First Veggie Garden - Using Hay/Straw to Cover Exposed Soil

Did you see the pic of the white pvc pipe hoops its in the right hsamd corner running back. First frost date can be as early as sept 15 but usually in oct as late as 1st wk of nov Your wheat will still germ after frost as long as you have some warm days. Ernie

ernie~
I can see the hoops, just not the tape. I will check into those links and figure it out... you know I will have more questions later LOL

Ok

Thanks Eweed and Horseshoe! You just taught me quite a bit! You are correct Eweed, I am not doing a living mulch. This part of my yard is just a regular old veggie garden, squash, watermelon, etc etc and I want to do everything in my power to have great soil! The other thing I want to do is keep the soil covered for the benefits but also because my DH has expressed he is not interested at looking at a bare patch of ground all winter. Crimson Clover and Winter Wheat sound like better options than the rye I selected. Especially if I don't have to till the Clover - that sounds wonderful..

nc....your hubby and yourself will love the crimson clover. Nice and green all winter, nice and crimson late Spring!

Love the pic!! Beautiful!! Especially when you know it's also functional!! I will be ordering some in a bit!

I believe you'll find it is cheaper at your local farm supply...perhaps you have a Southern States nearby?

You are very smart.. I hadn't thought of that!! I will look into it.. By the way, got my Rye in today - any ideas what I can make with it? LOL!

hah!...It's not that I am smart but rather that I am a miser! ( I pinch pennies so hard they flatten to the size of a quarter! Makes me feel good to be carrying quarter-sized pennies! ;>)

I've not grown much rye. Did you get the grain type, or rye grass?

Well, all it says on the packaging is Winter Rye so I am not sure. One thing about Pinetree I do not like is they only put common names on their packets! It does not say Ryegrass though - of that I can be sure. I would assume it is grain - maybe I can bake something! LOL

Tutti - I grew up in Walla Walla - it is warmer there, but they still get cold winters just like us.

*smiles and waves hello to jen and ncgardenaddict and Nanumi*

How exciting to see ya'll join in here, too!!!

Tamara, I spotted your other post and can't wait to see your pics!

And Karrie, it's still pretty obvious that I'm a newbie to the Inland Northwest, isn't it? ;)

SO1 just read over my shoulder when I showed him your response, and he grinned at me and said, "Dear, you really asked if you could grow Walla Walla onions?!". He then explained why we COULD grow them.

I'm so embarrassed right now! LOL I get so intent in reading and posting sometimes that I forget to check with that Spokane native sitting just three feet away from me on his own computer. Happily, he's not easily offended. :)

His and hers computers and do you have his and her garden hoes or do you share one? Better yet do you bait SO1 into forbidding you to use his hoe? lol Ernie

LOL... Ernie, we *DO* have his and hers pruning shears, his and hers pick axes, and his and hers shovels, his and hers kneepads, his and hers gardening gloves... but it's his tiller and my whip (typically something close, like a tall milkweed plant)! LOL

Would you believe everything is mine untill it fruits or flowers and then even the kids noticed Linda saying this is My favorite apple tree and these are my baskets and these are get the drift. Actually since my health started going down she helps me a lot and without her I would do less. I just think it's funny how she stakes claim to certian things lol and none of my three tillers are in her claim zone.Ernie

But you give Linda so many wonderful flowers every year, Ernie!

Daisy yes and she gives me food washes my clothes and on and on so she can have what she wants just not my tomatoes. I have a keeper in her she claims the potatoes so she digs them lol. 38 years ago I had a really fast car a motorcycle and a stool in every bar. Today I have graying hair a Troy built or two and a boss now how did that happen lol night Ernie

Aw Ernie, your last post made me smile. Now I know why she loves you so much. YOU are a keeper. Heck, your post even made me love you. :)

Donna just to be sure my corn is gold n sweet I had a Shaman do a dance and see what I got Ernie

Ahhhh! What a glorious rainbow! :)

BabaLinda?

My favorite shamaness.

Donna just for you and yours want some seed maybe the rainbow is sprouting from the corn lol Ernie

OMG Ernie! That pic with the sunflowers and the rainbows! WOWZA! you have to enter that one into the photo contest please please please, just for me!!!!!!! BEAUTIFUL!

Glad you are learning how to do this now! Thanks to Kimberly!

WOWZA! I am impressed! Do I have permission to use that as my desktop pic? It's beautiful! (and inspiring)!

This message was edited Aug 19, 2004 11:16 PM

Yes Ernie, what a bee-yoo-tee-ful site!

You're offering rainbow seeds, Ernie? *giggle*

I'll take any you have to spare, especially of those double rainbows you caught in your photos! (or was that just me imagining the double rainbow?)

Rainbow corn would work, as well. ;)

*HUGS*
Donna

Donna no you were not immagining it there were double bows in that shot but I did offer you corn seed on the rocks. Ernie

Corn seed on the rocks? Is that a new drink? Or a very very old one?! lol

Grasshopper don'tch know corn on the rocks is plain corn seed mmmmm or could it be corn squeezins, I thought of you today looking at my last broc crop wanted to take a pict of a eight inch head before it left in the booty bag of my garden raiding mil and Lindas aunt they left with lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, peppers, onions, and swiss chard. Grrrrr to mil harvesting anything just wish she would let me get it she is hard headed about how to do it and wrecks some of my plants grrrrrrr.Ernie

Grasshopper reporting in!

No, I didn't know 'corn on the rocks' was plain seed corn, and didn't know what corn squeezins was, either. Guess that's why I'm a still a newbie. :)

Sharing the harvest is generous! Perhaps your future sharing needs to be along the line of, "I'm ready, what would you like?". That might indicate the better unspoken comment of, "Don't you dare trample down my precious garden!".

*giggle*

Guess your MIL isn't a newbie, eh? ;)

*HUGS*
Donna

I use Horse manure and sawdust for my everything-it is what I can get for free -I compost it, mulch with it, and fertilize with it,and it works--as long as I am consistant it will be broken down [eaten by the worms] in time to fertilize next seasons crops. The only problem is it has too much hay in it sometimes,and that means weed seeds. So I pull them or cover them up.

I read The No Work Garden Book years ago and think it is great. I still cover up everything with mulch of some kind, and it 's been at least 20 years. I have Rabbits and they provide some manure, but not nearly enough. I haul home a 4x8x4' high trailer load once every week or two,it holds about 5 yds if it is heaped a little [as it usually is],from one of the Horse Farms I do handyman work for. They pay me $25. a load,it pays for the fuel and encourages me to keep with the program. They will call me when it gets full so I don't forget, to haul it away on my way home, and bring it back the next morning.I keep filling my greenhouse and garden and they never get full--OH WELL

If I may comment about using hay....

If you buy a GOOD quality hay bale, you will not have weed seeds. The hay I purchase is superb quality bermuda and they cut BEFORE seed heads form. Nutrional quality of the grass will decrease as seed heads form and mature. (from prospective of a horse's diet)

Plus, those farmers who grow hay are fertilizing and have very FEW weeds in their pastures. I'm not afraid at all to use hay on my gardens. In fact, I put some around my rhododendrons. That was two months ago and I dont have ANY weeds.