Thank you so much for this video. I've watched several videos trying to understand cover crops and green manure. you are the first person to explain when to turn them into the soil relative to when you start planting vegetables.
Hello Gardener Scott. I hope you’re doing well. I’m one of your viewers. I commented on one of your other videos. I noticed you’re wearing a shirt that says Autism Awareness. I just want to share with you that I’m very happy to see you wearing one and to say “thank you” because I actually have autism! And I find gardening very therapeutic and I always feel good afterwards. Whenever I become anxious or feel stressed out or have a hard day, working in my garden really helps me reduce my anxiety. And as always, I enjoy watching your videos!
@@GardenerScott Yes…very much! I have high functioning autism and I’m very proud especially of others who might also have autism which I know and have met. And I learned that gardening is actually a good and healthy exercise before I even started and as always I really enjoy watching your videos for additional tips and ideas! Have a great day! 🙂
Down here in SC it wasnt a great fit for my gardening. Price is high too. Found that crimson clover is my go to in the winter. Maybe i should try it again, just seemed small and low to grade surface right before i planted my sweet corn. Good video and nice information
I learned this a couple of months ago, but cover crops are not the same thing as green manure, at least for agronomists. Cover crops are plants you sow to cover your soil, improve it, remove weeds. The proper way to do cover crops is to let them grow until they flower, so they produce a lot of of carbon, and then roll them over or cut them, forming a new mulch. That's what cereal farmers do in no till : a cover crop between two cereal crops. They sow their grain directly into the mulch formed by the cover crop. Green manure starts the same way, you sow some plants that are used as cover crops, except you cut them while they're still green, after 1-2 months, and contain mostly nitrogen, and then incorporate them into the soil with a fork. No need to say that's a BAD way of doing things, as plants haven't completed their cycle, so they haven't really helped your soil, and you're tilling the soil to incorporate a nitrogen-rich material. No matter what, you should NOT incorporate organic matter in the soil, whether it's animal manure, green manure, compost etc... You let it decompose on top of the soil, as a mulch. You DO NOT turn them in. There are two secrets to cover crops : the first one is diversity. Scientists like Christine Jones or people from the Jena Experiment in Germany have proved that you get the best cover and growth if you plant multiple species. The explosion in yield happens at 12 different species. So a cover crop of pure alfalfa or rye or field bean, even if you add 100 or 200 units of nitrogen, is rubbish compared to a 12 species cover, with or without fertilization. For example, the winter cover crop I've done, is a mix of bush bean, crimson clover, vetch, forrage pea, mustard, fodder radish, canola, camelina, rye, wheat, oat, triticale, phacelia and flax. The second secret is what I've said previously, to let it flower and to roll it down. Any annual plant when flowering will die if you roll it over. I do it with a big wooden plank, stepping on it. When they flower, that's when they have the best C/N ratio, around 25. If you kill them while green, before flowering, the C/N is too low, around 10 to 15. So you're lacking carbon, as soil life prefers to eat mulch with a 25 C/N ratio.
I like that , never have used cover crops, I'm going to try. Do you ever use rice hulls if you do please tell me how thank you . I love to watch when I can
Wow! I learn so much from you. Thanks for so much informative videos Scott. I am interested in what you would suggest for killing goat head stickers. I cannot spray anything that could hurt chickens. But I could use my torch to slowly burn them. However, it is a large area of pasture. How would you deal with such situations please??? Thank you for your time and help.
I hate those stickers. I managed a small infestation by digging out the plants as soon as I saw them growing so they never flowered and produced stickers. Burning may be an option if it's allowed in your area but may not kill everything. Here's some info that might help as another option: pnwhandbooks.org/weed/problem-weeds/puncturevine-tribulus-terrestris
I bought tilling radish/oilseed radish seed from High Mowing this year (I really like them, too!). I bought the seed for one of my 4' x 8' raised beds that has my native clayey soil in it. I live in zone 5b and planted the seed on September 25th or so. I should have planted weeks earlier. I was really hoping the up-to-30" taproot will break up the compacted clay, but almost six weeks later, the root is still spindly. I have nice healthy radish greens on a second set of true leaves., but no radish taproot is forming yet at all. I'm not sure what to do. I will try to keep the plants alive for another month, but I am new to low tunnels and the covering and uncovering everyday is rough. I am using blankets at the moment. I think the radish is hardy to around 23 degrees F. It will be hard to keep it alive for another month, I think. Do you have any suggestions? Should I put plastic sheeting over a row cover to add another 10 degrees to the bed (taking off the plastic sheeting during the day)? What about holiday string lights that get hot??
You can leave them in the ground for now and plastic can help, but they probably won't grow as big as you'd like. It's likely some of the seed that didn't germinate will sprout in spring. My Daikon radishes grew better in spring after I sowed in fall.
Now I'm wondering if I should mix another kind of green manure with daikon/tillage radish this fall. Note to gardeners with celiac: you might want to avoid cover crops like barley, rye, triticale, etc. Research hasn't definitively determine that glutinous cover crops contaminate non-glutinous crops, but there's a possibility.
Many thanks for sharing this info! I am considering vetch as a cover crop in my raised bed and when researching the different options I keep running across references to "inoculant" and "inoculated seeds". Pardon my ignorance but to get the full benefit from vetch does it need to be inoculated? I looked on the highmow site and couldn't find any mention of their seeds being inoculated. Thanks again for sharing so much useful info.
Great question, Randy. The answer is a big maybe. Legumes work with specific soil bacteria to collect nitrogen from the air. The bacteria is natural and common and may be present in your soil already. Inoculants are often added by some seed companies and/or gardeners to hasten the natural process of the bacteria and increase their population quickly. Other seed companies recognize that the bacteria are probably already present and adding more is not necessary. I've grown vetch for years with great results and never added inoculant.
@Gardner Scott , good day to you , started my seeds under my grow light , after in transplant to bigger pots this lady brought me some plastic cups BUT the triangle has the letter # 6 in side with the letter p s is that safe to put plants into Gary from AZ thanks again
@ Gardner Scott , Gary from AZ I plants my seeds a bunch of different plants my cucumbers popped up first what do I do with all the other ones I have 2 trays the cucumbers are up about a inch. what do I do now ???? thanks Gary
I wonder if it helps the ground more if you till in the plants or if you run them thru a horse first. I plant harry vetch in my garden, but I have wondered if I turned my horse in to graze the garden and then tilled in the horse manure would add more or less.
@@GardenerScott another RU-vid gardener said it’s harder for their probisis (sp) to reach into any clover but the white they love because they can reach the nectar in the white but not the others! Wow
Happy new year Scott!! Just a big hello from Moncton, Nouveau Brunswick, Canada ( east coast/Acadie région). I love watching your awesomes vidéos and I wish to give some tips to avoid having too much wind into your microphone. I’m a CBC (canadian broadcast corporation) caméraman and I could feel your frustration of having a good sound capture. Those lapel mic you are wearing are great but the only problem is the are omnidirectionnel meaning they could catch sound from everywhere and sadly way much more wind then wanted haha. So depending the company of your mic they have wind screen in different size. They normally come as a small foamy one but outside where is very windy. They’re are some way much bigger. I call it hamster because it looks like a furry ball lol. They could be pricy tho. Since you seem very crafty yourself I would suggest to use an old tuque or warm thick sock and cut a little piece just enough to cover the mic and tight it with a small tie wrap or those that come with garbage bag. Black is more subtle. It will cut substantially the amount of wind entering your mic. Cheers Bonne Année.
Thanks, Mathieu. I lived in Northern Maine for a number of years and enjoyed touring through Nouveau Brunswick. Since making this video I invested in new foam covers (I lost the ones I used previously). Thanks for the suggestion.
I'll be experimenting with this Rye/Vetch combo with the addition of some Daikon Radish in hopes of breaking up compaction in a new bed that was just grass last fall while feeding the soil biology. If I have extra cover crop seed, I will start planting it amongst the summer crops before the frost gets to them. I’m interested if any other viewers have had success interplanting Daikon in this fashion? Thanks for the video Gardener Scott!
I have been using my "weeds" as ground cover/green manure. Anywhere I disturb the soil around my E. TN home, purple deadnettle, along with some henbit, bird's eye speedwell, clover, etc. rapidly grow up They are basically low growing, and soil always looks good beneath them. I can use chop and drop, or once my vegetable plants are larger, I sometimes just leave them to suppress weeds. Also, these are all foragable weeds, so I do eat them some when not much else is available. The grass is what I mostly do not like in my garden beds. I feel using 'native' plants, that God has already provided for me here, is a wise use of resources for me ... one of the cheapest (or most frugal is one prefers to be kind) gardeners around. Thanks again for you videos!
@@llabronco I do notice that when I look them up, some of my 'native' plants were actually garden escapees from settlers. They are, nevertheless, useful. I like using what I have, and hope to incorporate more native species that precede European settlement in the future.
Love your videos! Will mulching with grass clippings and autumn leaves protect the soil over the winter be as beneficial as cover crops? Is one method better than the other?
Are cover crops compatible with mulch? This week I've tilled in a few inches of compost into my yard to make a new bed, and for the finishing touches I was thinking of adding some straw mulch and a cover crop, but have concerns with whether the cover crop seeds would be able to germinate through the straw. Thanks
I'm in New Mexico and we have been under an exceptional drought. If we do not get moisture, will I have to go out and water my cover crop through the winter months? Would once per month be enough? If the green manure dies before spring, will it still benefit my soil?
If your daytime temps are regularly above 40, it is a good idea to water during winter. Check the soil moisture level, but once a week may be a good target. If the plants die the plants can still benefit the soil.
Oh my gosh, what have we done? I wish I had seen this video a month ago, we thought they were weeds on our new allotment plot. We have spent the past 3 weeks trying to to dig it all out. Thank you so much, hubby will be so happy to hear that all he needs to do is turn over the soil. 🙂
This was a very helpful video and this helps me to figure out what cover crops would be best for me. I am gardening in the high desert and it is so different than anywhere else I have gardened. Thank you Gardener Scott!
Great video Scott very helpful, i have seen a few of your videos now and i have enjoyed them, as i have raised beds myself in the garden, due to health issues my raised beds are better for me on legs. Love the t-shirt as my daughter is Autistic. New Sub keep up these great informative videos you are doing. Barry (ENG)
Very informative. I believe that timing is important in a few respects - for planting and tillage. I have had great success planting clover in the rows of my orchard. When I mow it throughout the season it provides a good nitrogen source for the fruit trees and I hardly ever use N fertilizer now. I have to be careful that the bees don’t prefer that to the apple blossoms so I keep it short when apples are in bloom. I always plant winter rye as a winter cover crop. Here in zone 5A I can usually get good growth in areas where I pull the early crops - potatoes, onions, but not so much in the case of the later crops. I will soon try the root crops if I think I can get enough growth before a heavy frost. I have never used vetch as a cover crop, but I have it elsewhere as a cover. Problem is that if it goes to seed it seems to spread everywhere and is a terrible weed to deal with. If used it as a cover crop I would be sure to till it in before produces seeds (if possible). An interesting experiment for beginners would be to plant a small amount of seed of a few cover crops next to one another in a row to see what does best.
I like the part you mentioned about lady bugs, (which are actually beatles). This saves quite a bit of money, many people go to the store and pay good money for a small package of mostly dead lady bugs to take home and release in their garden without any guarentee the insects will stick around.
Good idea and it's in the works. I have voles, gophers, and rabbits. I've already filmed some of their burrows and how I put wire mesh under my raised beds and wrap wire around trees. I'll be building some new beds and structures in the spring and will film how I protect those sections. When I do that I'll release the video. Thanks for the suggestion.
@10:26 You indicate that "you may have heard green manure referred to as cover crops"... I just want to understand this a bit more... Am I correct in saying that cover crops are green manure. But not all green manure is a cover crop. An example of this last statement would be repurposing my tomatoes leaves as mulch or placing them in compost. The tomato plant isn't a cover crop, but I use the leaves as "green manure" in my garden. Did I understand this correctly? Thanks in advance for insight and feedback! Truly appreciated! :)
It's the other way around. Not all cover crops are green manure. The plants grown to be turned directly into soil are green manures. Plants used in compost are not what is usually called green manure.
in my city in canada the average first frost is September 11-20. Do u know any cover crops that I can plant this month or next month that will grow fast and die in temperature of -20-40s C to make soil more nutritious?
GS, great video! BTW, I have been ordering my seeds from High Mowing Seeds too for several years. They are excellent. I've even used their Hairy Vetch seeds after reading about it in a farming book from, believe it or not, 1912.
Great content Scott. One question. From a nutrient standpoint, are growing cover crops similar to trenching and throwing your spent garden plants and burying them?
Thanks! They are different. Trench compost adds the nutrients of the buried plants in the area of the trench when they decompose. Cover crops encourage a different type of soil microbe while growing.
Much depends on your soil, Tom. If you have a loose soil a push plow may be enough. For heavier soils it may require a rototiller. Try turning over a small section with a spade to determine how easy or hard it is and that may give you an idea of how to proceed.
@@GardenerScott That makes sense. Haven't used the garden in many years. I'm moving back the trees so it gets good sun again. Hope to do most work with a wheel hoe. Probly rent a good tiller at first.
Hi Gardener Scott. Some advice please. I'm in zone 7a, and I have 3 hoop houses. 20x4, 12x4. and 5x4. A total of 168 sq ft (if my math is correct, lol) I'm currently growing some peas, radish, beets, and salad greens. Which cover crops would you recommend I grow now in these hoop houses?
Hi, Lula. First, decide why you want the cover crop. Is it for organic matter, to add nitrogen, control weeds, or mulch bare soil. That will determine which plants are best. For best benefits, sowing in fall is best so it may be late to start seeds and get plants before your normal growing season begins. In beds that are actively growing vegetables I may intersperse vetch, fava beans, or winter oats, but they take time to grow. You might be better suited using a nice organic mulch for now and look to plant cover crops next fall.
@@GardenerScott This is going to be a long answer. What I've discovered is that both my existing garden soil and raised beds are both severely lacking in health. Some parts of the garden have a high clay content. Thus, many crops hardly grew, or were very small. With regards to the beds, I did add mulch, raised bed soil, and composted manure in spring, 2019. Again, either very slow growth and small crops, except for tomatoes. The tomatoes even grew very well in the high clay content soil. So, my main concern and goal is to improve each section of the garden and beds in order to grow enough to feed the family and store food for winter. I have had allergies all of my life, and the only viable treatment has been to eat what is grown locally AND in season. This worked very well for me when I had a farm in upstate NY, but here in northern VA, the climate and accompanying problems are very different. For ex., we had few fungi in upstate NY, and no vine borers. I'm assuming that since it was good and cold for many months, pests and diseases didn't survive the winter. So, my conclusion is, and pls pls advise me, is that I need a multi-pronged approach starting with soil health. My backyard is approximately 8,000 sq. ft., not including the beds. I would like to improve all of it, realizing it will take several seasons. Sorry for the long answer, and thank you for your patience and advice
@@GardenerScott P.S. The particular climatic and environmental problems are the main reason why I have joined our local Master Gardener program, since I have been overwhelmed by the various fungi, pests and diseases which thrive in this area
Yes, a multi-pronged approach to soil is important. It will take many seasons to improve it, but you're on the right track. My approach is one bed at a time. When I have the time and the organic matter, I amend one bed. When I have the mulch I focus on one bed. I'll sow vetch seeds in one bed. It's easier for me than to try and tackle the entire garden at once. A new day arrives and another bed becomes the focus. It is a never-ending effort, but by cycling through the garden it all gets improved.
Good idea! I noticed I had to add a lot of compost and soil to my beds. This sounds like it will tick both boxes! As always, thank you for your time and knowledge.
Which cover crop grows best in hot climates? Which cover crop is best for a tomato garden? I live in Central east Florida and our growing season is opposite times from the northern states as you know. I heard Daikon radishes are best for tomato gardens but I doubt i can grow them in the Florida summer heat.
You may look into low plants like clover and vetch. Radishes, peas, and grasses may work but depending on the plant they may have deep roots or tall stems that could interfere with tomatoes.
I have about 150 sq ft of raised beds in Louisiana and garden mostly year round in some beds but not all. Are there smaller packages available of the seed packs? How long does it take for the cover crop to grow? I would like to plant now but need to remove early March for spring planting maybe sooner.
There are seed companies that offer smaller quantities, but it depends on the type of seed you want. The same with how long it takes to grow. My vetch was growing after about 10 days. The rye was popping up after about five days. My cold weather has stopped the growth, but you should be able to have pretty steady growth into March.
Impressive, informative and well-researched video. I'm old, decrepit and lazy so I avoid anything that involves digging or digging in. My strategy to avoid "digging in" green manures in my raised beds is to throw any kind of bean or pea seed in my raised beds (with a light sprinkling of compost) in the late fall. If I get the timing right, the seeds germinate to a full seedling size then they die off during the first few hard frosts. Thanks for the post. Cheers.
Bees do like many green manure plants when they flower, but most of them will flower later in the season. As I mention in the video, vetch attracts bees very early in spring. Clover can flower in spring if sown in fall. However, when you let these plants flower you're minimizing their effectiveness as a green manure. There are other flowers that bees can use in spring. Crocus, Hyacinth, flowering currants, apple trees, lilacs, and lavender will flower early, but they aren't green manures.
Scott, could you please comment briefly on the inoculation of legume seeds? I have my winter rye seeds, need to know which hairy vetch to buy. Thanks, always great information PS: Here is a C&P of the comment that confused me. In late summer and fall of 2011, I planted cereal rye, a cool-season grass that makes rye grain, and vetch, a viney legume, in all of my veggie beds. I inoculated the vetch seed with the nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium bacteria and then inoculated both with mycorrhizae. Now it’s late April 2012, and it’s still alive and growing like crazy!
Inoculant can help in soil that has never grown legumes before. It is naturally occurring and may already be present in your soil, I don't normally buy it and haven't had any problems with my legumes setting root nodules.
@@GardenerScott Thanks, I found some inoculated seeds on Amazon. IDK if that really helps any, and I suspect not nearly as much as doing it yourself just before planting the seeds. How you kill your cover crop and use the residue, would be interesting. Then, the thing about the fungus inoculation... worth doing? And there was a flaw in your pumpkin pie tutorial.... caused my pants to shrink about two sizes! Happy gardening!
Thanks. Phacelia can be an effective green manure. It grows fast to help smother out weeds and is great for attracting pollinators. The roots will help condition the top few inches of soil and when turned back into the soil adds back nitrogen and calcium.
@@GardenerScott Thank you, Sir. This year, I'm upping my game from growing tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers in pots, plus garlic in a raised bed, to having 3 raised beds. So Fall crops, early spring crops, cover crops, etc. will all be new to me, and I can see that your vids will help my learning curve. I also started vermicomposting. Been growing pawpaws about 8 years, and planted a couple of heirloom apples this year. Thanks again and be well!
At first thanks for all your videos and explanations. Question: A tillage daikon for realy hard compacted 100% clay? I planted a new forest about 3 years ago, and plants are dying because of compacted clay, no oxygen for roots, dreinage around trees are not working because there is no water flow in hard clay, etc... I am also thinking to by air spade to soften the upper surface cca 6 inch deep, and mix in vermicompost + wood chips + straw as organic material. It is about 5000 m2.
You have the right idea. Thick, strong roots like daikon is a good idea to break apart the soil. Adding wood chips, straw, and compost can be a big improvement. Vermicompost is good for plant nutrients, but it is usually very fine and won't improve the texture of clay soil much. It will take time (probably years) to get the soil where you want it to be, but keep doing what you plan. An air spade or a regular spade to regularly add organic material to that area will make a difference.
