Summer Cover Cropping Guide 

Hey all! Sorry about the music volume - something either happened when I was rendering the video or I’m just still bad at editing. 🤷 Either or both are entirely possible

I have 0,0027 acres vegetables here, but start to maintain them like a pro 😂 Thanks!

Each summer I use sorghum Sudan and iron clay pea mix. Does great together with positive nematode control. I’m in NW Florida so it comes up fast. I do. 3 lb per 1000 sq ft for a weed suppression thickness. I’ll push it over with my Z turn deck set high then go back with my mulching cover on and mow twice. Then I immediately till it all in at 6 inch depth, water it in then tarp for 4-6 weeks. Works perfect for my needs. I repeat that process with Kodiak Mustard in September and till it in a month later. This process controls nematodes well and adds some good biomass for my soils needs.

Clearly, one of the brighter presenters in this realm. Nice to see and hear. Thanks for your extra efforts to bring the material to us. Cheers.

Lemongrass won't die off in Central FL, it thrives. I've been using black eyed peas from the grocery store as my cover crop this summer. Working out amazing & the pollinators love it.

That clickbait commentary was hilarious. Thanks for all your videos and efforts! Certainly appreciated

We've used Mustard a lot when starting on new ground. In the Uk we have a lot of wireworm in pasture land and these can cause a lot of problems when converting to horticulture. Hot types of mustards such as Caliente apparently biofumigate the soil and can make the ww leave after a few sowings. We also try to avoid using grasses and grains for a few years after conversion as this can encourage ww that are still present.

I like the idea of wildflowers for a cover crop!

Super hot here. Cowpeas are the way to go. There are MANY varieties of cowpeas. I like to use the ones that are sorta runners. Shades the soil beddah.

Seed to soil contact. Here's a tip for your viewers "blessed" with a tractor tiller: After broadcasting cover seed simply roll over the bed with the tiller "down" but not p.t.o. engaged. The tiller leaves small "dimples" and minimally disturb the soil. Works fine on c.c. seed that doesn't require (actual) burial. If your beds are surrounded by grass, you can "blow" some grass clippings onto the bed with your z-turn mower. Needless to say, our strategies for "dealing with" our Fl. sun may not work everywhere, but seem to help here (in the blasting-hot summer, especially...) in the "Sunshine State."

I love to use lemongrass because I also sell it as tea when I cut it back but it keeps the soil shaded and stops soil erosion.

2 buckwheat plantings trough summer "crimp before it goes to seed". August 1st broadcast radish mix "brassica" then crimp the buckwheat on top. On the other half broadcast winter rye and winter wheat mostly winter rye. Always rotate the brassica and winter rye. We do it all the time in our deer food plots. I have better soil than the fields right next to them that the farmer that waists his $ on all the fertilizer and diesel to till. I only use jlf fertilizer I make for free. Fish, urine, nettles. It's crazy how good it works

The cat get you an automatic thumbs up!!

Still winter here in NZ, but we are upgrading our 10 acres for 43 bare acres. I want to covercrop a huge area while we get our gradens and food forest spaces organised to stop any gorse resprouting (recently cleared ex commercial pine forest so not in great shape but SO much potential, however it has a lot of gorse seeds in the ground and already sprouting). I am thinking because it is a legume, then taking a lead from nature probably a legume heavy mix would be helpful. Here it is cool in summer so we use peas and tic beans with oats usually, sometimes vetch and buckwheat too.

I grow on a smaller scale than what I typically see in these videos but enjoy seeding tall, quick, stalky plants early in my summer rotation and follow with vining or trailing species - crop or cover like tomatoes, tomatillos, cowpeas, etc. I cut the stalks to the maximum height I want to viners/trailers - usually chest or waist height. They then work as poles and cages for the secondary cover and provide lots of beneficial perching structure. Great info and video! Will follow up with the other cover crop vids in the playlist!

Very helpful tips! One good thing about sunn hemp and Sesbania is that they grow fast and can produce a lot of seeds so if you can get them, you should be set for seeds moving forward 🤙

Can't miss this any Sunday. Great job Jesse

Valuable info. Great video. Even better timing. Just this week, my oats went to milk stage 2 or 3 weeks earlier than I expected. Like an idiot I have nothing ready to transplant into the bed. You provided a great solution. Buckwheat! Also, you mentioned the pinpoint seeder. No videos on it anywhere on the interwebs. I've been curious if it's a good seeder option for an occasional direct seeding of carrots, radishes etc on a small scale.

I had a few holes where I broadcasted buckwheat and decided to mix turnip and radish in to fill the gaps. We will see how that turns out. 👀 🕳 🌿

So many great nuggets of info here! I kept hitting the rewind button to re-listen to segments. So good! This year was the first time we attempted a summer crop. We're in southern Oklahoma, where it has been hot and dry as hell! We went 47 days without rain. Argh! We went with buckwheat, and had mixed results. It grew fast and strong, but went to seed much quicker than we had anticipated. No worries, though. At least we saved $$ on the second round of the summer buckwheat. Now we are stressing on the timing of the termination (mowing) of the second round along with the planting of our fall/winter crop.

LETS GOOOO I just did this last week and to see you speaking about it boosts my gardening confidence! 💪🏼 🌱

Love the kitty!

John Kempf says buckwheat helps make soil become disease suppressive. Oats too.

As a homesteader I’m using fava from fall to spring. Easy to harvest at soil level and haul to another bed. I am interested in summer options.

Can’t skip ahead....might miss a Dad joke or an entertaining tangent! Stay hydrated Jesse!!

I love your channel live the science behind gardening!

I'm excited to start reading the book!

Always very informative thank you

Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and quirkiness

Headed to early dinner. Hour drive. We are listening to thisbon the way. Always good actionable info. 100 plus here today in middle tn.

Thanks alot for the amazing information on this channel!!

Yeah! You are just what is needed. Direct and to the point. Great info. And easy on the eye.

Thank you so much farmer Jessie 🌱💚🙏✨🔥

Awesome Video as Always!!

We have a 50 x 100 foot garden and we have the worse time getting things to grow besides weeds! We purchased "certified" compost last spring, put it into the new garden and LOTS and LOTS of weeds. Fighting them every since. So, I bought your book today and HOPEFULLY we'll figure out how to get a better garden next year. :-)

Very thorough!

Thumbs up from Australia 🇦🇺 👍

diversity is key in cover cropping.

❤ the cat jessy! Charles Dowding has his executive producing cat in some of his videos too. My cat Mikey does the same. Cats should be compulsory in ALL videos 😅

Great info, as usual. I love the tip about the soil to seed contact. The icing on the cake is that you use the word "Rad". That's awesome! LOL 🌿

Salamander Springs?? I love that farm. Happy to hear them mentioned!

Great video

Love the Kitty! Mine help me in my garden too

Living in Florida Growing Food is different. In July - September its to hot to grow most crops, I only have luck with Sweet Potatoes. So I normally Cover Crop during the Summer ☀️ then the Rest of the year I can Grow anything

Absolutely add annual flowers what a beautiful way to cover crop

We mowed our pastures this year without grazing. We were waiting for our cattle from Greg Judy so we decided to try and feed the soil as much carbon as we could without ruminants on the land.

Kitty wants catnip as the cover crop.

When you realise you are not mowing correctly with the scythe, you are in a good position to improve by emulating those that can. Many good videos on it. If you set it handle down on the ground, the tip edge should be 0 to 1/2 inch higher than the handle side of the edge. *Not higher perpendicular to the ground when static, but when the tool is tilted across a point in the air or on a wall with the ground touching point as a fulcrum* Tip too low and it won't cut, tip too high and it wil bite over more than it can chew.

Nice information

good stuff , just found you a few days ago, i am in southern ontario, canada, 5b , buckwheat and maple peas, great cover crop, i also add white clover, as i am developing my living pathways. i am retired now but still playing on half an acre, lol, gotta keep busy. i have row cropped for the last 20 yrs., really like how you do things, going to play and see how things work out, thank you

This is most excellent! One comment I would make about CO2: You seem to imply that the CO2 a plant uses comes from the soil. I say, partially true. I think of soil organic matter as a teeter-totter. Microbial activity is breaking down (oxidizing) soil organic matter and releasing CO2. Cover cropping is ultimately adding organic matter from the sugars produced by photosynthesis. In a well performing and well managed system, the teeter-totter is tipped towards the addition side, even though oxidation is happening at the same time. If you really want to oxidize fast, just add fertilizer and till it in. That tips the teeter-totter strongly to the oxidation side. A plant doesn't particularly care where CO2 comes from, whether it comes from soil oxidation or from the atmosphere. In a well performing soil system, much more should be coming from the atmosphere than from the soil.

Good job

Thank you!

Lemon grass is going to be my saviour as a windbreak

Jesse, really enjoy your videos. You have great energy and it's makes the viewer think of ways to use the content in their context. As a Gardener I'm using inoculant with Clover, Beans, Hairy Vetch separately in different rotations. Buckwheat is next!!

Hi, I have a jang seeder and would love to know more about your experience using it for cover cropping. Especially, about seeding mixes. Like which roller size to use for which mix, etc.

Great video, great info. I think electric hedge trimmers would work great for high grain/grass mowing.

I would watch for any grasses grown with either Round-Up or Grazon. The seeds can apparently bring those chemicals in. They're two herbicides/pesticides I definitely do NOT want. Anywhere, any time.

very interesting

dont apologise your information is great!

Thank you

Suggestion: I just bought a precision depth roller for my BCS tiller this year. I broadcasted my winter rye cover seeds and tilled them in at a shallow depth (aprox 1/4 to 1/2 "). This method saved me many hours. IMO, the PDR is the best attachment I have because it has many uses.

Love from India 🇮🇳

Such a great video thank you so much! I seeded a few beds with a summer cover crop mix last week! (Summer max mix from 7 springs, it is already doing the job!) Excited to hear about buckwheat, I often get caught in weird 2-3 week lulls and that sounds perfect. Speaking of summer, I would LOVE a video about how you start your fall crops in the end of summer, especially the brassicas. I am also in zone 6b and between the heat and pest it is looking ROUGH for my fall successions. Thanks for all ya do!

Hope all is well! I heard about the flooding in Kentucky. There is support for you out there is you all need it. 💜

Ive been experimenting with the chickens scratch grain for a cover crop Or even wild bird seeds since i don't mind the weeds I do this in the rest time in that certain bed Then feeding the greens/seeds to the animals Then i put the animals bedding on the garden Or lawn...lol scratch grains work to fill in areas and the native area grass will grow in as the other dies

Not only can Jesse crack lame jokes with the best of em, but his book is also phenomenal and I think he undersells it a bit!

I'm wondering if you have a video of your method for bed prep starting at the veryyyyy beginning? I have a lot of ground to rehab at once, so prepping for initial cover crop planting as efficiently as possible is the puzzle du jour. Thanks!

For field cover crops, I like Hairy Vetch with beets. Note: my cattle with hairy udders, love it. Do you think there might be a connection?

What is planted in the walkways? Looks so beautiful

Wow 👌👌👌👌👌

Hey what do you think about going over the covercrop with the milling machine and spraying effective organisms or compost tea?

you are very impanation for me saludos desde Costa Rica :)

How about Rye as a cover crop? Especially with sandy soil. I've read that the roots can reach 2.5meters down.

We just have grass growing in between our garden rows- what is the difference between that and buckwheat or other? Wouldn't grass with roots be better than choking it al out with wood chips and having NO roots in the ground to hold water and prevent erosion?

Hey love the tips! We have our berry patch (raspberry, blackberry, and blueberries, strawberries too but we are pulling those to another area) chipped with wood chips (back to eden style for 8 yrs or so). What do you recommend for growing in the alleyways? The woodchips are great but we have to add often or weeds start poking through.

Animals are happy, so you must be doing something right... Cheers!

Thanks for the metric units love

I noticed you don’t have leaves on your tomato plants. Great idea to minimize powder mildew? Thanks.

Hi! Where did you buy cardboard trays for vegetables (video 2:50 min)? Thank you 🤗

On the sorghum sudangrass. I'm looking for help with soil compaction and mulch but also as a divider between my one grassy area. Can I cut it more than once?

Today I saw a border row boundary crop of Sunchokes planted right where there was a MASSIVE morning glory infestation down near Hollister. I saw a few trailing plants but way way way fewer than the surrounding fields, Lepidium was also suppressed somewhat within a 5 foot buffer. Just sharing observational anecdotes. I'm wondering if we can put together a vid on the reasons behind cover crop and planning cover crop based on needs - this video is good on ellucidating the "how" and "why how" watching it for the third time.

How do you plant seeds in the massive growth without tilling? Where buy seed?

Buckwheat doesn't seem to work well here in the Fl. panhandle. Either it's too hot, or the local fauna simply won't allow it to "exist." We grow IC peas and (believe it or not...) Curly Mustard.

I'm figuring egyptian wheat with beans that climb is a good mixture. buckwheat and finger millet?

Hello. I planted a cover crop for the first time. It´s a mix of sosorghum, Sudanese, radish, oat, beet root, carrot, white mustard and Phacelia tanacetifolia.I´m leaving the garden for the summer. It´s a small garden. Only 4 4m raised rows. Looking for advice on when to terminate. What if it goes to seed before I get back? Can I just cut it at ground level and then plant seedlings for the kitchen garden? I don´t need to use it as mulch. I have a lot of that. I guess my main concern is dropping seed into the beds again. Can a great cover crop turn into a weeding nightmare? Great video! My questions for my garden weren´t addressed hence the mini essay. Not always about me, right? Thanks in advance for any insights.

The jokes are killing me. Lol

Hey could someone do a video tour sometime of salamander springs farms ? It would be cool to see the corn beans and squash in full production and harvest

I need help getting rid of foxtails without spreading their evil seeds… do you have any tips on that? I’m just trying to do a home garden, but somehow they got mixed into my cover crop and wildflowers….my soil was super bad and neglected…

How do I know its sunday....no till growers

where are you in Kentucky? Worried about the flooding.

Buckwheat is very well known for making phosphorus more available for following crops. It's an excellent honey plant for bees, but is very strongly flavored honey and the market for Buckwheat honey is small. You should also mention flax because it's an EXCELLENT mycorrhizal fungi plant and provides significant benefits for surrounding plants.

Aaaaaaaa black kitty cat!!! Heart eyes!!!

Do you have any experience using mustard cover crop? Any tips on killing this crop?

Can you do a cover crop for lawns? What would you suggest?

Around 7:30 you point towards a link to the terminating cover crops video, but didn't put it in the video!

planting cover crops like tagetes , and help reduce pest / diseases

All that okra at the end having gone to seed... In my garden I find okra to be far more weedy than buckwheat. I have heard of using it as a cover crop, though I can imagine that the rather woody stems might present issues. It's at least drought tolerant, deep rooted, and loves the heat.

I'm still not convinced I should go with a cover crop in winter. Atleast not one that I'd have to kill come spring. For now my over winter plans are just a deep leaf mulch covering both my walkways and beds

Levelling up would be growing your own cover crop seed. I shuddered a bit when you mentioned buckwheat becoming a weed if it goes to seed, that seems counterintuitive to me ... I get it if you are trying to maintain a stale seed bed, but that only works if you have a source and cost for weed free compost, which I know you have been over. Good cover crop seed will become the new compost, more expensive, and diminishing quality ... so why not grow your own? One more comment: instead of sorghum sudan, grow a grain sorghum, harvest the seed for livestock and replanting the next year. Grain sorghum can also be very prolific, mine is currently 7Ft tall, no irrigation on low quality sloping land