Hairy vetch plants grown as cover crop in bloom with purple-pink flowers.

Cover Crops

Are you looking to make your garden healthier and more productive this year? Planting cover crops can help you do just that! This “green manure” adds nutrients to soil, reduces erosion, suppresses weeds and pests, breaks up compaction, improves water uptake, increases biodiversity – the list goes on. Read our guides below to learn how planting cover crops in your home garden can be a great way to get a leg up for next season. If you’re new using living plants as green manure, start with our 101 guide.

Cover Cropping 101: Learn How to Use Cover Crops in the Garden

A close up horizontal image of red clover planted in a field as a cover crop with blue sky in the background.

Cover crops offer a smart and sustainable way to produce healthy, vibrant soil for robust, happy plants without using synthetic fertilizers. They also control erosion, suppress weeds, bust pest cycles, and improve water retention. Learn all about the art and science of beneficial cover cropping right here.

How to Grow Sunflowers as a Cover Crop

A close up horizontal image of a field of densely planted sunflowers growing as a cover crop.

Home gardeners can grow sunflowers as a cover crop that will prevent erosion, build soil, retain moisture, and suppress weeds. This atypical choice provides flowers and seed heads for the birds while building your raised bed or garden soil. This guide explains how to grow the flowers for maximum benefit and beauty.

Should You Rotate Cover Crops?

A close up horizontal image of arugula growing in the garden covered by a dusting of frost.

Both farmers and home gardeners are likely to find cover cropping a valuable practice. Sowing dense, fast-growing plants to cover fallow soil helps to control weed growth and inhibit erosion. The decaying plants improve soil structure and replenish nutrients. Read on and learn if it is beneficial to rotate cover crops.

15 of the Best Cover Crops for the Home Garden

A close up horizontal image of a spade digging a green manure crop into the soil.

Cover crops are easy, low maintenance plantings that produce fast, effective improvements to your garden soil. Among the many benefits, they prevent erosion, cycle important nutrients, improve soil texture, provide mulch, break pest cycles, and suppress weeds. Here are 15 of the best cover crops for the home garden.

How and When to Plant Cold Weather Cover Crops

A close up horizontal image of crops growing in a winter garden surrounded by snow.

Cover crops aren’t just for farmers. They’re easy, economical, and efficient for the home garden too. With many benefits, they’re a smart, natural method of protecting the soil, improving its structure, and increasing nutrients all at the same time. Learn how and when to plant cold weather cover crops. Read more now.