Keep trying to post the pics up but it sounds like you’re still gonna need to scratch that crust off the top. It doesn’t mean you have to let it really dig or anything….just loosen up that crust enough to get some cereal rye established. Unless you have a lot to plant to where cost would be too much then I would go HEAVY on your cereal rye seeding rate….purposely over kill it. Add your fert and continue to hit with nitrogen over the winter and through next spring….low doses every 6-8 weeks. For sure hit with some nitrogen right as spring starts to green up and the rye begins to bolt. What we’re trying to do is push out enough growth out of the rye crop that we produce enough hay to get the soil surface covered next spring. That’s the major first hurdle to have to get over.

Something that's a good idea for anyone to do is to take a shovel and dig down a couple feet in your plot....check out what's going on in the subsoil....look to see if there are different horizons....how deep are they??? Are they restricting root growth? etc..etc...