When cover crops are returned to the soil, they supply plant nutrients and organic matter. Choosing a Cover Crop Table 1 lists benefits provided by cover crops. No one cover crop provides all of these benefits. Different cover crops offer different benefits and disadvantages. Deciding which cover crop or combination of cover crops to grow depends on which benefits are most important to you, and which cover crops best fit into your garden management.
Cereal grains grow vigorously and can provide quick ground cover even when the weather is cool.
They yield large amounts of biomass when planted and harvested at the proper times. Legumes are generally slower growing than cereal grains in cool weather, but grow rapidly when the weather is warm. They can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, increasing the amount of soil nitrogen available for the next crop. Buckwheat is a frost-sensitive broadleaf that is easy to grow in warm weather and is well suited as a summer cover crop. Cover crops within each family are described below.