Sowing a Summer Cover Crop || Black Gumbo

Cover crops aren't just for winter. Here in the summer, it gets too hot to invest a lot of time in outdoor gardening. I take advantage of heat loving crops that take very little effort to grow, like the cowpea. These plants cover the ground, suppress weeds, and will act as a green manure later, all the while making some very delicious southern peas for the table. This is my all-time favorite crop.

In this video I'll take out my cucumber patch, and sow cowpeas in their place. I'll show you how I prep the soil and broadcast the seeds, and we'll also harvest some okra and take a brief look at the grape vines and the compost bin.

Summer gardening is hard here, and until we begin starting seeds indoors for the fall garden in a month or so, there won't be as many videos. I'll try to keep you all updated whenever anything noteworthy happens... like the wine press I'll be getting for the grapes! Fun!

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Black Gumbo shares our suburban, backyard, sustainable gardening efforts. We work a small-scale, typical Zone 9a garden and raised beds, the kind of gardening accessible to all. We tend to take the slice of life approach and hope you will enjoy our family, our dog, our cooking, our adventures, and occasionally some commentary and advice. We love family, joy and friendship, and we invite you to enjoy these things with us!

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[CBsGreenhouseandGarden]

Nice job done on fixing that bed up and putting those peas in. Red okra looked really good. Grapes are doing awesome. Thanks for the update! Hope you have a great weekend!

[deb]

I love green black eyed peas. And the dried.

[JustinR]

Looks great! I'm the only one in my house that'll eat my okra too. Flowering now, so hopefully soon!

[wendysgarden]

Great shirt (the baby blue one)! I too need some okra cooking vids if I'm going to be convinced to grow it next year. :D

[craigjacob]

Gardens looking great. Im thinking of planting some pink eyed purple hulls with some creamers. I love those cooked together.

[Mina-A]

Thanks for the update. Thanks for the recycling tip. Grapes looking great, will plant some next year. Loved your blue Hawaiian shirt.

[buddymc]

You need a broadfork makes breaking beds up easier. Good info. We grow cowpeas, drought tolerant and tasty too.

[KonjikiKonjiki]

Love this video! I will be pulling back this year's summer mulch off my plants once they are done this year, and seeing you do it warmed the cockles of my northern heart. :) My bushy cukes are only getting started, despite my early seed starts. Even so, plenty of powdery mildew to go round up here too.

[Candylandavenue]

Your puppy had me in tears laughing! My dog will do the same exact thing when I water! 😂 Thanks for this video! You just made me realize I have plenty of space that I could plant some more beans!

[Soilfoodwebwarrior]

You are killing it!👍👌. I am a little scared of spider mites, but thermo composting will take care of all of it. I have just ordered 25 pounds of cowpeas from seed exchange 71$. Most of the cost is the shipping.

[jettyeddie_m]

That corn is looking really good sir 👌🤙

[sweetwoodruff]

I need to do this. Thank you for the reminder.

[noodle_soda]

I was wondering how you compost in the winter with no grass

[ambreewilliams]

You should've shown us how you fry okra! That would've been cool 🤠 I have one okra plant producing 3-4 fruits weekly and another one still growing. I really need to plant more cowpeas too. I bought another 24" window box for my patio railing, so I'm going to see if I can get around to planting more tomorrow. 👍🏾👍🏾

[VagabondAnne]

Beautiful Okra, I'm very happy for you. Here in California the summers have been unpredictable, and while this one seems to be playing by the old playbook, I am hedging. I have both cabbage and Okra planted, Burgundy Okra, and about 9 plants have decided they can compete.

[crazyrvlady]

have much peas will you get from your planting?

[PrairiePlantgirl]

I Interested in the trellis system you were using there.

[therusticranchgarden]

oh wow. i will do the same thing - sowing cow peas i go. That okra looks really tasty. i have a lot of the green okra. Do they taste the same? the green and the red? Love you channel. God Bless you. Bertha here in TEXAS

[noodle_soda]

Why can't you be my neighbor so I could bend your ear on everything ?? Hahaha Thank You for teaching me so much ❤

[TheGRUMPSY]

Not to be a newbie, but what are cow peas?