Wicked Tuff Turf Common Vetch Seed - Vicia Sativa

The workhorse cover crop — it smothers weeds, protects soil through winter, and fixes its own nitrogen to leave your ground rich for the next crop.

Vetch (Vicia sativa and Vicia villosa) is an affordable, fast-growing legume cover crop. It comes in two types: Common Vetch is a spring annual (lives one growing season), and Hairy Vetch is a winter annual — planted in fall, it overwinters and puts on explosive growth in spring, giving the most nitrogen and biomass. Both grow as dense, climbing, sprawling vines with tendrils that grab onto companion plants like cereal rye. As a legume it does nitrogen fixation — pulling nitrogen out of the air into the soil, 100–200 lbs per acre — so the next cash crop needs less fertilizer. The thick canopy smothers weeds and shields bare soil from erosion, and the spring growth tills in as green manure (a crop worked back into the soil to enrich it). Our seed is uncoated and tested for purity and germination.

Key Benefits

•     Heavy nitrogen fixer: 100–200 lbs of nitrogen per acre for the following crop.

•     Weed suppression: dense vining growth forms a mat that smothers winter and spring weeds.

•     Winter cover: fall-planted Hairy Vetch survives to USDA Zone 3, protecting soil from washout.

•     Organic matter: heavy spring biomass builds dark, rich topsoil when terminated.

•     Cocktail-ready: the classic partner for winter rye and oats in cover-crop mixes.

•     Clean, uncoated seed: no fillers, coatings, or dyes.

Best Uses

•     Cover crop and green manure

•     Winter cover and erosion protection

•     Weed suppression in crop rotations

•     Cover-crop cocktail mixes with cereal grains

•     Forage and grazing for livestock (see grazing note)

Important Notes

Pick the right type for your timing: Hairy Vetch (winter annual) for fall planting and overwintering in Zones 3–9; Common Vetch (spring annual) for early-spring planting in Zones 5–9. This is an aggressive vining cover crop and forage — not a residential lawn, and not suited to foot traffic. Inoculate with the vetch/pea inoculant (Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae), not clover or alfalfa inoculant.

Grazing note: vetch can be grazed as high-protein forage before termination, but introduce livestock gradually and follow standard grazing practices. Hairy Vetch in particular has occasionally been linked to toxicity in some cattle and horses around flowering/seed set — if you plan to graze heavily, check current local extension guidance.

Why Choose Old Cobblers Farm™?

Every bag of Wicked Tuff Turf seed is selected for high purity and strong germination, and tested so you know what you are planting — consistent, clean, uncoated seed for cover-crop managers who demand performance.