Growing Wheat


Earlier this year, I grew a 10 x 10 plot of spring wheat in my yard.  It wasn’t very successful, but I owe that more to my mistakes than anything else.  Here’s a review of what I did, and more importantly, what I learned.
The first thing is that I rototilled the earth in the fall.  This entailed just running the rototiller over an existing spot on my lawn.  The section that I did is not particularly sunny, so I knew that it wouldn’t be the greatest area.  However, this was the only spot that looked suitable for aesthetic reasons.  I didn’t fertilize or anything, and just left it all turned up over the winter.  Once spring rolled around, I waited until the ground thawed out.  I performed the “soil fist test” in which I picked up a fistful of dirt, squeezed it, and then released.  If it stays in the shape of the squeezing, the ground is too wet.  If it starts to crumble, then it is ready.  I then proceeded to randomly scatter seed on the bare earth.  In hindsight, this was not that smart.  I should have measured out the accurate amount and only spread what was suggested.  Instead, this waste caused some big clumps of wheat stalks in some places and little in others.  Next, I lightly scattered some compost on top of the seeds.  The coverage was spotty at best and I did nothing to bring the soil in contact with the earth.  I should have put a uniform layer of earth over the seeds and then rolled the plot with a lawn roller. 
Even with all of the mistakes, the wheat started to grow.  As it slowly grew, I added no fertilizer (synthetic or otherwise) and did almost nothing for it.  Once I could see the heads form, I just kept waiting.  The next step was for the wheat stalks start to turn golden brown.  This happened in Late July.  I tested the kernels to ensure that they were getting hard and to determine when to cut.  I thought they were ready and cut all of the stalks.  I then carefully tied them up and placed them in some floating row covers and let them dry in the garage.  I should have left them out in the sun instead to let them dry a little further.  I also should have left them on the stalk a little longer.  This was only the beginning of my adventure with the wheat.  I noticed that I only had about 3-4 kernels per stalk, so I knew my yield would be super low.  This was a consequence of having little sun and even less fertilizer.
The next step of threshing and winnowing is where the work got really hard.  Since the kernels were not that dry, getting them out of their husks was a pain in the butt.  I cut of the heads of each stalk and rolled it between my hands.  This would separate the husk from the kernel.  This took forever and it really ground up my hands.  After doing this for nearly 6 hours over the course of a few weeks, I had it done.  In between the rolling, I would pour from one bucket to the next in front of a fan.  This would blow away the chaff and only leave the kernels.    All told, I ended up with about 3 lbs of wheat for the 2.5 lbs. I planted.  Needless to say, a complete waste of time.
So, what am I doing different for this year?  First, I have applied compost and plenty of rabbit droppings to the soil.  I am doing that over the fall here to allow the droppings to decompose and the compost to naturally work into the soil.  I am also going to place black plastic over the plot in the early spring.  This should help to warm up the soil to allow me to get an earlier start on the planting season.  Also, once the stalks have tillered, I will fertilize again with some compost tea.  This should help to set more kernels so I can get a larger yield.  The final piece is something that I don’t feel I can optimize just yet.  The threshing and winnowing will continue to be a manual process since my production doesn’t dictate that I need a machine to do it.  I believe that if I get them bigger and more kernels, along with letting it dry a little longer, the kernels will come off more easily.