Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [cover-crop]

Planted primarily to manage soil quality.

Cover crops are crops that are planted primarily to manage soil fertility, quality, water, weeds,pests, biodiversity, and diseases; rather than to grow produce. They are often used in sustainable agriculture as a more natural method of maintaining the quality of the growing area.

Example cover crops include clover (fixes nitrogen) and sorghums & mustards (both suppress weeds).

Use this tag for all questions cover crops - especially whether they should be used, and which should be used for your particular situation.

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What is my normal selection for a 4 season food cover crop?

I'm learning a lot about cover crops as soil conservation, and was wondering what would be the best choices for my garden, in a Minnesota, zone 4a climate? It should produce good amounts of mass to plant on top of in the garden.
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Raised Bed Cover Crops - Zone 6

I have 4 new raised beds I built this year. They were filled quite deep with what was supposed to be pretty good soil (turns out I was duped, just like you read often online!) - it's largely all topsoil and uncomposted manure. Regardless of this…
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Do mice eat fava plants?

I sowed some fava beans in my raised bed and something is eating the leaves. I have a compost bin next to it that attracts mice so it may be mice eating them but I am not sure if mice eat leaves. If not, what could it be? Any thoughts?
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When doing no till gardening, is it a bad idea to leave grass to act as a cover crop?

In my sunchoke patch, I'm using grass as a cover crop for no till purposes. Is this a bad idea?
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When does red clover (cover crop) go to seed?

This seems like a silly question, but I'm struggling to find an answer on google. When does red clover go to seed? I am planting it now, in combination with Italian Rye, as a cover crop. When do I need to turn it over by to prevent it going to…
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Is using sprinkler system in orchard a wise choice?

My orchard has walnut, apricot and apple trees and I have alfalfa as cover crop. For now I am using surface irrigation. I am planing to change my system to drip irrigation or sprinkler irrigation. Drip irrigation: Good option But I would lose my…
Mehdi Azizi
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Need perennial cover crop/grass suggestion

We don't live in our native town through out the year and instead visit on some days of the year, but have some help from people who do live to water plants growing in our house there, occasionally. The town is situated in deep South India, on the…
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Cover crop - cutting rye before it flowers

I planted a fall cover crop last fall to loosen up our compacted yard in Sacramento, California. Currently, it's very tall, like 3 feet, and I'd like to mow it soon. But it contains winter and annual rye that has not yet gone to flower. Everything…
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Perennial cover crops in vineyard

I have a small vineyard and planning to grow cover crops between the rows. I have little experience with cover crops and first of all I'm not sure when to mow them, and if the cut crops should be removed and used to make compost or if they should be…
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Can mint kill off hopes of grass establishing in an area?

I have an ara in the garden that I want to spread a low growing cover crop like mint, or clover (microgreens). What mix should I consider growing in the area? Eventually fruit trees, bushes, and rhubarb (ground cover layer) will take over the…
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