In wet conditions, use a weed whacker to cut winter rye cover crop to save soil structure

I’ve blogged many times in the past about the merits of growing winter rye for improving garden soil. Winter rye, also called cereal rye, is the grain that is used for making rye bread. Ryegrass however, is not the same thing, it is a completely different plant and is used for different purposes, which I won’t get into here.

Rye is planted in the fall and makes a small amount of growth before going dormant in winter. It the spring it begins growing, slowly at first, then once it starts its vertical growth, it really takes off.

To be of any benefit, the rye plant must be tilled into the soil. This is done by first mowing it using either a rugged mower or some other kind of cutting implement.

The optimum stage of growth to mow rye for plow down is around the time the stem begins to swell from the developing seed head. At that stage, the plant has taken up most of the minerals it needs from the soil and has incorporated them into its roots, stems and leaves.

This year in our garden, we have had very regular spring rain which has saturated the soil to the point where no machinery can be brought in under the muddy garden conditions. That means cutting down the rye has had to be delayed.

If the conditions are not good for mowing, you can put it off for a bit. However, once the seed head has emerged then flowered, the plant parts get very tough compared to the earlier soft, juicy stems. The longer the rye is left to develop and mature, the tougher it gets. Eventually you end up with the stems and leaves losing their green color and changing into straw.

Rye straw takes significantly longer to decompose in the soil than soft, green immature plants.

Last week was the optimum time to mow our rye, but garden soil was way to soggy to run a tractor and mower.

I thought of renting a walk-behind brush cutter but other things came up that I needed to attend to and was not able to do it.

This week much of the rye has begun to head out, so I needed to do something fast. I decided to use the weed whacker to mow down the rye. I have done it that way in the past and knew how big of a job it would be to mow a quarter of an acre that way.

The rye ranged in height from 16 inches to well over 3 feet. Some very fertile spots were 4 feet tall.

The best way to whack it down when it is that tall is to cut it in multiple passes.

Swinging the machine in one direction, I cut the top 6 inches or so first, then on the return swing take another 6 inches off. I continue until there is just a stubble left. Usually, it can be accomplished in four passes at the most.

Making all of those repeated passes over the plants is a slow process. The plants could be easily mowed down in one pass of the cutting head but that results in long stems sprawled all over the soil surface. Those long stems are very difficult to till into the soil.

Using multiple passes allows you to cut the stems into more manageable, easy to till pieces.

It took me a good part of the day to cut that quarter acre. During dry years, it’s really easy to run a mower over the rye and have it done in an hour or so. Plus the mower chops the stems finely, so they decompose very quickly releasing their nutrients into the soil.

Now I need to wait until the soil is dry enough to till. Tilling soil that is too wet will destroy the soil structure.

Use this quick test to determine the moisture content of your soil: Scoop up a handful of soil and make it into a ball. Squeeze it as hard as you can. If any water oozes from the ball, the soil is much too wet. If no water can be squeezed out, try poking the ball with your finger. If the ball breaks apart, the soil is ready to till.

Different types of soil, such as sand, loam or clay, will react differently to the squeeze-and-poke test. You’ll have to learn what the results mean for your particular garden soil.

In our garden, I’m estimating it will be at least another week before the soil is ready to till, as long as we don’t get more rain.

Every year is different in the garden. And every year we can learn something new. That’s why gardening can be a lifelong interest.