Cover Crop Options

Within the last few months we have had several discussions on this forum about winter cover crops. Several people were not familiar with them and did express an interest.

For the last week or more I have been checking all my regular seed suppliers trying to find someone who still has some field oats seed in stock since I am running very low. So far no luck but I'm not giving up yet.

Today I happened to receive this email from one of my suppliers about crop options. This is valuable information for anyone who is thinking of trying cover crops, whether it is your first, second, third time or more of doing it. It gives a good description of the why and what types are available for your choices. It also explains the important difference between winter kill and winter-hardy crop choices.

If you are in the market for this adventure (I say that because it has truly strengthened my pest and disease resistance in my garden because it has enhanced my soil's fertility), read over this and keep it handy each year so you can easily decide what type is your best selection for your wants and needs each year.

Check out the link here... https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/farm-seed-cover-crops/library-farm-seed-winter-cover-crops.html?trk_msg=MMDBO7PTDDK472A1TRMMN8HC9G&trk_contact=BKC0F947CRJD3O1CAQIIH6TUCC&trk_sid=MCNORFAPBKKKDSPL8B8F7KIP4C&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=LEARN+MORE%3a+Winter+Cover+Cropping&utm_campaign=et000-cover-crops-20200817-hg-090

Comments

  • Hassena
    Hassena Posts: 345 ✭✭✭

    Great information! You were looking for winter kill cover crops.

    Johnny's has a warranty of info on planting. I used their harvest calendars to plan our flower harvests for events.

    Thanks for posting this!

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    @Hassena

    Yes when I received this email I was thinking I guess they saw me looking thru all their blog posts etc. for the last few months trying to find any information on winter kill crops. I kept putting in search terms related to that topic and I guess they figured they were getting lots of requests for that topic so someone wrote a post.

    Can't say for sure if it was me who generated that post but it was exactly what I wanted to see!

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    @greyfurball great information and if you weren't the total factor generating the post, you were probably at least a part of the reason for the post.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2020

    Thank you for the link..I just looked over it and it is a little diff than the one I bought 'Broadleaf Mustard' from..Hoss Tools..

    I can already see that both sites with their combined info is quite helpful to understanding the what and why..so money saved as I am also going to get some warm season seeds as a follow up to my cool season Mustard...note that one of the reasons I got the mustard is that as with others, you can eat the mustard...The next cool season I get will be the daikon radish for my rock like clay soil.. here is a link to Hosstools for their cover crop seeds..

    They have lots of videos, some on cover crops and the ones they like best and why..

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I got buckwheat and red clover cover crop seeds from Botanical Interests seeds.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Botanical Interests feature is cover crops www.botanicalinterests.com, they have both seeds and articles on the subject.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've tried growing buckwheat as a cover crop. It does grow fine, and I can turn it back into the soil after it comes up. If I don't turn it under, it produces a lot of seeds and keeps spreading, but you can always stop that by pulling the plants or turning them under.

    Still, I am not all that satisfied with it because it comes up too slowly. I'd like to switch to a cover crop that comes up fast, much faster than vegetables, and keeps the soil from being exposed to rain and sun until the vegetables catch up.