Hay is fantastic! I get trailer loads of horse manure from family with studs, and horse manure throws up weeds, but hay doesn’t much. In winter I stamp down all of the last season residue and weeds (aka mother natures mulch), I spread manure, throw down a few inches of hot mulch from the local tree lopper to put some woody matter in there, cover with 6-12 inches of hay, leave it all for the beneficials and microbial ecosystem to devour, and plant into the rotted down remaining mulch in spring, stomping any weeds and covering/mulching with more hay as I go as required. Great system, no weeding required. Repeat again as summer vege finish ready for autumn planting. The longer you do it, the higher better the soil ecosystem becomes and the faster it breaks down and the healthier your vegetables get. Hay is the cheapest fertiliser and mulch and weed suppression tool there is. Avoid sourcing it from farms that broadcast spray anything, but other than that, go for it!
I use it, the worms love it and only a few weeds. I put hay down on my raised beds every winter and then cover it with unfinished compost and then plant in it in the spring.
Hay also has its own seeds that are hayseeds not weed seeds. It’s often used by folks to seed grass. Just spread hay lightly and soon there’s grass. That’s my biggest issue. I scythe my own on half an acre, hand rake and haul on tarps. But the issue is that the clover seeds very well wherever hay is spread as mulch. Maybe deeper layers is the answer. But I’ve switched mostly to shredded maple leaves where I can.
I use hay every year, and in the spring, as I kick a slug riddled cabbage I say, "No hay next year!!!" Then a month later---as I effortlessly pull buckets and buckets of pristine potatoes by hand: "Hay is THE BOMB! HaY IS wHeRe it's AT!" Another month goes by: *me with a hoe and a morose disposition* "LORD HELP ME IF I EVER TOUCH ANOTHER DAMN HAY BALE!" I say through clenched teeth. The next month, a neighbor compliments my 'beautiful' garden: "Oh yeah, love that hay! What a miracle. Hehehe." 2 weeks later, I look at the weeds that have overtaken my radishes, shake my fist at the heavens and scream: "&%#@ THIS &#@%ING HAY!" Me last week: *spreads hay; feels shame; says nothing*
I only use alfalfa hay and I love it! The only downside has been more sow bugs, and hiding cutworms, but other than that the soil is crawling with earth worms and really holds moisture all summer which is great with a drip irrigation system in SE Utah when it gets over 100 and no rain for weeks!
Great philosophy. Where I live we don't have gyms to go to for exercise. So I scythe. Great exercise. Move my legs, body, can regulate speed, breathing. Wonderful alternative to sweaty gyms. Smells great scything. Give the hay to my goats, who process it further, stomping, pooping and weeing. Then with the added value, off the hay goes to my veggies. One way of avoiding weeds is to lay lay hay thick. It takes a couple of seasons to have a fairly weed free garden. The first season is worst, batting the weeds that were already established. Now I manage the weeds, like nettles in buckets (so they can be easily moved around as needed). e.g. Nettles attract insects like ladybirds, that control pests in my kale.
Hi. I use lines of alders trees- they fix nitrogen and I chip the leaves and branches. Gives completely weed free mulch which later becomes compost. As for pasture strips I run mobile chicken houses which needs no cutting or let it grow out for silage. No weed cycle.
We buy non-sprayed hay from a farmer to feed our goats. The goats waste a lot of hay, which becomes bedding that they manure on. In the summer, we have begun mowing that wasted hay up into bags and it is the carbon layer to our compost. In the winter we allow it to become deep bedding for them and will mow it up only if we will have a week of warmer weather. We have 21 raised beds and the Fall’s mown manure hay covers the beds for winter. Seems to work well.
I use hay as well, and the weed seed is the biggest draw back. I try rotating, so that my plots are empty for a least a year until I’m ready to plant again. During that year of not using the plot, I will mulch with hay to keep weeds to a minimum.
The content, your honesty, conversational, your quirkiness - is why I watch your videos. But I have to say, every glimpse of your animals is golden 😆☺️☺️☺️
I use hay in my raised beds. I add compost, cow manure then top it off with more hay. I let it set over winter then in spring I fill beds up with hay and put a thin layer of compost on top to plant seeds in. Weed seeds? Yes, but if you pull them as you check your beds and water each morning they never take over.
I use grass (that I cure and dry, like hay) as mulch, but also have infinite access to free hay from my dad's farm so I think it tips the scales quite a bit for it in my context. I have fought against crab grass a lot and honestly the hay and grass mulch have only felt like they've made my life easier overall I'd say.
Weed seed from hay is not a problem. The seed will grow in the hay itself and is easily turned over with a pitchfork. Most folks don't put enough hay down. Keep it thick and you will have great soil.
Tried in the past for 3 years, from 3 different farmers, untreated hay and straw one year. Year 1, organic straw, did GREAT, put on knee deep, and after a rain it compressed down and i could plant in it. Definitely helped the clay soil, and weeds were practically non-existent, easiest garden year ever, unfortunately that farmer no longer could provide for the smaller folks vs the larger places in need. Year 2 organic hay, my eyes both ended up getting horribly painful ulcers from mold from the hay, appeared the day after putting it on the ground, started feeling like something got into my eyes right after laying it down, AND I was wearing goggles and a mask. SUPER EXPENSIVE and PAINFUL summer, saw weeds appearing in our yard that were not there before. Year 3 straw with no seed, so I was told. Major weeds now in the yard, major, and the type that spread. Have been battling and losing the battle with weeds now throughout our grassy, non-garden part of the property. Creeping sedum, broad leaf weeds that look like burdock but smaller, hay or rye popping up here and there, a long type of grass that grows super quickly and is easy to pull but it's pulling it over and over and over again, clover, thistles, plantain. This was not an issue before the summer with this garden application. Sadly saying never again, I think put down compost and your own grass clippings, put down the tarp over winter, and skip that hay. Aged woodchips (since you are not mixing into the soil) would help, cardboard under woodchips helps. I cannot see how the yard will ever be the way it was before I put down the hay/straw and I do not want to put poison on the lawn to kill weeds. Sure it had a weed here or there, dandelions, but now it is ridiculous. I hope your way works for you, eager to hear about it.
Hey Jessie Suwanee Georgia. I was gifted about 12 bales of hay from the senior living facility I work at. Take some getting used to but I think I'm going to like it great videos thanks.... really
WARNING WARNING WILL ROGERS! RED FLAG! RED FLAG! @ 7:24 "...until we have that kind of equipment..." The warning is right there on the bottle, " Do not consume thoughts of small -scale hay production if you are pregnant or a market farmer. Side effects include buying equipment that is rarely used, spousal disagreements, may cause sleeplessness while trying to decide on the perfect blade of the Vermont scythe you are planning to buy..." (Disclaimer: Scythes have been known to infect market gardeners after one or two years of use with hallucinations of small Kubota tractors, hay rakes, tedders, haybines, and balers. In more extreme cases, market farmers may ponder hay-making attachments for their BCS) The ability to buy square bales at reasonable price from someone you trust is gold and a fertility plus for your farm. The only suggestion I have is before you tarp the area you just mulched with hay is to buy a bag of feed grade molasses at your local farm supply and spread some of it over the hay to give the microbes a party this fall before winter arrives.
This may be my favorite comment ever. Fret not. We have no intention of scything, haymaking or anything of the like. When we are rich though (next mega billions is mine) I'm buying that damn baler for the bcs. Those little bales are just too perfect. Good call on the mollases. I was thinking KNF preps. And of course, manure.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Vermont scythe, I once had visions of small- scale grain production. But I use it in place of a weed eater, it is faster and much more quiet. Love the swish, swish, swish and no 2-cycle engine buzz. I would add the KNF also to the hay. I have not made any yet but really appreciated your videos on how to make them. Just by synchronicity, I was thumbing through Richard Perkins book " Making Small Farms Work" and ran across almost the same exact recipe within 24 hours. Kinda of cool. , ,
Oh yeah, I love the act of scything. One of my favorite activities. Never gonna do it for anything more than a hobby but its extrenrly satisfying! And I have Richard's coming my way! Excited to read
Is it a bad thing that I have a scythe already? And I'm just starting a Ruth Stout garden in 2921. (And I have been known to cut my lawn with the scythe.....🤔🤔😁)
Late to the party here, but I really appreciate your take on Hay, farmer Jessie! You express the pros and cons nicely in a useful efficient share. Beginning farmers like myself really appreciate that direct no-prior-knowledge-assumed Approach. My evolving thoughts on hay, still experimenting: I started having more of a love relationship with hay after using “bunny-poo-hay” much like the folks here express using the spent hay from their goats, but Bunnies, who are very fussy about eating any hay they have already bedded. I do a kind of “deep mulch” system, where the bunnies have a bed and bath pile that they poo in (bunnies like to eat hay whilst relieving themselves) and a fresh eats pile, every day the fresh eats gets rotated to the bed and bath. Old bed and bath pile goes under their hutch until I have a wheel barrel load, which gets piled in a “leave it alone for 6 months” pile right in the future garden bed. I make that pile up to 4ft deep. If it starts growing hay seeds it’s not for long because more hay piles on top fairly quickly. If I’m planting in it, it’s easy to rustle clobs of hay around so the germinated bits are on bottom. This creates a thick pile of fertility. Small scale production. I’m still figuring out what other amendments to add to this. It grows leaves very nicely, but appears not so great for fruiting. Possibly too much nitrogen, though the bunnies don’t have hot compost, and you can plant in it right away. I’m thinking of it as a good foundation stone upon which to add other soil gifts. The worms do love it. Kept things really moist and cool in dead hot summer with little to no water. Rather than trying to kill the weed seeds I take that as my cue to add more carbon or fertility of some kind to the system.
I like hay. Alot. Since my husband cuts our hay (at our farm and on other vetted farms) I have a fair supply of it. Since the hay is for the ruminants (and a bit for the chickens), most of the hay I use has been deemed unfit is some way. Every year I do a little prayer for one small harvest to be wrecked by rain (don't tell). Those small bales go directly to the outskirts of the garden while they are still easy to move. After they start rotting they are next to impossible to carry around in bale form. I use them the following spring when I am setting up the garden. This is when I should mention that I am a home gardener, certainly different than you. I use very heavy wet flakes of hay, never light and fluffy. It works for my needs. So, do you have any trusted farmers who do square bales? Any chance they ever lose a harvest? If you volunteered to collect the bales from the field (which is a real pain, and the main reason most of our bales are now round) and further offered to pay a small bit, you might be able to collect hay and put it close to the garden for future use. (for me, again, future would be next year, not immediate). You would have to make assurances that you wouldn't rut up the field and wouldn't stack it in your barn and burn it down or feed it to your sheep and kill them probably. Anyway, if someone offered to help my husband by picking up rained on bales for him, and offered to pay him a bit, he would go for it. We're old and those suckers are heavy and we can't use them for the sheep and cows. That's how I'd pitch it :) Well, just an idea from an armchair farmer!
I have a horse farm and bale my own hay. I once tried a big patch of potatoes the lazy way by tilling the Plot, laying down the seed potato and covering with a clover, alfalfa orchard grass mix old hay that was 8 years old. I had poor potato sprouting as I think they were starving for good ol dirt but I ended up with the best and lushest hayfield ever. I have silage tarps and I'm going to try what this vid suggest.
I get giant round bales from an organic farmer of wheat straw for covering. I’m getting ready to set up 4 new beds I’ll have a video showing the giant bales .
I wouldnt worry too much about stealing fertility. As long as there are legumes (vetch, clover, alfalfa etc) in the field to replenish the nitrogen it will be fine. The extra fertility needed for intensive food production has to come from somewhere, better that it be from a managed pasture than from chemicals.
I've just started getting into composting and growing to sell my produce. I was/ still am in the conventional method of tilling and adding chemical fertilizers.im aiming to move completely off of any synthetics, chemicals and machinery and have found this channel super informative! We have cattle that sleep in an enclosed area so there is a pile of manure in one area. They also eat hay there which messes and mixes. I have started using this for making compost. I have 2 piles going and a third to start soon. I have a large area so I need to have a lot. I have time on my side but am looking for the fastest way to get the compost piles ready. Besides my main point I wanted to get to.. I have an area which I want to put hay on and cover with silage plastic to kill the weeds and prep the ground. Can I add in non completed compost to this? And how long do you think it will take to be ready for planting into? I'm playing around here so I know there are SO many variables to consider.. any thoughts on this would be great. Thanks
My problem is finding somebody who doesn’t spray the hay. I’ve tried to buy from the farm store here and they just don’t know. And the Minnonite farm said yes they spray. Also everybody I try to get cow manure from same thing...
I'm in north Florida. Where are you located? I once made the mistake of putting some "too fresh" costal bermuda hay on my garden, sheet composting it, using it for weed barrier, etc. Mistake, big time! It had costal grass seeds in it and impregnated my entire garden with the stuff. You cannot pull or till out costal grass once it takes a foothold. I had to abandon the garden. The only way to have killed the stuff was to use Roundup, which I refused to do. Bahia grass hay is much safer and you can pull that stuff out by hand fairly easy or till it / rake it out. Either way, too - make sure your hay rolls are VERY old and not worth using for animal feed, and hopefully any seeds in it are no longer viable.
I am wondering if three year old wheat straw that had roundup on it would be safe to use. Would it be safe to use? Any comments on that. Thanks and y’all havagudun.
I get spoiled hay from Craig's list for free from farmers who can't use it. After a few years it has lots of microbials which is good for the worm compost or as a mulch but it makes me throw up as I spread it, but I don't get sick from it. I've heard of gardeners in the area that lost their garden for more than one year from using manure of livestock eating herbicidal hay.
I don't use hay or straw as they create wonderful living quarters for slugs which then eat my crops. I compost everything down away from the growing areas and top-dress my no-dig plots giving nowhere for slugs to hide.
I have a question and need lots of help with our weed problem! We are new to the farming game in Portugal (it's our first year), and we have an absolutely huge field that is nothing but weeds. We have already cleared and created a small garden, but we need to de-weed our land permanently so we can plant when it's ready. We already tilled, and two months later the weeds are as tall as my waist! Would you recommend laying hay on the plot to start to prevent weed growth underneath? What is the organic alternative to stop weed growth for the far future?
Try cardboard/lasagna layering. Worms LOVE cardboard! (Peel off any plastics, labels, tape, anything that won't decompose). Use straw not hay. As he says in the video, you get very few seeds with straw. Ask about if it's been sprayed with herbicides or it will kill your garden!!! Throw something green on top of your cardboard...do you have lawn clippings? Lasagna layering is layers of browns and greens, let sit a few months (gets hot-will kill plants). Are you near the ocean? Seaweed is wonderful (use only what is detached from the rocks-check laws!!) Lasagna has been the only tjing to work well for me...clay soil.
In some places people bring in a herd of goats to eat down the weeds. Goats eat darn near anything green. Check your area to see if anyone specializes in hiring out their goat herd for a few days.
I’d call that an oversimplification. Some things exhibit cumulative gains across multi-player systems. Like photosynthesis. Some things are downhill spirals, like poison from ww2era warfare implimented in ag applications and then killing wildlife downstream and causing cancer. Some things are win-win, win-lose, lose-lose. Trade offs do exist, yes, but I’d advocate using that model as one tool in a wider arsenal.
![งมหอย จับปลา มือเปล่า หาอยู่หากินแบบวีถีอีสานกับแก๊งเซียนหรั่ง ม่วนคัก! [ขอนแก่น] @Sianstudio](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JEJZg6N-AbU/mqdefault.jpg)
Hay is fantastic! I get trailer loads of horse manure from family with studs, and horse manure throws up weeds, but hay doesn’t much. In winter I stamp down all of the last season residue and weeds (aka mother natures mulch), I spread manure, throw down a few inches of hot mulch from the local tree lopper to put some woody matter in there, cover with 6-12 inches of hay, leave it all for the beneficials and microbial ecosystem to devour, and plant into the rotted down remaining mulch in spring, stomping any weeds and covering/mulching with more hay as I go as required. Great system, no weeding required. Repeat again as summer vege finish ready for autumn planting. The longer you do it, the higher better the soil ecosystem becomes and the faster it breaks down and the healthier your vegetables get. Hay is the cheapest fertiliser and mulch and weed suppression tool there is. Avoid sourcing it from farms that broadcast spray anything, but other than that, go for it!
I use it, the worms love it and only a few weeds. I put hay down on my raised beds every winter and then cover it with unfinished compost and then plant in it in the spring.
Hay also has its own seeds that are hayseeds not weed seeds. It’s often used by folks to seed grass. Just spread hay lightly and soon there’s grass. That’s my biggest issue. I scythe my own on half an acre, hand rake and haul on tarps. But the issue is that the clover seeds very well wherever hay is spread as mulch. Maybe deeper layers is the answer. But I’ve switched mostly to shredded maple leaves where I can.
I use hay every year, and in the spring, as I kick a slug riddled cabbage I say, "No hay next year!!!"
Then a month later---as I effortlessly pull buckets and buckets of pristine potatoes by hand: "Hay is THE BOMB! HaY IS wHeRe it's AT!"
Another month goes by: *me with a hoe and a morose disposition* "LORD HELP ME IF I EVER TOUCH ANOTHER DAMN HAY BALE!" I say through clenched teeth.
The next month, a neighbor compliments my 'beautiful' garden: "Oh yeah, love that hay! What a miracle. Hehehe."
2 weeks later, I look at the weeds that have overtaken my radishes, shake my fist at the heavens and scream: "&%#@ THIS &#@%ING HAY!"
Me last week: *spreads hay; feels shame; says nothing*
Haha, pretty much!
The struggle is all we have...
@@notillgrowers Have you ever tried solarizing a bed that's covered in hay? Heat up the ground earlier, kill the weed seed?
I only use alfalfa hay and I love it! The only downside has been more sow bugs, and hiding cutworms, but other than that the soil is crawling with earth worms and really holds moisture all summer which is great with a drip irrigation system in SE Utah when it gets over 100 and no rain for weeks!
Great philosophy.
Where I live we don't have gyms to go to for exercise. So I scythe. Great exercise. Move my legs, body, can regulate speed, breathing. Wonderful alternative to sweaty gyms. Smells great scything. Give the hay to my goats, who process it further, stomping, pooping and weeing. Then with the added value, off the hay goes to my veggies.
One way of avoiding weeds is to lay lay hay thick. It takes a couple of seasons to have a fairly weed free garden. The first season is worst, batting the weeds that were already established.
Now I manage the weeds, like nettles in buckets (so they can be easily moved around as needed). e.g. Nettles attract insects like ladybirds, that control pests in my kale.
Hi. I use lines of alders trees- they fix nitrogen and I chip the leaves and branches. Gives completely weed free mulch which later becomes compost. As for pasture strips I run mobile chicken houses which needs no cutting or let it grow out for silage. No weed cycle.
We buy non-sprayed hay from a farmer to feed our goats. The goats waste a lot of hay, which becomes bedding that they manure on. In the summer, we have begun mowing that wasted hay up into bags and it is the carbon layer to our compost. In the winter we allow it to become deep bedding for them and will mow it up only if we will have a week of warmer weather. We have 21 raised beds and the Fall’s mown manure hay covers the beds for winter. Seems to work well.
That's a great system!
I use hay as well, and the weed seed is the biggest draw back. I try rotating, so that my plots are empty for a least a year until I’m ready to plant again. During that year of not using the plot, I will mulch with hay to keep weeds to a minimum.
The content, your honesty, conversational, your quirkiness - is why I watch your videos. But I have to say, every glimpse of your animals is golden 😆☺️☺️☺️
I use hay in my raised beds. I add compost, cow manure then top it off with more hay. I let it set over winter then in spring I fill beds up with hay and put a thin layer of compost on top to plant seeds in. Weed seeds? Yes, but if you pull them as you check your beds and water each morning they never take over.
I use grass (that I cure and dry, like hay) as mulch, but also have infinite access to free hay from my dad's farm so I think it tips the scales quite a bit for it in my context. I have fought against crab grass a lot and honestly the hay and grass mulch have only felt like they've made my life easier overall I'd say.
Weed seed from hay is not a problem. The seed will grow in the hay itself and is easily turned over with a pitchfork. Most folks don't put enough hay down. Keep it thick and you will have great soil.
if you can bail your hay while it is still a little damp it will warm up (50 c +) as it starts to break down and kill the majority of the weed seeds.
Tried in the past for 3 years, from 3 different farmers, untreated hay and straw one year. Year 1, organic straw, did GREAT, put on knee deep, and after a rain it compressed down and i could plant in it. Definitely helped the clay soil, and weeds were practically non-existent, easiest garden year ever, unfortunately that farmer no longer could provide for the smaller folks vs the larger places in need. Year 2 organic hay, my eyes both ended up getting horribly painful ulcers from mold from the hay, appeared the day after putting it on the ground, started feeling like something got into my eyes right after laying it down, AND I was wearing goggles and a mask. SUPER EXPENSIVE and PAINFUL summer, saw weeds appearing in our yard that were not there before. Year 3 straw with no seed, so I was told. Major weeds now in the yard, major, and the type that spread. Have been battling and losing the battle with weeds now throughout our grassy, non-garden part of the property. Creeping sedum, broad leaf weeds that look like burdock but smaller, hay or rye popping up here and there, a long type of grass that grows super quickly and is easy to pull but it's pulling it over and over and over again, clover, thistles, plantain. This was not an issue before the summer with this garden application. Sadly saying never again, I think put down compost and your own grass clippings, put down the tarp over winter, and skip that hay. Aged woodchips (since you are not mixing into the soil) would help, cardboard under woodchips helps. I cannot see how the yard will ever be the way it was before I put down the hay/straw and I do not want to put poison on the lawn to kill weeds. Sure it had a weed here or there, dandelions, but now it is ridiculous. I hope your way works for you, eager to hear about it.
Hey Jessie Suwanee Georgia. I was gifted about 12 bales of hay from the senior living facility I work at. Take some getting used to but I think I'm going to like it great videos thanks.... really
WARNING WARNING WILL ROGERS! RED FLAG! RED FLAG! @ 7:24 "...until we have that kind of equipment..." The warning is right there on the bottle, " Do not consume thoughts of small
-scale hay production if you are pregnant or a market farmer. Side effects include buying equipment that is rarely used, spousal disagreements, may cause sleeplessness while trying to decide on the perfect blade of the Vermont scythe you are planning to buy..." (Disclaimer:
Scythes have been known to infect market gardeners after one or two years of use with
hallucinations of small Kubota tractors, hay rakes, tedders, haybines, and balers. In more
extreme cases, market farmers may ponder hay-making attachments for their BCS)
The ability to buy square bales at reasonable price from someone you trust is gold and a
fertility plus for your farm. The only suggestion I have is before you tarp the area you just
mulched with hay is to buy a bag of feed grade molasses at your local farm supply and spread
some of it over the hay to give the microbes a party this fall before winter arrives.
This may be my favorite comment ever. Fret not. We have no intention of scything, haymaking or anything of the like. When we are rich though (next mega billions is mine) I'm buying that damn baler for the bcs. Those little bales are just too perfect. Good call on the mollases. I was thinking KNF preps. And of course, manure.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Vermont scythe, I once had visions of small-
scale grain production. But I use it in place of a weed eater, it is faster and much more quiet. Love the swish, swish, swish and no 2-cycle engine buzz.
I would add the KNF also to the hay. I have not made any yet but really
appreciated your videos on how to make them. Just by synchronicity, I was thumbing through Richard Perkins book " Making Small Farms Work" and
ran across almost the same exact recipe within 24 hours. Kinda of cool.
,
,
Oh yeah, I love the act of scything. One of my favorite activities. Never gonna do it for anything more than a hobby but its extrenrly satisfying! And I have Richard's coming my way! Excited to read
Is it a bad thing that I have a scythe already? And I'm just starting a Ruth Stout garden in 2921. (And I have been known to cut my lawn with the scythe.....🤔🤔😁)
Late to the party here, but I really appreciate your take on Hay, farmer Jessie! You express the pros and cons nicely in a useful efficient share. Beginning farmers like myself really appreciate that direct no-prior-knowledge-assumed Approach.
My evolving thoughts on hay, still experimenting:
I started having more of a love relationship with hay after using “bunny-poo-hay” much like the folks here express using the spent hay from their goats, but Bunnies, who are very fussy about eating any hay they have already bedded. I do a kind of “deep mulch” system, where the bunnies have a bed and bath pile that they poo in (bunnies like to eat hay whilst relieving themselves) and a fresh eats pile, every day the fresh eats gets rotated to the bed and bath. Old bed and bath pile goes under their hutch until I have a wheel barrel load, which gets piled in a “leave it alone for 6 months” pile right in the future garden bed. I make that pile up to 4ft deep. If it starts growing hay seeds it’s not for long because more hay piles on top fairly quickly. If I’m planting in it, it’s easy to rustle clobs of hay around so the germinated bits are on bottom. This creates a thick pile of fertility. Small scale production. I’m still figuring out what other amendments to add to this. It grows leaves very nicely, but appears not so great for fruiting. Possibly too much nitrogen, though the bunnies don’t have hot compost, and you can plant in it right away. I’m thinking of it as a good foundation stone upon which to add other soil gifts. The worms do love it. Kept things really moist and cool in dead hot summer with little to no water. Rather than trying to kill the weed seeds I take that as my cue to add more carbon or fertility of some kind to the system.
I like hay. Alot. Since my husband cuts our hay (at our farm and on other vetted farms) I have a fair supply of it. Since the hay is for the ruminants (and a bit for the chickens), most of the hay I use has been deemed unfit is some way. Every year I do a little prayer for one small harvest to be wrecked by rain (don't tell). Those small bales go directly to the outskirts of the garden while they are still easy to move. After they start rotting they are next to impossible to carry around in bale form. I use them the following spring when I am setting up the garden. This is when I should mention that I am a home gardener, certainly different than you. I use very heavy wet flakes of hay, never light and fluffy. It works for my needs. So, do you have any trusted farmers who do square bales? Any chance they ever lose a harvest? If you volunteered to collect the bales from the field (which is a real pain, and the main reason most of our bales are now round) and further offered to pay a small bit, you might be able to collect hay and put it close to the garden for future use. (for me, again, future would be next year, not immediate). You would have to make assurances that you wouldn't rut up the field and wouldn't stack it in your barn and burn it down or feed it to your sheep and kill them probably. Anyway, if someone offered to help my husband by picking up rained on bales for him, and offered to pay him a bit, he would go for it. We're old and those suckers are heavy and we can't use them for the sheep and cows. That's how I'd pitch it :) Well, just an idea from an armchair farmer!
I do have a farmer like that! He lost 1200 bales this year and didn't call me. He received a stern talking to, haha!
It is my 10e years that I use Hay in my urban garden, its wonderful for soil.
I have a horse farm and bale my own hay. I once tried a big patch of potatoes the lazy way by tilling the Plot, laying down the seed potato and covering with a clover, alfalfa orchard grass mix old hay that was 8 years old. I had poor potato sprouting as I think they were starving for good ol dirt but I ended up with the best and lushest hayfield ever. I have silage tarps and I'm going to try what this vid suggest.
I get giant round bales from an organic farmer of wheat straw for covering. I’m getting ready to set up 4 new beds I’ll have a video showing the giant bales .
I wouldnt worry too much about stealing fertility. As long as there are legumes (vetch, clover, alfalfa etc) in the field to replenish the nitrogen it will be fine. The extra fertility needed for intensive food production has to come from somewhere, better that it be from a managed pasture than from chemicals.
A fair point!
I've just started getting into composting and growing to sell my produce. I was/ still am in the conventional method of tilling and adding chemical fertilizers.im aiming to move completely off of any synthetics, chemicals and machinery and have found this channel super informative!
We have cattle that sleep in an enclosed area so there is a pile of manure in one area. They also eat hay there which messes and mixes. I have started using this for making compost. I have 2 piles going and a third to start soon. I have a large area so I need to have a lot. I have time on my side but am looking for the fastest way to get the compost piles ready.
Besides my main point I wanted to get to.. I have an area which I want to put hay on and cover with silage plastic to kill the weeds and prep the ground. Can I add in non completed compost to this? And how long do you think it will take to be ready for planting into? I'm playing around here so I know there are SO many variables to consider.. any thoughts on this would be great. Thanks
My problem is finding somebody who doesn’t spray the hay. I’ve tried to buy from the farm store here and they just don’t know. And the Minnonite farm said yes they spray. Also everybody I try to get cow manure from same thing...
I'm in north Florida. Where are you located? I once made the mistake of putting some "too fresh" costal bermuda hay on my garden, sheet composting it, using it for weed barrier, etc. Mistake, big time! It had costal grass seeds in it and impregnated my entire garden with the stuff. You cannot pull or till out costal grass once it takes a foothold. I had to abandon the garden. The only way to have killed the stuff was to use Roundup, which I refused to do. Bahia grass hay is much safer and you can pull that stuff out by hand fairly easy or till it / rake it out. Either way, too - make sure your hay rolls are VERY old and not worth using for animal feed, and hopefully any seeds in it are no longer viable.
Can you recommend a small scale hay harvesting device?
I have been using a little hand held scythe to harvest but it is back breaking and rather slow.
I am wondering if three year old wheat straw that had roundup on it would be safe to use. Would it be safe to use? Any comments on that. Thanks and y’all havagudun.
I get spoiled hay from Craig's list for free from farmers who can't use it. After a few years it has lots of microbials which is good for the worm compost or as a mulch but it makes me throw up as I spread it, but I don't get sick from it. I've heard of gardeners in the area that lost their garden for more than one year from using manure of livestock eating herbicidal hay.
Jesse, could you maybe do a video on what you're growing in your high tunnels or guesthouses this time of year?
Sure, I could do that!
I don't use hay or straw as they create wonderful living quarters for slugs which then eat my crops.
I compost everything down away from the growing areas and top-dress my no-dig plots giving nowhere for slugs to hide.
You had me at "hay ter" hahaha
I use hay...exclusively...except for wood chips...(I have a great source for hay)
Awesome Video!!
Funny and inspiring!!
Can you please guide . Is the white fungus on Hay dangerous ?
I'm going to plant hey and clover
I have a question and need lots of help with our weed problem! We are new to the farming game in Portugal (it's our first year), and we have an absolutely huge field that is nothing but weeds. We have already cleared and created a small garden, but we need to de-weed our land permanently so we can plant when it's ready. We already tilled, and two months later the weeds are as tall as my waist! Would you recommend laying hay on the plot to start to prevent weed growth underneath? What is the organic alternative to stop weed growth for the far future?
Try cardboard/lasagna layering. Worms LOVE cardboard! (Peel off any plastics, labels, tape, anything that won't decompose). Use straw not hay. As he says in the video, you get very few seeds with straw. Ask about if it's been sprayed with herbicides or it will kill your garden!!! Throw something green on top of your cardboard...do you have lawn clippings? Lasagna layering is layers of browns and greens, let sit a few months (gets hot-will kill plants). Are you near the ocean? Seaweed is wonderful (use only what is detached from the rocks-check laws!!) Lasagna has been the only tjing to work well for me...clay soil.
In some places people bring in a herd of goats to eat down the weeds. Goats eat darn near anything green. Check your area to see if anyone specializes in hiring out their goat herd for a few days.
Everything in life is a trade-off to one level or another.
I’d call that an oversimplification. Some things exhibit cumulative gains across multi-player systems. Like photosynthesis. Some things are downhill spirals, like poison from ww2era warfare implimented in ag applications and then killing wildlife downstream and causing cancer. Some things are win-win, win-lose, lose-lose. Trade offs do exist, yes, but I’d advocate using that model as one tool in a wider arsenal.
How long do you typically leave your tarps down?
what were those tarps called?
Would hay incl STRAW??😩🤔🤔
Try a load of chopped haylage
STRAW, not hay !!! Hay has seeds .
I'll be finding hay... and ditching straw. #NoTill is a #BrightSpot. #UrbanAg #Food #Regenerate
my thoughts exactly
I suppose you can sterilize the hay bales by putting them into a clear plastic bag or wrapping them with clear plastic.
video starts at 0:56
ask for spoiled hay. it is way cheaper
annoying!