garden:cultivate:tasks:grnmanure:rye
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garden:cultivate:tasks:grnmanure:rye [2014/08/09 19:56] – davidbac | garden:cultivate:tasks:grnmanure:rye [2014/08/15 10:02] (current) – davidbac | ||
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+ | ===== Cereal rye ===== | ||
+ | When we began our Fall City garden I realized that the soil really need organic matter so I researched what crop to plant for this purpose. After a field day with Washington State University Extension about cover crops and low-till framing I chose cereal rye, mainly because of its ability to generate lots of biomass (does it ever!). | ||
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+ | I prepared the soil by weeding and by applying lime (ag lime plus dolomite lime in equal proportions). I also applied milky spore granules to address the hundreds of white grubs that had plagued my root crops during 2013. By mid-October I was ready to plant. | ||
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+ | I knew I was running late. Though I planned to plant both rye and vetch, I realized the vetch wasn't germinating so the rest of the planting was only with rye. (This view is from the other end of the garden.) | ||
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+ | By March of 2014 most of the rye was doing quite well, but those parts of the garden planted in late October were not (the section at the right). | ||
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+ | By early April it was past time to plant peas and the rye wasn't anywhere near completion. I scythed a narrow band and prepared the soil for planting peas. And the rye continued to grow. | ||
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+ | I wanted to get the peas planted (it was already late) so I started terminating the rye. I tilled a row for peas and left some of the rye strata as a mulch. | ||
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+ | By the time I got to scything the rest of the rye it was mid-May and the rye was taller than I. At their tallest, some stalks were close to 7 feet tall. | ||
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+ | So what to do with all that straw? I was learning that rye doesn' | ||
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+ | All that straw was too much to manage so I covered about 1,000 square feet with black plastic, hoping it would decompose in the dark. | ||
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+ | I had some unplanted space so I cleared the straw and planted some buckwheat left over from last season. | ||
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+ | Progress at the end of July, clearing rye into one large pile and preparing the soil for the next crop. The buckwheat is coming along well. | ||
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+ | The buckwheat planted July 10 is about ready to be turn under. It's August 10. | ||
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