Abstract: The research of effects of green manure crops planting methods on their growth status and soil characteristics can provide a scientific basis for increasing food production through planting green manure grass in rice-grass rotation mode in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The experiment on the effects of different green manure planting methods such as interplanting with stubble, direct seeding by shallow rotary tillage, direct seeding and no-tillage on the population basis, overwintering stability, growth process, main morphological indexes, grass production and soil nutrient dynamics after returning to the field were carried out in Kunshan City of Jiangsu Province from 2018 to 2019. It showed that the basic seedling number was highest under interplanting with stubble, with 582 900 basic seedlings per hectare, meanwhile, with the highest over-wintering rate (94.3%) among the three planting methods mentioned above when the sowing quantity was same.The growth processes of the green manure crops were basically same among the three planting methods, and the evidential difference may be found at the vegetative growth stage, which was longest for 122 days under interplanting with stubble. However, the vegetative growth state under direct seeding by shallow rotary tillage was shortest, only lasted for 102 days. The plant height, stem diameter and other main morphological indexes under interplanting with stubble were significantly higher than the other two planting methods. The fresh yield of green manure crops under the three methods all were above the level of 30,000 kg·hm ^-2, of which, interplanting with stubble was maximum, direct seeding by shallow rotary tillage was middle, and direct seeding and no-tillage was minimum. The content of soil organic matter, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium and other soil nutrients under the three planting methods all increased when applying green manure to soil, by the maximum proportion under interplanting with stubble.