A Crimson Clover Cover Crop
Sometimes when I’m out in my garden I pick up a handful of soil and smell it.
I know. It’s a totally weird thing to do. But I love my soil and I’ve vowed to take better care of it. To start things off, I planted a cover crop of crimson clover a few weeks ago. I chose crimson clover for several reasons:
a. It germinates well in cool weather. An important quality since I didn’t get my act together until pretty late in the season.
b. Clover belongs to the legume family. Legumes, including peas and beans, have a special, symbiotic relationship with rhizobium bacteria. The bacteria act like little nitrogen factories for legumes. They form nodes on the plants’ roots and convert nitrogen from the air into a form that the plants can use. In return, the clover provides the bacteria carbohydrates and minerals and you end up with soil that contains more nitrogen–no fertilizer required!
c. Crimson clover produces lovely red blossoms in early spring and they are an important nectar source for native bees and other beneficial insects that emerge while the weather is still cool and flowers are scarce.
d. It also crowds out weeds during the winter and may even help suppress weeds after it has been turned under in spring. A study at the University of Maine found that turning fresh crimson clover into the soil reduced the emergence of lambsquarters (a problem weed in my garden) by 27%.
e. Crimson clover is easy to kill–and you need to kill it before you plant vegetables. Some clovers, especially Dutch white clover, grow a little too well and can be difficult to get rid of come spring. With crimson clover, all you have to do is cut back the top growth, flip the stubble under and then let it decompose for 2 to 3 weeks before planting. My colleagues over at Organic Gardening have been planting cover crops, including crimson clover, in the test garden for several years now and the soil is downright enviable (you can check out more about what cover crops they use here).
Crimson Clover Seedlings
I’ll report back in spring on how the clover does. In the meantime, you should check out the Natural Resources Conservation Services web page that is devoted entirely to quotes about soil. It’s awesome. Here are a few gems:
“How can I stand on the ground every day and not feel its power? How can I live my life stepping on this stuff and not wonder at it?” – William Bryant Logan from Dirt-The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth
… the soil of any one place makes its own peculiar and inevitable sense. It is impossible to contemplate the life of the soil for very long without seeing it as analogous to the life of the spirit.” – Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977
“The nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
I planted crimson clover in my yard last fall. It grew beautifully, I really enjoyed their red flowers in spring (about 8′x3′ area).
However, I found it’s hard to mix them into soil. Wasn’t too easy to flip them around due to healthy root system under soil. I’m looking forward to see what you will do next spring/summer.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:33 pmI always enjoy seeing your photos, but that top one is just really, really lovely to me.
I wish I had gotten my own act together and tried this myself when it was warmer. Next year, perhaps.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:13 amWhen I lived in Virginia, one of my CSAs actually picked their lambsquarters and distributed it along with salad greens. It’s actually quite tasty. However, I think I’d rather have flowers in the spring than a stringy weed to eat.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:18 amGreat post!
Is it too late to still plant it in the Pac NW? I made the mistake of planting some a little earlier this fall that is in an unfenced area and I think the deer got to it! It’s still trying to grow though! Thanks for the great info, as usual!
December 10th, 2008 at 10:05 amC–Glad to hear you liked the clover last spring. I’ve had good luck in the past scalping it with a weed trimmer and then cutting cookie sheet size rectangles out with a sharp spade and flipping them over. Did you maybe grow red clover? I hear it has a pretty hefty root system.
Laura–Thanks for your nice comment on my photo. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who thinks soil is lovely!
Austin–how cool you got weeds in your CSA! I actually don’t mind eating lambsquarters in moderation. It look really lovely paired up with arugula and spinach. I’ve also been eating purslane, which grows abundantly in my garden!
LadyJayPee–I think it’s getting a little late for planting in the PNW, as its getting to the time of year when the soil periodically freezes. My first crop of clover was eaten too by my chickens!!
December 10th, 2008 at 4:44 pmhowdy fellow gardenhead!
December 13th, 2008 at 12:23 pmi love your blog, love eating, and love growing my own.
i’ve been writing a zine for years, but yours and a few other blogs inspired me to get virtual. thought you might consider reading and plugging me…
http://subsistresist.wordpress.com/
thanks!
-CJ
This is our first year gardening, and we tried both crimson clover and fava beans. How does it fare in the snow? Currently our garden is covered with snow, but I think the plants are old enough to survive now.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pmMy garden has a nice blanket of snow on it, too. So pretty! Crimson clover typically survives snow just fine!
December 15th, 2008 at 10:43 pmI live in Western North Carolina and would like to plant a winter cover crop. Is there an online site where I may purchase Crimson Clover cover crop seeds?
August 27th, 2009 at 8:00 amHi, Judy–You’ll love crimson clover! Johnny’s Select Seeds, Fedco Seeds, and Territorial Seed Company all sell crimson clover. Just look online, and if you can, buy clover seed that is already inoculated with rhizobium bacteria. Good luck!
August 27th, 2009 at 8:41 am