Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Annual Ryegrass (Grass)
Annual ryegrass (
Lolium multiflorum
) is not the same as cereal rye, but it's another great
crop to use for soil building, erosion prevention and weed control, across most of North
America, other than the Southwest, Northwest and Great Plains. It's inexpensive and fast to
establish, although it may not make it through the winter in the north. Even there, if estab-
lished early enough in the fall, it will produce some good biomass before winter and act as
a great nurse crop to clover that you can plant at the same time at a 1:1 ratio by weight. A
nurse plant is a plant that offers protection or assistance to another plant. Annual ryegrass
can also be used over the summer.
Ryegrass likes fertile soil, so I wouldn't use it if you're just starting on poor subsoil. It
also needs a lot of moisture, and generally shouldn't be left to grow between rows during
the growing season unless you have plenty of water and fertility. In zone 5 and cooler, seed
at least six weeks before the first hard frost to ensure the grass gets established.
The annual ryegrass is often half the price of the perennial rye and much easier to cut
down in the spring with a hoe. Be sure to do that before it goes to seed or it can become
weedy. I always chop it down before it gets eight inches tall. If you have a perennial
garden, you might rather have a low-growing perennial such as white clover that will be
there every year to protect and enrich the soil, and that won't get so big as to need much
maintenance.
