Over time, soil changes for the better or worse depending on how you care for it. Ultimately, the soil returns what you put into it. If all we do as gardeners is take, take, take, eventually our soil will find itself burnt out and unable to produce a productive harvest. By utilizing the fall, winter, and early spring seasons for soil rejuvenation, you can enjoy a healthier and more productive spring and summer harvest. Cover crops rejuvenate the soil by replacing and retaining nutrients, improving water retention and drainage, preventing erosion, building the soil, and providing weed suppression.
Replenish and Retain Soil Nutrients
As crops are grown, nutrients travel in two directions. Up into your harvest, and down with the water. Over time, this can leave your soil unproductive without additional inputs. While fertilizer applications can get expensive, cover crops are generally very cost-effective and can reduce your total fertilizer inputs while also increasing your soil’s ability to retain nutrients within the root zone. They do this by improving the organic matter portion of your soil composition, where nutrients are able to attach for delivery through plant roots, and releasing nutrients back to the soil as they decompose.
When grains like cereal rye are grown as cover crops, their deep taproots help to bring leached nutrients back into the shallow root zone for use in the upcoming seasons. When legume cover crops are grown, they are able to increase the amount of nitrogen found in the soil by transferring nitrogen from the air into the soil via nitrogen fixation. This is a process carried out by rhizobia bacteria found in the root nodules of legumes, including peas, hairy vetch, alfalfa, lentils, and clover.
Improve Water Retention and Drainage
Cover crops can improve both poor water retention and drainage by increasing the amount of organic matter found in the soil composition. Organic matter is the key to resolving both issues as it provides attachment points for water to be absorbed while also creating space for excess to drain through. Whether your soil is overly compact due to high portions of clay or too porous with a high composition of sand, organic matter can help create the ideal growing environment for ornamental and food crops.
Build Soil and Prevent Erosion
When it comes to soil, if you aren’t building, you are losing. Exposed soil can erode in an instant with powerful fall and winter winds or traveling runoff. On the other hand, it takes hundreds of years to form millimeters from natural rock erosion. By keeping the soil covered during the shoulder and off seasons, you can maintain the existing soil while continuing to build and improve the organic matter content. As cover crops grow, they create biomass. This is the green plant matter that is then terminated and allowed to decompose back into the soil to benefit future crop production. For the greatest erosion prevention benefits, grow winter-killing cover crops like oats, peas, and mustard that will protect the soil during the dry and harsh winter months while creating a pathway for snowmelt and early spring rains to travel deep into the soil and groundwater reserves.
Weed Suppression
Cover crops can also improve future growing conditions by suppressing weeds that commonly become established during the fall and spring seasons. In addition to preventing erosion, keeping the ground covered also prevents weed seeds lying dormant in the soil from becoming established as the cover crops block out light and outcompete the weeds for water, nutrients, and growing space, all while providing future growing benefits to your field and garden. Some cover crops, like mustard or marigolds, can also provide natural pest control properties via biofumigation. This means that they release natural compounds to disrupt pest life cycles and reduce pest populations that may affect your upcoming spring and summer crops.
Improving your soil and growing conditions doesn’t need to be overcomplicated. By giving back to the soil, you are investing in future returns that will only continue to multiply with time and practice. When it comes to growing cover crops, you can ensure you gain these benefits and more by planting an all-purpose cover crop mix of grains, legumes, and brassicas that will work together to deposit nutrients, improve soil composition, and protect your land against the harsh winter elements. Experience your best growing season yet by preparing today with cover crops!
About the Author:
Ashleigh Smith is the Managing Editor at True Leaf Market with a bachelor's degree in Horticulture from Brigham Young University - Idaho. True Leaf Market is a nationally certified organic, non-GMO seed and horticultural company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The True Leaf Market staff specializes in supplying a large selection of conventional, heirloom, and organic seeds to home gardeners everywhere. Learn more about our seeds, supplies, and other growing ideas: www.trueleafmarket.com.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.
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