cover crops Archives - Wine Country Getaways

Cover Crop Life Begins in the Vineyards

Our Wine Country Photo of the Day is a beautiful shot of a cover crop just beginning to take hold. This picture is a St. Helena AVA vineyard in the Napa Valley. A cover crop serves many purposes for a vineyard. The vineyard manager or grower select the types of cover crops to grow. Some cover crops are volunteers like wild mustard. Cover crops add to the beauty and elegance of a vineyard in the late Fall and Winter months. It is yet another good reason to travel to the wine country.

Cover crops grow beautifully between the vines in the Napa Valley

Cover crops in the vineyards

It is cover crop time in the wine country. During the late Fall and into the Winter, the vines drop their leaves and the rain falls. Now is the time to observe the variety of cover crops growing between the vines in vineyards throughout California’s wine regions. What are cover crops in the vineyards and why are they used? Cover crops are planted for a variety of reasons, but essentially these cover crops help replenish the soil depleted during the growing season. It is an alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers. Using certain cover crop plants increases the carbon and nitrogen in the soils. In the Napa Valley and Sonoma wine country, the mustard plant with its bright yellow flowers can be seen in many vineyards. The colors are spectacular. The mustard plant inhibits the presence of soil-borne pests. Cover crops also help offset erosion on hillside vineyards. After the vineyards are pruned and shortly before “Bud Break,” the cover plants will be plowed into the soil. This occurs in early March. When you tour a wine country in the winter months, it is easy to observe which vineyards practice organic or sustainable farming by the use of cover crops. If you don’t see any thick rows of cover crops, it is likely the vineyard manager or grower is using chemical fertilizers.