Allen 11: white clover is a good one for colder climates. Just chop it up and mix it with the topsoil before you want to plant. Ideally you would need to do this 30 days before planting so its propensity to kill off other plants would be dissipated. A beter idea yet is to plant cereal rye at the end of November and turn it under 30 days before planting in the spring. But you should only follow rye with large-seeded crops like peas or beans, or with well-established transplants like tomatoes -- because they are able to withstand rye's strong kill-competitors feature. Regards, Peter.

What you want now is a cover crop that will grow some in cool weather, stay in place over the winter and grow a bit more next spring, something that will help hold your soil in place during the winter. That means knowing a bit about which cover crops will do that. Oats are seeded in the spring to grow during the summer, they need warm weather and are killed by frost. Buckwheat is the same. Wheat maybe, depending on which wheat seed you get. Many of the wheats have been genetically modified and may not be something you would want, and that seed is fairly expensive which is why that is seldom listed on Cover Crop lists. Most clovers prefer to be spring seeded so the have time to get established before winter sets in. Fava beans, and Austrian Peas, like to grow in cooler weather, but are killed by really cold weather so only dead plants would be left on the soil during the winter. Winter, Field, Cereal Rye, "Secale cereale", is one grain that germinates well in cooler soils, grows 4 to 6 inches tall, and then stops growing until the soil warms up. This helps hold your soil in place if snow cover is insufficient to keep surface soil from blowing, eroding, away. This is one of the few grains, or cover crops, that will stay alive, along with Winter Wheat, and will actually provide cover, the reason you plant a cover crop, for your soil.

call your county extension office.. or the county soil conservation office.. and ask for precise times ... the soil cons district offers cheap plants for sale.. and delivers them at the right time for planting ... so if you can find out that date you should be all set ... i will invert daves logic.. and start with buds ... that is what is important to me. ... fully dormant plants ... can PROBABLY be planted immediately .. dormant is dormant... and the difference between z7/8 and z7 .. should be negligible ... the whole point of the temp controlled truck .. should be ... to deliver them fully dormant ... that is why big brown trucks can hurt delivery as they can get warm and trigger budding ... dormant buds are tight and small ... once they start enlarging.. softening.. and extending.. is when late frost or freeze can cause harm ... they would probably do just fine in your garage for 2 to 4 weeks .... i would NOT leave them in the sun .. and i would leave the door open all day.. so as to not allow heat to build up and warm the soil balls too fast .. NEVER leave a black pot in the sun ... we do not want the soil to heat ... and thaw the roots ... while the rest of the plant remains dormant ... whether or not you plant ...on your days off ... is not the issue.. you can still dig all the holes ... and prep the site.. so that when the proper time rolls around the job will be much easier and faster ... you would be amazed how much of the process is involved in simply hole digging .... on a 20 gal pot .... it might take you an hour to properly dig the hole ... the planting might only involve a few more minutes ... so you can accomplish a lot, whether or not you actually plant ... you might also try calling the best high end nursery in your area.. and get their opinion as to when the best planting time is ... ask when they expect delivery of their conifer stock ... because.. admit it.. you will be looking for more... lol ... they will get their stock.. when it is time to plant .... dont overthink it ... and dont kill them with too much love ... in very early spring.. potted stock does NOT need all that much water.. dont drown them ... and water at planting.. and then walk away .. until they NEED water... none of this.. i watered them everyday stuff.. unless they need it ... ask if you dont know how to determine WHEN they need water ... if you soil is clay ... start a new post about proper planting.. if you need direction ... or for any other reason .. i sum it up this way .... you would prefer to get 6 to 8 weeks of in situ root growth.. BEFORE the heat of summer hits .... for me in z5 .. consisitent with dave.. that is about 6/1 ... so we prefer to get the plantings done between 4/1 and 4/15 .... see if you can work that out for your locale ... i would GUESS a week or two ... for each zone higher than 5 .... and dont forget root pruning.. if any of the stock is pot bound.. another post if you need info on that .... since you are working on the perfect time to plant.. i would have no qualms about severely pruning offensive roots .... good luck ken ps: i am envious ... 3 degrees this morn ... pps: if any of your stock is zone pushing.. err towards planting AFTER all chance of frost/freeze is gone ...

Thanks for the response. I guess I'll just try it out and see. The main reason for planting was to cover crop them, I was just hoping for a bonus pea harvest out of it. I wasn't going to wait till late march though, I was going to plant this weekend. Also my Zone 5 is a warm zone 5. I'm in a nice protected valley, we are on average 10 degrees warmer than on the hilltops around here, which I would consider a true zone 5. I'm using avalance snow peas which say 59 days to harvest. So maybe I'll get at least something out of them.