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Alfalfa: Growing and Harvesting for your Backyard.

July 10, 2012 By: Anna8 Comments

Alfalfa

 

For some reason I had this urge to grow alfalfa last fall.  Maybe it was the picture of their dainty purple flower or dark glossy leaves that drew me to the plant.  Or perhaps, the health benefits of alfalfa?  Or maybe because the bees love it.  Who knows?   But now I have two raised beds full of gorgeous alfalfa.

Sometimes growing certain plants is a gut reaction that is often unexplained. I call it growing form the hip. Grow it and then figure it out.

Fall Planting

Last fall, I seeded two beds and worried that the seeds won’t take. General rule of thumb is plant the seeds a 1/2 inch deep. I sprinkled the seeds and then covered them lightly with compost.

Mind you, I was a little late in seeding.  It is best to seed no later than 6-8 weeks before frost date. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my act together to seed until 4 weeks before frost date. Boy, was I lucky that we had a late fall freeze.

Consider covering the beds with summer cloth covers.  I learned my lesson about seeding and birds. (By the way, I love these covers.)   You don’t even want to know how much of my freshly laid oat seeds were devoured by those pesky crows. (Remember, I planted oats as ground cover last fall?)

Was I incensed? You betcha.

So, I learned my lesson with my alfalfa.  Organic alfalfa is too expensive for me to simply give it away to the birds.  (Um, thanks to our friends Monsanto who now offer GMO alfalfa.)

By frost date, I had a tight row of small alfalfa in both beds. I held my breath until Spring hoping it would return. (Not really, silly. I would be dead.  Just a figure of speech. Remember, I am the ultimate gardening drama queen.)

Spring Came, and Houston We Have Lift Off

When Spring arrived, the gardening gods came me a pass for seeding late, and lo and behold. I had alfalfa.  See my video below of my Spring alfalfa. I sound like one proud Mama.

Hubby turned to me with exasperation and said, “what are you going to do with the alfalfa?  We don’t own horses or cows.”

Um, didn’t really think that far in advance. It is all about the gardening journey…

When to Harvest Alfalfa

When the beautiful dainty purple flowers start to appear, don’t be memorized by the flowers. General rule of thumb:  when 1/10th of the plants bloom, go ahead and harvest.  (It happens fairly quickly in the Spring.  Beginning of May for zone 6.) Be like Freddy Kruger and hack away.   Seriously.  You should cut it down to about 2 inches from its crown.

I took garden shears and hacked away.  Heck, it was hard since it looked like bed head hair.  All gnarly, falling over and a general mess.  And no, it doesn’t all stand up straight and perfect.  Alfalfa is just not a coiffed girl.

The plant is about 2 feet tall when it flowers.

I was scared to death that I killed the plants since they looked so pathetic.  However, in just a few days I saw growth and I did the happy dance.

Normally, you can harvest a couple of time during the growing period.  I am being cautious about harvesting again given our warm summer and its first year.  It isn’t looking as beautiful due to the heat.

I did see a bloom but again, I am waiting.

What Am I going to Do with the Alfalfa?

Um, working on the possibilities.  Right now it is laying inside drying on my laundry room floor.  From two 8 by 4 beds, I harvested about 6 large beach towel worth.  (Great measuring tools.) Catch, my next post on the benefits of alfalfa.

Join the Conversation:

  • Do you grow alfalfa?
  • Do grow certain plants because you just think they are beautiful?  If so, which ones?
  • Do you garden from the hip and figure it out afterwards?  (Oh, come on. I know I am not the only one.)
  • Do you eat alfalfa sprouts?  If so, why?

Gardener's Supply Company

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  • Alfalfa: How to Dry and Preserve for the Backyard Gardener.
  • Fall Vegetable Gardening. Starts at the Beginning of Summer
  • Grow Plants from Seeds. 4 Reasons Why you Should
  • Growing Leeks From Seed
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About Anna

Anna Hackman is the editor of Green Talk, and owner of The Naked Botanical and a avid (okay obsessed) gardener. She also loves video and podcasting and hosts Green Talk TV and Green Talk Radio. Her most important role is being a mother of four boys.

Chat with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest , and Google+.

Comments

  1. 1

    Cheryl Brian says

    July 13, 2012 at 1:53 am

    I do small scale farming and I grow alfa alfa to feed the few cattle I have.I as well sell to some farmers who also need it. It is a good business. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • 2

      Anna@Green Talk says

      July 13, 2012 at 1:57 am

      Cheryl, mine is turning yellow after the first cutting. I don’t see any bugs. What do you think it is . It is really abnormally hot here.

      Reply
  2. 3

    lou desena says

    December 11, 2013 at 1:04 pm

    ct. gardener here.-i’m going to plant some alfalfa seeds for the first time this “spring”.i want
    to use the “cuttings” to enrich my “mulch” pile with “nitrogen”.

    Reply
    • 4

      Anna@Green Talk says

      December 12, 2013 at 1:25 am

      Lou, that is a great idea. Anna

      Reply
  3. 5

    Betty Harwick says

    October 19, 2014 at 3:30 am

    I planted a small bed of alfalfa this year. I plan to add some to my green smoothie along with plantain leaves and dandelion greens

    Reply
  4. 6

    Monique says

    August 5, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    Thanks for the nice article, enjoyed it! Don’t know what possessed me, but we planted a bed of alfalfa last summer (ordered the seeds from Ebay, they were cheap for a 5-lb bag that would plant acres) – it might have been my husband’s stories of growing up in Kansas and the sweet pungent fragrance after it was harvested. In any event, non-farmer me had no idea it was a perennial plant ( dooh!) – I had just let them die back last summer and they mysteriously reappeared this spring – nice blooms, and yes the bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds love them. Will reseed according to your article this fall and look for them again next spring.

    Reply
    • 7

      Anna@Green Talk says

      August 6, 2015 at 10:05 pm

      Monique, you can’t reseed. I learned this the hard way. Alfalfa won’t let its own seeds germinate near it. I had to grow seedling to replant in the alfalfa bed. Anna

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Alfalfa the Green Wonder: Learn About its Health Benefits | Green Talk® says:
    July 17, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    […] I raved about growing alfalfa in my backyard.  Yes, cooing over the dainty flowers, how bees love it, and the health benefits of this green […]

    Reply

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