If you want a warm-season cover crop/green manure crop that will grow and can be tilled into the soil after the first fall frost, try buckwheat or cowpeas (black-eyed peas). Both will need water for the first week or two to get them to germinate and establish a little bit of root structure, but after that they don't need much care.

If you want a cool-season cover crop that you can get started in August with more water and more care, but that will give you a longer period of growth, try some sort of cool-season legumes like hairy vetch or Austrian winter peas, or even a combination of both.

Down here in southern Oklahoma, winter wheat is often used as a cover crop, but it is planted later in the fall and overwinters. I don't know if it would be cold hardy up there. (We are a very warm zone 7 here in the winter.)

You also might check the Tulsa Master Gardeners' website to see if they address the planting of cover crops or green manure crops in that part of the state.

Dawn

Shekanahh,

I have grown rye grass as a cover crop here in the Tulsa area. It is recommended by the Master Gardeners. It covers well, and then you turn it under in the spring to act as green manure. I'm not for sure the best dates to seed it, but probably later in the fall. I know I seeded it as late as November in the past, especially if anything in the garden is still producing. It is definitely a cool season grass.

Sandy

Thank you Dawn and Butterfly Mom,
Your responses really helped me decide what I think I shall do. If I were to sow buckwheat now, and till it in after the first fall frost, then I should be able to seed Rye in just after that. I love making compost and adding nutrients to the soil rather than just letting it "lay there" and do nothing except sprout weeds.
I don't think Winter wheat would survive this far North, in between OKC and Tulsa. Great grape country though :)

I think Winter Wheat would be hardy enough. I've seen it growing all over in Nebraska during the winter. The farmers up there may have used a different variety than what is commonly used here in OK. I did a search and here's a link to the University of Lincoln wesbsite that might help you decide on which variety to use. And a link to Bountiful Gardens which has some really inexpensive cover crop seeds at quantites that home gardeners can tolerate.

UNL
http://citnews.unl.edu/winter_wheat_tool/index.shtml

Bountiful Gardens
http://www.bountifulgardens.org/

This link refers to them as Compost Crops, the wheat varieties are listed in the "Grains & Fiber" section. I have not ordered from them yet, so I can't give you any feedback on the company or seed quality.

Courtney

Courtney,

I have ordered from Ecology Action/Bountiful Gardens, although it has been three or four years. At the time that I ordered from them, their service was pretty fast, the seed germination rate was at least as good as advertised, and I was happy with the performance of the seeds.

If you want to see reviews for this or any other garden supplier, you can check its ratings at Garden Watchdog.

Dawn

Dawn,

I didn't know that Dave's Garden had a Watchdog list! I come across so many websites when I'm surfin' the net, and some of them just seem too good to be true. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll save it in my favs to reference again!

Courtney