Quest Organic Barley Cover Crop Seeds

Days to Maturity: 90 to 100

Quest Organic Barley is a type of annual grass that produces an edible grain. This variety is a six-row malting barley that sets graceful spikelets arrayed in a herringbone pattern. Barley has a nutlike flavor and is commonly used in soups and stews and is a source of malt for alcoholic beverages, especially beer. Barley flour contains very little gluten and is used to make an unleavened flatbread. Barley contains moderate amounts of protein, calcium, and phosphorus and small amounts of the B vitamins.

A Hordeum vulgare species, barley belongs to the Poaceae family. This variety is early maturing and high yielding (higher than Robust barley) and has improved resistance to fusarium head blight (or scab). Open pollinated, it produces seed that grows true to variety, ideal for seed saving.

Surprisingly easy to grow, barley grows best in locations with full sun and fertile, well-draining loam. It is widely adapted to all but the hottest and driest conditions, but barley has greater resistance to dry heat than other small grains.

Quest Organic Barley 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 the 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.

For grain, plant in spring; for cover crop, plant in spring or summer. 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.