How I Plant Using Hay Mulch

I have used hay for mulch since 1993. If put down properly, there is no problem with weeds. Planting and amending the soil with mulch down is more labor intensive in the spring. But it saves a lot of weeding work throughout the rest of the season when I am very busy with food preservation and weeding un-mulched flowerbeds. This is how I plant.

Manure fork, left - hay fork, right

First I strip off the clean reusable hay using a manure fork (not a hay fork). The manure fork does a better job of lifting whole leaves without breaking them apart.

The hay forks are excellent for moving hay, especially loose hay, to the farm. But they do not work well with used mulch hay, the tines are too wide.

I sort it as I move it:

• Whole leaves
• Clean loose hay
• Wet dirty hay

Above photo shows the leaves on the far left, loose in the middle by the fork, and wet dirty on the right.

Next I use a garden rake to rake up the wet dirty that the manure fork missed. It’s a lot easier spreading amendment and raking it in and planting seed without that mess in the way. You can see the rakings on the left, set back.

Amendment coverage

Once the area is cleaned up I put down the amendment mix. This custom mix is created following a soil test done each autumn.

Next I run a string if it’s a row and broadfork along it. To use the broadfork, I press it down into the ground to the cross bar, rocking it gently right and left. Then I gently rock it back and forth a couple times. I do NOT lift up huge chunks of soil.

The whole point of using a broadfork vs a tiller is to avoid disturbing the soil biology as much as possible while still loosening and aerating the soil. If the microbes are turned over or tilled it takes a minimum of 3 months for them to recover. If the mycorrhizae network is disturbed or tilled it takes at least 9 months to rebuild.

This means you do not have the benefit of these systems for plant health for most of the growing season.

Forking a hill for squash

If I am planting hills for squash, I will do an area right around where the plants will go. If I am planting a bed, say for potatoes, I will do the whole bed. But mostly, I let the massive earthworm population do the loosening and tilling. That is another purpose of the hay: feeding my earthworms.

Once the forking is done, I use the garden rake to scratch the amendment into the top 2” of soil. You can disturb the top 2” without much damage to the biology below. This also fills in the holes from the forking, making planting seeds a bit easier.

The garden rake has 3” teeth so it’s a good measure of depth. (Note: I never leave a sharp implement with edge out as above, too easy to step on and get hurt. The rake would be turned teeth down.)

Kale seedlings planted

I plant the seedlings or put the seeds in. If using seeds, I DO NOT COVER them as I need to know exactly where they are when I put the mulch back down. Once the mulch is in place, then I cover them. I mulch each row as I plant.

Rakings on bottom 3 plants, loose hay covering in upper plants

Next I use 5 gallon buckets and move the rakings over to where I will be working. Using careful handfuls of this material, I put it in circles around each plant, leaving a 4” diameter area around each stem.

I use 2 buckets, one for rakings and one for loose clean hay. Once the ring is made, to about 3” – 4” high, I then cover it with another 3” – 4” of loose hay. If the rakings are left uncovered, they will sprout weeds. Covering them with the loose hay stops this.

If it’s rows, as the kale above, I put down the dirty wet hay between the rows, then cover it with the leaves of hay. The total depth should be a minimum of 6” for a wet-dirty/used hay usage. Using leaves between rows is easy, as they will fit, turned one way, an 18” row, and turned the other way, a 2’ row.

Mulched seed rows above

Much of these rows were done with loose hay to 10” deep, as that is what I had. It takes careful laying to prevent it from falling down on the seeds, preventing sprouting.

Mulched wide row of artichokes above

If I have a wide area to mulch, I used the loose hay over wet/dirty hay. Loose hay must be much deeper, as it is not packed. I do not make a depth of less than 10” dirty-wet and loose. Seeds will sprout if less is used. It will pack down to 4” of loose hay over time.

Potato bed with 9” – 12” spacing

When planting a bed with something like potatoes that are 6” deep, it doesn’t work to leave them uncovered. So I make a distinctive mark in the soil with fingers on top of each plant. You must mulch immediately using this method, as the marks are very temporary. I used loose hay here so it was very deep. The potatoes would have had great trouble coming through it, so I left 4” diameter areas over each mark.

If you are just starting with mulching, you are seeking a depth of 4” - 6” typically, finished product. Hay leaves are roughly 4” of packed hay. Set tightly together, nothing will sprout. If you only have loose hay, then plan to make it 10” – 12” deep. It will pack down to 4” – 6”.

The Big garden measures 60’ x 43’ and the Small garden measures 30’ x 36’. They would take at least 150 bales of hay to properly mulch the first time. This hay needs to be replenished in the fall wherever it is thin. If this is not done, you will be weeding before you can start planting. I HATE doing that. So I am constantly on the lookout for hay mulch year round.

Make sure you leave the 4” gap for plants to grow. Mulch will stop their growth the same as weeds.

Mulching works here because I have well drained soil in a sunny area. If you are shaded, or your soil doesn’t drain well, this method may not work for you. It will keep your soil too wet and cold for good growth.

If you have a heavy clay soil that packs when dry, it may take a while of incorporating organic matter to loosen it to where you can rely on earthworms and a broadfork to aerate it.

I’ve never dealt with these problems, so can’t speak to them. I just know this has been a major soil builder here since 1993. It has raised the level of soil in this garden a good 4” above the surrounding soil.