Yes, I use a lot of these sort of things as I hate to see bare soil and never have enough compost to have a good deep mulch. I have a mix of stuff like clover (white and alsike) around my fruit bushes as a living mulch, and I allow short annuals such as nigella to colonise the area underneath my roses. Although it is often said that roses do not like competition, I tend to grow fairly robust roses, close to the species, and also ensure that I grow annuals and perennials with shallow and undemanding roots (many hardy geraniums, night scented stocks, wild strawberries, potentillas, geums.....and many, many bulbs. However, it is a fairly untidy and informal look which would not be suitable for some garden styles (because I am not that conscientious about weeding either).

Oh... I also think this CHART is pretty phenomenal. It lists cover crops and their specific uses. The article I posted above is pretty detailed. For example the Barbara Pleasant (Mother Earth) article linked above, she suggests "biodrilling" into clay soil with the sharp roots of daikon radishes and canola rape. Then you can turn to the chart I like here and find out that diakon attracts beneficial insects and loosens heavy soil, but it doesn't fix Nitrogen or add much organic matter. However, Canola will add organic matter, keep out weeds and tolerate the heavy soil. Used together its a pretty good pair, but still doesn't fix any Nitrogen. I think these two resources together are great as tools for selecting the best cover crops (together with zone info, etc) but they don't give me a good idea of when to plant what in zone 10 California. Hence....I'm still begging for a good calender of which common cover crops can be planted/turned in which months. I'd like to see: buckwheat, clover, barley, peas/beans, oats, radish (esp daikon), rape, rye, vetch. Here is a link that might be useful: Cover Crop Chart - Functions of various plants

Here's what EDIS/IFAS has to say (emphasis added): "...To be most beneficial to the garden, the cover crop must be plowed down (or added to a compost pile) so that this "captured" nitrogen can be released by the process of nitrification. Allow a few weeks time between plow-down and planting in your garden. Early investigations proved that the greatest benefit was achieved when the green manures were incorporated at the half-grown stage. At this stage there is more nitrogen available and fewer problems related to soil-borne diseases..." Here is a link that might be useful: Publication #EES113

Firstly, deep ripping would be a problem at this point, I don't have the funds to do something like that today and I have some obstacles(dry well, sprinkler supply lines) to deal with. The last time I disturb the soil(tillage) will be this year, my street has many neighbors with huge trees, I just bought a heavy duty leaf shredder, so when they place there leaves in bags for the city to collect I am going to snatch them up, grind them up, then till them up in the compost/soil layer I have now. Point taken on the smell from decomposing radish. I have thought about blue lupine and will probably integrate that into my plans. I think I will find around 8 or 10 different plants, then plant them in bunches separated by either a ground cover or some partially composted wood chips. So far my options for plants are narrowed to these for nitrogen fixation: Blue Lupine Bush Clover Crimson Clover Sweet Yellow Clover Then for organic matter: Black Eyed Susan Buckwheat Daikon Radish Sunflowers I am open to suggestions. I will not be planting like it is a field, I plan to plant just several plants of each in bunches, the bunches being arranged so the nitrogen fixers fertilize the organic matter producing plants. I have to make it look sorta decorative not to get the city on my back. I am not wanting to do any plowing after this season. I am trying to build the soil food web and will even be putting in a path of stepping stones to avoid compaction. In spring I will buy some earthworms from a bait shop then seed my front yard with them. Each year I hope to grind up my neighbors leaves to feed the worms, until they wise up and use them as nature has done for years. Then the following year I plan on planting three trees, hopefully by then I can get some worms and other organisms breaking up the soil as long as I keep supplying the organic matter. I will be collecting the above ground organic matter and making some compost for the spring in my back yard, along with any spare organic matter from my neighbors(they are throwing it away). My reasoning for this is my city has an ordinance that weeds that are cut down must be removed withing X hours. Each year I hope to have a steady stream of leaf mold and plant roots to keep the worms happy. I have attached a photo of the yard after I had tilled about 3" of compost into the top 6" of soil and had built up some raised beds.