My biggest gripe!!

[ceresone]

and listen to the answers!!
its "organic" gardeners saying, dont put hay on your gardens, you'll be bringing in weed seeds!! so--if you have weeds come up--listen to Ruth Stout--you DONT HAVE THICK ENOUGH HAY!! throw a little more hay on anything that comes up--its rots down into more dark, black composted soil.
So, if you have weeds--its your fault--the hay isnt thick enough. this idea is the best idea for gardeners since lemonaid--or iced tea--or a pocket in a shirt!

[kabuti]

We dont have an unlimited supply of hay, nor do I care to create a nicer environment for rodents to live next to their food source, my vegetables. Not to mention the mold that grows on the hay next to the vegetables. It is good mulch though.

[lovetogarden]

I agree, ceresone. In my corner of the world, thick mulch cuts down on weeding and helps me renew organic matter in my garden. And the mulch keeps my shoes clean. I live in the country, but really have not had any major
trouble with rodents. They have better places to live-out of the path of my dog
who lives to hunt.

[Laughingpanther]

If you have a rodent problem, get some cats and let them run around outside a lot.

[Pharmerphil]

We use straw, and although I use lots,( aprox. 12 inches after compacted) I still get...you guessed it...OATS!
but no weeds, I have resorted to a underlayment of newspaper first.
as far as rodents,haven't seen any or any visible damage, guess it IS the cats, or the garden snakes!

[flowerpower]

I haven't seen too much rodent damage. I have seen many snakes in the hay, so that helps. I also saw evidence that an owl was hunting there.

[kabuti]

we have a cat & she brings me lots of rodents, into my bed, but there are still more. I may try poison. another cat visits the garden at night & I was glad except last week when I sowed those seeds it dug them up like a dog so now I'm wondering. I always had the same thing with mulch- oats growing instead of weeds.

[Gimme3Steps]

wanna try an respond....simply from experience. 44 square bales of wheat straw were used to mulch a 2100 sq.ft garden (40' X 70'). at a cost of 3.67 per bale. The season was overly wet, until Autumn. I experienced the best crop of Dixie white butterpeas, i have ever seen in my 45 year old life. These plants went into bloom an reproduction cycle...THREE times.

Mulches, not only repel an supress weeds, they naturally turn into humus, wherin they give back to soil, all, that they ever took from it, minus their atmospheric an fruit loss.
If you ever read..."the Ploughman's Folly", by Edward Faulkner ...it'll make Sense. Ruth Stout wasnt lyin.

The beauties of mulching, lie not only, in their natural ability to repel competitors, nor in their inherrent soil-building/plant-feeding traits......heres another one to consider....

how much Time does it take...to weed ? Is that Time valuable to one ? if it IS, then mulching heavily, is the Way, to spend one's available Time doing things that are far more Beneficial towards the over-all yields produced in a Garden, than fighting weeds.
Also, keep in mind....some weeds.....are jus like some snakes, they dont deserve to be called or regarded as such...)))

Nature abhors bare ground, and it is God's Way, to implement rapid re-vegetation upon the Earth.....something that plants, thru eons of Time, evolved to do. Mulches, diminish the need, for re-vegetation by natural weed sprout. Mulches care an protect the soil, and allow rain to gently percolate thru it, never hardening it...)))

[Pharmerphil]

Reckon the only bad experience I ever had was one early spring when I turned over a Pitchfork full of lil hopping bunnies!

[FourDeuce]

Another benefit to thick mulch is it helps keep in the moisture. That's good, when we're having droughts like we've been having lately.

[tabitha]

we're building a stawbale barn this year, and using additional straw bales for scaffolding- those will be mulch. wheat straw. i personally wouldnt use grass hay, but wheat, alfalfa, straws suit me fine!

i am in the middle of "organic orcharding" by gene logsdon, understanding we will need a lot of mulch in the lives our our orchard trees...

[tweezle]

We tried Ruth's method on half the garden last year, and let me tell you, I'm sold!! The production was not only higher, but the plants did so much better and we didn't lose anything to the really hot and dry summer we had. The bare garden didn't fare so well. We lost many of the plants and the yield on those that did survive was not very good.

Ruth is my hero!!
Theresa

[kabuti]

Well, the 'mulch' I'm trying this time is annual ryegrass. The earliest which was planted last fall is knee high now & has crowded out the pernicious, not to mention, persnickety weeds. Also when I mow it I can till it into the beds for fert., its supposed to be high nitro. It also looks good & can be planted here anytime & will sprout, Ive been sowing it all winter. On the uncovered ground an abundance of weeds are coming up thickly.

[romar]

if you can get it marsh hay is better but in any event ANYmulch is better than none. we have used old hay and weeds are not a problem. snakes will most likely appear but just be aware of that and know that they are there to eat the mice.

[gypsy camp]

The grain I feed my goats comes in paper 50 # bags. I cut the bags down both sides, and it makes a 21" x 62" strip of thick paper that I lay down on the ground before I put the hay or straw flakes on it for mulch. Works great. I am trying it out right now on an area of comfrey that I want to smother out and plant to something else.
d

[TennOC]

Red pepper will keep rodents- and cats, out of yer garden stuff. PS. Don't rub your eyes while gardening, lol.

[Mothergoose]

I always add straw to the garden--from the barn--along with manure from ducks, geese and chickens. I find it helps control annual weeds. The Canada thistle and dandelions still come up nice and healthy. The straw also improves the heavy soil I have. I often have oats or wheat growing (from the straw) but it's easy to pull out and my geese also eat it.