ABSTRACT
Cover cropping is the practice of growing pure or mixed stands of annual or perennial herbaceous plants to cover the soil of croplands for part or all of the year. The benefits of cover cropping in orchards and vineyards include: preventing soil erosion by spreading and slowing the movement of surface water, reducing runoff and holding the soil in place with root systems. The benefits also include: improving soil fertility by adding organic material to the soil during decomposition and by making nutrients in the soil more available through nitrogen fixation. The most common cover crop management systems are nontillage systems and tillage systems. Legume cover crops can be incorporated into year-round cropping systems by overseeding or interseeding, legume sod-based rotations, sod strip intercropping, or vegetable living-mulch systems. Overseeding legume cover crops into small grains in the spring has been a standard farming practice for several decades.
