Bet you didn’t know Suter’s Produce grows radishes and peas.

They do, but they aren’t for sale. They are for cover.

The next time you visit the cider press or corn maze check out the 40-acre field on the south side of Road R.

“The radishes and peas are a cover crop. They will be there until we plant our no- till sweet corn next spring,” Jerry Suter said.

Suter’s have used the radish-pea cover crop combination for the past four years. 

“The cover crop builds organic matter. It’s like living mulch,” said Suter. “It’s good for the soil and good for the earth worms. And, we all need earth worms, don’t we?”

Thanks to this cover crop the soil will be “mellow,” said Nancy Suter.

Explaining further, Jerry Suter said that peas are a legume, making them a perfect cover crop. That’s because they take nitrogen from the air and put it in the root nodules in the soil, thus helping to build organic material in the soil.

Other cover crops Icon viewers might see in area fields include clover and rye. Those are also lugumes.

The specific cover crops in the 40-acre Suter field are Daikon radishes and Austrian winter peas. Check out the three signs is the field, photographed below. They read: “Living cover crops – for soil health – covers and protects soil – food for living soil organisms – sweet corn loves it!”