The Hardest Working Plants You'll Grow : [Cover Crops]

Hello Readers!!!

We are well into the growing season and the work doesn't stop. With weeding, watering, and maintaining the farm, we definitely are staying busy! But it is all worth it if we can teach people about sustainable agriculture and why it so vital to our livelihoods and future generations.

With that, one of the important principles we live by is to practice agriculture in a way that is environmentally sound. Specifically speaking, at some point all crops require fertilization. In conventional agriculture the solution to this is to apply amendments to fields. However, these amendments are often applied in excess and then run off into water sources. When this happens, the water sources are polluted and sometimes the aquatic environment even transforms from an aerobic to an anaerobic environment (meaning an oxygen deficient environment).

* It's also important to note that in order to produce these amendments, large quantities of fossil fuels are required.

Now you might ask, well what is the alternative?

At the Agroecology Education Farm, we implement the use of cover crops! A cover crop is a crop grown for protection and enrichment of the soil. These crops suppress weeds, build productive soil, and help control pests and diseases. They are easy to plant and require only basic care to thrive.

At left: cover crops; At right: orchard grass (Click image to make larger)

At the farm, our fields are split in half between perennial orchard grass and cover crops. The half planted in orchard grass is cut periodically, bailed, and fed to cows at the NCSU dairy production. The other half is rotated two times per year between summer and winter cover crops. Our cover crops consist of two types of plants:

Bailing the orchard grass (Click image to make larger)

 - A biomass producer ie carbon and
 - A leguminous plant which produces nitrogen.

The winter cover crop consists of rye (biomass) and crimson clover (legume). You can also find hairy vetch within the cover crop. Our summer cover crop consists of pearl millet (biomass) and cowpea (legume).  These crops help build our soil making it much more suitable for agricultural production. At the end of the season, we simply cut the crop down and leave it in the field, planting the next season's cover crop into it.

From top left to bottom: Crimson Clover, Rye, Cowpea, and Pearl Millet
(Click image to make larger)

You may think that cover crops are just for farmers and other large-scale growers. Think again! Cover crops can be implemented in your home garden, no matter the size.  Crimson clover produces beautiful red flowers which will look great in any home setting. But there are a few things to remember...

1) If you plant a cover crop, you must kill it before it seeds. You can kill it by mowing it over at flowering or when seed heads emerge. Then just dig it into your soil.
2) After turning under a cover crop, wait 2-3 weeks before planting vegetables or flowers. 
3) Common cover crops are clover, buckwheat, sorghum, field peas, rye. 
4) Cover crops are low maintenance but still require some maintenance. Be sure to mow the cover crop to keep it's growth in check. Also, be sure to water the crop in times of drought.

Soil and baby cabbages at the farm (Click image to make larger)

Happy gardening and remember...sustainable agriculture starts with the soil!!

-Agroecology Education Farm Staff