I'm a huge fan of Ruth Stout's method. I use alfalfa bales because I have
no source of rotten hay.
Look her up on google and you'll get the gist of her philosophy, which was a
bit radical in her day. She had her detractors too.
-Tracy
"SugarChile" wrote in message
...
It sounds good to me....I'm envious of access to all that spoiled hay.
There is a good argument to be made *against* plowing and tilling.
Try your local library for books by Ruth Stout, written around the middle
of
the last century. She kept a permanent mulch of spoiled hay on her
garden,
with great results, and writes about it in a witty and charming style.
The only drawback I can think of is a possible increase in your slug
population (if you have one where you are). I have great success using
"Sluggo", a non-toxic slug bait, around susceptible plants.
Cheers,
Sue
--
Zone 6, Southcentral PA
"William Orth" wrote in message
om...
He suggested we line up 5-6 round bales (the BIG ones) of grass hay
and basically unroll them onto the garden. The idea would be to plant
veggies in between these strips, using the hay as a kind of 2-3 year
mulch layer.
I've thought this through and can't identify any obvious drawbacks,
outside of the fact that I won't be able to plow or disc this area for
a couple of years--at least until the heavy strips really begin to
rot.
Am I overlooking any obvious drawbacks? The hay is relatively free of
weeds.