Cover it Up. You Don't Want That Showing.

The other day I watched a video of Gabe Brown explaining the five tenets of soil health. He gives an excellent presentation on soil.  I was so impressed with what he had accomplished on his ranch in North Dakota, I realized I needed to step it up on my place and do something more like he is. He has been using no-till, cover crops,and grazing to build his soil. They help to build the organic matter in the soil which helps with sequestering carbon in the soil which helps with water infiltration and retention making the land resilient against drought and flood. They help suppress weeds reducing or eliminating the need for herbicides, prevent erosion, improve yields by improving soil health thus reducing or eliminating the need for fertilizers, protect water quality and conserve soil moisture, as well as help manage insect pests. One of the things he mentioned is that what he is doing can be done on any size plot from a spread of thousands of acres to a window box. Another was that as his soil has improved his crops have shown some resistance to frost thus extending his growing season. For these reasons, I have been researching cover crops.

During his presentation he stressed the importance of keeping "armor" on the soil. Soil armor is simply the plant residue left on the ground to protect it. It is what I have been trying to do but with limited ability to haul in materials to cover the ground, it is, at best, difficult. With cover crops I can achieve the same thing with relatively little expense. Since I am going to no-till gardening it also makes sense to use plants that will help build up the soil with relative ease. All I have to do is mow and, at the appropriate time, knock the cover crop down to cover and feed the soil. To contrast that he showed a picture of a barren field and quoted Ray Archuleta, "This soil is naked, hungry, thirsty and running a fever."

In the few days I have been doing this research a number of resources have come to me. Gabe mentioned a book that can be found at the SARE website. I found a couple of books there. Managing Cover Crops Profitably and Building Soils for Better Crops. Both books can be downloaded for free. I also found this page filled with further information to look into. Complete List of Cover Crop Resources. There is a great deal of information available.

While pursuing another vein of thought in permaculture I came across this article on Toby Hemenway's site which lead me to information on Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. And one thing has lead to another. There is a ton of information to absorb on this subject. The basis seems pretty simple, cover the ground. You don't want naked soil.  Grow plants to protect and build the soil. Knock or mow the plants down to create armor on the soil to protect it from the elements especially sun and rain while adding organic matter to the soil. The regenerative cycles of life will take care of everything else.

I look forward to being able to show the improvements to my garden soil from growing cover crops. 

Here is a list of suppliers for cover crop seed. Let's get those cover crops growing.

Nature's Seed. (UT) Cover crops under their specialty seed category.

Green Cover Seed (NE)

Walnut Creek Seeds (OH)

Adams-Briscoe Seed Company (GA)

Albert Lea Seed House (MN)

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply (CA)

Seven Springs Farm (VA)

Turner Seed (TX)