Cover cropping (CC) is promoted to enhance soil health, yet its effectiveness in Mediterranean permanent woody crops in semiarid climates remains uncertain under real-farm conditions. When assessed across 15 paired plots in semiarid Spain, CC and tillage (TILL) showed no clear or consistent contrasts in soil-health indicators, largely due to management overlap: CC plots were occasionally tilled and TILL plots frequently maintained spontaneous vegetation. To overcome this, we classified plots along a continuous vegetation-legacy gradient (20-60-20% quantiles) integrating above- and belowground biomass, bare soil cover, and years under CC. Vegetation legacy revealed functional responses not detectable through CC-TILL contrasts. Responses were texture dependent. In sandy soils, plant-available water rose from 7.2% to 15.8% along the legacy gradient (p = 0.019), whereas nonsandy soils showed nonsignificant increases (14.7% -* 18.0%). Non-sandy soils showed a surface SOM increase (1.3% -* 2.1% at 0-10 cm) but diluted when integrated to 30 cm (1.1% -* 1.7%), while sandy soils showed little change (0.9% -* 1.0%). beta-glucosidase increased with vegetation legacy in non-sandy soils, reflecting short-term vegetation effects. Mineral-N (16-29 kg ha-1) and available-P (7-35 mg kg-1) displayed no consistent legacy patterns, reflecting seasonal dynamics and buffering in fine-textured soils. Overall, vegetation legacy provided an integrative framework for interpreting soil responses under heterogeneous farming conditions. By capturing cumulative vegetation influence, it revealed biological and hydrological improvements that were obscured in conventional CC-TILL comparisons, offering a more reliable basis for optimizing soil health in Mediterranean vineyards and olive groves.