So I have a large open area in the middle of the woods that I hunt that I would like to lay a nice patch of food down. Here's my quandry, I want to plant this by hand just using a hand spreader and not having to dig and it is in the middle of the woods like I said. What should I plant? Any help on this would be GREATLY appreciated. I was obviously thinking alfalfa but I really don't know much about all of this, the much I know about growing something is my grass, so I'm in much need of help.
Well if you dont want to use any heavy equipmment I would reccomend any small seeded food plot plant like clover, alfalfa, chicory, or brassicas. They would need a thin amount of soil cover but need good soil contact to grow. The seeds would be competing with any weeds that are in that area so if you can you should spray the area to kill any non-wanted weeds or grasses, then just spread seed and rake in a couple weeks later. You should also use fertilizer and/or lime if you dont already know to bring up the soils PH.But thats just my opinion.
I would go with Winter Rye and Oats plant in mid August add some winter peas to the mix as well. Winter rye grows almost all year and returns in spring, the oats and peas will die off after some hard freezes late Nov. Winter rye crowds out the weeds and you can even spread in white clover along with them in August. The clover will be there in the spring and the rye you cut off in late spring. Good Luck.
