Market Garden Multi-Species Cover Cropping
We’re diving into the fascinating world of cover crops — with a fresh perspective inspired by two incredible books:
📘 Custodians of the Grasslands by Colin Seis
Both authors share the journey of rejuvenating worn-out farmland using cover crops and grazing animals.
Colin, a legendary sheep farmer, has seamlessly integrated livestock with multi-species cropping — a system that’s proving relevant for market gardeners like us.
So, what can we learn from graziers? A lot. We’re all working with sunshine, photosynthesis, and root exudates pumping sugars and fats into the soil. These farmers’ stories offer deep insights into soil health, biology, and long-term resilience.
Cropping at Roebuck Farm: As we transition from summer to winter, we’re switching our outdoor beds from summer cover crops to winter species, and trialing lots of experiments along the way. We’ve now got 25 years of cover cropping under our belt. With more production moving indoors, we’re refining how we sow, terminate and re-seed beds. Tools like the Five Row Jang seeder and Tilther are key to our no-till methods.
Single vs. Multi-Species Trials: This summer, we ran some beautiful single-species Buckwheat but it reminded us of the challenges: strong fibrous roots make it hard to re-drill into. After some friendly feedback (thanks Jules Matthews!), we trialed Buckwheat with Daikon Radish.
The result? Incredible: The Buckwheat flowered and covered the soil. As it finished, the Daikon rose up, head-high and flowering, breaking through the surface. This process helped terminate the Buckwheat so we could easily re-seed the same-day without broadforking — just Tilther, then Jang seeder.
Winter Mixes & Tools: This season we’re using: Field peas, Phacelia Tick beans (a dwarf fava type), Four grains in three hoppers, Nitrogen fixers in the other two hoppers. We’re seeing increased diversity, better soil protection, and fascinating interactions between plant families. For example, from one 14m bed of Daikon, we’re harvesting around 9m² of plant biomass — rich material for compost.
Recommended Podcast: 🎧 Quorum Sense. Especially the Jamie Elizondo interview — a goldmine of ideas on what happens when you let your crops go to maturity and the role of lignans, waxes, and long-term carbon
Ongoing Experiments: We continue exploring: Double seeding (large seeds, then small) Changing Jang rollers for better seed distribution, Maximizing diversity in species, root structures, and seed sizes
🙌 Stay Connected: Explore more at roebuckfarm.com: Podcasts, Events, Resources and our favourite winter reads
Let’s keep learning from nature, grazers, and one another. 🌍🌾
