Stop throwing money at soil problems that fix themselves for free. Healthy soil does not demand expensive inputs, complicated routines, or endless hours of work. It thrives when it gets the right kind ...

No matter the type of farm, there’s an advantage to planting soil-feeding cover crops ahead of fall and winter. The assistance provided depends on the crops you plant. But there is definitely one out ...

Cover cropping involves growing various plant varieties between cash crop rotations to ensure continuous soil coverage. This practice improves soil water infiltration, builds soil organic matter, ...

Establishing winter cover crops after or between harvests can be a great way to preserve soil structure, protect against erosion and produce biomass that feeds the soil ecology. However, if you’re in ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – No one wants to think of harvest’s end as the vegetable garden reaches peak, but now’s the time to plant over-winter cover crops to improve your soil for next season. If you’re not ...

Maybe after you finish your vegetable harvest, you mentally say, “I’m done this year,” and wait to start again next year. But a cover crop could benefit you in several ways. By researching now, you ...

Planting ground cover in fields between cash crop growing seasons is an effective way to prevent farmland from losing soil carbon from erosion, a factor that's underestimated in considering the carbon ...

For one it was conservation remedies. For another it was breaking up compaction and saving the soil. For another, it was one more crop to diversify the operation. While the last one sells cover crop ...

Winter can be brutal on your garden soil. What was once rich, lively earth can turn into a hard, lifeless slab by the time spring arrives. But there’s hope—and it comes in the form of a cover crop ...

One of the tasks you can complete before spring is planting cover crops. February is a perfect time to broadcast some seeds and coat the ground with plants that benefit the soil in the long run. The ...

A field planted with cereal rye, one of the most common cover crops in Iowa. Photo by Ally Larson/Iowa State University. AMES, Iowa – Planting ground cover in fields between cash crop growing seasons ...