Why You Should Think Twice Before You Mulch With Hay

Why You Should Think Twice Before You Mulch With Hay

It’s fall and we have been on a search for awesome pumpkins.

I grow pumpkins, but sometimes it’s fun to go to the pumpkin patch.

We hiked through 3 acres of itchy pumpkin-ness to find perfect pumpkins.

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On the way home we passed some more pumpkin fun.  Since it’s been raining here for eternity, and the sun was actually out, we weren’t about to pass by and not enjoy the it’s-not-pouring-down-raining-weather.  So we stopped.

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There was a giant pyramid made from hay bales.   But, because it has been raining for a long as I can remember……

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the hay pyramid is turning into a grassy hill.

This is why spreading hay on my garden is a bad idea.  Around here, the oldest, moldiest, gnarliest bale of hay you’ve ever seen will turn into a lush, grassy pasture with a little water (rain) and sun.  You always want to think twice about where you spread hay in Kentucky.

If you spread it, it will grow.

If you were to toss the bale of hay into my chicken coop FIRST and let the chickens feast on it, you will not have this lush pasture problem in your garden.  The chickens will eat each and every seed from within the bale.

Leaving only dead, lifeless stalks of grass.

Dead, lifeless stalks of grass are perfect for mulching – they don’t sprout, grow or turn into pasture.

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We visited a cute pumpkin house.  We had ice-cream cones.

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We rode tiny bikes.

Then we took the pumpkins home.

Yay!  Fall!

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-Candi

 

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