Benefits of Mulching with Straw

Posted by Amy Urquhart Jul 9, 2008

During a visit to my community garden plot last week, I was astounded to see how quickly the weeds had taken control of the garden. I had systematically worked my way through the entire plot, which measures in at about 200 square feet, ridding the plot of weeds.

After a few days of warm, humid temperature, sunny skies and nightly rainfall, everything was doing very well—including the weeds. It was time to take more drastic action.

Most of the gardeners at my community garden use straw to mulch their plots. Like good little gardeners, they arrive on the scene early in the gardening season, turn their earth, work in a layer of mushroom compost, and mulch well with straw. This has not been my routine. I’m usually late to the plot, although this year I was earlier than last year. Although I had cultivated some fantastic-looking weeds in my plot, I decided I was going to find some straw to mulch my plot. I would not let another weekend go by without finding it.

I dragged my patient husband out into the country and we were fortunate to find a farm nearby that featured a sign out front, reading “Hay 4 Sale.” We pulled in and bought two bales of straw from the farmer, who charged a mere two dollars a bale for the stuff.

It took me a couple of days to get the sweet-smelling and ever-expanding straw onto the vegetable garden in our back yard as well as the community plot, but already I feel like the straw is worth the trouble. It will keep down the weeds, keep moisture in, and as it breaks down, it will add much-needed nutrients to the soil. I’m just wondering why it took me so long to figure this out?