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By AMY IVY, Cornell Co-op Extension
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Regular readers have heard me say this before, but it bears repeating: The key to success in growing any kind of plant is the quality of the soil — nothing is more important.
One of the best ways to improve soil is by continually adding organic matter.
You can't just do a bang-up job one year by adding lots of manure and compost and think that now you can sit back for a few years. Organic matter gets used up by beneficial soil organisms, so healthy soil needs continual replenishment.
Cover crops are a great way to add organic matter. A cover crop is anything that is planted on a temporary basis. If you till under the cover crop while its still green, it's called green manure. A variety of plants can be used as cover crops or green manure depending on your preferences.
TIMING
Traditionally cover crops are planted in vegetable gardens after the fall harvest. That way, they cover the soil over the winter, reducing erosion by wind and rain and discouraging weeds. They are tilled under the following spring a week or two before planting.
Some cover crops die to the ground over winter and can be left in place to act as a mulch that you plant your transplants right through. If you'll be planting small seeds, it's easier to rake a narrow row free from the mulch or till up the area then apply new mulch after the plants emerge.
WHAT TO PLANT
Each of the plants suitable as cover crops has good and bad points. Choose those that best fit your needs and abilities.
Oats come up quickly and produce lots of leafy tissue — excellent green manure. They die after a hard frost in the fall, so they are easy to till under next spring.
Winter rye produces lots of dense, leafy tissue, very winter hardy and green most of the winter. You must have a good rototiller to work this plant into the soil in spring. It may need mowing before you can till it.
Annual ryegrass is a turf-type grass as opposed to the rye grain listed above. It establishes quickly and dies over the winter. It is easy to till under.
Perennial ryegrass is another turf-type grass that survives the winter with a dense root system. It's a little harder to till under than annual ryegrass but easier than winter rye.
Buckwheat needs warm temperatures, so plant it in June or July; it's very sensitive to frost. Do not let it go to seed or it will become a weed itself. It's very good as green manure and at crowding out existing weeds.
White clover is low growing but needs at least a full year to fully benefit the soil, even up to two years. Plant it in an area you don't plan to use for that long. Crimson clover doesn't survive our winters, making it a nice, quick cover crop that's easy to handle the following spring. All clovers contribute nitrogen to the soil and produce very deep roots to loosen compacted soil.
Amy Ivy is executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Clinton County. Office phone numbers: Clinton County 561-7450, Essex County 962-4810, Franklin County 483-7403. Web site: http://www.cce.cornell.edu/ecgardening. E-mail questions to askMG@cornell.edu.
