Cover crops help make soils healthy

The impacts of climate change can be a headache for home gardeners. Heavy storms can flood beds and drown seedlings, and hot, dry spells can leave soil parched and cracked.

But Lee Rinehart’s garden fares better than most. That’s because as summer fades to fall, when many people abandon their gardens until spring, he plants cover crops.

Rinehart, a sustainable agriculture specialist in Pennsylvania, says cover crops are not grown to be harvested but to build healthy, nutrient-rich soil.

Rinehart: “That really good, rich, tilth, earthy soil feel and smell that we know.”

He plants winter rye, red clover, and hairy vetch – a vining plant with pink or purple flowers.

As the plants grow throughout the winter, their roots help stabilize and aerate the soil.

Then in the spring, Rinehart cuts the plants and tills them into the top layer of his beds, where they add nutrients to the soil as they break down.

All this helps create loose, rich soil that can absorb more water during storms.

Rinehart: “I really don’t have puddling.”

And during periods of drought, healthy soil does not dry out as fast.

So planting cover crops can help gardeners prepare their gardens for success, even in a changing climate.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media / Thanks to PASA Sustainable Agriculture for logistical support.