Planning path

Cover Crop Garden Planner

Plan home-garden cover crops from soil cover goals, planting windows, fall timing, winter-kill behavior, termination method, crop-family rotation, and source-backed cover crop candidates.

Current cover-crop reset

4-stage cover-crop bed reset

Treat open soil as a scheduled crop: seed living cover from Mar 18 to Sep 3, then manage the stand by Mar 2 before the next vegetable, herb, flower, or native planting.

  1. Spring N mat Berseem Clover Cover Crop · legume nitrogen strip · sow Mar 18 · manage May 17 · Legume
  2. Summer smother Buckwheat Cover Crop · fast weed shade and bee bloom · sow May 6 · manage Jun 10 · Buckwheat
  3. Fall breaker Oilseed Radish Cover Crop · winter-killed taproot and residue · sow Aug 27 · manage Oct 26 · Mustard
  4. Winter armor Winter Rye Cover Crop · overwinter erosion cover · sow Sep 3 · manage Mar 2 · Grass
Cover crop picks
11 crops
Fall windows
10 crops
Direct sow
11 crops
Families
4 groups

Cover crop planning checks

Pick the cover crop job first
Choose whether the bed needs erosion control, weed suppression, nitrogen fixation, nutrient scavenging, organic matter, pollinator bloom, or a simple green manure before picking a species.
Match species to the planting window
Use spring, summer, late-summer, fall, and overwintering windows differently; early-harvested beds give cover crops more time to establish before cold weather.
Plan termination before sowing
Decide how and when the cover crop will be killed before planting the next crop, and allow enough time for residues to break down so they do not compete with seedlings.
Use winter-killed covers when tillage is limited
Choose oats, peas, radish, buckwheat, or similar winter-killed covers when the spring bed needs low-disturbance residue rather than a living stand to manage.
Separate pest families from the next crop
Use plant family and rotation context so brassica, legume, grass, and buckwheat covers do not accidentally host the same pests or diseases as the next cash crop.
Seed thick enough for soil cover
Prepare a clean seedbed, broadcast evenly, rake lightly for seed-to-soil contact, and irrigate if needed so the cover crop actually covers soil before weeds do.

Regional cover crop checks

Pair cover crop choices with regional spring, summer, fall, overwintering, frost, soil-temperature, and bed-reset checks

Cover crop seed candidates

Supporting planning paths

Source basis