Hello - so my garden has exploded and I have never been happier!!! I do have a question though...
I have watermelons and squash growing and I have heard of putting "hay" underneith the fruit to keep it from getting damp.
So I have been online and looking around and (not being of the farming type) I have no idea what the differences are between all these types of hay and such and well honestly I just want to know what the best kind is to get for this?
[img]https://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/cherishedtiger/garden072510001.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/cherishedtiger/garden072510002.jpg[/img]
Oh and just because I am posting pics, check out my carrots! Not quite ready but had to thin to make room for all of them!
[img]https://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/cherishedtiger/garden072510011.jpg[/img]
Thanks for all of your help!!!
- cherishedtiger
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 339
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:10 pm
- Location: Sacramento, California
- cherishedtiger
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 339
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:10 pm
- Location: Sacramento, California
Paper it is! I had heard bad things about slugs and paper, but that's why I have the snail bait stuff... at the beginning of the season slugs ate all of my flowers and had started on the beans...
The carrots are a bit green still, they look great but the flavor just isn't quite there. A few more weeks and they should be perfect!
Thanks for the compliments! I am beyond excited at the fact that my first garden is producing so many wonderful things!!! And to think I almost gave up!!!
The carrots are a bit green still, they look great but the flavor just isn't quite there. A few more weeks and they should be perfect!
Thanks for the compliments! I am beyond excited at the fact that my first garden is producing so many wonderful things!!! And to think I almost gave up!!!
I would think that some type of rubber or plastic mat would be even better as it wouldn't hold water.
In general, hay is the first cutting of a crop (alfalfa, timothy, oat, etc.) and straw is the second cutting.
Hay tends to be solid, has weed seed, and breaks down faster--adding nitrogen to the soil.
Straw is hollow, has less weed seed, and breaks down slower, some consider it a "brown" in compost terms while others consider it a "green." Personally, I think it depends on the type you get.
If I had to choose either/or.....something just makes me want to go with a thick mat of straw beneath the melon.
Needing a mat for your squash is always a good problem to have .
In general, hay is the first cutting of a crop (alfalfa, timothy, oat, etc.) and straw is the second cutting.
Hay tends to be solid, has weed seed, and breaks down faster--adding nitrogen to the soil.
Straw is hollow, has less weed seed, and breaks down slower, some consider it a "brown" in compost terms while others consider it a "green." Personally, I think it depends on the type you get.
If I had to choose either/or.....something just makes me want to go with a thick mat of straw beneath the melon.
Needing a mat for your squash is always a good problem to have .