I have some bales of hay that I used for Halloween decoration , can I use it in my vegetable garden or does it have seeds in it? Thanks for any info on this.
Dancinglady
Bales of Hay
DON'T DO IT
I used hay bales and used some for mulch and now I'm fighting bermuda grass and I have to pull grass every few days
You might give a thought to using them for a straw bale garden. I don't know much about it but there is a forum for it here.:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/strawbale/all/
I read elsewhere that hay is not preferred for bale gardening because of the seeds and weeds that inhabit it, but that it is workable. I was thinking of getting a couple of straw bales and trying it myself just for fun.
Z
One thought would be to use the "Straw Bale Gardening" preparation method, which composts the hay and gets it to a high enough temperature to kill seeds.
I have mulched with hay for years and have had no weed problem. MIght be the kind of hay. We use good quality horse hay that has gotten moldy and can't be fed to the horses - we've used timothy, alfalfa, and bermuda hay. Cow hay might be an entirely different story. Tending the garden regularly, what germination that does occur in the beds (whether from the hay or seed from other source) is easily pulled and does not recur. The hay mulch has proven to be an effective barrier to germination from bermuda seeds from our pasture and from wind carried desert weed seeds.
Your mileage may vary (LOL).
Frank
I've tried both and the grass hay bales won hands down.
CajuninKy, what was the difference you noticed? I haven't used straw bales, but I know they would make work great.
Frank
The straw wouldn't break down so nothing but weeds grew in it. There were hadly any weeds at all in my grass bales, they broke down easily and I had tomatoes like crazy. Also only had to fertilize the grass bales once during the season. I used a "smear" of fresh rabbit manure to coat the top of the bale and I watered through it. I would plant in the dirt before I would use straw. In fact, for the last 2 years that is exactly what I have done. I have made raised beds from composted horse manure and sawdust. It is harder but I have much better success than I would with straw.
Here are the green onions I grew in my raised bed. Actually my old flower bed. I replanted red dutch onions in the holes where I pulled up the green onions and they are growing very nicely.
I think I should have been more precise. I am using the same bales for growing other veggies, I'm just using the "fluff" that comes off the bales occassionaly as mulch and that is where I'm having the problem with the bermuda, anything that is growing in the bales is easily pulled out.
I'm growing Tomatoes , beans, cucumbers, and squash in the bales and have no complaints.