Beckmen Cover Crop

Every win­ter at Beck­men Vine­yards, after the last fruit has been pressed and the bar­rels are rest­ing in the cel­lar, we turn our atten­tion back to the soil. Between each row of vines, we plant a bio­di­verse mix of seeds — our cov­er crop—to nour­ish the earth that sus­tains every vintage.

This tra­di­tion is at the heart of our bio­dy­nam­ic farm­ing prac­tices. The cov­er crop helps rebuild soil health, pre­vent ero­sion, attract ben­e­fi­cial insects and fix nitro­gen nat­u­ral­ly into the soil. It’s one of the many small, mind­ful steps that help us make wines of puri­ty, bal­ance and a true sense of place.

Why It Matters

Healthy soil is the foun­da­tion of every great wine. Our bio­dy­nam­ic phi­los­o­phy treats the vine­yard as a liv­ing ecosys­tem — one where plants, ani­mals, soil and peo­ple all work togeth­er. The cov­er crop restores what the pre­vi­ous vin­tage drew from the earth, cre­at­ing a nat­ur­al cycle of regeneration.

You too can nour­ish your gar­dens and pot­ted plants using cov­er crop. By plant­i­ng these seeds at home, you’re doing the same on a small scale: return­ing nutri­ents to the soil, improv­ing its struc­ture and cre­at­ing a habi­tat for life below the surface.

How to Plant Cover Crop

You don’t need a vine­yard to make a dif­fer­ence — just a pot or a small patch of tired soil.

• Pre­pare the spot – Choose a small area of deplet­ed soil or an old pot. Loosen the sur­face and plant the seeds about 1 inch deep.
• Water – Keep the soil slight­ly moist or let nature help with win­ter or spring rains.
• Grow – At the vine­yard, our cov­er crop grows through win­ter, but in snowy cli­mates, spring plant­i­ng works best.
• Nour­ish the soil – When the plants reach mid-flow­er­ing, cut them down into small pieces. Allow them to dry slight­ly, then mix them back into the soil.
• Plant anew – Once the green mat­ter has decom­posed, your soil will be rich and ready for new life. Try flow­ers, herbs or a few toma­to plants.

A Living Connection

Our wines begin with healthy soil, and that soil begins with care. As you plant your cov­er crop, you’re join­ing us in a prac­tice that has nour­ished our vine­yards for gen­er­a­tions. It’s a reminder that great things — whether wines, gar­dens or com­mu­ni­ties — take root from the ground up.

From our roots to yours, thank you for help­ing the soil thrive.