Cover crops are an excellent way to improve the soil without adding chemical fertilizers – and they look great too! Today while driving home from a talk I gave on plant propagation I drove down an old country road and took a few pictures of the red clover. Most likely the farmer is using the clover to enrich the soil with nitrogen before tuning it under and planting a crop of corn. Clover is a legume and fixes nitrogen into the soil if it is allowed to decompose.
The added benefit of choosing red clover as a cover crop is its appearance in the spring! It covers the fields with drifts of red.
According to Cornell red clover also supports lady beetles and green lacewings which are both predator insects and beneficial insects for the garden!