Common Organic Oats Cover Crop Seeds

Days to Maturity: 100 to 120 for grain production

Common Organic Oats is a type of annual grass that produces an edible grain. The slender-stalked plant blooms in large spikelets (flower clusters) for a week or 2 in late spring to midsummer that develop into ripened grains later in the summer or fall. The loose panicles of grain gracefully dangle on one side of the branch and create a lovely, soothing sound when rustling in the breeze. Oats are higher in protein and healthy fats than most other whole grains. They are a good source of soluble dietary fiber, calcium, iron, vitamin B1, and niacin and have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

An Avena sativa species belonging to the Poaceae family, Common Organic Oats is a domesticated cereal grass with multiple uses. Early maturing and high yielding, the plant is cultivated as a source of grain, forage, and straw. It is often grown as a cover crop to improve crop diversity, water infiltration and availability, and soil health. In fact, it's often used as green "manure" to add organic matter to soil, which can be tilled in at any stage of growth. It also slows erosion, smothers weeds, helps control pests and diseases, and attracts pollinators, which increases yields of crops planted nearby. Many upland gamebirds and songbirds enjoy the seeds and Canada geese eat the foliage as well. Open pollinated, Common Organic Oats produces seed that grows true to variety, ideal for seed saving.

Common Organic Oats grows best in cool, moist conditions. It has a shallow and fibrous root system and prefers locations with full sun and fertile, well-draining soil, but it adapts to sandy, loamy, and heavy clay soils and is second only to rye in its ability to survive in poor soils. It grows in soil with a neutral, alkaline, or acidic pH and tolerates drought, but it will not tolerate shade. The plant is relatively free from diseases and pests.

For grain, plant in early spring; for cover crop, plant in spring or summer; for winter cover, plant in early to mid fall. Reap the plants when most of the green color has turned brown and the seeds are hardening (no longer milky). Cut near the base, bundle, and stack upright to dry. For herbal infusions and tinctures, harvest at the milky stage and dry.