Questions about mulching w/ straw

This is my first time mulching with straw and, though I've read through all the threads I could find on the subject, I've still got a couple of questions. First, I know that pepper/melon/cuke/squash beds benefit from warming with newspaper or black plastic. And that straw mulch can cool a bed down. Can I mulch them with straw, wet 'em down, and THEN cover with black plastic a few weeks before planting? Has anyone done this? It seems like it would be a good idea, but if anyone's got info to the contrary, I'd love to have it.

Secondly, if I'm, say, planting a few rows of carrots or radishes, is it possible to cover the bed with mulch and then pull it gently away when the seedlings emerge? I've had some trouble with these raised beds drying out quickly and hampering germination.

Thanks for any advice!

If you wet down your straw and cover with black plastic for a few weeks, you'll have compost when you pull it back! Or, at least a stinky, rotty mess.

I put down newspaper and cover with straw. This keeps the straw on top where it can stay much drier.

If your straw gets wet and stays wet...heat will build up in it just like a compost pile..and it will mold and rot.

I like straw as a mulch but sometimes the stuff I get can have some hay seed in it and so I have to set the bales to the side
and see if they germinate. Don't want that in the garden.

Thankee...

Unfortunately, my straw is full of seeds. Oats, looks like, and MAN do they put down a root. They're easy to spot, and since the garden's new, I'm half grateful for the soil loosening they do before I pull or snip em. All right, that's just me trying to look on the bright side. sigh...

I have had peas come up throw mulch of grass clippings, and they are easy enough to pull away. Straw on the other hand, could be more difficult, and I would be concerned with damaging the seedlings when you try to move the straw. Last year I mulched carrots and radishes AFTER they were up.

Belive it or not, I am even grateful for the weeds that grow. They bring nutrients up closer to the tender veggies, and make tunnels for redworms and earthworms. And provide shelter for beneficial insects when I have nothing else up or blooming. Then, when I pull them (before they go to seed), I use them as a mulch. They put good nutrients back into the soil. As a matter of fact, I believe they put back EXACTLY what that particular soil is deficient in.

So stay on the bright side Zeppy :-) If you keep your garden well mulched, you could consider not even tilling next year!

I do the newspaper/straw thing too (in the flowerbeds and fruit garden) and have never had a problem with sprouting straw. I guess I have a good source. It sure does cut down on the watering and weeding for me. In the veggie garden I also allow some weeds to grow for several reasons. There are rabbits here and they would eat only my veggies if that was the only thing growing. It didn't take too many gardening losses to learn that leaving a few weeds growing gives them something else to eat. Also, allowing some weeds to come up is like stealth gardening. The bugs don't have a landing strip with runway lights on a mixed environment that they do with a monoculture. I cut them down as they get large and leave them in place as mulch. All but the lambs quarters. We like to eat them when they are small.

A landing strip! I love it! I always thought of it as a smorgasborg...

The weeds are also places for beneficials to eat aphids (and other things for aphids to eat), and "traps" or distractions for moths, butterflies (caterpillars). And when the weeds bloom, they help attract more pollinators. After they bloom, the weeds are pretty much history, there is always another kind starting to bloom :-) I read (and have found to be true) that after the bloom is the best time to pull or cut them. Their energy is spent and so they cannot grow back up, but they have not spread their seed yet either.

Zeppy, sorry to get off track on your thread. What did you decide about mulching? I pulled a bunch of patches of wheat that came up from last years hay mulch, and the horses loved it!

We're on our second year of using hay/straw as a mulch, and I never thought about how the bad guys could view our mostly weedless garden. I adore the word picture that Kerry painted and appreciate the extra comments that Tamara made. :)

Guess we lucked out since we're in the city and there are few veggie gardens in the neighborhood surrounding us, but it sure makes me think twice about pulling each and every weed now!

Donna

Donna, thanks for the comments. I certainly stand accused of thinking differently LOL Before I actually started learning about weeds, I thought those things sounded like a lazy excuse :-) Actually, they still SOUND that way, but I know better... everything in moderation, even WEEDS

TF

TamaraFaye, no question of tilling next year; I've raised the beds so that can't happen! If I knew more about different grains I could tell you what is planting itself from the seedheads in the straw I've got, but it has got some TENACIOUS roots and pulls up a lot of soil when I pull it. This sucks, because next to carrots, for example, it can really screw up delicate roots. So I'm cutting them, but I suspect this isn't enough and they'll come back.

I let flowering weeds do their thing, esp the ones that attract parasitic wasps, but I don't like a plant I didn't want taking nutrients from my veggies. It's a mixed bag. And this bad batch of straw isn't doing me any favors. Next year I'll be smarter... Wish salt hay was available, renewable, and cheap!

Wow, see what you mean. Cutting it is all you can do, but if the tops don't have seeds, then mulch with it. ALso, you could spray it with a vinegar mix to kill it back.

One thing I'll say for this straw: it brought a billion worms into this garden.

Yes, they really like that cool soil! I've been meaning to get back here and say, that I totally agree with you on now weeds IN the raised bed. There just isn't room, unless you give them their own "square", which I have to admit, I have considered :-)

Isn't it great, that with the raised beds, and also when you mulch with something like straw, the weeds' roots are so spindly, that they pop right out when you pull em!!!???