While a clean soil garden looks tremendous, it is very high maintenance. The bare soil provides the perfect situation for weeds, and moisture evaporates from the bare soil in the blink of an eye. You are left in a constant state of weeding and watering. Being as these two activities are my least favorite garden chores, I am a total straw-head.
When you mulch your garden with straw, you are killing a small flock of birds with one stone. You are: aiding in moisture retention (in laymen's terms your keeping the water from evaporating as quickly), you are deterring weeds from sprouting by choking them out, you are encouraging microbial activity. Not to mention that in the long run the decaying straw will provide nutrients to your plants and make great compost when raked up and added to your pile. If you aren't already, it's time to get hooked on the straw.
When you put down straw, the straw takes on some of the water, and it holds the moisture under it. This is largely the same reasons we mulch our ornamental beds with shredded up wood. It keeps the moisture in the soil, and it helps with the weeds.
The system I use costs a little initially but it works real well, and virtually eliminates the fungi and mildew issues of watering the leaves of my vegetables with overhead irrigation. I install a soaker hose around where my plants are with the hose attachments sticking out of the sides of the bed for easy access. I use sod staples to keep the soaker hoses in place. It works great. After I've installed the soaker hoses, I cover the hoses and the entire area with about an inch layer of straw. After this all I need to do is screw the hose onto each of my soaker hose attachments, turn the water on, and walk away. Both foliar diseases and wasted water are licked and the watering lasts longer. As long as your smart about your watering this won't even increase the chances of root diseases either.
In the spring, the straw acts as an insulator. It creates a micro-climate under the straw, warming up the soil, as the sun warms the straw. Warmer soil temperatures earlier, means that your vegetables will grow better, before the real heat of the summer. This means healthier plants, not stressed out from the heat and drought.
Weeding sucks, a lot. I hate doing it. Even if you scrape them up with a hoe, the process is continual, and monotonous. You don't need to do it nearly as much if you straw it up. With less germinating weeds, you will find yourself free to do other things like: prune, fertilize, play with the kids, or have a beer. Don't get me wrong, you will still have weeds, just not dozens and dozens of them. It's the same reason why a mulched ornamental bed won't need weeded half as much as an un-mulched one. Many germinating weed seeds in your soil will run out of carbohydrate reserves before they reach the surface, being as without sunlight the seeds can't make more carbs they will die.
The straw decays. While this may sound gross to some it isn't. Everything in your soil is decaying and your plants love it. A microscopic world is gnawing on all of the dead organic matter in your soil, and when you have a lot of microbes you are bound to have some that eat fungi, insects, nematodes and any other jerks lurking around in your soil. The more the merrier. Also, like any other type of compost, the straw decaying breaks down into nutrients, which in turn go into the soil and are taken up by the very satisfied roots of your plant. They say thank you by making more food for you.
When you rake up the straw or incorporate it into your soil at the end of the year, this process only gets better. In the compost pile, it contributes to the nitrogen content of your free fertilizer supply. The more resourceful you are, the easier and more fun gardening becomes.
Lastly, one important thing I need to emphasis! Don't use hay, use straw. Hay has tons of seedheads that will most likely in turn become weeds. Straw does not have nearly as many, although there will be a few. However, by comparison, the number of weeds you will end up with due to the straw is minimal. Also, it is important to put a whole bunch down. This is not like when you put down straw in order to keep grass seed in place in your lawn, put about a packed down half inch to an inch. Just don't cover the base of your plants as heavy. It helps if after you put it down to water it, so that it packs down and stays in place. Try it out, you won't regret it.
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