RE: What exactly grew?
 

Sounds like you might have had just enough rain 10 days after planting to sprout the seeds and then it turned dry again and your little seedlings died. I don't know of anything you can plant in a food plot that will grow without water.

RE: What exactly grew?
 

I bet I can grow better dirt than you!!!


Actually it was the same for me here in VA, no rain and a whole lot of dust. I did have oats come back from last year, I waited untill the oats seeded out before mowing and they grew like crazy since the seed was covered by some of the straw.
I came back in September and broadcast some winter rye and it came up very well and is still getting mowed flat by the deer. I use my home garden as a comparison since I plant rye as a cover crop. At home the rye is about twelve inches tall and on the hunting grounds it is no more than two inches.
A lesson I have learned if you want a food plot/ cover for all sorts of game, plant oats in lated feb. or march and let it grow without mowing, it will reseed and turn green again by fall. I do this on a once acre piece that has rough soil and is a pain to get to with any type of equipment.