Cover crops that die back in the summer?

I'm setting up a bed of comfrey for green manure.
Comfrey dies back to nothing above ground over the winter.
Are there any plants that would grow over winter and die back in the summer?

I use Austrian winter pea and winter rye mostly. The rye is the regular stuff that can be purchased at a big box store. You can let it go to seed and plant those the next fall as well. The winter pea is absolutely delicious and is a nitrogen fixer. The pea shoots are eaten as micro greens all winter. I used mustard greens in a few beds this past winter. I’ll be collecting seed soon then it will be chopped and dropped. Some of the plants are six foot tall and have much more biomass than expected.

Winter rye is what we use.

I like winter rye a lot more than I expected Anne. It’s such a great soil builder and will grow nicely on hardpan clay. Here in NC I plant in September and it dies in May. It catches leaves and dust like a dam. It all settles and builds topsoil faster than anything else I’ve tried.

Sounds winter rye is the stuff to use.
I will definatly try it.
Reading up on it a little, it's annual and dies in the heat of summer.
Do permaculture folks let it self seed?
The conventional practice seems to favor killing it while its young.

I have had great luck with the winter peas in the past.
They are about 3 dollars a pound at tractor supply, but one must buy 8.5 pounds...
I might try vetch , clover or fava beans instead.

This is great!
Just as things wind down next fall, I'll be sowing cover crops into my comfrey containers and many of my beds.

I let most of mine go to seed but it’s not great at self sowing. I think small critters make off with it during the winter. I collect in spring and plant in the fall.
My problem is that it lives to nearly June, well after I’m ready to plant. I let some beds go to seed while others are clipped or crimped sooner. It’s not easy for a home gardener to direct sow into the residue. It stays thick for quite awhile. Transplanting is pretty easy though.
Here’s a picture of rye when it’s ready for summer planting. It’s like a carpet where weeds dare to tread! 😂

That is a sexy bed of carbon right there!
This should work out fine in the comfrey barrels, everything in them is going to be harvested to use elsewhere.
For  some of the other beds, I'll look into smothering the rye with cardboard.
Maybe I could hay it and then run it through the bunnies and chickens, before sending it back to the garden.

Another vote for winter rye. They make excellent chicken food too.

I think winter pea works great as a chop and transport too. Once the temps rise it begins to die at the bottom. I occasionally roll it up to use as mulch somewhere else. It breaks off at ground level leaving all of it’s nitrogen nodules in the soil.

William Bronson wrote:Sounds winter rye is the stuff to use.
I will definatly try it.
Reading up on it a little, it's annual and dies in the heat of summer.
Do permaculture folks let it self seed?

I don't let it self-seed, but I do let some areas of it go to seed, then harvest for later eating or planting. Mostly planting.