Along with prairie seed, I planted annual rye grass as a nurse crop. The purpose of a nurse crop is to crowd out the weeds, while not competing with the slow growing natives, and giving them a chance to grow. Since it's annual rye, it will only sprout once, as opposed to perennial rye, which would come back each year, and that's not what we want. Right after the seeding was completed, we started having temperatures close to 10 degrees above average. So the annual rye started sprouting in November, rather than in the spring as I had planned. The prairie seeds won't sprout now, because they need to break their dormancy over the winter. But annual rye is fast growing, and it sprouted early due to our unusually warm weather. And because it's an annual, it will just sprout this once and be done. So, I guess this means I'll be seeding annual rye again in April! Another learning experience for me.