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 crops are easy, low maintenance plantings that help to improve your garden soil. Among the many benefits, they prevent erosion, cycle important nutrients, improve soil texture, provide mulch, break pest cycles, and suppress weeds. Learn about 15 of the best cover crops for the home garden in this guide. Read more.
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.
Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) is a vigorous, sprawling legume with fine, silvery foliage and vibrant purple flowers. Often grown as a winter-hardy cover crop, it fixes nitrogen, suppresses weeds, improves soil structure, and supports pollinators. Learn how to use hairy vetch as a cover crop in this guide. Read more now.
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.
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.
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.