Given the increasing challenges posed by seasonal drought in regions with red soils, this study aimed to assess the regulatory effects of winter fallow (CK) and winter green manure (CK+GM) on the drought resistance of red soil, focusing on soils derived from two parent materials: Quaternary red clay and red sandstone. The results showed that compared to CK treatment, CK+GM treatment significantly changed the physicochemical properties of the red soil, in which increased soil saturated moisture content, effective porosity, contents of organic carbon and total nitrogen, while reduced soil bulk density and wilting moisture content. After three years of CK+GM treatment, soil organic carbon increased by 14.9% and 13.8%, and total nitrogen increased by 16.3% and 12.1% in soils derived from Quaternary red clay and red sandstone, respectively. Meanwhile, CK+GM treatment improved the resilience of red soil to seasonal drought. Under CK+GM treatment, the effective moisture contents of soils derived from Quaternary red clay and red sandstone were significantly increased in the 0-60 cm soil layer during the dry season. In particular, during the severe seasonal drought in 2022, the effective soil moisture content was increased by 271.5% in the 20-40 cm layer of red soil derived from Quaternary red clay. The contribution of winter green manure treatment to the effective soil moisture content of red soil during the dry season was 55.3%, which was greater than those of the parent material (23.8%) and soil depth (19.4%). This study provides direct evidence that winter green manure treatment enhances the resistance of red soil to seasonal drought by improving soil quality, and demonstrates that it is a recommended measure for soil resistance to seasonal drought in red soil areas.