A fast-maturing cool-season grain that doubles as a cover crop and can be harvested for whole grain, sprouts, or homegrown malt.
Hordeum vulgare · also called hulled barley, hull-less barley
Windows are counted from the average date of your last spring frost.
Barley matures faster than wheat and tolerates drier soils, making it one of the most practical grains for a small plot. Hull-less varieties thresh clean by hand, removing the main barrier to home processing.
A little history. One of the earliest domesticated cereals, with archaeological evidence of cultivation in the Fertile Crescent dating to roughly 10,000 years ago per standard archaeobotanical records. Produces a spike (the seed head) with either two or six rows of kernels arranged along a central axis.
Sow seeds 1¼ inches (32 mm) deep, and aim for 3 inches (8 cm) between plants once thinned. Cover seed with 1–1.5 inches of firm soil and keep evenly moist until shoots emerge; do not let the seedbed crust over. Seedlings emerge in 4–10 days.
Water deeply once or twice a week during establishment and heading; reduce once seed heads begin to dry down. Water when the top 2 inches of soil feel dry to the touch. Aim for about 1 inch per week including rain.
Side-dress (scatter fertilizer along the row and water in) once at tillering, roughly 3–4 weeks after emergence. What to use: balanced organic fertilizer or compost; avoid high nitrogen after tillering, which promotes lodging (stalks falling over).
It's ready when seed heads have turned golden-tan and feel firm and dry; the straw is stiff and straw-colored; kernels dent with a fingernail but do not crush easily. Cut stalks at the base with shears or a sickle when 90% of the heads are fully golden. Bundle into sheaves and hang upside down in a dry, ventilated space for 1–2 weeks before threshing.
Thresh and winnow to remove chaff; dry grain to below 13% moisture (kernels feel hard and click when dropped on a hard surface); store in sealed containers in a cool, dry place for up to 1 year.
Not suited to succession sowing — plant the full intended area in one sowing timed to cool weather; a fall sowing can follow a spring harvest in mild climates.
Winter barley types are sown in fall, establish a rosette of tillers before cold sets in, go dormant under frost, and resume growth in early spring to mature 2–4 weeks ahead of spring-sown crops.
Field Pea
Field peas bank nitrogen in their roots, and as those roots break down after the mixed stand is cut the nitrogen is released for the following season's crop. Sown together, the barley stalks also give the pea vines something to lean on.
Hairy Vetch
Hairy vetch is a standard overwintering partner for fall-sown barley: it fixes nitrogen that is released as the residue breaks down, feeding next season's bed rather than the barley itself, while the barley holds the vine upright over winter.
White Clover
Undersown white clover forms a low mat that shades the soil, holds moisture, and crowds out weeds between barley rows. It can also leave nitrogen behind for the next season once turned in, though it needs mowing if it starts to climb into the grain.
Wheat
Wheat carries the same powdery mildew, smuts, and aphid-spread viruses as barley, so growing them side by side stacks the risk and gives spores a short hop between stands. Keep small grains apart and rotate the bed away from grasses for 2 years.
Oats
Oats host many of the same leaf diseases and the aphids that spread grain viruses. Planted next to barley they extend the green bridge that carries those problems from one small grain to the next.
Rye
Rye shares barley's disease list and is a vigorous grass that also out-competes it for water and light in a mixed stand. Give each small grain its own bed and its own year.
Oregon Grape
Barley is hit by the same stem rust that overwinters on barberry-family shrubs, so a nearby Oregon grape gives the fungus the bridge it needs between seasons. Plant grain plots well clear of the shrub.
Emmer
Both are grasses that carry rusts, powdery mildew, and grain aphids, so planting them side by side lets problems bounce between the two stands. Grow one grain per bed and rotate out of grasses for two years.
Einkorn
Barley and einkorn share rusts, powdery mildew, and the aphids that carry barley yellow dwarf. Growing them side by side gives spores and aphids a short hop between stands and stacks the risk on both.
Spelt
Barley hosts the same rusts, powdery mildew, and aphids that trouble spelt, so side-by-side rows let problems build in both. Grow other grains in a separate bed and respect the two-year gap between grass-family crops.
Give grasses and grains 2 years away from this spot before any of its relatives return.
The pea and bean family, the squash family or the tomato family thrive in this ground next season.
Barley is a heavy feeder that leaves behind fine straw and a dense mat of fibrous roots — good for soil structure, but it takes nitrogen with it. Keep grasses and grains out of this bed for 2 years, then follow with legumes to rebuild fertility, or with squash-family or tomato-family crops fed with compost.
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