In article ,
"Pat" wrote:

"None4U" wrote

| Id really like to have a continuous mulch garden and put on 6 inches of
hay
| every fall. And let it sit and compact through the winter.
|
| And I was going to just cover the plot for the year and kill everything
off
| and start next year.

Without the weed suppressor fabric you might be screwed cuz hay is generally
full of weed and grass seeds. I'd be using straw instead, then the worst
you'd probably get would be some wheat or whatever made the straw.
You can also mulch with grass clippings, and leaves.

My personal trick to get a plot cleared for the following year is to use
discarded carpet from a dumpster behind a carpet store. Every time they
recarpet a home, that's where the old carpet goes. It's old enough usually
that it no longer has chemicals in it. Water gets through, light and weeds
don't. If you can leave it for a full year, there won't be any plants left
alive under it. Covered from early fall to late spring might be enough if
you don't have bermuda grass. You can cover the carpet with wood chips if
it's unsightly.

Carpet doesn't feed soil organisms.


In spring, just sweep off and roll up the carpet, hoe up the plot, add soil
amendments (I only add to the soil in the rows or mounds where the vegies
will go, not the entire plot), plant and mulch. No need for weed fabric.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html