Spring Cover Crops You Can Plant After Peas

Once a cover crop goes to seed, its benefits decrease considerably. By cutting it back before it produces seeds, you can redistribute some of its valuable organic matter back into your soil and reap its rewards.

Spring planting options should include ryegrass, crimson clover and, in wetter climates, buckwheat. These fast-growing options help prevent erosion while also building biomass, fixing nitrogen and suppressing weeds.

1. Beets

Beets require plenty of moisture in their early stages, which makes them perfect for planting alongside fast-growing crops such as leafy greens that provide shade to help keep roots cool while conserving moisture.

Beets require nitrogen for proper growth, making legumes an important addition to a cover crop mix. Field peas and hairy vetch (both part of our Spring Green Manure Mix) not only provide fast-growing biomass while suppressing weeds but can also fix this element into the soil.

Buckwheat can tolerate colder conditions while growing quickly, while Sudangrass thrives in wet environments. For slower-growing options such as red clover or ryegrass – both will winter kill so you’re ready to work them into your soil in springtime – these may also work.

2. Carrots

Oats and peas are two quick-growing legumes that make ideal cover crop options in fall and early spring, serving to fix nitrogen into the soil while simultaneously smothering weeds effectively. Winter kill is easy too – simply work them into your field before cash crops are planted! Mowing or turning in is best done before flowers form as flower production reduces their benefits to soil health.

Planting a legume cover crop in late fall can bring benefits throughout winter until you harvest and replace it with something tolerant of cooler temperatures, such as root veggies or herbs that require minimal fertilizers and support beneficial microbes. This process reduces nutrient demand on your soil while stimulating beneficial bacteria to continue their work during the cold weather months.

3. Cabbage & Herbs

Cover crops can help reduce the need for chemical pesticides by building soil organic matter and providing essential nutrients. They also suppress weeds while providing moisture retention.

Growing corn requires increasing nitrogen in the soil. Oats provide quick biomass and weed suppression while high nitrogen peas add an extra boost in terms of their ability to enrich it with essential elements, while being terminated will enhance availability, structure and aeration.

An effective spring green manure mix includes oats, field peas and hairy vetch; these crops all germinate quickly while providing nitrogen-rich plant material to add slowly back into the soil. Borage provides early biomass formation while suppressing weeds and drawing pollinators; additionally its leaves enhance calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron availability.

4. Cucumbers

Once the pea season is done, you can switch focus and begin planting cucumbers and other leafy greens in your garden space. If the area is shaded, consider planting low-growing companion plants like nasturtiums or basil; in a sunny location you could stagger plantings of fast-growing radishes or lettuce for faster results.

As soon as you turn over cover crop plants in spring, certain microorganisms are activated to digest any new organic matter that comes their way and release nutrients back into the soil food web.

Winter rye and hairy vetch are ideal crops to use for this task, as their dense mat of roots acts to block weeds from sprouting in summer. Furthermore, their nitrogen-fixing roots enrich your soil while providing additional nutrient value – followed by legumes like field peas or oats to further optimize nitrogen levels while acting as weed suppressors.

5. Watermelon & Cantaloupe

If you want to grow watermelons in your garden, peanuts make an ideal companion crop. Peanuts help with water retention and nitrogen delivery for this sun-loving summer vine fruit; plus they attract insects such as flea beetles and cabbage loopers that damage melons plants, reducing damage.

Oats make an ideal spring cover crop because of their rapid establishment in cool temperatures and dense groundcover that smothers weeds. Plus, they’re easily killed off, giving you back your bed space quickly for cash crops or new cash crops!

Cover crops are an invaluable part of an organic system, offering numerous advantages that vary according to region, field and season. Their benefits can include building biomass, improving soil structure and microbiology, fixing nitrogen into the soil, scavenging nutrients that remain in the soil after plowing, alleviating compaction issues and suppressing weed growth.