Quote:
I wonder if the ole lawn mower will be able to handle
it.
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It does get kind of tall for that. I did one bed with a hedge
trimmer, the others with a weedeater. If it is really thick,
either way takes some time and persistence (I would make
a big swath, then stop and rake it behind me, then continue
on until I got through the bed).
Looking at the difference in some of the mostly clay soils
I have after winter rye grew in them all winter, I figure it
was worth it. It looks a lot more like topsoil this year than
it did last year.
I could not shred it afterwards (clogged up the shredder),
so I am simply using the mowed top growth as is for mulch.
The suggestion to cut it a couple of weeks before planting
is for people that turn the top growth under, either mowed
first or not. That gives it some time to start breaking down
and help heating up the soil (like shallow tilling grass clippings
into the top six inches of soil). For no-till, I doubt that you
need that two week gap between mowing it and planting into
it. That would not have been possible for me anyway if I waited
for it to flower. A week after we got to 14 hour days and I saw
the first grain head, it was time to plant.
In reports that I have read of no-till farmers growing rye and
a legume mixes in winter, knocking it down with a flail
before planting, and then planting into the resulting mulch
without turning it under, they were planting plugs (little plants
that have been started in a really tiny pot), so winter rye's
allelopathic effects on seed-sprouting was not an issue.
I assume that anyone that can afford the use of a custom planting machine for machine-planting plugs through cover
crop mulch probably has enough knowledge of soil
temperatures to know whether that matters when planting
a particular crop in their locale. Here it was rather cold this
spring until a few days ago, so I would have had to cover the
mowed top growth with black plastic or something else that
will retain heat if I had left it in place on top of the stubble.