Cover crop planting time has arrived. There are multitudes of reasons to plant a cover crop. They range from wanting to add green manure (nitrogen) to the soil to resting the gardener. Planting crops that have a nitrogen-fixing ability (legumes) will yield green manure in the spring. Some of the most common legumes are peas, beans, clovers, and vetches. To get the most from these crops you must inoculate the seeds prior to planting. Inoculants are specific to the type of seed, so make sure you get the correct one. Any excess inoculant you have should be added to the soil.

Cereal grains such as wheat, oats, and rye are cover crops that do not require inoculants. Cereal type rye will also trap root nematodes. They have no nitrogen-fixing ability but will help with soil compaction, weed suppression and add a tremendous amount of organic material back into the garden in the spring.  All cover crops should be buried when planted.

When spring comes there are three ways to handle the cover crop. One method is to cut back the cover crop and then plant the veggies. The second method is to kill the cover crop with an appropriate herbicide at the recommended rate about a month before you plant your garden. The third is to turn (or till) the entire cover crop into the soil about two weeks before you plant. If you planted a grass type crop, make sure you add nitrogen or molasses to aid in decomposition.

Wells Brothers has Elbon rye (cereal rye), wheat, oats, Crimson Clover (over and over), Hairy Vetch and Austrian Winter Peas as well as annual rye grass. We also have the appropriate inoculants for these crops. Give us a try if this is an over seeding year.

The age-old question: Straw vs Hay, what’s the difference? This time of the year we get flooded with questions about using straw versus hay for a given task. Straw is plant stubble from a harvested crop. It’s called straw because it’s hollow. Straw is also a regional product. In North Texas, 99% of the straw is from wheat. The other 1% is typically made from oats. Straw is mainly used for decoration, bedding, erosion control, mulch, and archery backstops. It can also be used as building material and in composting operations.

Hay is grown as food for livestock. It can be used like straw but is expensive for the task. Most of the hay grown in our area is one of several types of hybrid Bermuda.

Straw is cheaper than hay. Neither should be considered organic or all-natural. The “why” to the last statement comes up often. The majority of wheat and hay crops are grown with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and for wheat, fungicides. Organic or all-natural straw and hay are available but scarce and expensive. Both will have seeds in the bales. Straw will grow mainly wheat but it will not be enough to make a sandwich. Anything growing from a bale of hay should be considered a noxious weed. The bottom line is that you would use straw for everything but feeding livestock. The fun part of having bales of straw that are left outside in the weather is, they grow. Remember the Chia Pet?

Pick up hay bales, straw bales, and other supplies at Wells Brothers. And come springtime, if you have any of those straw bales left, try  Straw bale gardening. We’ve got easy, step by step instructions to plant your most unconventional garden yet!

Check out the Famous People and Events on that special day in October History and see what else happened! Makes a great trivia game too!

October 2, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court saw the first African American associate justice as Thurgood Marshall was sworn in.

October 6, 1927,  “The Jazz Singer” opened in New York starring Al Jolson. This was the first full-length feature film using spoken dialogue.

October 7, 1985,  the Italian passenger ship Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly Jewish wheelchair-bound American, was shot and his body thrown overboard.

October 8, 1998,  The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution launching an impeachment inquiry of President Bill Clinton with a 258-176 vote. It was the third time the House launched a formal impeachment inquiry of a sitting president. The other two: Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon.

October 14, 1912, Former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot by John Schrank while campaigning in Milwaukee. He was saved by his thick overcoat, a glasses case and a 50 page folded speech that slowed the bullet. He made the 90-minute speech with a bullet lodged in his chest.

October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy informed America of the existence of Russian missiles in Cuba. He demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of Cuba. Russia announced they would remove the weapons six days later. The U.S. later removed missiles from Turkey.

October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Players dramatized the story by H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds” on a radio broadcast that panicked millions of Americans.