Harvest Season is Over: What Are You Going To Plant Now?

For many farmers, harvest season is, no doubt, the busiest time of the year. After months of tireless work, crops have finally been harvested, and now it's time to start preparing for next year. You may use this downtime to analyze data, repair damaged equipment, review financial planning, and tend to winter crops. 

Winter crops are a great way to restore your soil's health before the upcoming planting season and protect your land against harsh winter conditions.

Planting cover crops after harvest season 

Planting the right cover crop is a proven way to protect your land as well as prepare for upcoming cash crops. Cover crops help to retain soil nutrients, and can even enable the soil to release essential nutrients as well as prevent weeds in future crops. Another benefit is erosion control, protecting soil from wind, rain, and other cold weather conditions. 

Create a planting timeline 

In most cases, farmers will plant cover crops immediately after harvest is complete. Planning your crop rotation ensures that you don't interfere with your main crop’s growing season. To manage your growing seasons efficiently, we recommend keeping detailed tracking of your cover crop lifespans in a planting timeline. 

Creating a planting timeline allows different types of cover crops to provide unique benefits to your land and helps to avoid planting the same type of cover crop family (legumes, grasses, grains, etc.) back to back. Cover crop rotation allows for different plants to do their job and provide the minerals your soil craves. For example, if you plant legumes in the spring, you wouldn't want to plant legumes in that space again in the fall. 

With its drought tolerance and extensive root systems, this cover crop is ideal for reclamation and erosion control.

This winter-active legume is great for improving soils before the upcoming planting season.

Explore more of our high-quality winter cover crops!

Find the right cover crops for your soil 

Selecting the right cover crop for your land is essential to getting the most out of your seed investment; however, it's often easier said than done. At Curtis and Curtis Seed, we're passionate about helping you make a confident seed purchase for your farm. From helpful product descriptions to our online seed finder tool to expert consulting, we're always here to offer a word of wisdom. 

Each product that earns the Curtis and Curtis name has passed our rigorous multi-point inspection to ensure you're planting the best of the best. To find the right seed for your land, visit our product page to browse our wide range of the highest quality seed!