I've not had luck with sunchokes either.
I will say that the clover worked very well. We planted Crimson clover around our fruit trees. The trees bloom before the clover so the clover doesn't attract bees for fruit pollination. But, it did keep other things from growing around the fruit trees and added some nitrogen to the soil which seemed like a good thing. Crimson clover is an annual and the tallest of the clovers so it's really good at snuffing out turf grass unwanted around the trees. Actually, it's good at snuffing lots of things out! When the clover dies back, you are left with nothing growing around the trunk!!
Crimson clover growing around plum tree in April.