Another question about filling raised beds

[GardeNerd]

I have had good results with straw (not hay.) I only use it when I can find it free though. Folks around here use it for party seating or fall decoration and then get rid of it on craigslist sometimes.

I like putting newspaper on top of the soil (the worms flock to it.) Then some kind of fertilizer on top of that; I use blood meal or compost usually. Then I put a thick layer of the straw. Kind of like what folks call lasagna gardening, but I just use what I have on hand. It really helps with the water conservation and weed control. It slowly breaks down and improves the soil over the course of the year. The newspaper helps with keeping down weeds below. I have a had an ocassional sprout from the hay, but nothing worth worrying about. It pulls right out.

When I don't have free hay, I use grass clipping and leaves as mulch most of the time.

 

[Rusty]

This is true for most hays BUT NOT BERMUDAGRASS. I mulched a strawberry bed with a bale of bermudagrass hay last year and never managed to pick a single strawberry because the grass took over the bed. The more I pulled it the faster and thicker it grew. It is the greenest part of my lawn this year.





Rusty

 

[GardeNerd]

I hate bermuda grass. It is evil. It is one of the only plants I would ever say that about. I believe it should have been listed as part of one of the levels of hell in Dante's Inferno. Kind of like how Southerns discribe Kudzu, (Pueraria lobata.)

Burmuda Grass is a popular drought tolerant lawn here, including at my house. It is part of life. It creeps in tiny cracks in the boarders and through the block wall drainage holes. I stay on top of it so it won't get the upper hand. I have seen it ruin many a newly established or neglected garden. I didn't know it was used for hay in some places. Thanks for the info.