Description
Common Organic Oats is a type of annual grass that produces an edible grain. The slender-stalked plant blooms in large spikelets (flower clusters) for a week or 2 in late spring to midsummer that develop into ripened grains later in the summer or fall. The loose panicles of grain gracefully dangle on one side of the branch and create a lovely, soothing sound when rustling in the breeze. Oats are higher in protein and healthy fats than most other whole grains..An Avena sativa species belonging to the Poaceae family, Common Organic Oats is a domesticated cereal grass with multiple uses. Early maturing and high yielding, the plant is cultivated as a source of grain, forage, and straw..Common Organic Oats grows best in cool, moist conditions. It has a shallow and fibrous root system and prefers locations with full sun and fertile, well-draining soil, but it adapts to sandy, loamy, and heavy clay soils and is second only to rye in its ability to survive in poor soils..For grain, plant in early spring; for cover crop, plant in spring or summer; for winter cover, plant in early to mid fall. Reap the plants when most of the green color has turned brown and the seeds are hardening (no longer milky). Cut near the base, bundle, and stack upright to dry. For herbal infusions and tinctures, harvest at the milky stage and dry..Multiple uses: ornamental, edible, or cover crop.
