Cover crops & hedges
The living biodiversity that gives the farm organism its body.
Diverse ground cover, hedges and flower strips are the visible face of the farm organism. They give habitat to beneficials and pollinators, protect and feed the soil, and meet Demeter’s biodiversity quotas.
They share much with regenerative viticulture, but in biodynamics they integrate into the farm-organism concept and the work with the preparations and the calendar. They are managed as part of a living system, not as an isolated input.
Effort
Medium — establishment and seasonal management.
Cost
Low to medium — seed and plants.
Time to result
1–4 seasons for habitat to mature.
What it advances
Contribution by goal — click through for detail and metrics.
They are the living ecological infrastructure that gives body to the farm’s biodiversity and meets Demeter quotas.
The cover protects and feeds the soil with living roots and biomass, reinforcing its vitality.
Ecological infrastructure is a measurable Demeter requirement and must be documented.
The diversity and beneficials the habitat sustains help regulate pests and balance the vine.
How it works
Living cover and perennial habitat sustain beneficials, pollinators and soil life, giving body to the farm’s biodiversity.
How to apply
- 1Sow a diverse cover in the inter-row.
- 2Plant hedges and flower strips on the margins.
- 3Manage as part of the organism, in the calendar’s rhythm.
- 4Log the ecological-infrastructure area.
What to measure
Frequently asked
Is it different from cover in regenerative viticulture?
The practices are similar; in biodynamics they integrate into the farm-organism concept and the work with preparations and calendar, and count toward Demeter quotas.
How much area for biodiversity?
Demeter sets a minimum quota; margins, hedges and diverse cover are the practical way to meet it.
Related reading
Related practices
How GrapeFlow helps
Plan and document this practice by plot, with an audit-ready history for Demeter certification.
Biodiversity & ecological infrastructure
Hedges, strips and cover logged as ecological infrastructure, to meet and document biodiversity quotas.
Electronic field notebook
All operations — compost, cover, animals, dynamisation — logged by plot, ready for certification.
Biodynamic calendar
Root, leaf, flower and fruit days and the lunar phases in GrapeFlow, to plan preparation applications and work in step with the calendar.