Top 5 Cover Crops for Your Garden

One of the easiest and most economical ways to improve your soil is to plant green manures, commonly called cover crops. Most garden soils can be maintained at their highest level of productivity by sound soil management practices that involve a combination of soil tillage, crop rotation, and most importantly, the addition of organic matter through green manures.

Organic matter is the food component of soil. Soil-dwelling fungi and bacteria work to break down organic matter. When these soil microorganisms eat organic matter, nutrients are released back into the soil in a form that is usable by plants. This process is called nutrient cycling. The addition of organic matter builds soil structure, which increases water absorption and nutrient-holding capacity, buffers the soil pH, and improves aeration.

Cover crops choke out weeds by restricting sunlight to the soil, stabilize the soil surface, and, through their deep-reaching roots, help to break up hardpan and bring minerals to the surface for other plants to utilize. As part of a long-term rotation plan, cover crops can provide a stable habitat within your garden for beneficial insects and microorganisms.

Here are some of our favorite cover crops:

1. TSC’s Fall Mix

This mix (Austrian Field Peas, Crimson Clover, Hairy Vetch, Annual and Winter Rye) offers a variety of ingredients that are beneficial to the soil. The peas and clover provide the soil with nitrogen, while the grasses help to build organic matter and act as a smother crop for weeds. Perfect for fall sowing and can overwinter in areas with mild winters. Throughout the winter months, the crop will stay relatively short. In the spring, when the days become a little longer and start to warm up, the TSC Fall Mix really starts putting on growth!

2. Groundhog Daikon Radish

This daikon radish sets huge roots into the soil, making them great miners of nutrients. Once you have fed your field and it starts to rain a lot (as it does here in Oregon) your nutrients are going to seep further and further down into the soil. A root cover crop, like Daikon radish, is going to mine your nutrients and bring them closer to the surface. Groundhog Daikon also does a great job of subduing overwinter weeds as well!

3. New Zealand White Clover

Growing to only 8 inches, this nitrogen-fixing clover is used for both a spring and fall cover crop and can be sown between row plantings to suppress weeds or as a solid seeded cover. It’s great for in between rows to be able to rotate crops as well! For example, say you plant lettuce in one row and plant a row of clover right next to it. Then, after the lettuce has been harvested, you would till in the clover and plant a winter crop such as kale where the clover used to be. You can continually grow cover crops within the same field as your vegetables by just switching rows. By utilizing your space in such a way, you can go right from a spring crop directly into a winter crop.

4. Microclover®

Our shortest clover cover crop, Microclover® is an outstanding, durable, multi-purpose plant. It has naturally dense growth that provides excellent weed suppression. It fills in quickly but is not overly aggressive like some other perennial clovers, and its dwarf foliage creates a solid mass of durable, deep green, uniform leaves. The resilient, cold-hardy plants tolerate shade, both wet and drought conditions, foot traffic and very low mowing. Microclover® is also an outstanding, low maintenance lawn companion to mix with grass. Left unmown, it will only reach 3–6 inches tall, but periodic mowing keeps it shorter and very lush. Seeding it in with a lawn, its nitrogen-fixing ability helps feed the lawn for a naturally sustainable planting. Deep roots break up clay and reach farther for water, keeping it green when more shallow-rooted plants suffer.

5. Buckwheat

Quick-growing Buckwheat provides good cover and organic matter. While it doesn’t fix nitrogen, it helps to keep the nitrogen in the soil, towards the surface. Buckwheat also makes a great bee attractant because it flowers right away. The plants are easy to chop up with a hoe, making it an easy cover crop to work with. Because of its dense growth, buckwheat can smother out the most tenacious weeds, even thistle! One of our go-to crops at the farm, and because it grows so fast, we can generally get two buckwheat crops planted in one summer.

Different garden spaces have different needs, so look through our handy chart to help you choose the right cover crop. Take advantage of these hard-working, easy-care plants, and see the difference they can make in your garden!