Year Round Cover Crops

Plant some perennial cover crop seeds!

Dense green clover cover crop

Grow better soil from the ground up

Year-round cover crops are selected for persistent, perennial, biennial, or reseeding stands rather than a short interval between annual crops. They can provide managed vegetation in orchards, vineyards, farm lanes, paths, pasture areas, erosion-prone sites, and other places where longer-term soil cover is useful.

What “Year Round” Means

“Year round” describes the intended role of the planting, not a promise that every species stays green through every season or can be planted in any month. Growth, dormancy, winter survival, and summer persistence depend on climate, rainfall or irrigation, soil, mowing or grazing, and the species selected.

Choose by Site and Management

  • Orchards and vineyards: Compare height, mowing tolerance, water competition, traffic, and compatibility with perennial crops.
  • Paths and farm lanes: Consider persistence, traffic tolerance, mature height, and erosion protection.
  • Pasture and forage: Select species and mixes according to livestock, irrigation, grazing management, and local growing conditions.
  • Naturalized or reseeding areas: Review establishment, bloom, reseeding behavior, and long-term maintenance.

Individual Species or Mixes

Individual clovers, grasses, alfalfa, and other species allow targeted selection. Year Round Cover Crop Mixes combine species for broader or more specialized performance. For clover-focused choices, browse Perennial Clover Seed.

Legumes and Inoculation

Clovers, alfalfa, and other legumes can fix atmospheric nitrogen when compatible rhizobia are present and the crop establishes successfully. Review whether the seed is raw or Nitrocoated. Raw legumes may require a compatible seed inoculant; Nitrocoated seed already includes an inoculant coating.

Before planting, plan establishment, irrigation, mowing, grazing, reseeding, and eventual renovation or termination. For temporary cool-season cover, visit Fall Planted Cover Crops; for summer rotations, visit Warm Weather Cover Crops. Return to the Cover Crop Seeds hub for the full selection framework.