Welcome Mauldintiger! You will love this group. Everyone is really nice and helpful. There are tons of great gardeners here and some of us that struggle along. Tell us a little more about yourself so that we can get to know you. What zone do you garden in? What do you grow? Any chickens?
How do you post a pic? Tomatoes, butternut, acorn, summer, peppers, okra, beans, potatoes, rabbits ate the broccoli, cabbage, sweet potatoes, onions. Only real issue is slugs and worms in the cabbage. Dispel and slug go works, just have to be diligent applying it!
Oh, that looks really nice! Another person making me jealous with all that space. You could grow everything that you could want. You have so much room for chickens. You defintely need chickens! They'll give you delicious eggs and poop for your compost. Besides that, there are so many pretty ones out there. I'm one of those gardenerns that likes everything pretty. Not a weed in site in my yard. Ha
I agree on the straw for sure. I used to try to scrounge up whatever I could get free...grass clippings, old hay, etc. and hoed the rows like a crazy woman. But this year I decided it was $50 worth of straw bales or 50 hours spent weeding and hoeing. Money well spent! More time for fishing!
It will make a nice amendment to the soil when it's broken down. I brought home loads of cardboard from the recycle center and put it down first under the straw too. The cardboard I will pull out at the end of the season.