Since you guys had so many wonderful questions and comments on our previous Ruth Stout Method video, we figured it a Question and Answer video was in order! Hay vs Straw, Pesticides, and more. Plus, a quick update on how our Ruth Stout gardens and our garlic are doing in the winter.
VIDEO: GGC – 76 – Winter Ruth Stout Permaculture Update and a Bit of Q&A!
Since you guys had so many wonderful questions and comments on our previous Ruth Stout Method video, we figured it a Question and Answer video was in order! Hay vs Straw, Pesticides, and more. Plus, a quick update on how our Ruth Stout gardens and our garlic are doing in the winter.
I love how you experiment with your crops.
Will straw alone would work instead of hay..? How different would it be
I think the reason most people suggest straw instead of hay is because hay can have a lot of seeds in it and I don't want to plant a bunch of unwanted grasses in my food or flower garden. That's why I'm careful about what I use my leftover hay for that my animals don't eat (and they all waste some hay). If I want to update my pasture, I spread the hay and the seed material that has fallen out of it over the pasture and it starts growing (logically) the same grasses that make up that particular hay. It's a boost for my pasture. If I don't use it for that, it goes into the composting horse and/or goat manure and the seeds 'cook' down before I use it so the seeds are no longer viable. I love seeing you try this method and you've inspired me to try this too (I've been mostly using hugelkulter anyway) but I think I'll stick with straw. I can't wait to do even less work and gather lots and lots of potatoes!
When is Canadian New year's?
Help, I didn't add enough compost under leaf mulch this fall. Can I add more soil and compost on top of the mulch next spring?
like the summary talk. it's a great idea for winter time.
While I understand "fluffing" with lose hay the baled hay is already compacted which is what happens to the fluffed hay. It will lay flat and smother weeds just fine in the compacted "leafs" that you pull off your small bales or the super sized several foot high ones. If you get a large round bale once you cut the containment string or net then it will unroll (with a little pushing) in a flat mat the width of the roll, turn at the end of your row and repeat. If your have thin spots add to get a good cover mat. Once I have plants to put out I pull back the compacted hay and fluff that around my starts or seeded rows. Just a suggestion for the future. Keep up the good life and enjoy the joys and sorrows, Please remember without sorrows there is no true appreciation of the joys, good fortune to you and yours.
Curious… out of the three methods, which worked best for you all?
Thank you for posting this. Even though it was a while ago, but it has answered a lot of my questions. This will be my first attempt at this type of gardening. My only concern here in U.K. is the straw blowing away. I love the way your life’s journey has developed.
Great video, I was just wondering if the Ruth Stout method will work as well on the southern West Coast? Just because of our different climate. We rarely get snow or really get below zero for extended periods of time, and we get a LOT of rain. If anyone knows, let me know.. interested in trying this method. Thanks in advance.
I live in Northwest Ohio I have been gardening most of my life , my question for you is I am thinking about trying the Ruth Stout gardening , the last few years I have grown sweet potatoes and when I dig them up many have been eaten by field mice , I think doing the Ruth Stout method these mice will have a better place to get at my sweet potatoes , am I alone with this or how do I prevent this from happening ? I don't even know how I will get your answer to this question ?
seeds in hay not a problem, but seeds germinate then just let it grow and pull it before it goes to seed, this is mulch and leave on top of bed.
be sure to use a mulch on top of the hugulultur beds,
If using hay produces lots of weeds just cover the whole thing with straw.
Given the chemicals industrial farming uses i have chosen locally grown hay.
Hello Derek, Paula!! I believe this is my 3rd video of y’all’s to watch, and I like what I’m learning! N another video, a viewer asked if Timothy hay would be better than alfalfa hay, is my guess that it doesn’t matter which would be correct??? It has been two years since this video, do y’all still do/prefer the Ruth Stout method??? Or prefer another method??? I liked, subscribed and tapped the bell! Thank u both
Great vid! I'm curious to know if you get a bunch of critters (mice/voles/etc.) making lovely nests in the hay/straw mulch and them eating your crops. Last year we tried a combo of cardboard and mulch on top, and when harvesting the potatoes we found that a bunch were eaten by little guys who hung out under the cardboard. I'm wondering if that would happen with a pure hay/straw mulch situation.
Guys this is a great video. I trawl through all the permaculture videos/forums and this is the first time I've seen anyone address the specific issues I'm interested in about Ruth Stout/deep mulch etc. It's good to see you discussing the differences between straw, hay etc. and basically addressing all of the questions I had when I first started doing this. You hit on all the issues I identified and I pretty much agree, but I'd like to just add this from my experience: 1) I use straw because here in southern Spain the hay is all oats and it's full of seeds (as is barley) and although it's not a big deal having grassy growth I nevertheless spent a lot of time pulling the grass so I could better see seedlings etc. Straw is way better in my opinion (at least for my situation). It still composts well and strong weeds still try to get through but in my opinion less so than hay. I have to put up barriers against wind (it is seriously windy here in the Sierra Nevada mountains) but no matter what mulch I use I still have to keep adding it after really strong windy storms. Straw is also cheaper here. Because the summers are pretty intense here, I think straw is better for its insulating properties ie. there is little water here in the summer and straw seems to me to be better for locking in moisture (I was really surprised to have brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, kale, chard producing well throughout the summer with absolutely NO irrigation water – in fact they did better than my summer squash). 2) I have no way of finding out what insecticides/herbicides/etc have been used on the straw, hay etc here, so I've just got to swallow it 3) no matter which mulch I use, there are certain persitent weeds that force their way through. I just pull them and throw them on top. I believe that's what Ruth Stout did.
Thanks guys
Where do you guys live that you are having such fantastic success in your garden?
How do you find time to travel in your van across Canada and up into the Arctic while still growing all your own food and maintaining your garden?
We find that our garden in Southeastern Ohio is very time consuming during the growing season as well as during the Preparation and Clean-up for next year periods. This leaves December – April for traveling and not exactly the best timer heading up North.
Thanks for the explanation about the difference between hay and straw.
Timothy Hay breaks down back into soil in 6-7 months and is super soft ! I had at least 18 inches of shaken loose Timothy Hay..no alfalfa . It worked awesome ! Potatoes ..came out just like yours. Zuchinni and Squash and cucumbers did very well as did Peppers and Lemongrass , Elephant Garlic and Onions The quail that lived next door under my neighbors cedars got most of the carrots and lettuce and every other seed. Lesson Learned . I will start them indoors next time . At the end of summer the hay had gone from 18 inches down to 2.. Great stuff !
What we do to keep seeds out of our hay is cut it before the plants go to seed. Only have 2 1/2 acres here but still set aside an area to allow to get a bit overgrown less than a foot tall) that we mow for an endless supply of hay for our Ruth Stout gardens.
There’s no nutrients and straw
I prefer hay ( old bad hay) because straw blows away in strong wind, hay mats well, so stays in place. I prefer hay that has been feed to cows and they wasted it by pulling it out of feeders. They stomp on it, peed, and pooed on so it’s now been spread with a bit of fertilizer. No one cares if you take it.
Will the hay method work for Sweet Potatoes, and will chicken poop for fertilizer?