Ruth Stout Smiles

Ruth Stout, you are one of my garden goddess inspirations.  Thanks to you, I have a reason for hoarding copious amounts of mulching material. 

Well, I have a good reason to do that, anyway.

The other day, during a break in the rain, I prepared two beds a la Ruth.  The Bunny Barn needed its spring cleaning, so I emptied out a good 1/3 of the mulching down hay-mixed-with-poo and layered it on 10 inches thick (give or take) on my corn bed.

And then, since I was still feeling ambitious, I took the black plastic off the bed I had solarized last summer and added a foot-deep layer to that, too.

Eventually, I'll plant out gourds in this bed, which should happily scramble along the fence all summer.

After a few weeks, the layer of mulch will likely squash down a little but it should be thick enough to smother out any persistent weeds.  Well, the quack may rear it's ugly pervasive head, but hopefully it will be weak and spindly and easy to yank out due to the lovely thick and moisture-laden mulch.

Ruth Stout would be most pleased, I think...and possibly envious of the hearty amount of rabbit poo (which I lovingly refer to as "rocket fuel").  I can hardly wait to plant things out in my lovely mulched beds!