Interseeding Vegetables @EricNordell-ld6wp

Eric Nordell This video illustrates our single-row interseeding system for minimizing erosion in organic vegetable production.

Farm Overview and Interseeding History:

Beech Grove Farm is located in the mountains of north-central Pennsylvania at an elevation of 1600’ (485 meters). Since we began growing vegetables at this site in 1983, our plant hardiness zone has warmed from 4b to 5b. Average annual precipitation is 40” (102 cm), with monthly rainfall ranging from .7 to 11.3 inches (1.8 - 28.7 cm) in recent years.

Due to our relatively short and cool growing season, we specialize in root vegetables and leafy greens sold at a weekly farmers market and to several restaurants. Unlike many small-scale, direct market operations, we use land extensive practices, setting aside half of the market garden for cover cropping each year and planting all of our vegetables in widely spaced, single rows.

We divided the six acres (2.43 hectares) of field cultivation into twelve roughly half-acre (.2 hectare) fields, with half of the fields devoted to cover crops. The cover crops maintain the tilth and structure of our Leck Kill silt-loam (Class II) soil, and, when incorporated shallowly into the soil surface, retain soil moisture for growing vegetables without irrigation. At the same time, bare fallow periods between cover crops have reduced the weed seed bank in the soil, eliminating weed competition with the vegetables.

Managing the cover crops and bare fallow periods also provides more employment for our work horses, who perform all of the fieldwork on our farm. Their composted manure, amended with rock minerals, is our primary fertility input.

Laying out the vegetable fields in low, single-row beds on 34” (82 cm) centers has made it possible to cultivate the crops with vintage, horsedrawn equipment. The defined paths also provide a guidance system for the team and teamster when planting and cultivating. In addition, the widely spaced rows insure a large reservoir of soil moisture for the plants, increase air circulation, and, in some instances, facilitate harvest.

The low beds prevent the crops from drowning during heavy downpours and extended periods of wet weather. However, the depressed paths are vulnerable to erosion. Due to the rolling, dome-like shape of our hilltop site, at least part of the rows, in most of our fields, run up and down the slope.

To minimize erosion, we began experimenting with living mulches in the 1980’s. Overseeding the vegetables with cover crops provided excellent erosion control, but resulted in too much moisture and nutrient competition with the vegetables. Mowing the living mulches was also time consuming and our customers did not appreciate finding sprouted cover crop seed in their lettuce.

Planting a single-row cover crop in the middle of the pathways eliminated these problems. Depending on the crop and the time of year, interseeding two to six weeks after planting the vegetables prevented competition for nutrient or moisture. Interseeding at this time coincided with the last (and often the only) cultivation, making it relatively easy to push a walk-behind seeder down the freshly loosened pathways.

We usually form the vegetable beds several weeks before planting the crops in order to restore surface moisture for crop establishment. The trade-off is forming the beds well ahead of planting leaves the pathways exposed to erosion for a long period of time before they are interseeded. We are now experimenting with seeding the pathways with a single row of rye as soon as the beds are formed.

So far, this practice has improved soil conservation without negatively affecting vegetable production. As for weed management, we often need to renovate the bed tops before planting to loosen the soil and conserve moisture, killing small weeds in the process.

We also cultivate the vegetables as needed, using a pair of low profile, 12” (30 cm) peanut sweeps, set flat, to shallowly uproot weeds without throwing soil into the vegetables or cover crop. If weed pressure was higher, adding in-row cultivating attachments for both the vegetables and living mulch would be desirable.

The Weed The Soil, Not The Crop slide presentation (youtu.be/vBI3QZqVz1E?si=MRK52xY-HIpDv5P0) describes the proactive practices we have used to reduce weed pressure. It also shows how we manage a single-row interseeding of hairy vetch, our go-to living mulch for many years.

Interseeded vetch can produce a lot of high-nitrogen biomass the following year, as described in Know-Till and Vetch (covercropsincorporated.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/know-till-and-vetch/). However, for a diverse planting of vegetables cereal rye is easier to manage because this winter grain remains small when planted in warm weather.

updated 1 year ago

Interseeding Vegetables

Eric Nordell 2025-06-15 | This video illustrates our single-row interseeding system for minimizing erosion in organic vegetable production.

Farm Overview and Interseeding History:

Beech Grove Farm is located in the mountains of north-central Pennsylvania at an elevation of 1600’ (485 meters). Since we began growing vegetables at this site in 1983, our plant hardiness zone has warmed from 4b to 5b. Average annual precipitation is 40” (102 cm), with monthly rainfall ranging from .7 to 11.3 inches (1.8 - 28.7 cm) in recent years.

Due to our relatively short and cool growing season, we specialize in root vegetables and leafy greens sold at a weekly farmers market and to several restaurants. Unlike many small-scale, direct market operations, we use land extensive practices, setting aside half of the market garden for cover cropping each year and planting all of our vegetables in widely spaced, single rows.

We divided the six acres (2.43 hectares) of field cultivation into twelve roughly half-acre (.2 hectare) fields, with half of the fields devoted to cover crops. The cover crops maintain the tilth and structure of our Leck Kill silt-loam (Class II) soil, and, when incorporated shallowly into the soil surface, retain soil moisture for growing vegetables without irrigation. At the same time, bare fallow periods between cover crops have reduced the weed seed bank in the soil, eliminating weed competition with the vegetables.

Managing the cover crops and bare fallow periods also provides more employment for our work horses, who perform all of the fieldwork on our farm. Their composted manure, amended with rock minerals, is our primary fertility input.

Laying out the vegetable fields in low, single-row beds on 34” (82 cm) centers has made it possible to cultivate the crops with vintage, horsedrawn equipment. The defined paths also provide a guidance system for the team and teamster when planting and cultivating. In addition, the widely spaced rows insure a large reservoir of soil moisture for the plants, increase air circulation, and, in some instances, facilitate harvest.

The low beds prevent the crops from drowning during heavy downpours and extended periods of wet weather. However, the depressed paths are vulnerable to erosion. Due to the rolling, dome-like shape of our hilltop site, at least part of the rows, in most of our fields, run up and down the slope.

To minimize erosion, we began experimenting with living mulches in the 1980’s. Overseeding the vegetables with cover crops provided excellent erosion control, but resulted in too much moisture and nutrient competition with the vegetables. Mowing the living mulches was also time consuming and our customers did not appreciate finding sprouted cover crop seed in their lettuce.

Planting a single-row cover crop in the middle of the pathways eliminated these problems. Depending on the crop and the time of year, interseeding two to six weeks after planting the vegetables prevented competition for nutrient or moisture. Interseeding at this time coincided with the last (and often the only) cultivation, making it relatively easy to push a walk-behind seeder down the freshly loosened pathways.

We usually form the vegetable beds several weeks before planting the crops in order to restore surface moisture for crop establishment. The trade-off is forming the beds well ahead of planting leaves the pathways exposed to erosion for a long period of time before they are interseeded. We are now experimenting with seeding the pathways with a single row of rye as soon as the beds are formed.

So far, this practice has improved soil conservation without negatively affecting vegetable production. As for weed management, we often need to renovate the bed tops before planting to loosen the soil and conserve moisture, killing small weeds in the process.

We also cultivate the vegetables as needed, using a pair of low profile, 12” (30 cm) peanut sweeps, set flat, to shallowly uproot weeds without throwing soil into the vegetables or cover crop. If weed pressure was higher, adding in-row cultivating attachments for both the vegetables and living mulch would be desirable.

The Weed The Soil, Not The Crop slide presentation (youtu.be/vBI3QZqVz1E?si=MRK52xY-HIpDv5P0) describes the proactive practices we have used to reduce weed pressure. It also shows how we manage a single-row interseeding of hairy vetch, our go-to living mulch for many years.

Interseeded vetch can produce a lot of high-nitrogen biomass the following year, as described in Know-Till and Vetch (covercropsincorporated.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/know-till-and-vetch/). However, for a diverse planting of vegetables cereal rye is easier to manage because this winter grain remains small when planted in warm weather.

Weed the Soil, Not the Crop

Eric Nordell 2024-12-22 | In this slide presentation at the 2007 Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, the Nordells describe their holistic plan for weed management, rotational cover cropping, and the alternative tillage techniques they use with their work horses. More details can be found in their booklet, Weed The Soil, Not The Crop — A Whole Farm Approach to Weed Management. Link to pdf file: covercropsincorporated.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/weed-the-soil-booklet.pdf

Organic No-Till Garlic

Eric Nordell 2023-03-25 | Anne and Eric Nordell have been planting garlic directly into a cover crop of oats for over 25 years. Their no-till system provides consistent yields of large bulbs without irrigation.

The video covers their low-tech approach to planting green, cut-and-carry cover crop mulching, rapid bulb curing, and fallow year weed management. More details can be found in the Nordells’ article about “No-Till Garlic” posted at Cover Crops Incorporated.

covercropsincorporated.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/no-till-garlic

Anne and Eric used their 2022 crop to illustrate five different metrics for estimating profitability. “The Economics of No-Till Garlic” can be downloaded for free from Growing For Market.

growingformarket.com/articles/the-economics-notill-garlic-beech-grove-farm-case-study