Cover crops are not just for farming. Many people today are discovering the benefits of planting cover crops in their gardens. Grasses, small grains and even legumes can be used as cover crops to help protect the soil in a garden during its off season. Gardeners will have little trouble finding these seeds in Colorado and reaping the benefits that these crops can bring.
How to Plant Cover Crops
Planting cover crop seeds Colorado is quick and easy to do. Fall is a good time for planting these crops as they will enrich and protect the soil throughout the fall and winter seasons. Winter or perennial rye grass is a popular cover crop choice in Colorado as it’s easy to grow, does well even in poor soil and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance or care.
Before planting rye grass seeds, gardeners will need to clear their flower or vegetable gardens and rake the soil until its smooth. Then seeds can be spread throughout the area and the garden raked again, lightly, to cover the seeds with soil. Exposed seeds on the soil surface could be consumed by birds and lost.
Once the seeds are implanted in the soil, they need to be watered. Rye grass seeds require very little watering – two or three times during the season is sufficient for seeds to germinate and grow. By spring, the grass should have grown six to twelve inches high and be ready to mow and turn under so gardeners can do their spring planting.
Benefits of Cover Crops
Cover crops serve many purposes for farming and gardening. They help minimize soil erosion from wind and water while adding organic materials to the soil to improve its structure. By recycling nutrients into the soil during the fall and winter months, cover crops enrich the soil for spring planting. Cover crops also help to suppress the growth of weeds and help to control pests and plant diseases.
Gardeners who choose to plant cover crops in the fall will soon find this chore to be well worth their efforts. The rewards they reap in protecting and enriching their soil more than makes up for the time spent in cover crop planting. The work involved in tilling, weeding and harvesting an organic garden can weaken soil structure; cover crops are one way of revitalizing the soil so it can continue to yield fruit year after year.
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