Many of us think of rice as a plant that grows in flooded fields, and that’s because the kind of rice we’re most familiar with — the long-grain, wetland variety called lowland rice — can be considered semi-aquatic, although it’s technically a grass.
Lowland rice would be challenging to grow in a home garden, but another, less common variety can be cultivated more easily in typical backyard conditions.
Duborskian rice, a Russian short-grained dryland, or “upland” rice, is a highly ornamental plant that can even be grown in containers, where its 2-foot-tall green and gold panicles will lend height and beauty to the center or rear of mixed planters.
But if grown as a crop, cultivating rice from your plants can be a fun activity for adventurous gardeners.
Start by making space
When determining how many plants to grow, consider that it takes approximately 10 plants to produce 1 pound of rice. Since each plant occupies only 1 foot of garden space, a 10-by-10-foot plot will hold 100 plants, which will yield roughly 6 to 10 pounds of rice in a season.
In the absence of purchased starter plants, seeds are best sown directly into the garden in May or June in frost-free zones. Elsewhere, they should be started indoors four weeks before the danger of frost has passed. Expect seeds to germinate in five to seven days.
A 24-hour water soak before sowing will hasten germination. Indoor starts are best aided by a heat mat.
Four-week-old seedlings should be transplanted outdoors at the same time it’s considered safe to plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in your region.
Taking care of your rice plants
Select a sunny spot and enrich the soil with a generous amount of compost before planting.
Since the rice requires a high level of nutrients, fertilize every two weeks with a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer.
Space plants 1 foot apart to ensure adequate circulation between them, as they will need to be pollinated by wind. You might also surround plants with netting to protect them from birds. Keep the surrounding soil free of weeds throughout the growing season.
Separating the rice from the chaff, and other steps
Your rice will be ready to harvest in about 105 days. You’ll know it’s ready when the seed heads appear dry but haven’t yet dropped their seeds. At that point, cut plants down to ground level and hang the stalks up for a few days to dry further.
But that’s not the end of it. Rice will have to be removed from its stalks, and each grain’s tough outer shell, called a hull, will need to be removed. On commercial farms, they have equipment to do this, but since you’re growing rice at home, you will have to do it manually.
Tie the cut ends of the dried stalks together, then place a screen (an old window screen will do) over a wheelbarrow. Rub the seed heads against the screen until the grains fall off into the wheelbarrow. If this sounds too complicated, you can achieve the same results by beating the tied bunch of stalks onto a clean sheet that you’ve laid on the ground.
Once the grains have been separated from their stalks, scoop them up and remove the hulls in batches using a mortar and pestle (put the kids to work!) If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can hit them with a rubber mallet, but it’s a delicate balance to remove the hulls without crushing the rice.
The next step is to separate the proverbial rice from the chaff (the hulls). The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a fan to blow the light-as-air hulls away. You can’t eat the hulls, but they can be added to compost piles or used as mulch.
If you’d like to save rice for replanting next year, put some aside before removing the hulls; they’ll need to be intact for the seeds to germinate.
To enjoy the fruits of your labor, cook the grains as you would any rice and enjoy it in sweet or savory recipes. It’ll be good, but not likely as good as the story you’ll be able to tell about that time you grew your own rice.
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Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.
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