How to Plant Cover Crops
Cover crops are a fantastic tool to keep your garden in tip-top shape. But how should a cover crop be planted? The most common way of actually spreading the seed is by broadcasting. Broadcasting means you sprinkle the seed over your garden area without needing precise seeding distances. Occasionally a seed may be planted with the drilling method if you are seeding an entire field. How much seed is spread over a given area depends on the type of seed. We have included a guide at the end of this article to show you the seeding rates for each recommended fall cover crop.
As we mentioned in “Fall Cover Crop Planning” the first step in restoring and preserving soils is to select the best seed for your needs. While it is important to know the benefits a seed can provide is important, it is also important to know how those good things are achieved. Below we have matched up the benefits and route of action to receive them for each popular fall cover crop. Once you have selected the type of seed that will best help your garden, we recommend following the planting guide supplied below.
Benefits of Overwintered Fall Cover Crops
Overwintered crops are planted in the fall and left to overwinter in the garden. These plants are not killed by the winter weather. Instead, they may go dormant and come back in the spring. These varieties require maintenance mowing when they put on vertical growth in the fall. To kill them in time for your spring planting till into the soil after flowering has occurred in the spring. You may till them into the soil before winter sets in; however, you will forgo the benefits overwintering offers. Be sure to allow at least 2-3 weeks of rest for your soil before planting your garden.
Overwintering rice with a fall snow
Wheat sprouting in the spring with an early frost
Hairy Vetch
- Sow 4-6 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Winter Annual
- Plant seed: 1/4-1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 30-40 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 60-300 Days (single season or overwinter)
Green Manure Benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation, Weed Suppressant
Overwintering Benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation, Ground Cover
Medium Red Clover
- Sow 4-6 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Perennial
- Plant seed: 1/4-1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate:20 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 70-300 Days (Single Season or Overwintering)
Green Manure Benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation, Weed Suppressant
Overwintering Benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation, Ground Cover
Winter Rye
- Sow 4-6 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Perennial
- Plant seed: 1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 100 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 330-345 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Weed Suppressant, Early Weed Suppressant (Plow before maturity in Spring)
Overwinter Benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Ground Cover, Erosion Prevention
| Fall Frost Dates By Zone | |
|---|---|
| Zone | First Frost Date |
| 1 | August 25-31 |
| 2 | September 1-8 |
| 3 | September 8-15 |
| 4 | September 21 – October 7 |
| 5 | October 13 – October 21 |
| 6 | October 17-31 |
| 7 | October 29 – November 15 |
| 8 | November 7-28 |
| 9 | November 25 – December 13 |
| 10+ | No freeze |
Field Covered in Snow
Benefits of Winter killed Crops
Winter killed crops are those that die under natural cold winter weather conditions. These crops are ideal for those who want to plant a fall cover crop and start their gardens as soon as possible the following spring. The seed is grown, naturally dies, and is tilled into the soil as soon as the soil is workable in the spring. If you use no-till or limited-till practices you can also grow winter kill crops. We recommend mowing or cutting your cover crop to the ground before allowing your garden to rest for the winter. Cutting your plants will allow them to decompose more quickly on the ground, insead of tilling them into the ground. Like overwintering crops, 2-3 weeks of rest should be allowed before planting your spring garden.
Peas cut as a green manure in the fall
Naturally composted plant material
Crimson Clover
- Sow 6-8 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Reseeding Annual
- Plant seed: 1/4-1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 20 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 70-90 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nitrogen Fixation, Can be undersown, Attracts beneficial Insects
Winterkill benefits: Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation, Ground Cover
Austrian Field Pea. Dundale Pea, Arivka Pea
- Sow 6-8 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Annual
- Plant seed: 1.5-3 inches deep
- Seed Rate: 200 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 52-75 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nitrogen Fixation, Edible Tendrils, Pasture Forage, Weed Suppressant
Winterkill benefits: Biomass Builder, Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation
Organic Oats
- Sow 8-10 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Annual
- Plant seed: 1 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 100-140 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 100-120 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nurse Crop for Clover/Peas, Weed Suppressant
Winterkill benefits: Biomass Builder, Organic Matter Builder
Organic Daikon Radish
- Sow 4-10 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Annual
- Plant seed: 1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 8-10 lbs/Acre
- Days to maturity/seed production: 60-90 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nutrient Miner, Pasture Forage, Weed Suppressant
Winterkill benefits: Biomass Builder, Breaks Compaction
White Dutch Clover, White Berseem Clover, White Ladino Clover
- Sow 5-7 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- * Only Winter-killed in Zones 1-3 Perennial
- Plant seed: 1/4-1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 5-9 lbs/Acre Drilled 7-14 lbs/Acre Broadcast
- Days to maturity/seed production: 60-75 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nitrogen Fixation, Pasture Forage, Can be undersown, Weed Suppressant
Winterkill benefits: Biomass Builder, Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation
Organic Yellow Blossom Sweet Clover
- Sow 6-8 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Biennial
- Plant seed: 1/4-1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 8-15 lbs/Acre Drilled 15-20 lbs/Acre Broadcast
- Days to maturity/seed production: 60-70 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nitrogen Fixation, Nutrient Miner, Attracts Beneficial Insects
Winterkill benefits: Biomass Builder, Organic Matter Builder, Nitrogen Fixation
| Planting Months | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crop | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
| Hairy Vetch | x | x | x | |
| Medium Red Clover | x | x | x | |
| Winter Rye | x | x | x | |
| Crimson Clover | x | x | x | |
| Mustard | x | x | x | x |
| Organic Oats | x | x | ||
| Pea | x | x | ||
| Radish | x | x | x | |
| White Clover | x | x | ||
| Yellow Blossom Sweet Clover | x | x | ||
Mustard
- Sow 5-8 Weeks Before the Fall Frost
- Annual
- Plant seed: 1/4-1/2 inch deep
- Seed Rate: 5-12 lbs/Acre Drilled 10-20 lbs/Acre Broadcast
- Days to maturity/seed production: 80-95 Days
Green Manure Benefits: Nutrient Miner, Suppress Pests, Weed Suppression
Winterkill benefits: Biomass Builder, Organic Matter Builder, Breaks Compaction
