peas add nitrogen. Winter rye and oats hold soil and smother weeds. Buckwheat fills a fast summer gap in about 30 days. Match the crop to the job your soil needs.
Sow as soon as you pull a finished crop so bare soil never sits open. Fall is the main window, right after summer crops come out and before the ground gets too cold for seed to sprout.
Cut and work it in 2 to 3 weeks before spring planting. That gives it time to break down so it does not tie up nitrogen. Kill it before it sets seed, or you will pull volunteers all season.
Yes. Roots hold soil against erosion, tops smother weeds, and the turned-in growth feeds the soil like free compost. Nitrogen crops like clover leave food for the next crop for the price of a few dollars of seed.