The importance of mulch in a vegetable garden cannot be overstated. It helps keep the soil moist and cool, and a thick layer of mulch suppresses weeds by blocking out sunlight.
Your garden needs mulch. But, mulch is often the last thing you buy and the last thing you apply to your garden beds. And if you’re like me, you get worn out before the finish line and say, “Oh, that’ll do!” and convince yourself that mulch is optional.
But … it’s not. Mulch is especially essential if you like to be a lazy gardener, because it does so much of the work for you. Without it, you’ll have to water more often and pull weeds every single day.
Straw as Mulch
My favorite mulch to use in the veggie garden is straw. Shop around, because garden supply stores tend to charge more than, say, farm animal supply stores. One bale can go a long way, but if I find a good deal, I tend to get a couple of extras.
In my experience, straw doesn’t break down as quickly as you’d think. Once it’s in your garden, it should last for the entire growing season. The one thing to watch out for is wind blowing the wispier strands off of your vegetable beds. Keeping the straw wet after you’ve first put it down tends to help prevent this from happening, and once the vegetables start to grow and the straw settles in, it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Once the straw does break down, it helps to bulk up and aerate your soil.
But the number-one problem I’ve run into with straw as a mulch is sprouts. The whole point of mulch is to keep weeds down, right? So it seems counterintuitive to use a mulch that contains seeds and grows its own weeds.
Hear me out, though. I’d like to walk you through my strategy for using straw as a mulch so that it lasts as long as possible, so that it can be used for multiple purposes, and so that the sprouts don’t make you crazy.
Start in the Winter
After you’ve pulled up the last of your veggies and the garden bed is bare, crack open a fresh bale of straw. Lay the straw down in a thick layer. If I have enough straw on hand, I like to count one whole flake as a single layer, but half of a flake can work as well.
If you have any cool weather crops that might survive the winter if temperatures stay relatively mild, pack some straw around them as insulation.
The straw will keep the dirt soft and in good condition over the winter.
Spring Clean Up
In early spring, weeds will get a head start everywhere but where you’ve put the straw. Lift up a flake to inspect the dirt below, and you’ll see no weeds, except perhaps a tenacious dandelion or the weak, pale remnants of a weed that struggled to break through all of that straw.
(I should probably mention that if spiders give you the heebie-jeebies, you probably won’t like to use straw. Spiders love the stuff.)
However, the seeds within the straw will begin to sprout, and you’ll have long strands of wheat grass on your straw before you know it. That’s OK—by leaving the straw out over winter, the wheat seeds will sprout first thing in the spring, effectively sterilizing the straw for later use. It is much, much easier to remove these sprouts in the early spring rather than in mid-summer, when you have to carefully work around your veggie plants.
All you have to do is take a handful of the sprouts, lift them up and shake, shake, shake. They should separate from the straw pretty easily. If they are very long sprouts, note that the roots will be much longer and stronger and will hold on tight to some of the straw. Just use your fingers to knock out some of the excess straw, and chuck those wheat sprouts in your compost.
That’s basically the worst of your weeding for the season!
Using Straw Around Seeds and Transplants
When you’re ready to sow some seeds, just remove the straw from the bed and put it aside. When the seeds are planted, shake the straw over top of them to form a light, thin layer of straw. You should cover all of the soil, but only just. You still need light to reach the seeds below.
The straw will protect the seeds from birds and will also help prevent them from washing away in the rain. As the seeds sprout and grow, they will grow up through the straw. Once the sprouts have grown into sturdier plants, you can add a thicker layer of mulch to help keep weeds away. I usually do this after thinning.
For transplants, I put a thick layer of straw around the plant right away in order to keep weeds down.
Top Up Throughout Summer and Fall
After sowing all of your seeds and planting your transplants, you’ll have a stack of straw leftover from when you uncovered the beds. Dip into this stash to top up any beds that seem to need extra weed protection throughout summer and fall.
Of course, some weeds will still get through the straw, or the seeds will land on top of the straw and the weeds will sprout there. However, you’ll find that it’s very easy to pull weeds when their roots are in straw instead of dirt.
Repeat as needed in the winter.
If you’ve never used straw as a mulch before, give it a try and let us know what you think!
Cathy Habas is a freelance writer based in zone 6. Gardening is among her favorite hobbies and writing topics. She enjoys spending time outside by playing with her dogs and ndk koi fish.
