Monday, March 5, 2012

Preparing Straw Mulch


Over my many years of gardening there are two things that I have learned to keep the weeds at bay. The first is never let the weeds get a foothold and especially go to seed. The second secret is mulch, mulch, mulch. I use many different kinds of mulch, grass clippings, purchased bark and even wood chips that the tree trimming people used to bring me. The most readily available and cheapest in my area is wheat straw. Lets face it I live in the plains where tons of corn and wheat are grown therefore many of the farmers bale their wheat straw to sell. Many people complain about using wheat straw because there are always a few grains of wheat left in the straw and they tend to sprout in your mulch and you end up with a tiny wheat field in your garden or flower beds. My solution to this is that I bust my bales and throw my bales of straw into my chicken yard about 2 weeks before I am ready to use it. The chickens love scratching through the straw and in about a week there is not a wheat seed or weed seed to be found. Then I simply pitchfork my straw into my garden wagon and put on my garden or beds as mulch. This pretty well eliminated pulling wheat from my mulch or weeds either. Another great benefit is that I can feed my chicken less purchased feed because they are eating all that wheat so it saves on my feed bell. Now there may be some chicken poop in the straw but not enough to matter or burn anything in the garden. It's a great way for the chickens to help earn their keep, save on feed bills and keep down those weeds with a nice clean straw mulch too. That's my tip for the day.





Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

22 comments:

  1. You are so right, if you let the first weed in, thousands follow!

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  2. And a great tip!

    Bev is trying a new mulch this year in flower beds. She has been processing old pecans, every piece is saved. The goodies bagged and the shells and the rest are going to mulch some beds we have. The chicken love picking anything we miss. The hulls look nice and neutral and will decay and feed the plants in time for next years mulch or they may last two years. It is an experiment.

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  3. Why is it that the most brilliant ideas seem so simple once someone else points it out to you? I never would have thought of this is a million years. Thank you for the idea!!!!!

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  4. I love it! Thank you, CQ. :-)

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  5. What a wonderful tip! I do the same thing with yard leaves; hens eat out the seeds/bugs and break them down a bit in the process.
    So glad you shared.

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  6. I was dumping mine in the garden and letting them go thru it, but now they are evicted. It never occurred to me to dump it in their run!! Thanks so much for the tip!

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  7. What a great idea!! We tried the straw mulch once and spent our entire summer weeding the mini hay field that was once our garden. Never thought to let the chickens have at it first!Thank you!

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  8. Thanks for the tip. No wonder you have such happy chickens.

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  9. I do something similar. When I feed the goats hay, a lot of it eds up on the ground. Rather than allow that to be waste, I fork it into my wheelbarrow and take it to the chicken pen. I put it in the chicken yard for them to scratch and peck through all winter long, adding to the pen weekly. By spring I have lovely, partially broken down, weed free mulch for the garden!

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  10. Great idea !
    I especially love your chickens.
    What breed are they?

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    1. I have exclusively raised Buff Orphington for years. They are a large chicken good for both meat and egg production and are known for being docile. But best of all they lay beautiful large brown eggs.

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  11. I told my husband we were going to do this with the mulch this year. I got tired of picking it last year. We're also getting Buff Orphingtons this year.

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  12. Just stumbled over here from Farm Girl Friday linky party. Love your site & am now a follower. I'm just west of you in KS so we've been having similar weather. I LOVE this idea with the straw! I mulch mulch mulch but yes, I currently have wheat growing in my garden and on my pathways. I, and my chickens, thank you! LOL Buff Orpingtons must be the thing, btw! We're getting them this year, and a few Barred Rocks. Have always done Reds but just want something different.

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    1. Welcome! Love the mulch but hate the wheat volunteers but the chickens have almost eliminated the problem. I think you will be happy with Buffs. I have had them for years and they lay huge brown eggs and are so docile. Will even raise their own chicks which is a plus : )

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  13. My chickens get so excited when I give them straw- they go right to digging through it! I wish it was more plentiful/cheaper here... :)

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  14. Great tip! Now, I just need to find me some hens... and some wheat straw.

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  15. I did the same thing this year. Not only do the chickens pick out the weed seeds, but it also keeps their feet toasty during the winter while they're out in the run. Not that we had a winter this year...

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  16. Thanks for the great tip! I just checked you out on Pinterest - great stuff...am now following.

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  17. I need to do this next year. I didn't realize how much of the straw would sprout and I just put it in the garden. Big mistake! Ack, weeds everywhere. Next year, I will share with the Girls before it goes to the garden.

    I just discovered your blog and I'm SOOO gonna make that pineapple zucchini. Very interesting.

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  18. Hello, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your site and this post. You make some very informative points.Keep up the great work!
    Discount Mulch

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