By Tanner Collier
As we head toward the end of the summer growing season, it’s time to start thinking about what’s next for your garden space. There are two options you have, plant crops in the fall season or wait until the spring. Either way, you don’t want to leave your garden bare for a variety of reasons such as erosion and weeds. There is something you can incorporate into your planting schedule to help with this, cover crops!
Cover crops are plants that are planted between harvests with the sole purpose of improving the soil. There are several varieties of plants that can be used as a cover crop and each have their own benefits. By using a combination of these plants, you will be able to target different remedies for your soil including erosion control, nitrogen fixation, weed suppression, organic matter, and loosening compact soil. Let's take a look at some of these cover crops.
Legumes
Using legumes as a cover crop can benefit soils in several ways. Legumes have a symbiotic relationship with rhizobia bacteria which allows them to fixate atmospheric nitrogen and convert it to plant usable nitrogen. This in turn can result in less nitrogen fertilizer use in the next growing season. Not only do they fix nitrogen, but legumes are great at suppressing weeds, erosion control, and adding organic matter. Also, in the spring before termination they attract pollinators which will benefit your garden plants.
Source : ncsu.edu