Food Plots for Wildlife, Part 2

Many of you have planted a garden for the fresh produce it provides. Have you ever planted a wildlife garden? Most people refer to that as a food plot. It’s a good way to attract wildlife to your property.

Maybe you don’t have a large acreage or equipment to till it. Maybe you don’t want to spend a lot of money on the food plot.

One year we planted a no-till mixture at our school where we wanted to attract wildlife. We used a shovel and dug up a small square plot on our playground. In addition, we used a rake to rough up the ground under the monkey bars and around the swings. We sowed the seed on top of the ground where there were bare spots. It was a little project that helped make our first day of school quite fun.

I recently decided to boost the grass cover at my mountain cabin, which is enclosed with approximately a ¾-acre plot. I wanted to simply add perennial rye to the existing grass. So I bought some 10-10-10 fertilizer: 10% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, and 10% potassium. Nitrogen helps grass to be greener and leafier, phosphorus is good for root growth, and potassium helps in case of stress, drought, and disease. I scattered the fertilizer on top of the grass with a hand spreader.

I then used the hand spreader to sow the rye on top of that. Sure enough, I’m already seeing results. My grass has thickened, so I have to rake and bag mulch. Since mulch is good for my garden, that’s an added benefit.

If you have a wooded area that allows partial sunlight, you can go with a no-till variety mixture.

First, weed-eat off any extra weeds. Rake off dead leaves, and, using the rake, break up and smooth the soil. You could do a soil test, or just go with the 10-10-10 fertilizer there as well.

Good mixtures for small wooded plots with no deep tilling could include chicory, rye, clover, and brassicas. I thought chicory was just an annoying weed that I have to weed-eat along my road. It’s actually an herbaceous, perennial plant with a deep taproot that reaches into the soil, bringing nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and selenium up into the plant. It is rich in protein and a good choice for an area that might periodically be hit with drought.

Often, in addition to chicory, the mix might have clover, which is also a perennial; rye, a cereal crop; and brassicas, cruciferous plants including turnips, which are sweeter later in the fall after a frost.