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The Garden Decoder: What Is a ‘Cover Crop’?
Why would you plant a crop you don’t get to eat and that you’ll either let rot in the bed or till into the soil while it’s still green?
Cover crops have been around since at least the Romans, possibly longer, and were part of farm life until the 1950s, when synthetic fertilizers and herbicides came into wide use.
What is a cover crop?
Photograph by NY State IPM Program for Cornell University via Flickr, from When Weeds Are Welcome: 5 Wild Plants You Want in Your Garden.
Nitrogen-fixing cover crops like clover can help decrease reliance on fertilizer.
A cover crop is a crop you sow for the sole benefit of improving the soil.
Planting rye as a cover crop builds healthier soil.
Why plant a cover crop?
Photograph by Conservation Media Library via Flickr.
As we learn more and more about how interconnected the food web is and how important soil structure is to support healthy plants, it’s become clear that synthetic fertilizers and herbicides, while initially boosting yields, have put the ecosystem out of balance and at risk.
The legume cover crops—alfalfa, vetch, clovers, and peas—all fix nitrogen into the soil. When you till the crop into the soil and it decomposes, it releases nutrients back into the soil.
The roots of brassicas like yellow mustard can break up compacted soil.
Photograph by Government of Prince Edward Island via Flickr.
They can cut down on weeds and harmful pests.
How do you use a cover crop in a home garden?
Photograph of peas by Jim Powell for Gardenista, from Chelsea Flower Show 2018: Peas, Please.