permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

In a single pickup load of hay that I used for mulch I brought in bindweed
(Convolvulus arvensis), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), and two different
knapweeds (Centaurea). Five years later I'm still pulling them from various
parts of the garden. So if you do bring in hay for mulch, keep an eye on it.

You could also run the hay through a chicken yard first, as Jerome
Osentowski does in Colorado. The birds pick the seeds out of it (while
manuring it, staying mud free, keeping occupied, and getting food, a nice
example of stacking functions). Jerome has his chicken yard on a slope so
the hay accumulates at the bottom, where he has a gate to remove the
now-clean, manured hay and use it as mulch.

Toby