“Living cover” is Jeff’s pride and joy in the fields. He’s built a complex program of cover crops that nourish our soils and provide our team with living walkways to traverse in the farm fields. Now, he and the farm team are bringing this expertise to the Community Gardens to demonstrate what’s possible.
On the farm, the cover crop rotation is as complex as our cash crop rotation. After bountiful spring fennel, chard, and onion harvests, tunnel 12 deserved some much-earned time off. So, in late summer, we broadcast oat seeds far and wide within the tunnel to establish a lush bed of growth. This heavy seeding ensures full soil coverage and usually snuffs out weeds. Students nearly miss the beauty growing in tunnel 12 (pictured above) as they harvest peppers from tunnel 11.
In just over a month, this lush cover crop is thriving in the late fall sunshine. Jeff and team water in the cover crop to establish its growth, investing just as much time and energy into this cover crop (translation: soil health!) as they would a cash crop. This lush October growth will withstand the chilly days and nights of November, but as freezing temperatures arrive, the cover crop will go through a “winter kill” and STILL be useful!
In January, the crop transitioned to a natural mulch cover to trap moisture and nutrients. The mulch and roots biodegrade slowly and feed the soil. The mulch also ensures that the soil stays warmer, so it will be ready when we incorporate it and have an early spring lettuce transplant in March.
In the community gardens, the team broadcast the same oat seeds by hand and continue to water and weed these plantings to ready the plots for next season’s growing. While many gardeners we spoke to at the plant sale struggle with rotations to not only feed their soils, but also to battle pests and weeds, any amount of rotation can help. Even following your tomato plants with oats, peas, and/or buckwheat and removing it before seeding will nourish the soil while you await the winter chill. Next time you visit the farm, you can talk with Jeff about his cover crop recommendations for your garden. He even donated over 50 lbs of cover crop seeds to gardeners at the Spring Seed Expo.
Our Illinois soil is an extremely valuable resource, so thank you for reading and caring for it in your backyard!
Your farmers,
Jeff, Jen, David, Cleto, Miguel, Anacleto and Saul