Fall Cover Crop
A lot has happened in the past four years here on the farm. It’s taken pretty much all of that to get the property cleaned of old debris and trash, and to get the little farm house I live in habitable. I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come … but there are still so many big jobs to tackle before I can move forward with plans to raise birds and grow crops.
I managed to once again sell my White Holland turkeys for Thanksgiving, but I’ve promised myself that this next year will be an off-year so I can focus on the farmhouse and basic farm infrastructure. 2021 will be a bit different with fewer animals to tend to, but I’ve determined it’s what’s really necessary in order to move forward productively.
So the birds have been processed and enjoyed on holiday tables, and winter is just around the corner, which means things are slowing down, but there’s still a little bit of activity going on in the garden.
As a small farmer, I love to plant a cover crop for so many reasons. Admittedly, I’m a beginner, and I have very few mechanized tools to do heavy lifting, so much of my farming is done by hand. That includes moving stock, hauling feed and hay, and managing my kitchen garden.
Planting a fall cover crop is a great way to improve my garden’s soil tilth and fertility without having to haul and spread manure, then cover it with hay. While a manure and straw cover IS a great option, it’s a lot of back-breaking labor when your only tools are a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and your hands.
One of the most important things we can do for our soil is to allow it rest and regenerate over the winter, but leaving it bare can cause problems. The heavy rainfall of the Pacific Northwest can leach soil of nutrients, healthy bacteria, and beneficial ingredients like lime that help support healthy plants and a hospitable home for the insects and earthworms. A cover crop will prevent a lot of this damage.
After the last of the fall harvest has been removed from the garden, we are often left with bare soil that is especially vulnerable to leaching, erosion by rain and wind, and loss of topsoil over the wet winter months - not to mention a serious invasion of weeds. There are several options for covering your soil and all of them work: layers of burlap bags, manure and straw, a plain heavy layer of JUST straw or any kind of plant mulch. But my favorite option is a hand-sewn cover crop.
I good cover crop should be composed of nitrogen-fixating plants like peas, vetch, winter wheat, clover, soybeans, alfalfa, or peanuts. These plants all prefer cooler weather to germinate and not only do the roots hold the soil in place during wet and windy weather, but the nodules on their root systems contain symbiotic rhizobia bacteria that produce nitrogen. When these plants are mowed down or clipped in the spring, the fixed nitrogen in their roots is released and helps to fertilize the soil and feed the new round of crops planted for the spring and summer. It’s a serious win-win.
When sewn in the fall after your last harvest, the frost helps work the seed into the ground where it can germinate and grow all winter long. Most feed/garden stores will carry a cover crop blend but if not, you can plant a single variety of legume or make your own blend - there are no rules :)
