In article , rossr35253
@forteinc.com says...
On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:23:37 -0400, "None4U"
wrote:

The book , by Ruth Stout states that by putting 8 inches of hay, or leaves,
or mulch on your garden. You dont have to do anything to it. My problem is
weeds. And I was almost going to cover my garden with black covering this
year and sterilize and let it kill all the weeds . Ive got those marigold
vines that overun everything. Do you think cover would keep the weeds down
and allow me to grow this year . Or should I cover it this year to kill the
weeds. Chemicals have already been done. They just come back.


If you put 8 inches of hay over your garden you may not have to do
much with it this year. But, next year you will have at least two
year's work trying to get rid of everything that sprouts from the
seeds in the hay.


We used hay one year because that was all we could get. We wound up with
some very ...assertive grasses with which to make compost.

There were very few weeds.

Given a choice, I'd use straw.