Can wheat be grown at home? The correct way to grow wheat at home
You want to eat healthily and add more grains to your diet. What better way than to grow wheat in your home garden? Wait, really? Can I grow wheat at home? Of course, you don't need a tractor, a grain drill, a combine or even the growing area required by a full-size wheat farmer. The following wheat growing information will help you learn how to grow wheat in a home garden and care for backyard wheat grains.
Can wheat be grown at home?
Growing your own wheat is entirely possible. Given the specialized equipment and large farms used by commercial wheat farmers, it may seem like a daunting task, but the truth is that there are some misconceptions about growing your own wheat that have even become the most stubborn notions among gardeners.
First, most of us think you need acres and acres to produce a little flour. Not so. The average backyard, 1000 square feet, is enough to grow a bushel of wheat. What does a bushel equal? One bushel is about 60 pounds of grain, enough to bake 90 loaves of bread! Since you probably don't need 90 loaves of bread, just one or two rows is enough to grow wheat in a home garden.
Second, you may think you need special equipment, but traditionally, wheat and other grains were harvested with a sickle, a low-tech, low-cost tool. You can also use pruning shears or a hedge trimmer to harvest wheat. Threshing, or removing the grain from the seed heads, simply means you beat it with a stick, and winnowing, or removing the chaff, can be done with a household fan. To grind the grain into flour, you only need a good blender.
How to grow wheat in a home garden
Depending on the growing season, choose a winter or spring wheat variety. Hard red wheat varieties are the ones most commonly used for baking, and there are warm- and cool-season varieties.
Winter wheat is planted in autumn and continues into early winter, then goes dormant. The warm temperatures of spring stimulate new growth, and seed heads form in about two months.
Spring wheat is planted in spring and matures from mid-summer to summer. It can tolerate drier conditions than winter wheat, but does not tolerate high temperatures.
Once you have chosen the wheat variety you want to grow, the rest is fairly simple. Wheat prefers a neutral soil with a pH of about 6.4. First, in a sunny area of the garden, till the soil to a depth of 6 inches. If your soil is poor, amend it with a few inches of compost where needed.
Next, broadcast the seed by hand or with a crank seeder. Rake the soil so the seeds go into the top 2 inches of soil. To help retain moisture and help control weeds, spread a 2- to 4-inch layer of loose straw mulch over the wheat plot.
Caring for backyard wheat grains
Keep the area moist to promote germination. Autumn plantings will be less likely to need extra water, but spring plantings need an inch of water per week. Water whenever the topsoil is dry. Warm-season wheat may mature in as little as 30 days, while crops that overwinter may be ready to harvest in as long as 9 months.
Once the grain turns from green to brown, cut the stems just above the ground. Tie the cut stems together with string and let them dry in a dry place for about two weeks.
Once the grain is dry, spread a tarp or sheet on the floor and beat the straw with the wooden tool of your choice. The goal is to release the grain from the seed heads, which is called threshing.
Collect the threshed grain and put it in a bowl or bucket. Point a fan (on medium speed) at it to blow the chaff (the papery covering around the kernel) out of the grain. The chaff is very light, so it should fly out of the grain easily. Store the winnowed grain in an airtight container in a cool, dark area until you are ready to grind it with a heavy-duty blender or countertop grain mill.
