Cover home garden crops
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Vegetable gardening is a popular activity in most all Georgia counties. The ability to produce fresh vegetables for family and friends is a rewarding goal.
Gardening at times can be a healthy outdoor activity too. The use of cover crops in a home garden can be an important resource in your gardening efforts. Cover crops can have many benefits, including building of the soil and helping in managing soil erosion and in limiting some disease and insect issues.
Today I will be sharing information on cover crops from a University of Georgia publication by Bob Westerfield, UGA Extension Horticulturist.
For starters, cover crops are planted during non-productive times of the year. Mainly cover crop planting is done during the fall months. There may be times that a person may do a summer cover crop on a vegetable gardening spot.
Why should you consider a cover crop? If you leave an area unplanted or bare soil it can lead to weed germination and also to soil erosion, according to Westerfield. Cover crops in general will cover the bare ground and will also give you cheap nutrition when you turn the cover crop under the soil and let decomposition of the cover crop take place. Cover crops will also turn into humus thus increasing organic matter in the garden soil.
On a side note, cover crops can help the appearance of the garden area. It is better to look at a cover crop than bare soil, plus cover crops can attract beneficial and pollinating insects too.
Westerfield adds that you can plant cover crops between rows in the garden to help hold the soil and help reduce weed issues. Cover crops can be an aid in disease management too.
Our information states that rotating between different vegetable families along with planting cover crops can actually reducing soil pathogens by providing a non-host plant. Cover crops can help increase you production in the home vegetable garden also.
Obviously the time of year you want to plant a cover crop will determine the type of seed you obtain. This means do you need a cool or warm season cover crop.
Again, a cool season cover crop may be more used in our area in a fall planting situation. Cool season cover crops will be established after the summer garden fades. This is normally in early September into early October. Note that if you are not planting a winter vegetable garden it is suggested to seed your entire garden in a cover crop.
Westerfield suggests using a combination of a cereal grain with some type of legume. Most of the time, wheat, oats or rye are planted with a legume such as clover or winter peas.
Our information adds that the grasstype cereal grain is quick to establish and can help hold and give protection to the soil while the slower germinating legume can get going. I will add that legumes can add atmospheric nitrogen to the garden spot. This nitrogen can be used by your future crops when the legume is tilled in the soil.
This added nitrogen can help on fertilizer costs. Westerfield adds that a typical mix can be 3 to 4 pounds of a cereal grain with .25 pounds of a legume per every 1,000 square feet. He adds for a garden as large as an acre, you can go with 50 pounds of cereal grain and 5 pounds of clover per acre.
One point to consider in cover crops in regards to legumes is a legume inoculant. Our info states that specific Rhizobia bacteria invade the roots of legume and will form nodules where nitrogen fixation takes place. These bacteria are specific for different legumes, according to Westerfield, and can be purchased to inoculate legume seeds prior to planting. Inoculant is live bacterial and will be in powder form.
Remember, there are specific inoculants for the various types of clovers and other legumes so make sure you purchase the correct inoculant. Keep in mind that nitrogen fertilizer should not be applied to legume cover crops since this will interrupt with nitrogen fixation. It is suggested to soil test because you may need to add phosphorus and potassium that could benefit nitrogen fixation.
Note that you do not need to use ryegrass for a winter cover crop. Ryegrass is different than cereal rye. Ryegrass started in a garden spot can be tough to get out of a garden area once established.
Finally, give strong consideration to using cover crops in your future overall vegetable gardening plan. Cover crops can be considered as an organic way to benefit your garden, help build a better soil and increase production.
I will provide a follow-up column next week on planting and establishment of cover crops.
For more information, contact UGA ExtensionGordon County at 706-629-8685 or email Extension Agent Greg Bowman at gbowman@
uga.edu.