How to Plant Spring Wheat

Planting spring wheat can provide the grower with the opportunity to make their own bread, experiencing the entire process along the way. This is something that you can do in your yard, with a small plot of ground. On a 10 foot by 10 foot patch, as many as twenty-five loaves of bread can be produced. Winter wheat is the preferred crop because it contains more nutrients than the spring variety, but in many areas of the country it is too cold for winter wheat to survive. Spring wheat is therefore vital in these regions, although cold and frost can still remain a major problem.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Rake
• Shovel
• Wheat seed
• Drilling machine
• Mild temperatures

1. Test your soil before planting. The richer your soil, the better for spring wheat. The presence of nitrogen is especially crucial.

2. Prepare your soil with a roto-tiller or with a shovel and a rake. After the soil is turned over, smooth it level with a rake.

3. Broadcast your seed. This means to toss out or to hand-spread approximately three ounces of spring wheat seed per 100 square feet of garden space. This is the first of three methods to plant spring wheat.

4. Alternatively, you can plant by using a drilling machine. This machine, which can be rented if need be, will poke a hole in the soil every six inches and drop several seeds into each hole along the way. Your spring wheat will grow close together and then fan out into the empty areas.

5. As a third option, dig rows in your garden plot, about six inches apart, and pour your spring wheat seeds into the rows as if you were planting carrots, for example.

Tips & Warnings

• Be certain that you rake over your garden patch after planting and cover the seeds. Otherwise, it is likely that birds will eat your seeds. Weeds will grow in competition with spring wheat, which is another reason why winter wheat is preferred. More weeding will be necessary when you use a drilling machine to plant, especially in the beginning before your wheat begins to spread out and move into the empty areas.
• The threat of spring freeze injury is very real. There are certain stages of growth where spring wheat is very vulnerable to low temperatures. The necessity of nitrogen-rich soil is actually a double-edged sword: Spring wheat will grow very poorly without it, but its presence creates a very high moisture content in the wheat which is then more vulnerable to freezing temperatures.

References

• Description of spring wheat seeds for sale