Okay gardeners. Now is the time to deal the deals and talk the talk. Haying season is almost here and the best source of free garden soil improvement is up for grabs. Yes, I am talking about last years hay. As farmers clear out their barns of old or broken bales to make room for fresh fodder you have a chance to strike a deal with them to your gardens benefit. Most of the times the farmers will give the stuff away if you haul it.
Why? Because often farmers don’t care enough about utilizing what they have–there’s just so much of it and only so much time. . . . So, get on the list now before things really heat up in a month or so and the haying begins. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you all what use are old bales. Do I?

Old bales are great for making impromptu sheds–just stack um high and find a roof. We used an arrangement like this years ago to house two calves for several months. Likewise, old bales make great mulch–under strawberries, on garden paths, over newly planted seeds, in the compost pile. If you have chickens, and I hope you do, old hay is great in the chicken yard–make sure it hasn’t been damp or moldy. Just lay it in thick and the chickens eat it, forage for bugs in it, and it covers their waste while helping improve the soil. And for dormant garden beds, where the soil needs ammendment, you can’t go wrong in covering with a thick layer of old hay. Don’t worry about your cover crops coming up through it either. It may delay things for up to a week, but once through the hay, any crop will grow like normal.

So get out into the countryside, visit your local farms, get on the old hay list and start building community relationships and quality, organic soil.

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