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The Ancient Mulch
Simple hay has become overlooked as a quality mulch
In today’s modern world of landscaping and vanity gardening, mulch has become less of a necessity and more of an accessory. Ask most people on the street what they think of mulch and they’ll tell you the red stuff that gets blown out of the noisy trucks that come around a few times a year.
Rarely will you hear anyone suggest hay as a mulch and you’ll never see it in subdivision garden beds. But hay is one of the most ancient and effective mulches available. It keeps out weeds, decomposes slowly and nurtures the soil.
Why Mulch?
As fertilizer, specialized soils and plant food have become more and more commonplace in the world of gardening, the perceived need for an actual mulch has rapidly diminished. But mulch is still good for your garden. Whether that is an in ground vegetable garden, or raised flower beds there are still benefits to keeping your garden mulched.
The main benefit is that a proper mulch can keep weaker weeds and grasses from growing up alongside your more mature and hardy plants. Mulch also adds a nutrient bed around your plants that will slowly add needed compounds to the soil slowly over time as the mulch decomposes. Think of it as slow release compost.
Many gardens I see now days use no mulch at all. Not every garden bed or vegetable patch needs mulch but in the right situations it is still a powerful tool that is far too often overlooked in modern gardening.
Hay As a Mulch
Before mulch was red and mostly decorative, it was an important part of keeping plants alive and well kept. In the good old days of agriculture, medieval times and later, hay was an abundant resource that was prevalent almost everywhere.
Anyone who owned chickens, goats, cows, horses or other traditional farm animals, would have had access to hay or old hay on hand. It was a cheap and abundant resource that would have been easily available. The farmers would insulate and bed their plants in the hay for its mulching benefits.
Hay does not decompose quickly. It takes time to breakdown which gives you an extended benefit for both the weed blocking ability and the nutrient aspects of its properties. You can take…
