Choosing cover crops: Think like a plant!

Feb 28, 2020

By Dean Baas and Elizabeth Schultheis

It may seem like a challenging task to select the right cover crop species for your cropping system. There are many variables to consider, such as what crops you are growing, available planting windows and your soil health needs. A new video, released by Michigan State University Extension cover crops and soil health team, discusses one important factor to consider: the life cycle of the plant.

Every species has its own cycle of growth, setting seed and senescing that it will attempt to go through no matter when its planted. It is important to make sure you are planting a species that grows best and at the appropriate time of year. For example, summer annuals, like buckwheat and oats, will grow best in the summer and do not tolerate cold temperature. These species will reproduce during the summer period and be killed off by frost. The video below discusses “thinking like a plant” as you consider how a cover crops natural cycle will affect its performance.

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Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.