A fast-maturing Ethiopian grain grass that produces tiny, nutrient-dense seeds and tolerates both drought and waterlogged soils better than most cereals.
Eragrostis tef · also called tef, lovegrass
Windows are counted from the average date of your last spring frost.
Teff is naturally gluten-free and matures in as few as 60 days, making it viable even in short-season gardens. Its fine straw is also useful as mulch or animal fodder after harvest.
A little history. Native to the Horn of Africa and documented as a cultivated crop in Ethiopia for several thousand years; the seed is among the smallest of any cereal grain, with individual seeds roughly the size of a poppy seed.
Aim for 6 inches (15 cm) between plants once thinned. Press seed lightly onto a firm, moist seedbed — do not cover; seeds need light to germinate. Mist daily until sprouts appear. Seedlings emerge in 3–7 days.
Water deeply once or twice a week; reduce once plants are knee-high and established. Water when the top inch of soil feels 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 — when the plant begins sending up multiple shoots from the base. What to use: balanced organic fertilizer such as 5–5-5, or a light top-dressing of compost.
It's ready when seed heads turn from green to tan or reddish-brown and feel dry to the touch; individual seeds release easily when you rub a head between your fingers. Cut stalks at the base with shears when 80–90% of heads are mature. Bundle loosely and hang upside down over a clean sheet or tarp for 1–2 weeks to finish drying and catch shed seeds.
Thresh dried heads by rubbing between your palms or beating into a bucket; winnow to remove chaff. Store dry grain in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.
In climates with a long frost-free season (over 150 days), a second sowing 4–5 weeks after the first extends the harvest window.
Cowpea
Cowpea banks nitrogen in its roots, and most of it becomes available only as those roots break down — so the payoff lands on next season's teff, which is a hungry grain. Its low spreading growth also covers ground the fine teff stems leave open.
Sweet Potato
Sweet potato vines run flat across the soil, holding moisture and crowding out the weeds that often outpace slow-starting teff seedlings. Keep the vines about a foot back from the sown block so they do not smother young shoots.
Sunflower
Sunflower heads draw in hoverflies, lacewings, and tiny parasitic wasps that hunt the aphids clustering on teff stems and seed heads. Set the sunflowers on the north edge of the patch so their height does not shade the grain.
Sweet Corn
Sweet corn is a heavy feeder with a deeper, faster root system, and it will take water, nitrogen, and light from fine-stemmed teff. Its stalks also shelter the grass stem borers that tunnel into teff tillers, so give each crop its own bed.
Sorghum
Sorghum is another warm-season grass and often carries the same rusts and smuts as teff, so side-by-side plantings stack spore pressure in humid weather. Separate the two and keep them out of each other's rotation slot.
Wheat
Wheat shares the rust and smut diseases of grain grasses, and volunteer wheat can carry spores over to a nearby teff patch. Plant them apart and clear grass stubble and volunteers before sowing teff.
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.
Teff is a heavy feeder that leaves behind fine straw but little fertility, so chop the stubble in and add compost. Keep grasses and grains out of this bed for 2 years, then follow with legumes such as cowpea or bean, cucurbits like squash, or nightshades like tomato and pepper.
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