Hay will drop weed seeds,use straw.

Too bad about your tree. You're very lucky it was only a tree and not everything.

Please clarify: did you grind the stump and refill the hole with the ground stump? Filling the hole with chipped wood will result in a hole exactly the size of the hole you started with. The only thing you can fill a hole with is minerals like a soil containing clay, silt, and sand. A hole full of organic matter will completely empty itself before your eyes. Not only that but while it is disappearing, nothing will grow on it because of the huge nitrogen requirement to decompose the wood. The fastest way out of your situation would be to go out in the woods, find a piece of rotten wood, and put that on top of your pile of chipped wood. Then keep the pile moist (not soaking wet) for several weeks until the wood rot takes hold in the wood chips. After that the wood rot fungus will sustain itself without the continual moisture. Still it will take a year or so to completely rot away. then you can fill the hole with soil. If you dig out half and fill it will soil, the rest will eventually rot away and leave you with a hole again. ...and nothing will grow on the top layer of soil while the wood underneath the soil is rotting.

Agree with Mitter. Hay is not what you want. You want straw. But I wouldn't even do that. It is too late in the season to expect grass seed to sprout. I would sit back and let Nature take Her course. Then see what you have left. She may do you a favor or may send you something worse.

Thanks so much for your reply. Looks like I have a lot of work ahead if me. My once shady garden will be a sunny one now and I look forward to planning that this winter.