AbstractNitrate leaching during the winter period can be reduced and often prevented by growing catch crops after the harvest of a main crop. However, catch crops which effectively take up residual nitrogen do not necessarily show good nutrient effects on a succeeding main crop.The objective of this experiment was to investigate how the content of soil mineral nitrogen in spring was affected by the time of incorporation of non‐legume catch crops and how the yield and nitrogen uptake of a succeeding main crop was influenced.The yield of spring sown onion and white cabbage was significantly increased by catch crop growing the previous autumn. The nitrogen effect of Italian ryegrass corresponded to 50–100 kg N per ha in the vegetables. However, the yield of spring barley was not significantly affected by the nitrogen released from decomposing catch crops. During decomposition of non‐legume catch crops, grown at a high level of nitrogen fertility, nitrogen immobilization did not