Anyway, for now I'm sold. Any others with this experience? I'm thinking I should make special provision for the slugs that will find (have found) shelter.

anything that is lucky enough to pop up gets pulled and tucked under for extra nutrient.

len

Love the straw bale garden!

I was a pretty devote stout follower up until this season, when I decided to add some manure (since I found a free source). The manure really did make a big difference - I think some N is depleted from the soil while the mulch decomposes. In previous years, I added cottonseed or bloodmeal to replace this - but the manure does it so much better as well as adding more organic matter.

For the slugs, I use beer, and it's really only an issue in the spring when the plants are getting started. Once the plants get going they tend to be stronger then the slugs.

One problem I am having with the mulch is that some rodents have moved in and are eating my peas. I've been using rat traps set with peanut butter and sunflower seeds and so far seem to be winning the battle for the peas.

I will NOT share my beer with the slugs! LOL.

Manure is a great source of N but the stuff I get is Horse manure with sawdust bedding and I think the N is pretty much awash because of the wood products. It's all good because when the composting is done we get the good stuff back but with this mix I like it better as a mulch. When it breaks down I get the gooodies as plant food.

Did you remove the straw to put on the manure, or get rid of the straw altogether? I'd like to plant a cover crop this fall if possible, and would just "push the hay aside". (Fertility has been an issue in my garden, due to putting on the aforementioned horse manure and sawdust without properly composting it. Doing pretty well this year.) DH said buy the cheap beer to trap the slugs.I still have cuke and bean seedlings that need protection.

If you want to use cover crops it might be best to stick with straw instead of hay. Straw usually has some seeds but compared to hay it might as well have no seeds.

I've started using Sluggo this year and it has really seemed to keep the slugs in control. But like I said I haven't been using as much straw so that is a factor.

The stout method does encourage us to lay it on thick enough to cover anything (except whichgrass), so seeds really have never been an issue for me. I even let dandolines go to seed without worry. Stout also encourages you not to worry about weed seeds - and just get the cheapest, most easily available mulch you can find.

Some of the manure I put right on top of the hay and then added more hay. In the areas where I put my heat loving crops I remove the mulch in early spring - and then dumped the aged manure directly on the soil. When I put in my starts or seeds, I re-mulch.

I'm in upstate NY - so it would take a tank of gasoline to light my rotting mulch on fire. I would guess that dry places would benifit from the mulch even more then I do - nothing looks more harsh then crusty baked naked garden soil to me these days.

I also cannot abide the sight of bare, cracked dirt. I've half a mind to steal around the neighbourhood at night and guerilla mulch people's yards while they sleep. No naked soil will be spared.

if a gardener mulches heavily enough then almost nothing will sprout even much saught after volunteers, and for me i have never had anything sprout out of spoilt lucerne hay mulch, can't even imagine what may sprout out of unspoilt luceren hay?? lucerne maybe? wish it would i would use it as a cover crop. have used lots of pasture grass hay unspoilt and even there any growths have been minimal and nothing has ever perpetuated. my gardens are not over run with weeds, mulching makes sure of that.

use whatever you can get cheaply enough, and don't lose any sleep over it, your gardens will thrive. a weed is only a weed if you don't make use of it.

thanks for the appreciation of our bale garden presentation.

len

My mulch is only a couple inches thick. If I increase the depth will the seeds die off? I'm worried that would just add more seeds to my soil for growth at the end of the season when the hay has composted into the soil.

I also have plenty of extra straw. Instead of using it in the garden should I compost it in my bins? I never feel like my compost gets hot enough but if it results in soil can I just assume the seeds were killed?

Please help a newbie....
Alexis

Could you rake the straw around with a steel rake to dislodge the seedlings?

berry Bob: Wow, what a score.

I got the bales from a supermarket Halloween display for $1 a bale and stored it over the winter. It's not as lovely and fresh as what I bought last year, but it will do for adding to the paths to kill the dandelions and other weeks.

I found alpaca/llama manure (very cheap) on Craigslist in my neighborhood a few weeks ago, so will add that to the vegetable garden.