How To Grow Oats As A Quick Fall Cover Crop After Summer Vegetables

Oats grow quickly in cool fall weather, making them an excellent way to cover ground newly planted with slow-growing vegetables like kale and spinach.

They are also an effective choice for covering beds that have become overgrown with chickweed, henbit or other cool-weather weeds.

As oats break down in spring, they release organic matter and nutrients for use by subsequent crops.

Planting Time

Oats grow quickly in the fall and produce a dense mat of residue to suppress weeds, while also providing an organic source of nitrogen for next year’s vegetable crops – eliminating costly and intensive nitrogen fertilizer applications.

For maximum success in cold zones, oats should also be interseeded with winter rye (Utricularia) or barley (Hordeum vulgare), both of which will likely die back to provide mulch in springtime. Barley and oats also tend to be less vulnerable to frost damage.

Buckwheat or Japanese millet can also make good cover crops; however, their breakdown and release of nutrients may take longer. Furthermore, these varieties may not be ideal as smother crops as oats or winter rye would be.

Soil Preparation

Oats are an annual cool season grass that bring many advantages to soil health, such as erosion control, weed suppression and nitrogen enrichment. You can sow this crop either spring or fall; making them an excellent choice as cover cropping after wheat, vegetables or corn silage production.

Oats require well-drained, fertile soil that’s free from weeds for planting on a firm seedbed. A smooth and weed-free seedbed ensures precise planting with greater success resulting in higher stands. Disking is one of many land preparation techniques used for growing oats.

Before planting oats, it is recommended to conduct a soil test to identify any deficiencies and amend it with sulfate sulfur as needed; up to 20 pounds may be necessary on deep sands.

Oats can be combined with winter annual legumes like clover or chicory for early attraction and nutrient cycling. Allowing the oats to flower before frost arrives will ensure their winterkill and make it easier for slow-growing legumes to get established in spring.

Seeding

If you plan on planting cover crops to assist with food production, August is the optimal time for seeding them. This allows enough time for them to mature into something manageable during cultivation.

Rye is an excellent perennial crop that will continue to appear each spring, acting to suppress weed growth in beds while providing organic matter. Unfortunately, its allelopathic compounds may impede small-seeded vegetable germination – making this not suitable for early Spring planting sites.

Oats germinate quickly in cool conditions and create an easily maintained living mat of organic material that suppresses weeds while breaking up hard soil. A mixture of oats and field peas will have the added advantage of harvesting nutrients from both legumes, providing more time for nitrogen fixation in your garden soil.

Harvesting

Oats are an annual crop that winterkills easily, making them an excellent choice as a cover crop. Their easy cultivation allows you to till under them quickly and smother any germinating weed seeds while recycling nitrogen out of the soil. Furthermore, oats help prevent soil erosion while simultaneously absorbing and holding rainfall.

If planting for straw purposes, it’s essential to start early by seeding earlier so the crop matures in time to be baled – it can be challenging getting enough dried-out oats in time for fall baling!

Oats are an ideal no-till option for the small farm as they tend to grow faster than other cover crops such as rye and can be hand sown more efficiently. Oats are highly versatile crops that should be considered when setting up any farming system; they work great as rotation crops alongside any vegetable or field crop and can even help save a declining vegetable crop by providing quick growing cover crop options that keep its momentum.