I just googled straw in google images, and then hay... and really, it is hard to tell.

I would just pull the straw/hay back, hoe the area and put it back a few hours later, when the grassy stuff had a chance to dry up.

Moni

It could be straw and what is coming up is whatever kind of straw it is. I usually have some wheat, barley or oats germinate depending on the type of straw I'm using. Straw is a yellow, golden or can be almost a brown colored stalk. I'm not good at guessing sizes but would say the diameter would be roughly 1/8". Depending on type of straw and variety. Hay can vary. Grass hay will just look like cut grass. Length will be determined by the height of the grass when cut. Alfalfa hay which I use a lot of looks completely different. And should have a green color unless it has been rained on ect. Which for garden use doesn't hurt it. Usually anything that sprouts in hay or straw is easy to control. Either remove it or cover it up with more mulch. The only thing this doesn't work well on are things like Bermuda grass. I got some in the grass clippings I hauled in 2 years ago and was a year getting rid of it. Haven't seen any this year. So feel I might have it. Knock on wood. Many say hay is worse than straw for having unwanted seeds. I've found it the other way. Most straw here is baled right behind the combine. So never cleaned. Always some berries. Hay is as clean as the field where it was raised. If you know the farmer or have seen the field you will have a good idea of what you are getting. I use the loose alfalfa from around the bottom of the hay stacks. I usually have little to no germination of anything. Again if you have any type of mulch and leave it on top of the ground in the winter here there will be a few weeds from seed the wind blows in.

Another possibility is it is wheat hay. Wheat, oat or barley hay is supposed to be cut before the seeds are mature and realistically you wouldn't have any mature seeds. I've had it many times where at least part of the seed heads were too far along and had mature seeds. And I've seen some farm stores selling wheat, oat and barley hay as straw. I feel part of it is they just don't know. I've pointed it out before and they said they just know what they ordered. Jay

Another possibility I use often is posting what I want on Craigs list. I just post in the farm/garden section. I usually get a reply from someone with something. Then you can question them where and how it was raised. The other thing to ask is if it was sprayed with anything in the weeks before it was cut and baled. Jay

You can rake back your hay/straw, put down a layer of brown cardboard or several sheets of newspaper and rake the hay/straw back over the top of it. The cardboard and/or newsprint keeps any seeds that manage to sprout from easily growing down into the soil underneath. I've done this for years. As a bonus, both the newspaper and cardboard (especially the cardboard) attract earthworms, which is wonderful.

I grow everything in raised or square foot beds because I have two toddlers and HOPED to make life easier for myself in the future. So no raking or hoeing can be done. However, I do like the newspaper/cardboard idea and will pull the straw out, add a layer of one of those, and put it back. I also mulched my tomatoes with the straw/hay just to eliminate soil splash. Was this a completely bad mistake? What do you all use (if anything) to mulch your tomatoes?

Thank you all for the help!!

Go to facebook ;http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Tulsa-OK/Blue-Jackalope/94860332182 ,Scott the owner had a truck full delivered last year.

Joellen,

I handle tomato plants in various ways to reduce soil splash. Believe me, every bit of effort you expend to reduce soil splash is well worth it, so keep doing it!

In some beds, if the only thing there is tomato plants with maybe a border of companion plants (to attract beneficial insects) and that's all I'll have there all season long, I put down heavy-duty woven, NON-perforated, weedblock fabric before I plant. After everything is planted, cages, staked, etc. I add about an inch of mulch right then. (That is earlier in the spring and at that point, less thick mulch is better because I want the soil to warm up and not stay too cold.) As the season advances, I keep adding more and more mulch as I go along so that by late June, I've goe 3" or 4" of mulch on the tomato beds. If it is a bed where other veggies, like carrots and lettuce are interplanted, I put down newspaper and cardboard around the tomatoes as best I can, and mulch goes on top of that Obviously around the carrots, lettuce and onions and other similar closely-spaced plants like peas, you cannot put down a layer of much of anything like cardboard, so I just put down mulch there. I taylor the mulch and any underlying layers to whatever is in the bed. Pathways get mulched too to reduce soil splash (and weeding!).

You will never regret the steps you take to reduce soil splash because your tomato plants will be so much healthier. Keep it up!!!!

Happy Gardening,

Dawn

You might call around the Atwood's in SS or Sapulpa. The one in Owasso was carrying some compressed aflalfa bales.

Tulsacityfarmer, I have emailed jackaloupe to see if he/she sill reveal his or her sources. The tank, I called every Atwoods in 30miles and they are all out. They say it is generally a fall product. I have also called every feed store that I have found, although a couple were closed today, so I will hit the phones again tomorrow!

I bought some straw from Thompson's General Store in Owasso about a month ago. If they have it, you'll still probably get some seeds with it. They also were selling some bagged/dehydrated alfalfa. It's expensive... I don't know much about strawberries mulched with alfalfa.

Did you try Lowes? Ours, in Grove, had it last week.

Try a local ranch (horse, cow, goat, sheep, llama, alpaca) for used straw. Most will let you have it for free for the taking. The added benefit is that it'll have some extra goodies for enriching your garden

I have been using Google more, and I believe that I actually did get straw. Per Google, hay is made from dried grasses and is flat, whereas straw is hollow, like a very teeny drinking straw. Both can be yellow or golden (hay starts green but ages into gold).

More specifically, I think I got wheat straw. I don't know where I read that straw was supposed to be "weed free", because I have a literal field of wheat growing right now. I also read that some people have luck with just flipping big clumps of straw over as they sprout.

This is what I have growing...everywhere.
{{gwi:1101816}}

My plan for the future is to lay it out all over my paths, let it get good and wet and start to decompose a little, BEFORE I add it to my beds.

Thanks for all the help! Oklahomans are awesome!

Thompson's in Owasso has straw for 7.00 a bale. It looks pretty clean. Also, Crain's in Skiatook had alfalfa bales, but that was a month ago. I use alfalfa around my tomatoes so I don't have to pick wheat all summer. It's expensive, but worth it to me. Might try what Dawn said about the cardboard or newspaper. That sounds like a good idea.

Most wheat straw will have wheat berries. The picture you posted is of a mature wheat head.
I agree with part of your Google info. Wheat, oat and barley hay does have hollow stems(straws). The only difference is the heads most often are immature. Grass type hay will be flat. But hay isn't limited to grass types only. Hay color will vary with type, age and exposure to the elements. I have 2 y/o alfalfa hay that is still green. It will never age into a golden color. I've been involved in farming and ranching my whole life and have a lot of experience with both hay and straw. I would say you got wheat hay with some completely mature heads from the appearance of your picture. Again if you can find it from a local grower it will be a lot cheaper. Here from a grower it runs around 3 dollars. From a feed supplier 6-8. But I'm usually able to get all the old straw and hay I need if I use up all of my loose hay. Jay

So I have had zero luck with finding straw (emailing, calling, wanted ad on CL)

Here is a pic of my new strawberry bed with its newspaper "pie crust"
{{gwi:1101818}}
and here is the finished product, mulched with partially decomposed oak leaves!
{{gwi:1101819}}
Now, I just have to do the same to my old strawberry bed and all of my tomato beds...a daunting prospect when I consider the thousands of wheat seedlings I pulled today.

TY for all the help.

Joellen,

I just can't believe straw is that hard to find there. I wonder why.

People always recommend straw over hay, but I usually use hay because it is so easy to find. Chopped and shredded leaves are always my number one choice because they contain the macro and micronutrients plants need and they contain them in the proportions needed. Of course, you have to collect them in fall and winter, and all the ones I had 'saved' are already on the beds. My only problem with the leaves is the copperheads, which are plentiful at our place, blend right in with them. But, as we mow, we collect grass clippings and dump them on top of the leaf mulch, so the copperheads don't get to hide among the leaves for long....and you definitely spot them much easier in the dried grass clippings. I don't have an enormous amount of weed-sprouting issues now but that's because I learned from previous years like the one you're having right now. Every learning experience like this makes us better gardeners....it is just too bad there are so many things we learn the hard way!

Keep it up...it looks great! And don't forget to relax and enjoy it. Gardening should be fun and relaxing, not overly stressful and frustrating. : )

Dawn

Joellen,
Looks great. I 2nd what Dawn said. Like I've stated I usually use both hay and straw. More hay as I have lots of loose alfalfa every year. I have a coworker who takes care of lots of yards. He brings me several big trailer loads of leaves every fall and I put a tarp over them. I put down a layer of unshredded leaves over the garlic and shallots in the winter. Then put straw and hay over them. I bought a Troybilt chipper/shredder at an auction this spring. I'm using it now to shred leaves and putting a few inches around the tomato plants. Then again straw hay over them. There is a few reasons I put straw/hay over them. The main is after I shred them if I don't the wind carries most away. The alfalfa hay especially if I don't shred it will lay in the wind as good as anything I've found. After working all my mulch cover in last fall I have a lot of mulching to do. But I have lots of hay along with some straw. So should have plenty. I don't plan on using as many of the grass clippings this year. And the reason is the Rec Dept has changed Director's and they don't notify me when they spray like they used to. I don't want to take a chance on it causing damage to my plants. I should have enough without it anyway. Around here I always seem to be able to find something. Jay

Lee's feed at 193rd E Ave/11th Street is where I get straw. Just got a bale last week, and the guy was just unloading a truck load while I was there. Mine came off the truck, not out of the barn!

THANK YOU CJ!!! My big ole pile of leaves, which I thought was HUGE, has just been finished and I still have more garden to mulch.

BTW, they were maple leaves, not oak. Yes, I am really that clueless.

This will be my last reply to this I promise. Just wanted to tell CJ that I went to Lee's feed today and bought some straw. It seems much less seedy than the straw I already have. An hour round trip with two cranky toddlers, but I am extremely happy! Thanks again.

Joellen - glad you got your straw, but a word of caution: after the 4 1/2 inches of rain we got one day last week, my straw has sprouted, and I'm having fun weeding. I've seen worse, but just want you to be aware.

Carol