Seedlings die at 17 degrees Fahrenheit, and large plants are seriously damaged by temperatures lower than about 20 degrees. The dead material is more easily incorporated in spring than a green cover crop, or it can be raked aside for planting. Winterkilled cover crops smother weeds and grow biomass that will provide mulch to cover and hold the soil in place until early spring. You’ll need to allow 3 to 4 weeks after tilling in rye in spring before planting a food crop, because it takes that long for rye’s biochemical compounds (aka “allelopathic”) to stop inhibiting seed germination. Winter rye ( Secale cereale), also known as “cereal rye,” also survives winter, and grows 5 to 7 feet tall, making massive amounts of biomass. Winter wheat tolerates heavy soils better than barley or oats, but it has poor tolerance to flooding, and is slightly more susceptible than rye or oats to insects and disease. It’s also easier to kill before putting in a food crop, and less likely to become a weed than barley or rye. Winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum) is a winter survivor that’s cheaper and easier to manage in spring than rye, because it’s slower to go to seed and has less bulk. They improve soil structure and encourage helpful microorganisms. GrassesĪll cereal grasses prevent erosion, suppress weeds, add organic matter, and scavenge excess nutrients.
Next, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of a couple of classes of winter cover crops: grasses and legumes. Note: This is too late for crops that aren’t frost-hardy. Winter-hardy: winter rye or wheat with Austrian winter peas. Note: This is too late for crops that aren’t frost-hardy.Ġ to 24 days past frost date (Oct. Winter-hardy: winter rye, winter wheat, or winter barley with crimson clover red clover Austrian winter peas (Zone 7 and higher). Note: Don’t sow rye in August in Zone 7 or higher, as it may set seed.Ġ to 40 days before frost (Sept. Winter-hardy: winter wheat winter rye Austrian winter peas (Zone 7 or higher) red clover crimson clover hairy vetch fava beans.
Winterkilled: Austrian winter peas (Zone 6 or lower) barley oats. Note: Don’t sow oats too early, or they may set seed in fall.Ĥ0 to 60 days before frost (Aug. Winterkilled: Austrian winter peas (Zone 6 or lower) oats. Frost-killed: buckwheat sunn hemp soybeans Southern peas spring peas lablab Japanese millet sorghum-sudangrass hybrids. “Winter-hardy” means the plants will live through winter.Ħ0 to 80 days before first frost (July 26 through Aug. “Winterkilled” means the plants will be killed by midwinter temperatures. “Frost-killed” cover crops will be killed by frost. For a frame of reference, I’ve included the applicable dates for Twin Oaks (Zone 7, with an average first frost date of October 15). Work back from your area’s first frost date to choose from the options below. Timing is critical, because you’ll be planting these cover crops late in the traditional growing season. The fertile, productive soil that cover cropping brings us helps feed our residents on a daily basis. At Twin Oaks, we practice intensive vegetable gardening, both outdoors and within hoop houses, to feed about 100 people year-round. Here are some recommendations for winter cover crops, based on my decades of gardening experience at Twin Oaks Community in central Virginia. And cover crops planted late in the season have a long period in which to grow - throughout winter, for those that aren’t frost-sensitive.
(See “5 Benefits of Cover Crops,” below) To reap these benefits, you’ll need to cultivate strong stands of growth that can suppress weeds and add lots of organic material, or “biomass.” Late summer and fall are the easiest times to start cover crops, because the crops won’t need to compete with any other plants in your garden except weeds.
Cover crops have many benefits for your garden soil, and for the food crops you’ll later plant in their place.
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