#winter rye

Potted snapdragon on the back patio: 

Close up of our purple baptisia’s blossoms: 

Raindrop speckled daisy in the front flower bed: 

This blossoms had a new beetle that I haven’t seen before along with those two little speckled ones: 

Palm full of trees. I believe they are elms: 

Crane fly in the cover crop of winter rye and twisting tendrils of the hairy vetch: 

A closer shot: 

Our first homegrown strawberries on the make: 

The Autumn Joy Sedum at our carport door. Sedums are easy to grow and a great plant for patios and front porches where someone might occasionally forget to water their plants. In fact, I’ve killed more sedums and plants in general through over watering than any other form of neglect. Sometimes wilting means too much rather than too little. Your best bet is to stick your finger in the soil to see if you feel moisture:  

The backyard garden’s cover crop of winter rye and annual ryegrass is coming up nicely: 

The grass with the thick blades is the Winter Rye and the one with the thin blades in the Annual Ryegrass. Both are good for fixing nitrogen in the soil and adding biomass: 

The real work horse for fixing nitrogen is the hairy vetch. That’s it growing along the fence around our blueberry patch: 

More hairy vetch and blueberry bush: 

A close up of some new growth on a hairy vetch vine: 

I love the color of blueberry bushes in the Fall. We left the tags on the plants so we can compare how the different varieties perform when we start actual fruit production next year. We have seven plants of three different varieties (Two Tifblue, two Climax & three Brightwell) in the patch which allows for good pollination. Those varieties are all rabbiteye blueberry bushes. That is the species of blueberry that does well here in Tennessee: 

We went to Plot 420 today with two truck loads of bagged leaves that we picked up in the affluent neighborhood (What I call political donor-class housing) between our neighborhood and 420. This is Plot 420 before any of the leaves. That is rice straw and most of the green is from our winter rye cover crop:  

There is a pay lake near Plot 420 and they have a bait shop so we stopped by and my wife bought 150 nightcrawlers to throw onto the plot. From the nightcrawlers’ perspective, I imagine being dropped on a random field beats being stabbed with a hook and fed to catfish any day: 

Their hands touched as they both reached for the nightcrawlers ... the spark was undeniable: 

Plot 420 after we put down and spread out the leaves: 

Deer tracks: 

A shot of my wife, Plot 420 & our truck from the western forest edge: 

The forest behind me: 

A little further into the forest: 

Cockleburs: 

Grass seed head: 

Close up of a puddle: 

The forest edge South of Plot 420: 

A flooded area on the road leaving Plot 420: 

My wife getting a closer look: 

A close up of the ripples: 

A lone tree, grassy field and a little borrow pit pond that my wife and I dubbed Green Meanie Lake last year because it is full of green sunfish (aka Green Meanies): 

Blue Heron ... how close can I get before it takes off: 

This close: 

Disheveled man with dirty shirt: 

The Scientific Research Notes of S. Sunkavally, Printed Part, Page. 214.

When to Plant Winter Rye Seed? Everything You Need to Know

Winter rye is a cool-season grass that has its growing season from early fall throughout the winter until spring. Seed should be planted before temperatures drop below 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12C). This usually occurs in September and early October. However, the exact date varies by a week or two, depending on your location. Winter rye seeds need both warm and cool weather to germinate, so it’s…

Will Winter Rye Reseed Itself?

Winter rye, a hardy annual that produces plentiful seed heads and, in some cases, will reseed itself with great vigor. Some cultivated varieties will reseed themselves in future years if given half a chance; others won’t. In most cases, only a small percentage of the seeds will germinate and grow. The reseeding behavior of winter rye can be a mixed blessing: Sometimes you want to encourage the…

Can You Plant Winter Rye In The Spring? Expert Tips For Every Gardener

We have some avid gardeners asking us this question, “Can you plant winter rye in the spring?” The name suggests that it should withstand the cold weather. But is it possible to plant this crop after winter? If you are looking to boost the health of your garden with this cover crop, keep reading. We will lay out the facts to you as to when the right time to plant it, how to help it thrive, and…

The sclerotium (or ergot) is the survival or overwintering structure of C. purpurea. A period of 4 to 8 weeks of near freezing weather is required for germination of the sclerotium. Sclerotia germinate in the spring, just prior to flowering in the cereals and grasses. Ascospores are ejected into the air and are disseminated by air currents. Only those ascopores that land on a host stigma or ovary can cause infection.

Claviceps purpurea is common in temperate climates in which the cold period required for sclerotial germination is met. In warmer climates, such as the southeastern U.S., sclerotia are colonized by other fungi and do not survive well.

Rainfall or high soil moisture is required for stroma formation and ascospore production. In the cereal grains and many of the grasses, resistance to infection develops after fertilization. Thus, conditions that delay or interfere with pollination, such as cool, wet weather, can increase the period of susceptibility.

Because ergots (sclerotia) do not usually survive for more than one year, rotation with a non-susceptible host plant is a viable management tactic for annual crops. Deep plowing buries sclerotia, so ascospores from stromata cannot be discharged into the air.