The trouble with things like rye and vetch are as you said, you will have to till them in to kill them in the spring. I like to plant oats in the late summer/fall. They will freeze out over the winter in your zone leaving a nice straw like mulch. The fiberious root system will not do much to physically break up your soil, but the addition of organic material will help. I have heard of people using some kind of oriental radish in the fall that puts down a big fat tap root that freezes out and rots away over the winter. Might be just what you are looking for, but I am afraid I don't know much about them.

fertilizersalesman:

Thanks for the reply. I heard hairy vetch isn't a problem, you just mow/cut it down and lay the remains on the bed and directly plant into the vetch remains.

I'll try to find info on the oriental radish, thanks.

I think I found what you were talking about. The Oilseed Radish.

You might try several different types of cover/green manure crops as an experiment on small areas. You may find a couple you like & can use, the rest you will know about from experience. We are trying several differnt types in the walkways this fall along with some in parts of the garden beds as green manure/compost/mulch for next spring. I do know from experience that I do not want annual rye as it is difficult to deal with & I am allergic to it. I have alfalfa, crimson cl., h. Vetch, fava beans, buckwheat, lots of types of beans/peas. I plant beans everywhere as a living mulch & to fertilize the beds, works real well. Good Luck

Kabuti:

Thanks for the reply! Do you have any experience growing alfalfa as a fall crop and letting it winterkill? You say you grow beans as a living mulch, with what veggies? Don't beans get too tall for some veggies? Thanks again for your reply, it's really hard finding information on this stuff.

If you have a planting bed covered with materail ala the Lasagna garden method then you have a "permanent" mulch on your soil and do not need a cover crop since the mulch will do what the cover crop would do. The reason to use a cover crop is if you have bare soil that is exposed to the ravages of the sun, winfd, and rain that could erode and you need something, the cover crop, to hold it in place. Cover crops do also add organic matter and most of them will, when cut, stop growing and die.
So if you have you planting beds covered with lasagna material you will not need a cover crop since that mulch acts as a cover crop.

outsiders71; I have not paid any attn. to all the rule which say; dont plant this with that etc. But then -everything- grows here where we live. I have found that fava beans, although they are a cool weather plant are shading my tomatoes well from the sun which is killer here July/Aug. As far as the alfalfa, am still exper. with it but I want to bring nitrogen from the air & not 'buy' it, that is why experimenting with legumes. I plant climbing beans with corn, All diff. types of bush beans & crowder peas etc. under the tomatoes, if they crowd something out I want, just nip them off or cut the leaves. I also dont want to be hauling a lot of org. matter from off the place & believe me there is going to be a huge amount of dry matter from all this. Alfalfa will go 10ft deep also I have some out there just to see what happens. Too mild winters to kill it. Will cut off tops & compost or mulch. I plan on sowing the garden paths (with wheat/oats?) also this fall see how much can grow that way. I encourage you to experiment.