Texas Gardening – Cover Crops to Enrich Soil

Cover crops provide long-term benefits for the home garden. Also called green manure, they are planted primarily to provide organic matter to enrich the garden soil. These crops also add essential nutrients, improve drainage, and extend water retention. They have the added benefit of reducing weeds.

Types of Cover Crops for Texas Gardens

Buckwheat is a good option as a cover crop if the gardener is conscientious about keeping it cut down and does not let it go to seed. Because buckwheat self seeds, the garden will continue to grow it even when it is not desired. Buckwheat grows very quickly—in six to eight weeks and can choke out weeds during the active growing season. Buckwheat flowers also attract bees.

Legumes make excellent cover crops because they can fix nitrogen and then add it to the soil when they are turned under. Legume plants include members of the bean and pea families, clover, pea, vetch and alfalfa. Don’t forget to inoculate legumes with a Rhizobium bacteria. According to Microbiology OnLine, ‚”Rhizobium is the most well known species of a group of bacteria that acts as the primary symbiotic fixer of nitrogen. These bacteria can infect the roots of leguminous plants, leading to the formation of lumps or nodules where the nitrogen fixation takes place.”

In the Southern U.S., cool-season legumes ‚”are sometimes planted in a mix with winter cereal grains such as oats, rye, or wheat. Winter cover crops can be established by aerial seeding into maturing cash crops in the fall, as well as by drilling or broadcasting seed immediately following harvest” (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service).

A cold-hardy combination cover can be grown using cold-hardy peas and oats. Planted in the fall, this combination will tolerate hardiness zones six through eight. Cereal rye is the most cold hardy of the frequently used cover crops. But, be aware that it must be removed early before it goes to seed.

How to Plant and Care for Cover Crops

Cover crops can be planted in any unused garden space which may include most of the garden during the winter. To plant the cover crop, rake the top 1/2 inch of soil and remove any plant residue. Spread the seeds and lightly cover with soil to keep the birds from harvesting them. Plant in the fall about four weeks before the first hard freeze.

Cover crops are low maintenance plants. Those plants that grow too tall can be mowed without damage. After the cover crop matures, a gardener may turn it over into the soil or pull the plants and add them as green organic matter to the compost pile. Be sure to turn over or pull the cover crop before it goes to seed. If the cover crop is turned over into the soil, wait two to three weeks before planting in that location.