Prefer to filter interactively? Use the plant tool to match plants against your saved zones.
All 34 cover crops in the catalogue, alphabetical by common name. Each links to a full page with its ratings across the USDA, RHS, Canadian and Australian systems.
- Alfalfa (Lucerne) Medicago sativa – Globally important forage legume with a taproot that can reach 15 m. One of the most efficient nitrogen-fixers and a powerful dynamic accumulator from deep soil layers. USDA zones 3–10
- Alsike clover Trifolium hybridum – Short-lived perennial clover bridging white and red — pink-flushed flower heads, similar growth habit. Tolerates wet and acidic soils where other clovers fail. USDA zones 3–8
- Annual ryegrass Lolium multiflorum – Fast-establishing annual grass with a dense fibrous root system. Useful where rapid soil-binding is more important than nitrogen fixation. USDA zones 3–9
- Black medic Medicago lupulina – Low-growing annual or short-lived perennial in the alfalfa genus. Often turns up uninvited in lawns — usefully so, since it tolerates compacted soil and adds nitrogen. USDA zones 3–9
- Broad bean (Fava) Vicia faba – Cool-season legume sown autumn through early spring. Nitrogen-fixing roots make it a useful cover crop and follow-on partner. USDA zones 3–9
- Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum – Fast-growing warm-season grain — flowers six to eight weeks from sowing. Exceptional phosphorus scavenger and an outstanding bee plant during its short flowering window. USDA zones 2–10
- Chicory Cichorium intybus – Versatile perennial used for forced blanched chicons (witloof), open-headed leaves (radicchio), or roasted root coffee substitute. USDA zones 3–9
- Comfrey Symphytum officinale – Coarse-leaved perennial with deep taproot. A workhorse of permaculture gardens for compost activator, mulch, and chop-and-drop fertility. USDA zones 3–9
- Common vetch Vicia sativa – Fast-growing annual legume — the standard small-scale green manure across much of Europe. Autumn-sown in mild climates, spring-sown in cold. USDA zones 3–9
- Cowpea (Black-eyed pea) Vigna unguiculata – African and Asian legume serving simultaneously as warm-season green manure, fast-establishing cover crop, and edible pulse. Drought tolerant once established. USDA zones 3–12
- Crimson clover Trifolium incarnatum – Tall annual clover with deep crimson flower heads — striking enough to be ornamental as well as agricultural. A staple winter cover crop in orchards. USDA zones 5–9
- Daikon radish (Tillage radish) Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus – Long white Asian radish doubling as a "biodriller" cover crop. Roots punch through compacted subsoil up to 60 cm; winter-kills leaving channels for water and root infiltration. USDA zones 2–10
- Dandelion Taraxacum officinale – Familiar lawn weed and traditional liver and kidney tonic. Every part is edible — leaves in salads, roots roasted as coffee substitute, flowers in syrups and wines. USDA zones 2–10
- Desmodium (Tick trefoil) Desmodium spp. – Tropical and subtropical legume genus widely used in cover-crop systems. Best known as the "push" companion in African push-pull pest management for maize. USDA zones 7–11
- Fenugreek Trigonella foenum-graecum – Fast-growing annual legume — Indian culinary herb (methi), a galactagogue medicinal, and an excellent warm-season green manure with a distinctive maple-syrup scent. USDA zones 2–11
- Field pea (Forage pea) Pisum sativum var. arvense – Cool-season cover-crop pea — smaller seed and habit than garden pea (P. sativum), grown for biomass and nitrogen fixation rather than fresh eating. USDA zones 2–9
- Hairy vetch Vicia villosa – Winter-hardy annual or biennial vetch — the cover crop of choice for no-dig systems. When crimped at flowering, creates a dense mulch mat that the next crop is planted directly into. USDA zones 3–9
- Japanese millet Echinochloa esculenta – Fast-growing warm-season annual grass that thrives where most cover crops drown. Tolerates wet, waterlogged, and even briefly flooded soils. USDA zones 3–11
- Lablab bean (Hyacinth bean) Lablab purpureus – Vigorous tropical climbing legume with ornamental purple flowers and pods. Fast-growing summer cover crop and a vegetable in many cuisines, but raw beans are toxic. USDA zones 3–12
- Lupin — Blue (Narrow-leaf) Lupinus angustifolius – Annual lupin grown widely as a grain crop in Western Australia and as a cool-season cover crop elsewhere. Modern "sweet" cultivars are low-alkaloid and edible. USDA zones 3–9
- Lupin — White Lupinus albus – Mediterranean annual lupin grown for centuries as a pulse crop. Seeds are debittered by soaking before being eaten — the basis of Spanish, Italian, and Egyptian street snacks. USDA zones 3–9
- Oats Avena sativa – Cool-season cereal with a useful double life as a cover crop. Winter-killed in cold climates, where the dead biomass becomes natural mulch protecting soil through spring. USDA zones 3–9
- Pea Pisum sativum – Cool-season legume in shelling, mangetout, and snap forms. One of the earliest spring vegetables; declines in heat. USDA zones 2–9
- Phacelia Phacelia tanacetifolia – Fern-leaved Californian native cover crop with curling lavender-blue flower heads — among the highest-nectar plants per unit area of any cover crop. USDA zones 2–10
- Pigeon pea Cajanus cajan – Short-lived shrubby legume — perennial in subtropical climates, grown as an annual elsewhere. Seeds are the basis of Indian dal; deep taproot breaks compacted soil. USDA zones 3–12
- Red clover Trifolium pratense – Pink-purple flowering legume long used as a forage crop, nitrogen-fixing cover crop, and herbal source of phytoestrogenic isoflavones. USDA zones 3–9
- Subterranean clover Trifolium subterraneum – Self-regenerating annual clover with the unusual habit of pushing its own seed underground after flowering. The backbone of southern Australian dryland pasture. USDA zones 7–10
- Sunn hemp Crotalaria juncea – Tropical Asian legume — perennial in true tropics, grown as an annual elsewhere. Reaches 2 m in 60 days, producing extraordinary biomass for nitrogen fixation and mulch. USDA zones 3–12
- Sweet clover — White Melilotus albus – Tall biennial legume with intensely fragrant white flower spikes. A major honey plant and one of the deepest-rooted dynamic accumulators of any cover crop. USDA zones 3–9
- Sweet clover — Yellow Melilotus officinalis – Yellow-flowered counterpart of white sweet clover with similar habits. Historically used as a wound herb in European folk medicine; same intense vanilla-coumarin scent when dried. USDA zones 3–9
- White clover Trifolium repens – The standard low-growing clover of lawns and pastures across temperate regions. Tolerates mowing, fixes nitrogen, and feeds bees — the original "lawn clover" before postwar herbicides erased it. USDA zones 3–10
- White mustard Sinapis alba – Fastest-establishing green manure — germinates in 3–4 days. Glucosinolates released when the green mass is incorporated act as a natural soil biofumigant. USDA zones 2–10
- Winter rye Secale cereale – The hardiest winter cereal — grows when nothing else will. Standard autumn-sown cover crop in cold-climate gardens; exceptional root system improves soil structure. USDA zones 3–9
- Woolly pod vetch Vicia villosa subsp. dasycarpa – Heat-tolerant subspecies of hairy vetch suited to Mediterranean and Australian climates. Same nitrogen-fixing benefits with better summer survival. USDA zones 5–10