Summer Cover Cropping Guide

In today's video we are talking all about summer cover crops from buckwheat to sesbania to sweet potatoes? Yeah.

What the video generally covers: how to cover crop in the summer, what are some good summer cover crops, what types of summer cover crops are there, is summer cover cropping a good idea, what's a good cover crop mix for summer, sesbania, sunn hemp, sorghum sudangrass, red sorghum, cover crop termination, etc..

Music: "Runaway Dear" by Arc De Soleil

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[notillgrowers]

Hey all! Sorry about the music volume - something either happened when I was rendering the video or I’m just still bad at editing. 🤷

Either or both are entirely possible

[jeffclarke]

Clearly, one of the brighter presenters in this realm. Nice to see and hear. Thanks for your extra efforts to bring the material to us. Cheers.

[donnastormer]

Each summer I use sorghum Sudan and iron clay pea mix. Does great together with positive nematode control. I’m in NW Florida so it comes up fast. I do. 3 lb per 1000 sq ft for a weed suppression thickness. I’ll push it over with my Z turn deck set high then go back with my mulching cover on and mow twice. Then I immediately till it all in at 6 inch depth, water it in then tarp for 4-6 weeks. Works perfect for my needs. I repeat that process with Kodiak Mustard in September and till it in a month later. This process controls nematodes well and adds some good biomass for my soils needs.

[jamesuraski]

That clickbait commentary was hilarious. Thanks for all your videos and efforts! Certainly appreciated

[caroleshaw]

I like the idea of wildflowers for a cover crop!

[msdramamusic]

I love to use lemongrass because I also sell it as tea when I cut it back but it keeps the soil shaded and stops soil erosion.

[bonniebon]

Super hot here. Cowpeas are the way to go. There are MANY varieties of cowpeas. I like to use the ones that are sorta runners. Shades the soil beddah.

[teatimetraveller]

We've used Mustard a lot when starting on new ground. In the Uk we have a lot of wireworm in pasture land and these can cause a lot of problems when converting to horticulture. Hot types of mustards such as Caliente apparently biofumigate the soil and can make the ww leave after a few sowings. We also try to avoid using grasses and grains for a few years after conversion as this can encourage ww that are still present.

[Blaculo]

Lemongrass won't die off in Central FL, it thrives. I've been using black eyed peas from the grocery store as my cover crop this summer. Working out amazing & the pollinators love it.

[SOEtacticalgear]

Headed to early dinner. Hour drive. We are listening to thisbon the way. Always good actionable info. 100 plus here today in middle tn.

[hhwippedcream]

I grow on a smaller scale than what I typically see in these videos but enjoy seeding tall, quick, stalky plants early in my summer rotation and follow with vining or trailing species - crop or cover like tomatoes, tomatillos, cowpeas, etc. I cut the stalks to the maximum height I want to viners/trailers - usually chest or waist height. They then work as poles and cages for the secondary cover and provide lots of beneficial perching structure. Great info and video! Will follow up with the other cover crop vids in the playlist!

[abuhabibalkhair]

LETS GOOOO I just did this last week and to see you speaking about it boosts my gardening confidence! 💪🏼 🌱

[ainabearfarm]

Very helpful tips! One good thing about sunn hemp and Sesbania is that they grow fast and can produce a lot of seeds so if you can get them, you should be set for seeds moving forward 🤙

[OurNewLand]

So many great nuggets of info here! I kept hitting the rewind button to re-listen to segments. So good!

This year was the first time we attempted a summer crop. We're in southern Oklahoma, where it has been hot and dry as hell! We went 47 days without rain. Argh! We went with buckwheat, and had mixed results. It grew fast and strong, but went to seed much quicker than we had anticipated. No worries, though. At least we saved $$ on the second round of the summer buckwheat. Now we are stressing on the timing of the termination (mowing) of the second round along with the planting of our fall/winter crop.

[amakiridikoru]

Can't miss this any Sunday. Great job Jesse

[FantailValleyHomestead]

Still winter here in NZ, but we are upgrading our 10 acres for 43 bare acres. I want to covercrop a huge area while we get our gradens and food forest spaces organised to stop any gorse resprouting (recently cleared ex commercial pine forest so not in great shape but SO much potential, however it has a lot of gorse seeds in the ground and already sprouting). I am thinking because it is a legume, then taking a lead from nature probably a legume heavy mix would be helpful. Here it is cool in summer so we use peas and tic beans with oats usually, sometimes vetch and buckwheat too.

[tickcreekranch]

We mowed our pastures this year without grazing. We were waiting for our cattle from Greg Judy so we decided to try and feed the soil as much carbon as we could without ruminants on the land.

[dak]

We have a 50 x 100 foot garden and we have the worse time getting things to grow besides weeds! We purchased "certified" compost last spring, put it into the new garden and LOTS and LOTS of weeds. Fighting them every since. So, I bought your book today and HOPEFULLY we'll figure out how to get a better garden next year. :-)

[thepragmaticfarmer]

Valuable info. Great video. Even better timing. Just this week, my oats went to milk stage 2 or 3 weeks earlier than I expected. Like an idiot I have nothing ready to transplant into the bed. You provided a great solution. Buckwheat! Also, you mentioned the pinpoint seeder. No videos on it anywhere on the interwebs. I've been curious if it's a good seeder option for an occasional direct seeding of carrots, radishes etc on a small scale.

[maplenook]

As a homesteader I’m using fava from fall to spring. Easy to harvest at soil level and haul to another bed. I am interested in summer options.