Using Cover Crops in the Fall to Help Spring Crops
We are well into fall with winter just around the corner and so far, it has been everything under the rainbow. Sunny, rainy, stormy, windy, calm, blustery, warm, and cold. Waiting for our first frost but in no hurry! I always look forward to all the seasons out here on the coast. The fall colors are spectacular in the community garden. Dahlias, nasturtiums, sunflowers, runner beans, snow peas, sweet peas, chard, kale, roses. Lots of color!
Like most gardeners we are aware of weather and how short our summer growing seasons are. We did not get the heat we would have liked so a lot of our crops were struggling. Winter gardening can also be a challenge out here on the coast because we do get quite a bit of rain. Covered garden beds and greenhouses could help you grow more successful plants.
Now is time to start planting your garlic bulbs and flower bulbs for next year. When planting your bulbs make sure you mulch on top of your bulbs to protect them through the winter months. Onions thrive in cooler temperatures so along with onions you may want to plant Spinach. Carrots and other root crops such as turnips and parsnips can be planted in a winter garden.
If you do not plan on planting winter crops you may like what a lot of our gardeners do, they plant cover crops until next spring or just clear out all the annuals and put a layer of straw down to protect the soil and nutrients.
Cover crops are often referred to as “green manure” because they can transfer quite a bit of nutrients into your soil, much like animal waste. With certain types of cover crops, you can select a seed, or a seed mix whose primary purpose is to fix the nitrogen and/ or potassium levels in your soil. Basically, you can control what nutrients go into your soil, helping you bring your soil back to the ideal NPK balance. NPK is short for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), which are the three major elements in this kind of fertilizer. They are essential for plant growth and increase the fertility of the soil lacking these macronutrients. Nitrogen helps in plant growth and development. It is also a good idea to test your soil annually so that you know what your soil has too little of or too much of. Soil test kits are available online at Amazon or at your local retail nursery.
You want to plant a winter cover crop that consists of annuals with short roots (no rhizomes) and when spring comes you just till your ground cover into your soil. Some recommendations are red crimson clover, daikon radish, Austrian field pea cover, fava beans and garbanzo beans. Seeds need to be planted by mid-autumn before the first frost to germinate properly.
This article was originally printed in The Ocean Observer, December 2021
