FC

I used her mulching method for my garden years ago and loved it! I was able to get salt hay and mulch around all my veggies with about six inches of it. It came apart in compressed blocks of hay and worked great! But I didn't use it until the soil had already warmed up -- it will slow the warming if you mulch too early.

In fact, I'm so glad you made this post! If it's affordable, I think I'll do it again! I haven't thought about mulching with hay for years, and it sure saves a lot of weeding.

When I did it before, I didn't have any "virulent" weeds to deal with, but now I have bindweed, so I'm not expecting that the straw will snuff it completely. The nice thing is that the soil stays moist and friable under the hay, and anything that dares to grow up through the hay is easy to uproot.

Can you use the bittercress in salads? I know it can be pesky, but a lot of people like to eat it.

Hi anney,
I probably could use some of the bittercress for salad, i always knew you could eat it. I have an acre and 1/2 covered in it. I went ahead and put the hay i had over my raised veggie beds to keep the weeds from getting any thicker, i covered it pretty good but again not so bad that it doesnt get rain. I think i lost my strawberries in the freeze we had a few weeks ago. but,lightly covered them.
I found Ruth Stouts book in my mother-in-laws collection of gardening books. it was hiding way back and its a 2nd addition from 1972. I love it, i started yesterday and am almost done. I am putting in new herb beds and have been doing the lasagna beds with those. threw some hay in those also. we didnt get to all the maple leaves. i will have to wait for a few dry days to do that cuz right now there pretty gross. I also need to mulch my flower beds but i don't think i will use the hay, maybe something else, if i can find something cheap.

My garden is a permanent bed garden, paths mulched with wood chips, beds with hay--not straw. I've been gardening like this for many, many years, and have never owned a tiller. I get spoiled hay, but am careful not to get hay that is very weedy (cut too late). Only once did I get hay that I couldn't use becuase it had too many weed seeds.

I have no weeds to speak of and I either pull the hay aside for a row or remove a section for a mass planting of, say, chicories or lettuces. A neighbor with a big traditional garden watched me for years, asking questions and checking out my results. Last year he turned a third of his garden into permanent beds and was thrilled with the results.

You will be too.

I used to use Ruth Stouts method and enjoyed it as well. It works well when space is not an issue. For me, space is still not an issue, but I no longer lean towards RS methods. I am still a huge mulch advocate, but use less mulch, more plants, and narrow beds so I don't need paths. A mish-mash of bio-intensive, square-foot, lasagna, potager styles. I just call it my kitchen garden. ....Kay.

Kay

Just curious...

How is space an issue with Ruth's method? I think you meant that close plantings can shade the soil below so you don't mulch with anything, but just thought I'd ask.

I won't space anything differently if I mulch with hay or not!

There's a mulch vendor not far from me, and I checked to see what they planned to charge for a bale of hay this Spring -- it's certainly gone up! He told me $5 but didn't know the dimensions of the bales. The standard is about 3' x 2' x 2'. I may or may not be able to afford it!