11/6/2019 – Sowed Elbon Rye in the south half of the garden as a cover crop. The roots are supposed to trap root-knot nematodes and break up the subgrade fairly deep. The grass will improve the organics in the soil.
The area is 1/6th acre including the turn rows. So, to sow at 100 lbs/ac. I need to sow 100/6 = 17 lbs or 1/3rd of the 50 lb bag. Weighted out 20 lbs and spread it with the JD spreader pulled by the JD mower. The setting was on 2 and I had to go over the area about 4 times. The seed looked to be spread fairly evenly.
Disked the seed in with the disk cutting about 2-3″ deep and the 6×6 drag pulling some dirt along and leveling it nicely.
11/11/2019 – The grass is starting to show after only 5 days. The soil was moist but we have had no rain since sowing.
11/13/2019 – The plot has a definite red tint from the evenly distributed grass sprouts standing 2-3″ high.
