The Value of Cover Crops

I attended two lectures that addressed the value of using cover crops. The first talk was sponsored by the Little River Wetlands Project. It was their “Breakfast on the Marsh” lecture series. The speaker was Jamie Perry, Northeast Urban Soil Health Specialist. Mr. Perry was an effective advocate for using cover crops to restore soil health.  He identified Four Soil Health Principles:
1. Minimize disturbance of the soil
2. Maximize soil cover
3. Maximize biodiversity
4. Maximize continuous living roots

He stated that the use of cover crops achieves these principles by:
Reducing soil erosion
Maintaining soil health
Reducing water quality degradation 
Suppressing pests 
Increasing soil efficacy 
Decreasing soil compaction 

Most of his presentation was on providing examples of cover crops. These included Buckwheat which he recommended because it grew quickly, a drawback was that it did not produce food. He described Daikon Radish as “great coverage.” He recommended cereal rye as “living mulch.” 

Perry then described methods of seeding the soil. This included broadcasting, direct seeding, direct seeding using furrows, and inter seeding. 

The second presentation on crop covers was at the Michiana Regional Seed Swap sponsored by the Merry Lea Environmental Center and held at Goshen College.  This was the fisth annual seedswap sponsored by Merry Lea. There were multiple booths with various vendors including: A Bean Collector’s Window
Blue Fox Farm
Dick’s Organics & Three Rivers Fruit Growers Club
Elkhart County Indiana Master Naturalists
Merry Lea Sustainable Farm
Michigan Organic Food & Farming Association
Seed to Feed
Tomato Jim
John Sherck, A Local Seed Saver
IN Native Plant Society, Northeast Chapter
Goshen Health
Fables Books
Rooting through Corn, Planting Families Project
Nature & Nurture Seeds
Bushelcraft Farms


There was off course seeds for peopke to take home. I was happy to see Paw Paw tree seeds. There were also two main presenters. One was John Mischler speaking on how to start seed saving. The other was local geologist and organic farmer Tony Fleming who spoke about "A Year of Cover Crops."

Tony also highlighted the value of using cover crops when a vegatation had served it's purpose. Those values included: interrupting diseases and pests, improving soil mobility, adding biomass, increasing drought resistance, improving soil structure, and increasing fertility and nuritient health of the soil. Soil health is important because, as he explained, one teaspoon of soil contains one billion organisms including bacteeria, virus, fungus, nematodes. That biodiversity is vital to healthy plant life.     

Like Perry, Tony also provided choices and examples. he pointed out that legumes were important because they put nirtogen back into the soil. Field peas fixed nitrogen and weregreat mulches. 

He highlighted the ceral/grain/grasses. Oats were good cool weather cover crops. Annual ryes could be over-wintered and easily grown. Sudangrass loved heat.

Crimson clover grew well in both cool and warm weather. They were also great pollinator plants. Hairy Vetch was versitile. It grew i cool, warm, and even hot weather, It fixes nitrogen, attracts bees, and the seeds were easy to save.

It was clear that both Perry and Fleming viewed cover crops as important even when they did not produce food crops They were important to maintaining the health of the soil and increasin biodiversity.