I would clip the clover tops as close to soil level as you can. Put the clippings in your compost pile or use them elsewhere as mulch. Then add your compost or compost/soil mix to top off the bed. If you're adding any organic fertilizer (seed meal, bone meal, kelp meal, etc), stir it into the top couple of inches of your new topping. There is no advantage to letting the clover flower or go to seed. Clipping the tops now, the existing roots will start decomposing, adding nutrients and opening channels in the soil for the tomato plant expanding roots. IMO, if you wanted to keep the weeds down and help to decompose the clover roots, cover the bed with flattened cardboard and some rocks or bricks. This will help to prevent nutrients from washing out between now and when you plant your tomatoes. The earthworms and other soil fauna will be working under the cardboard. Sue

I have read that the best time to turn the cover crop under (legumes) is just as the plants begin to bloom, as once they bloom, the plants begin to convert the nitrogen they stored in the roots into flowers and fruit. I observed this summer that cowpeas that I had harvested and were turning into the soil did not have the little round nodules on the roots that the ones I turned in before flowering occurred. If, indeed, the nitrogen is in those nodules, it would appear that what I read is true.

Douglas, and others, you might consider alfalfa, even though you said "nitrogen fixation" is not an issue with you. Alfalfa probably has the deepest roots of any plant, certainly relative to its size. A mere three feet tall, roots have been measured as long as 82 feet! Why is that important? Well, I've been gardening now for 34 years, but I did about 90% of my reading up on it my first two years. And I remember some experiments the USDDA did with different cover crops, to see which ones would add the most organic material to the soil. They did use annual rye grass, not alfalfa, but something they found is amazing. It's been a while, so don't quote me on the exact figures, but it was something like the rye grass added 155 tons of organic matter per acre- and 145 tons of that WAS IN THE ROOTS! With alfalfa, that ratio might be, almost certainly is, even more in favor of the roots. And that leads me to my second suggestion- that you NOT till in the cover crop, ever. Why do that work just to get a little more organic matter into the soil? Left on top, it will decompose, too, and add its nutrients to the soil. I havn't tilled or dug in my garden since 1972, I simply toss my grass clippings in there, mowing after mowing year after year. It eliminates weeds and weeding, conserves waster, supplies all the nutrients my plants needs, and eliminates tilling or "digging in organic matter." I've only grown a few alfalfa plants, not really cause my soil needs it, but "just cause," but I never till them in. I simly cover them with grass clippings in late fall or early the following spring. If I had one wish, it would be that people would stop thiking that tilling is necessary or a good thing!

whatever you do do not use winter rye. You will be pulling it up all next year. I planted fava bean last year, mixed with winter wheat and hairy vetch. The fava beans were far and away the most successful. I used bell fava beans this year which are adaptable to poor soils. If you inoculate before planting, the plant will fix nitrogen in the roots. Planting fava beans is extraordinarily simple. Just broad cast the stuff and rake it in.