Hi Jane,

I would avoid the hay/straw etc. You could end up with a lot of weeds, like a hay field. I would also avoid the plastic too so the soil, insects and decomposition can breathe and flourish.

Everything else sounds good though. You could also add bone meal, blood meal, fish meal to the soil for an organic slow release fertilized.

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Thanks for the reply. So no plastic. I was actually planning on using salt marsh hay that is weed free not straw. Is it okay to mix chopped leaves into the soil and then to use whole leaves just to cover the beds?

chopped leaves stay put better, they don't blow around as much.

The plastic is a very bad idea. Just to continue beating a dead horse.

However, I think the benefits of the hay mulch cover outweigh the weed problem. Weeds are very easy to control on garden-scale, IMO. Hay greatly stimulates soil activity through the winter because of its insulating property and the slow introduction of OM.

Be sure to pull the hay off by the end of April so the soil can warm up and dry out, if you use it.

Lots of people cover their gardens with black plastic up here over the winter with no ill effects. It prevents early season weed growth and heats the soil faster.

After the first frost I cover my garden with wheat straw. Some wheat usually germinates, but I easily pull it in March and compost it, and then rake what's left into the walkways. I second the comment about the wheat stimulating soil activity...after three years of this practice, I'm now gardneing in the proverbial "chocolate cake crumbs."

Ed

I don't use the plastic over winter, but I do put it on in late winter / early spring in order to warm the beds up and I leave it on during the growing season.

Don't know about the hay, all I do is chopped leaves etc.

I agree that putting on some black plastic for a a couple weeks in early spring to warm up the soil can be helpful, but all winter is a disaster because it starves the soil of moisture. What benefit can there be? There isn't any need for weed control in winter but the absorption of moisture is critical.

Today I removed all of the old plant debris and marked out the area for my expanded garden. At Lowes, I bought some Timberline Compost derived from cow manure and some peat moss. I was planning on mixing that into the beds and then putting a layer of chopped leaves and salt marsh hay over the beds as an insulator. Does that sound like a good plan? And How thick of a layer of leaves should I have over the beds?

Thanks again, Jane

Anyone please?

I wouldn't think your leaf layer would have a specific thickness recommendation. I wouldn't go too thick, but anywhere from 2 to 6 inches should be fine. Tough I wouldn't go that tall. To me you're just adding ingredients for lasagna composting. The mix sounds good though.

Any amount is fine. You just take it off in spring and put it in the compost pile.

Sorry, but one more questions. Is a layer of leaves over the strawberries good?

I think this is all a matter of personal preference. The mixing of any organic materials into the soil is going to provide benefits and the more you add the more improvement to the soil. But it has been my experience that the soil will warm quicker in the early spring without any mulch, organic or plastic. You could roll back this material in the spring but it seems like additional work to me and I don't see any benefit of having it there through winter.