We really don't like to see the ground bare of vegetation - leaving the dirt exposed after we harvest our edamame leads to erosion from the effects of wind and rain - not to mention snow melt. So we use an old, reliable method of building up the soil: cover crops. 

  A cover crop is just any crop that is planted so it grows quickly and can be turned back in to the soil. We don't harvest anything from the cover crops - we use them as preventions to erosion and soil builders. Farmers in different areas use different cover crops, and the selection of a particular cover depends on your needs. For our edamame fields, we like to use oats. 

  After we harvest our Ohio edamame, the field has nothing but the stems, leaves and roots of the edamame. We try to leave as much of this vegetable matter in the field as possible - it is important to build the soil through the composting effect of this plant material! Not so incidentally, the way we harvest our beans is valuable to the soil as well… we leave the roots in place and that creates two significant benefits. First, the root mass helps hold the soil together, and as it rots in place, it creates valuable pathways for water and air to work in to the soil. Second, the roots of soybeans have a lot of stored nitrogen in them, so we use the natural nitrogen fixation of the soybean to replenish the soil.

  But even leaving the soy plant in the field is not enough. So we mow down the stalks (they are surprisingly tough and don't rot well unless we chop them!) and then plant oats. We can plant oats quickly and cheaply - by spreading them we cover a lot of acres with a minimum of time and diesel fuel. The oats sprout quickly and grow well in the fall weather. We begin planting oats in August and September, and by late October some of the fields are a lush lawn of oats, about knee high. Some of the plantings only get a few inches tall before the first snow, but even this short crop is important. All of the edamame fields are blanketed in a rich green cover crop before the first snowflake flies. 

  By design, the oats die in the winter. The snow and cold kill the plants, but the solid matt of dead oats is just what we want. It holds the surface of the soil down and by the time spring rolls around, the fields are smooth and ready to plant. Our planter runs right over the matt of dead oat cover, and the dead oats decompose over the spring and summer to enrich the soil. All of the nutrients they captures from the air and sun during the fall growing season - these are all released back in to the ground. 

  Edamame comes and goes quickly in our fields, but we manage our soil all year long. Keeping erosion to a minimum, building organic matter, and improving the tilth of the soil… thats what our cover crops do for us!