Well, it's too late now. :)

[Cassandra]

I've already done it, so I'm somewhat committed to it now. But I am impatient to see the results so I wanted to ask what the more experienced among us think might happen.

I built my raised beds on top of the spot where I had my chicken run over the winter. While the run was there, I scattered a bail of hay at one point.

I put the beds down on top of that (the hay and chicken poop) and churned up the dirt with a shovel. Then I poured a bag of miracle grown garden soil in each bed. I mixed the garden soil in with the dirt and poop/hay using a .. wosname (hand trowel?) thing that looks like a tittle pitch fork with bent tines.

I planted stuff in that. Bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, lima beans, pole beans and peas. In one of the beds in particular, there was a lot more hay than in the others mixed in. I guess that was where the bale mostly landed.

Do you think it'll be alright? It was a terrible lot of work. LOL

Cassandra

 

[aquarose]

Hi Cassandra. I envy you your brand new raised beds. I have been measuring all morning and wondering if I can get my husband on board with spending $$$ on Trex for 2 raised beds. In my opinion, the worst problem you are going to have is when the seeds from the hay start to germinate. I used hay once for mulch and little hay seedlings were everywhere. They should be easy to hand pull once they appear since the soil is loose, and once they are gone, they are gone. The rest of the hay should decompose and with the chicken poo you should have phenomenal soil! Good Luck!

 

[Cassandra]

Well, that is pretty good news, aquarose! I really didn't realize there was so much hay until it was too late. And in most of the beds, there isn't much. Just in that one spot... once I sat down and started really mixing--it seemed endless. LOL I did trow some of it out.

This is my first raised bed endeavor. They are pretty low on the raised bed totem pole, as far as it goes. Thrown together. But I didn't want shortage of funds to prevent me from having a go at it, so I used what materials I could get. If I get pretty successful at it, I will put more money into it over time.

I'm excited to see how it goes. Two months is such a long time to wait for produce!! (nothing like waiting eight months for eggs from when you first get a day-old chick, though. LOL

I will be on the lookout for little hay shoots.

Cassandra

 

[ozark hen]

to be honest with you, you didn't need to add any fertilizer after building your garden in the run. Without the added fertilizer, you still would have had an amazing garden.

 

[patandchickens]

I betcha you will be just fine. Just make sure that when you set individual plants in (or sow seeds) that there is reasonable soil around them, not just a pocket of airy hay.

As aquarose says, weed seeds may be a little bit of an issue but frankly if the hay is mostly 'underground' of your soil you may be ok as long as you do not disturb it. For that reason, if it were me I would rely on mulching for weed control rather than hoeing/cultivating/hand-pulling or any other method that disturbs the soil and brings new bits of soil up to the sunlit level.

Have fun,

Pat