cover crop

a crop, usually a legume, planted to keep nutrients from leaching, soil from eroding, and land from weeding over, as during the winter.

Origin of cover crop

First recorded in 1905–10

Thus, cultivation must cease early in the season, and a cover-crop be sown to help harden and mature the vines.

Manual of American Grape-Growing |U. P. Hedrick
As a cover-crop for poor land it adds much humus to the soil and makes capital grazing.

Agriculture for Beginners |Charles William Burkett
Intensive cultivation continues, the vines are treated for pests and the annual cover-crop follows cultivation.

Manual of American Grape-Growing |U. P. Hedrick
Whether provided with a cover-crop to be turned under or hard and bare, the land must be broken each spring with the plow.

Manual of American Grape-Growing |U. P. Hedrick

Usually a pear-orchard should be cultivated once in two or three weeks until time to sow the cover-crop in midsummer.

The Pears of New York |U. P. Hedrick

cover crop

a crop planted between main crops to prevent leaching or soil erosion or to provide green manure