When summer is nearing its end and your garden crops are petering out, seize a golden opportunity by planting this powerhouse 5-way exclusive cover crop mix! Contains barley, oats, peas, bell beans and berseem clover. Thanks to Daniel Mays, author of The No-Till Organic Vegetable Farm, for sharing his trusty winterkill cover crop recipe with us.
This mix is perfect for no-till growers and gardeners who work with hand tools only. The species diversity offers many benefits to your soil, including massive organic matter production, nitrogen fixation, nutrient scavenging, erosion control, and multi-season weed suppression. Agronomists strongly recommend that garden soil be kept covered with plant residue or mulch throughout winter to best preserve fertility, texture and biology. Sow in late summer and next spring your soil will be nicely protected by a mat of dead dry plant matter, which will prevent weeds and buy you time as you get ready for planting. Consider transplanting your seedlings right through the ready-made mulch, or rake it into your paths. For maximum growth and soil-building, we recommend treating this seed mix with Myco Seed Treat and Field Pea Inoculant (to ensure freshness, seed treatments are sold separately).
Optimal seeding time for Zones 5/6 is early September, but it can be seeded as early as the beginning of August. Late September seeding can be done, but you will get suboptimal growth. Seed at a rate of 150–200#/acre, or 5#/1000 sq ft. Almost always winterkills in Zones 6 and colder. Winter 2025-2026 saw heavy snow accumulation, so some oats and clover survived protected.
Supplier Transparency:
① Small seed farmers including Fedco staff
② Family-owned companies or cooperatives, domestic and foreign