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[thistlebloom]

Bee, your garden is beautiful!

I use a tarp to drag stuff around. Garden debris mostly, since the bulky stuff takes up so much room in my wheelbarrow. As long as you don't over estimate your pulling power it slides along pretty easy.
I have found that a 6x8 tarp works best for me. I'm inclined to fill things to maximum capacity and finally had to outwit myself by downsizing.

 

[ninnymary]

you can come visit any time...

p.s. Mom says, "We'll ship her a pail."

Tell mom seeds are cheaper to ship! haha

Mary

 

[ninnymary]

Love that hay Miss Bee! Especially that extra piled up. I still can't believe you found that many bales. So super happy for you!

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I sometimes use a wheelbarrow to move a bale of straw around. Easier than carrying them. Or sometimes when they are wet and heavy, I break the bale apart and use a wheelbarrow to take leaves of straw to where I'm spreading it instead of the whole thing. My back's still pretty good but it ain't what it once was.

That's what I did yesterday, but without the wheelbarrow....just broke them open and stabbed a portion of the bale on my trusty old pitchfork I got years ago at a yard sale for a buck. That thing is needle sharp and can hold quite a bit of hay. Made it easy to carry around the garden, then toss it down hard so it broke open even further, making it easier to spread.

Don't know what folks do without pitchforks nowadays, but they seem to be something of the past. I use mine every single day here.

Using the fork made me take more steps, which is something I'm trying to do every day here anyway...wearing my pedometer nowadays to see how many steps I get in one day. Trying to increase that number.

 

[6884]

Don't know what folks do without pitchforks nowadays, but they seem to be something of the past. I use mine every single day here.

I know what you mean, mine gets used constantly.

I'm going to try your method of hay use this fall once I harvest my collards. The soil changes from loose black to red clay in short order on the side I usually plant my Okra in. I can get all the round bails I can use for free, no problem there, its the rolling them out that's going to be a pain.

Your garden is looking great, I love to see when some ones hard work pays off.

 

[Beekissed]

I know what you mean, mine gets used constantly.

I'm going to try your method of hay use this fall once I harvest my collards. The soil changes from loose black to red clay in short order on the side I usually plant my Okra in. I can get all the round bails I can use for free, no problem there, its the rolling them out that's going to be a pain.

Your garden is looking great, I love to see when some ones hard work pays off.

Thank you! I thought rolling out the bales would be a pain too but they rolled surprisingly easy, even the really rotten ones. Now, making them turn at the end of a section to roll in the other way was a bit of a strain and I found myself standing improperly to do that, so the next day my lats were killin' me, but all in all it was easy. I did the whole garden with the round bales all by me onesies, so you shouldn't have too much problem.

Please let me know how you like the hay as opposed to other mulches. I'm finding it delightful! I've used it for years just snugged up around the plants themselves to keep down the weeds close to the plants, but never in this sheet mulching all over...I'm in love! Clean shoes, cushy place to kneel, no dirt splashed up on any plants..ever, and great compost rates.

 

[6884]

All squash plants are the healthiest I've had in many a long year, no squash borers in site and not a single squash beetle on any of the four yellow squash plants...compared to hundreds last year and not a single yellow squash harvested last year

I'll keep you posted Bee. The problem I think I'm having is my natural soil composition of good bacteria is off somewhat, I have had vine borer problems since day one. This year they are terrible. The 2 rows of yellow squash and zucchini I just plant is up, not a bloom yet and the leaves already have eggs on them. I don't normally mulch my big garden but if it will help in the vine borer area only, its worth a try.

 

[Beekissed]

I'll keep you posted Bee. The problem I think I'm having is my natural soil composition of good bacteria is off somewhat, I have had vine borer problems since day one. This year they are terrible. The 2 rows of yellow squash and zucchini I just plant is up, not a bloom yet and the leaves already have eggs on them. I don't normally mulch my big garden but if it will help in the vine borer area only, its worth a try.

The eggs you are seeing are likely squash bug eggs, but they aren't the squash borers...those are larva from a certain moth, can't remember the name of it right now, that lays its eggs on the stem of the plant and hatches a worm that bores into the vine itself.

Someone on SS had great success with squash bugs using Dawn soap and a sprayer...I used that this year and it really worked! Though you have to be careful of the concentration...I got it too concentrated at first and it killed the leaves and branches on which I sprayed it while trying to hit the bugs. Supposed to wash that soap off, I guess, but I didn't do that. I did spray eggs I found and it ate them right off the leaf...big hole in the leaf when I went back.

There's a vid on YT on it too....

 

[6884]

Yep, gonna try this on the plants that just came up. Also going to start another row of zucchini and squash next week, just in case I get invaded again. I may go ahead and mulch these plants in with hay, farmers just cut again last week, its still on the field, so its easy to get too. Thanks Bee.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

Got it done with 12 bales left over and about 25 still under the carport, so I'm set for this year, I think. Since the bales in the garden got wet, they are MUCH heavier than when dry....didn't do my back any favors there. I tried using our dolly but that just didn't work out, so had to walk each forkful of hay to wherever it needed to be in the garden. Took me longer than I expected doing it that way.

The garden before the hay was reapplied....covering very thin and hay growing up in places where it was thinnest.


This is where I threw the hay over the fence...a big ol' jumbled pile of hay bales. That's what happens when you plant veggies in front of your drive in gates, like some kind of idiot.


Now....pics of the garden after I applied about an 8-10 in. layer of hay throughout and stacked the left over bales that weighed a full metric ton each due to being wet.

I was watching a pioneer era romance movie with my wife last night and I noticed that when they were planting their garden they threw hay on top. It was a little tidbit for us BTE gardeners.

Bee, when you were doing wood chips did you ever add any blood meal or other organic nitrogen fertilizer to encourage wood chip breakdown more speedily?