planting winter rye this fall

 hello,

i want to plant a cover crop of winter rye in my zone 5, michigan garden but
can't do so until around nov 1st. has anyone successfully pulled it off this
late into fall?

thanks for any info!

 brickled wrote:


Every year is different. It is possible that it will be warm enough to
get winter rye started that late in your area, but unlikely that you
will see much growth before the ground freezes. The rye will grow again
in the spring, but you will lose some of the major advantages of the
cover crop: nitrogen storage and erosion control.

Why can't you seed before that? Do you have a crop in place until then?
Consider seeding the rye with the crop in place. At least you will get
strips of rye between the crop rows. Better than nothing. If you have to
remove the crop from the field later you can just mow it.

 

rye stores nitrogen?  is it a legume?