[gardeners] straw mulching
jen6 (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 4 Aug 1999 06:19:23 -0400
>
> Do you put the straw right up to the plant stems or do you leave
> breathing space?
I put it right up to the stems. The straw never compacts fully so there is
alot of breathing room. Just make sure you pull apart the "books" from the
bale (sections of straw in a compact bale) so it is a fluffy 6+ inches. As
for the tomatoes, I put the straw around the cages so that it naturally
makes a little hole. The article on this is from the magazine Mother Earth
News from march 1999 on pg 102-103. The woman who made this famous is named
Ruth Stout and whe wrote a book "Gardening Without Work for the Aging, the
Busy and the Indolent." Check it out at the library or order it through the
magazine at www.motherearthnews.com.