sowing a wheat crop

We do similar.  We cover our plot with straw from the local stables to a depth of about 3 inches each autumn.

The worms pull some of it in over winter.  It’s very good as a weed suppressant in spring.  Some we lift and put on the compost heap if we want to clear a space.

I think that's a good idea Aunty we did the same a couple of years ago when we had plenty of horse manure mixed with straw unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances we don't get much horse manure now and its raw horse poo of the field with no straw

so that was the  idea of growing a wheat crop from seed on the allotment much the same as growing green manure and although we will be growing some mustard again next season its going to be a learning curb by sowing the both  side by side on the plot to see if they improve the soil if that makes sense to nourish the ground with something  because  the supplier of our cattle manure has packed up farming  end of cattle manure supply

so basically sow the wheat seed on part of the plot keeping it clear of weeds that's  important i will be spraying my wheat crop with a selected spray something like one would use on there lawn so not to kill the   
 corn but supress the weeds then when the crop is ready cut it down and dig it in the ground i hope this makes it more clearer what i intend to do basically its a trial if it works job well done if not its back to the drawing board

I think the main reason farmers plough in wheatstraw is low prices and not being allowed to burn it !
There are pest issues with uncut cereal crops plus the straw uses up nitrogen when decomposing.
There are probably  better green manures to be had.

i have been told there is a shortfall of straw this season and straw is costing more to buy in and of cause there's the minimum cultivation on unploughed  land after the crop has been harvested as the straw is chopped up and the ground sowed directly onto the leftover straw not sure about farmers using green manure as its not something that's farmers grow round here but one would have thought growing green manure would be a better option to improve soil but not sure on that one ?

and although straw burning was banned i believe there's more value in ploughing the straw back in the ground than burning it but taking the environmental issues aside there ground was much cleaner after the straw was burned just a bit of potash

It used to be quite common to undersow a cereal crop with green manure such as clover , not heard so much about it in recent years.
 We used to shoot a lot of Woodpigeon over Clover in stubble back in the 70's.
Have you had a look at Comfrey for your patch ?
Bocking 42 springs to mind.

yes your rite Grinling  there is a shortfall of wheat because of the inclement weather that was the case round here and most of the country and we all know when things get in short supply prices tend to rise and of cause there's never the yields from spring grown crops than winter sown

but I'm not sure that crop rotation plays an integral part of improving crops and yields as its been a rule of thumb for both farmers and gardeners for past years but one of the biggest problems for cereal growers is black grass now rampant in cereal crops that is a major problem as for  crop rotation well quite a lot of farmers looked at growing rape for a break crop but unfortunately these crops are been destroyed by the flee beetle therefor uneconomical to even consider growing as an  alternative break crop  so what's the alternative break crop for crop rotation something I'm afraid i haven't  got the answer for 

that's a nice thought Jezza but we live in the middle of the country probably not worth collecting it but as i said nice of you to offer we do get some horse manure that we stack down the allotments but suppose you gathered I'm very interested in putting something back in the ground to improve the quality of the soil 

thank again RW

Hello if you cut the wheat with either a brush cutter with a heavy line into 4 inch pieces  or a rotary cutter it will put goodness back into the soil ,local carrot man flail cuts all the straw that he covers his carrots with as he lifts the carrots,as the straw and carrots go up the harvester the straw and soil is mixed together   jezza