by Dan Jason

As I write this in late January during our coldest night of the year, it comforts me to remember that I have a substantial food crop nestling under the snow in my garden. I know my grains will be bursting with new growth in the first warm weather.;

I’ve been sowing wheat, barley and oats as garden crops for the past six years. I originally believed, testimony lacking to the contrary, that small-scale grain growing wasn’t worth the time or effort. But grains have been so rewarding for me that I now list many varieties in my Salt Spring Seeds catalogue. Not only are they totally easy to care for, they are highly productive too.

I should say right off that I grow my barley, oats and wheat to be eaten as the whole grains they are rather than to pearl them, roll them, poke a hole through them or turn them into flour. All my recipes for preparing my own grains evolve from the simple process of simmering them whole until cooked. I find that I get a lot more value for what I grow by not processing my wheat into flour, for example. Making bread depletes my wheat bucket in a blink, whereas taking out a cup of wheat berries for cooking whole seems to make hardly a dent in my supply. And a cooked whole grain is not only more nutritious, it is a meal in itself with just a little seasoning.

Soil Preference: Grains grow well in ordinary garden soil. Some varieties tend to get quite top heavy in rich soil and fall over ("lodge") in wind or rain. This can be quite inefficient for machine combining but is not a big deal for a gardener harvesting by hand. Still, I usually sow my grains in my least fertile ground. The root growth of wheat, barley and oats makes them excellent conditioners for both clay and sandy soil.

Varieties: It is important to realize the difference between hulled and hulless varieties and to grow the hulless ones. Seeds of all cultivars are coated by hulls, but those varieties that have a thin, easy-to-remove hull have been given the hulless designation. Hulless grains are easily cleaned by hand or foot rubbing. Most commercial cultivars of oats and barley have tight hard hulls that need to be threshed by machines. Varieties of spelt as well as some old wheats also require mechanical processing, but most modern-day wheats have loose-fitting hulls.

Planting Time: Here on the west coast of B.C., I often sow my wheats, barleys and oats from late September through early November. They make it through very soggy times as well as nights that go down to -15°C. Reports from customers across Canada indicate these crops can stand a lot colder weather than we have here. But I have yet to compile enough information to know specific limitations for specific varieties. If fall planting is not possible, I recommend planting them as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring. Grains appreciate an extended cooler season for growing and don’t produce well where summers come right after winter. My fall-sown grains outyield my spring-sown ones, but for harvesting they are ready only a couple of weeks earlier.

Sowing: I think it's a good idea for first-time garden grain growers to seed in rows in prepared soil. This makes it easier to know what you’ve planted when seeds of other grasses start appearing. I walk my row seeder the desired length of row, setting the depth to a seed’s length below the surface. Alternately, you can sow your grains by hand just as you would your carrots or radishes (except you needn’t worry about thinning.) After multiplying your crop for a season and learning what to expect, you might opt for planting in wide rows or blocks the next time around.

Weeding: This isn’t as crucial as for other garden crops. You’ll probably want to pull out other grasses to avoid confusion when harvesting, and I certainly wouldn’t say to stop eliminating customary bothersome weeds. But grains are quite adept at colonizing areas once they get growing.

Watering: This is also less of a consideration than for other crops. Grains are normally growing when there is abundant soil moisture. They are usually ready for harvesting by the time it gets hot and dry in late June and July.

Pests and Diseases: I have yet to encounter any so I can’t say anything here.

Harvesting: Harvest when the seedheads have totally dried. Your fingernail won’t be able to dent a grain kernel. With an early April sowing, my barleys are usually ready by late June or early July and my oat and wheat crops a few weeks later. My preferred method of harvesting is to snip the seedhead with scissors into a bucket.

Threshing: All manner of small-scale threshing equipment has been invented in countries where small-scale grain growing is common. But until an inexpensive, efficient thresher appears on North American markets, I’m content to use my feet. I use a wooden box about two feet by three feet by one foot high, to which I’ve screwed thin wooden slats on the bottom for extra abrasion. I get into my threshing box with the harvested grain and remove the hulls by the simple process of rubbing them with my shoes. A tarp on flat ground would serve almost as well. I then blow the chaff away with the blow nozzle attachment on my air compressor. A hair dryer or the wind would work, as would appropriate screens. (Leftover chaff will also rise to the water surface prior to cooking grain.)

Yields: A 50-foot row can easily yield ten pounds of grain and wide-row plantings can yield much more. Grains multiply themselves very rapidly; a small packet can end up being enough to sow an acre after two years.

Cooking: Whole grains take about 90 minutes’ simmering to be cooked. Prior soaking speeds the process somewhat. Even with longer cooking, their texture will seem quite chewy to people used to soft rice, pearled barley or rolled oats. A bowl of cooked wheat berries does not get eaten very quickly. Learning to savor the longer eating time for cooked whole grains has been a good experience for me, who grew up gulping and gobbling my food.

Outlook: I think small-scale grain growing is going to really catch on as gardeners realize how easy it is to grow such high quality food. Harvesting and threshing the seed are somewhat labor intensive, but the rest takes almost no time at all. We grow grains on such a huge scale in North America but have somehow missed the possibilities inherent in growing them in gardens and eating them as whole foods. After only a few years’ research, I’ve already discovered a wonderful diversity of colors, tastes and textures in grains. I’d be happy to send my catalogue to anyone interested in learning more about these varieties. Write to Salt Spring Seeds, Box 444, Ganges, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2W1.