Cover crops are grasses, legumes, and other forbs that are planted for erosion control, improving soil structure, moisture, and nutrient content, increasing beneficial soil biota, suppressing weeds, providing habitat for beneficial predatory insects, facilitating crop pollinators, providing wildlife habitat, and as forage for farm animals. Furthermore, cover crops can provide energy savings both by adding nitrogen to the soil and making more soil nutrients available, thereby reducing the need to apply fertilizer.

Here we provide a list of several cover crops used in the PLANTS floristic area (PFA).

• USDA NRCS cover crops Practice Standard: (introduction)(standard).
• USDA NRCS Plant Materials Program cover crops literature list.
• Cornell University cover crops resources (guide) (fact sheet).
• University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) Cover Crop Resource Page.
• Winter cover crops report from Purdue University.
• Managing cover Crops Profitably, 3rd. edition, from Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE).
• Organic Gardening Cover Crop Basics.
• Wikipedia cover crops page.
• Other Cover Crop links.