A couple of years ago at our Annual Pumpkin Carving Party, Tim and I made a straw fort out of 30 bales of hay. Over the next year it became a snow castle, a hide-away, then more or less a science experiment as the kids watched plants seeding themselves and interesting molds and fungi settling in. Late last fall we decided it was time to get rid of the bales. Our next door neighbor asked if she could have some for mulch in her yard, and we gladly agreed. She used them to create paths in her gardens.
She made a mighty dent in the heap, but there were still about a dozen of them left over. We decided to use them around the outside of our raised beds. It would make mowing easier for Tim and stop the grass from encroaching on the beds. I was very surprised when I cut open the bales to find the straw came apart in sheets, about 2" thick. I then laid them around the beds, overlapping slightly. It was quite a fast project. I have no idea how well it will retard the grass growth, but I have to believe it should prove to be a good barrier.
We have a few more bales left, and I’ll probably cover more of the grass on the south side of the garden where mowing is a nightmare.
