He used straw. Hay has seed in it. If your grass is only 2 weeks from seeding and you've already mowed, I think your mower is set about 2 inches too low. Your mower should be at the highest setting. Once you do that, all your problems will go away. The grass clippings will filter down into the tall grass and the straw will be below the mower blade. If you don't want to mulch mow your leaves on the lawn, you can blow them onto a paved area and mulch mow them there. Then blow the leaf dust back to the lawn. If you want to speed up the decomposition of the straw (or leaves), you could spray milk on the lawn. Set the milk in the sprayer at full strength and set adjuster to flow at 3 tablespoons per gallon. The milk will set up the biology to decompose the straw. When I say all your problems will go away by mowing high, I do mean all your current problem plus any future weed problems. If you were to overseed in the spring, you would likely get weeds because you would scalp the grass down low first, thus exposing the weed seed to the sunlight and constant water. As long as you don't water for a few minutes every day or two, and you leave your grass tall, you will have a "no hassle" lawn.

Hay may or may not make good green material. It is dependent on the protein level (N) in the hay. Some hay is more akin to straw while other hay could be up to the level of alfalfa. The round bales could even be different according to how deep the hay comes from . The outer levels will have less than the center. And this also depends on the age and how it was stored. Some hay has been treated with herbicide. Some of these herbicides can show up in the garden and kill your veggies. (Grazon being one of them. It can even be passed on through the manure.)

Ezzirah, Straw is sprayed with herbicides too. All it takes is a very minute amount of herbicide residue (perhaps as small as one part per billion) on hay, straw, in animal manure from animals that ate the contaminated hay, or compost made from contaminated ingredients to contaminate your soil. Contaminated soil will vary in how long it remains barren and for most gardeners it seems like it takes at least 3 or 4 years before they can grow anything in the garden again other than grasses or grains. The 3 to 4 years of "down time" that most people see is a much longer period than the manufacturer says their research indicates. I've linked a permaculture website that addresses herbicide contamination and the writer shows some of their own plants in soil he or she was testing for contamination, and further down the page describes how the contamination issue affected their plants. The only way to know for sure you have non-contaminated hay or straw is to get it directly from the person who grew it and make sure that it was not sprayed with any of the herbicides known to persist for long periods of time. I only get hay from people I know do not ever, ever, ever spray their fields and even then you run the risk that their next-door neighbor could have sprayed this herbicide and it could have drifted into non-sprayed area. When I buy hay from a feed store, I only buy alfalfa hay and I don't buy straw because the local suppliers cannot tell me if it was sprayed or not. Your local feed store or hay broker may or may not know if their hay or straw was sprayed. Our local feed store sometimes knows and sometimes has no idea. All the herbicides that persist in hay, straw, manure, compost and soil are sprayed to kill broad-leaved weeds in grass and grain crops, along road, railroad and utility line right-of-ways, and even on golf courses. Since alfalfa is not a grass or grain (it is a legume), it cannot be sprayed with those herbicides, so there is not a deadly herbicide residue issue with it. I used to bring in lots of mulch and soil amendments from outside our property, whether they were locally-grown hay or bagged products from a store, but almost everything I use now come from our own property because that's the only way I have of knowing I'm not contaminating my soil with herbicide residue. It takes me so much more time to mow and collect grass clippings to use as mulch than it takes to go to the feed store and buy bales of hay, but at least this way I know I'm not bringing contaminated materials onto our property. Just one bale of contaminated straw or hay or one bag of contaminated manure or compost could destroy your ability to raise non-grass, non-grain crops for years. Everyone who has this happen to them always is shocked and has that "I didn't think this ever would happen to me" attitude, and I understand that, but sadly it has happened to them and it continues to happen. In a very odd and ironic twist, the contaminated compost, manure and mulch issue has hit organic gardeners especially hard despite their efforts to avoid chemicals in the garden. That's because it tends to be organic gardeners who are adding compost and manure to their garden beds, and using hay or straw for mulch. For organic growers who are "certified organic", their certification can be yanked after they've gone to great effort and expense to get it in the first place. The herbicide contamination issue is largely ignored by the media and mostly only discussed after many gardens in one area are wiped out by herbicide contamination. I think that's because it first showed up in the beds of organic gardeners back in the early 2000s when organic gardening was not as popular or as widespread as it is now and organic gardeners still were thought of as a fringe element. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Herbicide Contamination

My best recommendations would be for the marsh hay if available, then hay or alfalfa (try to get the 2nd cut to reduce weed seed), straw otherwise. Ask any potential source where the hay came from; sometimes grass cut from fallow pastures, or roadsides, is sold as "marsh hay", and could contain noxious weeds in excessive quantities (like thistle). Only the hay from marsh areas is relatively weed-free. Fresh grass clippings during the summer are also very good, as long as no chemicals were used on the lawn. I agree with those who recommend against wood chips, in a previous garden they seemed to promote damping off & an increase in fungal wilt problems. Try to get marsh hay that is still green, and keep it dry until application. Marsh hay, green hay, and grass clippings will provide some nitrogen as they break down; as opposed to the straw & wood chips, which will consume nitrogen. Regardless of which mulch used, adding fresh green material throughout the year will work wonders for your earthworm population, and improve your soil.