Upland Rice Growing Update

I gave you a little peek at my rice in my last post (Living in the Shadow of the Rain), but so many folks expressed an interest in this project that I thought I’d give you an update in pictures.

This is upland rice, which doesn’t require paddies to grow. You can read more about it in my “Grain Growing: Upland Rice” post.

The plant in the middle of the bed is a volunteer cucumber.

I left it because I rarely have the heart to pull volunteers. They always seem to be the hardiest of what grows in my garden.

I’ve been diligent to water and weed both beds. Of the two, the Cho Seun seems to be doing better.

It is a taller growing variety, but it’s greener and leafier than the Loto, which seems to be struggling more. That may be due to variety preferences, or because the soil in the Loto bed isn’t as good. I’m not really sure.

I planted white Dutch clover as a ground cover in both beds, but it’s been sporadic in growing. Still, it will add some nitrogen to the soil as well as shade it.

Clover doesn’t like hot dry weather, so it benefits from my frequent watering too.

The only other challenge will be keeping birds from devouring the grain before I can harvest! Some netting might be in order for that.