Cover Crops for Urban Farms

January 9, 2020

MSU Extension Educator, Abby Harper, shares information on integrating cover crops into urban farms and gardens. Urban soils can be heavily degraded when top-soil is removed for construction. Sites that previously hosted buildings also have heavily compacted soils. Compacted soil makes it difficult for crop roots to penetrate and access water and nutrients, and also limit water penetration and cause flooding or standing water Cover crops can also help address non soil-specific problems, such as creating forage for pollinators, reducing weed pressure, and preventing soil and nutrients from running off into waterways.