The Ruth Stout No-Till Method

Starting a new garden with some research.

Got into the Ruth Stout method quite accidentally.

The Ruth Stout method utilizes a deep layer of mulch, composting in place with straw, hay, or leaves, and the mulch serves double function: it fertilizes the soil as it decomposes, and it keeps weeds from growing. Each spring, you push aside the mulch to plant new seeds. Because you're never tilling the soil, the buried weed seeds never have a chance to sprout. The decomposing mulch continues to add nutrients to your top soil year after year so no fertilizing is needed and you don't disturb the soil ecosystem by chopping it all up.

Being a weekend gardener who is away a few days each week, I was mainly attracted to this method for eliminating the watering schedule while evading the use of an irrigation system. But it also gives me an easy place to store dead leaves that I will sweep up in the fall. I'll mulch the garden in fall with dead leaves, cover over again in spring with straw or hay, and let it decompose a bit before planting. In my infinite laziness I am deeply drawn to this kind of efficiency and look forward to a good crop.

Kinds of Mulch

The problem, really, is where to source my mulch this day and age. A very popular new strain of broadleaf herbicides are cropping up in manure, hay, straw, and compost. Popular because of its persistence and relative non-toxicity to humans and livestock. But because it doesn't break down you put this stuff down in your garden, it can mess you up for years.

So, I grabbed some woodchip mulch from a local hardware store but it had dyes. I visited a Tractor Supply Company store in Portsmouth and got some wood shavings for animal bedding, but I read online that these can acidify your soil. Nevertheless, since this season is an experiment in every sense, I've spread both of these over the garden. Cost prohibited me from putting down an 8 inch layer of mulch as suggested: I ended up with around 2-3. Four weeks later I've noted a modest weed suppression effect but a significant improvement in moisture retention. I saw decent seed germination (carrots, mainly, and beets), watering only once a week, and we have had weeks with 90 degree weather and no rain.

I still want to try the straw and hay. But I'm running a bio assay first to look for signs of herbicides. If this works out, I have a pretty steady supplier of hay and straw locally, and this will make a lot more sense from an economic standpoint.