For many of us, it’s the end of the growing season. While you may be squirreling away food to preserve the season’s harvest, your soil may feel like it just participated in a marathon…because, in its fruit-bearing way, it did.
As the plants you've grown come to an end, the soil provides the foundation for the next cycle. One way to help improve soil health and prepare your land for the next growing season is through the use of cover crops.
A cover crop is a natural technique for replenishing depleted soil and sustainably improving its overall health. It involves planting crops not harvested in the off-season between the main crop cycles, either during the fallow period or alongside the primary crop.
Since soil will lose topsoil and likely settle after a growing season, covering crops is a natural and sustainable way to bring the soil back to life. Cover crops offer a range of valuable benefits to the land, including:
When selecting cover crops, choosing species well-suited to your local climate and growing conditions that fit your objectives is important. Some common cover crop options include:
Legumes are great for fixing nitrogen. Nitrogen fixation is when atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is converted into usable compounds. Legumes' relationship with Rhizobium bacteria makes this possible. See the Nitrogen Cycle for more information. Hairy vetch, crimson clover, and winter peas are some examples of nitrogen-fixing legumes.
Non-legumes like grasses, grains, and brassicas create more organic matter than legumes and are most useful for scavenging nutrients. When NPK fertilizers are overused, runoff from fields can become nutrient-polluted, otherwise known as eutrophication. Non-legumes are great, as they help clean up excess nutrients.
The timing of planting your cover crop is important because it affects the organic matter that’s turned over and the amount of N that gets released into the soil.
To get the most out of your cover crops, consider the following:
Plants deeply intertwine with the living and decaying life surrounding them. When fed only synthetic nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK fertilizers), they lose this natural connection, becoming dependent on artificial nutrients year after year. Redmond believes Nature Has it Right™. Microbe rich soil sustains the nitrogen and carbon cycles and nurtures healthy plants. This, in turn, fosters the growth of more resilient, nutrient-dense plants that make for healthier animals and people. It all starts with building soil.
Cover crops are a natural and sustainable way to look beyond NPK and replenish the full breadth of nutrients required to grow resilient, nutrient-dense plants and build a healthier ecosystem. Consider adding a mineral supplement like Mineralyte to support your soil's lifeblood further. With a full spectrum of sea minerals, our soil amendments can improve electrical conductivity (EC) levels. Electrical conductivity indicates the total dissolved ions and other charged particles in the soil solution; these ions act as a current. Like a highway system, the EC current transfers nutrients through the soil, stimulating microbe activity. These trace minerals also provide your plants with the building blocks they need to utilize nitrogen.
You’ve got another natural and sustainable growing method in your toolbelt. By incorporating cover crops into your growing season, you can build soil fertility and improve overall soil health - leading to greater productivity and sustainability for years to come. Happy planting!
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