What cover crops should I plant on my organic farm?

September 24, 2009 3:48 PM

Starting an organic farm -- cover crops: what, when, and how?

I'm in the beginning stages of starting an organic farm in the foothills of northeast Georgia (Toccoa, to be exact if you want to look up weather info). The soil is mostly red clay with a few small rocks here and there. I want to build up the fertility quickly, easily, and relatively cheaply.

I own a hand operated seed spreader. I do NOT have a tractor, mower, or any powered tillage equipment, and I do not intend to buy any at this time.

My question is in a few parts:

1) What would be the best cover crops to plant in this area?

I am interested in breaking up the soil, controlling erosion, and adding organic matter. Right now I am thinking about planting pearl millet in the summer time (perhaps mixed with some soybean or cowpea). For winter I am not sure, maybe winter rye by itself or mixed with austrian winter pea? Still need ideas for what to plant in the spring. I am planning to do year-round cover crops for 2 years before I start farming.

2) For the recommendations in part 1, when should they be planted? Please give specific-ish dates for my location.

3) How should they be planted? I know I can use the seed spreader to distribute the seeds. What about covering them up? Should I use a rake? Drag a large chain across the ground? Do I need to put straw on top? Any other human-powered ideas? Keep in mind that it is about 1 acre that needs to be seeded.

4) Last but not least, a tangent: Can you recommend any good books that cover organic farming and/or cover cropping (especially in the southeast) ? I already have Eliot Coleman's "The New Organic Grower" which is great -- looking for other sources, too.

Thanks!

posted by bengarland to home & garden (5 comments total)

Get in touch with the Cooperative Extension agent in your county. They are experts paid to answer questions like this.
posted by Fiery Jack at 4:14 PM on September 24

Buy this book!

Then call your extension. The EVIL Federal gubbmint pays people to answer this sort of question for farmers (SOCIALISM!). They'll also do an analysis of your soil and provide recommendations for what amendments are called for. I haven't seen an extension agent specifically recommend a particular cover crop, but you can match the conditions found to something like this chart on cover crops.

The best way to plant a cover crop is with a no-till seed drill. Since your neighbor probably doesn't have one of those laying around, you can spread seed and rake it by hand (doable on an acre) or drag a chain harrow.

I do NOT have a tractor, mower, or any powered tillage equipment, and I do not intend to buy any at this time.

Remember that all of this equipment can be rented, hired, or borrowed. For example, my project for the winter is to buy a spader but not the tractor to run it. Why? Because I can borrow or rent a tractor and don't need to tie up the capital for something that's going to sit most of the time. I can't rent a spader so that's worth the money to me.

*checks poster's history*

Oh look, I see you've gone to school for this and likely know more than I ever will. However, I stand by my recommendation of From Startup to Market. It's like Elliot Coleman scaled up for small commercial operations. Growing for Market is also well worth a subscription. I'll also note that the successful college-educated organic farmers that I know tend to partner with more experienced old timers. The old timers appreciate the schooling and the academics appreciate the hands-on experience. To this end, I'd recommend looking for a local association of small farmers for your region. My business/life partner and I are members of Washington Tilth Producers and the conferences, farm walks, and friendships we've attended/made have been invaluable.

Good luck!
posted by stet at 4:29 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

Check out Steve Solomon's book: Gardening When it Counts - Growing Food for Hard Times. Especially, check out his bibliography. The man is seriously scientific when it comes to growing food. He's also got a website you might enjoy, and he claims he'll answer e-mails/letters, so that's worthwhile too.
posted by dbmcd at 6:57 PM on September 24

You can check out this book for free: Managing Cover Crops Profitably


The classic cover crop for breaking up hardpan/heavy clay soils is biennial sweetclover. Usually, at least up here in the northeast, it is frost seeded in the early spring, overwinters the first season, then is finally mowed & tilled the following summer before setting seed.

It gets friggin' huge, too...which means lots of biomass for your soil. You should hopefully notice an improvement in soil tilth. Keep in mind, however, that it takes LOTS of continuous cover-cropping to boost your organic matter. If you have a good source of compost - heavy applications would be a good shortcut. You can cover crop on top of the compost! Nutrient cycling!

Not sure about rye and austrian winter pea? Rye and hairy vetch is the classic combination...both overwinter up here which make them a good full season cover. Vetch is a legume as well which will fix nitrogen. Be sure if you're seeding any legumes (vetch, clovers, peas, fava beans, alfalfa..) to inoculate your seed with the appropriate rhizobia. This stuff is cheap and it's worth the little bit of cost/effort to be sure you have the bacteria in your soil which will enable the crop to fix N.

Your lack of equipment is a bit tricky. When we plant our cover crops, we like to prepare a nice seedbed (tiller or disc), then broadcast the seed using our spinner, and pack everything down nicely with our cultipacker. I would at least rent a rototiller or try to get someone to come in and prep the fields for seeding...then just go in there and seed extra heavy before a forecasted rain.

MeMail me if you want some more info/resources. We finished cover cropping all of our clover/oats & peas this past week, and will probably be doing our rye & vetch next week - so it's fresh in my mind.

Our cover cropping system is loosely based on the Nordell's farm in Trout Run, PA. They're awesome...here's a brief overview of their brilliant farm.
posted by pilibeen at 7:30 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

In addition to the above-suggested extension office, there are other government offices that exist purely to provide technical advice and support to farmers. There should be NRCS and FSA offices in your vicinity, for example, and there are usually others, county, state, and federal.

If you can figure out how to fill out paperwork and how to interact with a system that is more focused on technical advice to non-organic, agro-business agriculture, you stand to gain some real advantages. A lot of programs have really good subsidies and cost-shares, which will pay for a lot of equipment and improvements.
posted by Forktine at 8:02 PM on September 24