Cover crop for garden?

I've heard planting a cover crop is a good way to keep the soil intact during the fall and winter. Here in the pacific northwest we have a wet season that runs from end of October through April. Also, my soil has a ot of clay in it. Anyone recommend a good cover crop for my neck of the woods?

I don't know about your area, but here in the central states buckwheat is considered good for that. Then it is till under in the spring.

Call your local extenstion agent for help. They are a branch of the state universites and should be able to help you. If you can find a local Master Gardeners group some of them may have suggestions.

Local garden centers should have some suggestions too.

I can only tell you what I've been reading, or suggest books. How big an area do you want to plant? Do you need something that's short? Do you want to plant in spring, or build up the soil for a couple years? Do you need to fix Nitrogen levels? I have found that there are a lot of questions tied into cover crops, and I'm just looking for the ones I can plant around my other plants on my patio, though I do look at my reading as a bit of research, and pay attention to a lot of things I can’t use right now. You might also look at planting seeds and sheet mulching, which serves a lot of the same ends.

emilyrasmus, I can tell you that planting a cover crop. works wonders for your soil. I started about 4 years ago planting annual rye grass, I go to the feed store and buy a 50 pound bag. I sow it in my vegetable garden, I plant as soon as things are done for the year. I till it under in the spring, my soil has improved 200% good luck ,hostajim1

The area is about fairly small--only about 20ft x 20ft. Yes, I need to fix nitrogen levels. Sounds like annual rye grass might work well. With so much bindweed in my area, I don't til but spade over the dirt adding in compost and bone meal. I'm also fortunate to have a lot of worms in my garden and am afraid tilling would destroy them.

The book I've found that I think would work best for you is Gaia's Garden: a guide to home-scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway. While I love the way bindweed looks, I understand your problem completely. I think the Sheet mulching might work well for you, since it requires no tilling, smothers weeds below the mulch, and creates a good soil for planting, but it raises the bad by over a foot, so it might not work where you are wanting a cover crop.

If you decide to go with cover crops there are a lot of options, you might look at the following, all are nitrogen fixers, winter annuals, hardy in your zone, and like heavy soils: Austrian Winter Pea (Pisum arvense), Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum), Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum), Nitro Persian clover (Trifolium resupinatum), Sweet white clover (Trifolium alba), Fava bean (Vicia fava), Fenugreek (Trigonella foenumgraecum), Garbonzo beans (Cicer arientinum), Common vetch (Vicia sativa), and Purple vetch (Vicia atropurpurea). You might also try mixing a couple or several of them, as there is no reason not to since you're growing them as green mulch, they all have different benefits, many of them can be thoroughly mixed, and if one fails for some reason there would be others to complete the task.

Emily,
Crimson clover works great for a cover crop. Till it in after it blooms which is so pretty too.
Carol