I decided to trying planting winter rye this year as a green mulch in a couple of my beds. In this video I share my thoughts on how to work with it.
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13 Comments
chipmunks 👿
I tried winter Rye last year in New York and did not like it at all. Took a lot of effort to kill it in the spring. I actually had to keep using a flame weeder a couple of times. I also had tunnels built in the root system by voles, I think they were eating some of the seeds. It did grow really well for me, it grew so well that it was very hard to plant into come spring. I had to cut out plugs and rip out a thick mat exactly like cutting a plug into your lawn. I now use alfalfa, field peas, oats and jackhammer radish which is basically a daikon. A lot this will self terminate in the winter. I never want to be dealing with winter rye again in the spring.
Hey Greg…pretty interesting. My money is on Chipmunks, they are Jerks just like squirrels.
I have never tried green manure however several farmers in the area here do (large scale clearly) not sure I am ready to jump onto this idea at the moment but I can see the benefits. I am just finishing up harvesting leeks, parsnips and carrots this week and of course my dreaded horse radish bed! Collards, kale and Swiss Chard are also on the list then putting all the beds to sleep for the winter with a thick bed of leaf and lawn clippings!
Have a great day and hope your winter is not too crazy!
Mike 🇨🇦
Interested in seeing how this works out
Interested in what you grow in those beds next year with the results. BTW in my little greenhouse I got a couple holes in one area only to blame a Vole….never seen a chipmuck here this summer but voles I have. Who knows eh what it is!
I am thinking voles.
They are able to hide and do their thing lol😊
I did some of that this fall. I’m thinking it would freeze and die over the winter. In containers the oats I planted grew no matter how deep the seeds were.
Looking forward to next spring to see how it goes
FYI oats from the feed store are $16 and they winter kill. But unlike rye they die around Christmas and won't germinate this late
My winter rye took forever to die. Planting was severely delayed. But it sounds like you're wisely planning for that, while I didn't. Numerous years of observation suggest that voles favor overwintering in my cover-cropped beds (crimson clover) and then the population explodes. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm becoming less of a fan of winter cover crops. Suggestions welcome!
Good going. I've weed wacked the green and mulched with 6" of shredded leaves, which has virtually eliminated spring regrowth. By leaving the roots in place and not disturbing the soil, transplants and potatoes did very well the next year. Please follow up next season with a results video. As always, great content Greg!
I think that is a great idea. Hadnt thought about mulching it out. I think that is better than all the other techniques I have seen. For myself in Wellington, NZ I can grow all through winter so I would be using up a valuable bed to put something like that in it. I can grow brassicas, kale, carrots etc and this last winter, grew potatoes. We didnt have a frost where I live (though there were still frosts in the area) so I got a small crop of potatoes that I harvested in late spring and put them in a fridge for storage.
I look forward to your next video as they are always so interesting!
Use a deer food plot mix for your area. Where i am at, it contains wheat, oat, rye, clover, peas, brassicas. It almost guarantees something will grow, not to mention the nitrogen fixers in the mix.