Straw is usually the stalks left over after oats or wheat have been threshed off the plants. Al Pablo indicated, not all straw is free of seeds. A lot depends on how it was harvested and the efficiency of the machinery. Some if it is likely to have quite a bit of seed, but any seed that manage to survive and come up from that is easy to pull up or deal with. I really like alfalfa, it is a good natural, slow release nitrogen source and is also supposed to contain a natural growth harmone which might possibly benefit your plants. My sister in law who raises horses swept up, and filled several feed bags with broken up bits of high dollar alfalfa hay. I have added it in with other materials to prep a row for planting in my garden, and things seem to be growing great. I do not know if you can tell much about it from of it or not. Most alfalfa hay is cut and baled before it seeds out, I have never, ever had any problem with seed sprouting from using it. Just my.02 Bill P.

This weekend I made one of those neat ruffled looking burlap wreaths. It turned out great and was so easy! I have pumpkins, gourds, etc. on the porch and also in our area out back. I used a pumpkin and straw in an urn (small) on one of the front steps. I have my big old copper boiler that I use as a planter and changes out my plants, etc. It's still warm here and my summer flowers are still going strong. I have pulled up a few things. I decorate in October (fall only, not halloween) and that holds me through Thanksgiving. Christmas stuff goes up that weekend or shortly after. I don't have a picture yet and I'm not at home, but I'm linking to a picture of the burlap wreath. tina Here is a link that might be useful:

Tricky... So you're saying you experienced Franken-weeds? Let's see, if weeds were growing at a prodigious rate, couldn't be killed and continued to return with a vengeance then it would seem your garden was indeed robust that year... its the very definition of ROBUST actually... it's just not the plants you'd desired apparently. Epilog: Due to the weather (really cold and snowy) I'd been putting off my trial planting experiment. Well two weeks ago, I finally got around to scooping up soil from the beds and putting it into large plastic cups. Took out left over vegetable seeds from the summer past and sowed them into the cups. 8 cups in all... radishes, turnips, beans, carrots, lettuce, spinach, beets, and broccoli. Put the planted cups under grow lights in the basement. Just TWO DAYS later the radishes, turnips, lettuce had all sprouted... the NEXT DAY the broccoli, beets and the first bean plant showed up... TWO DAYS after that all the cups had germinated (carrots and spinach were the last to emerge... not what I would have predicted). This was certainly a good sign as it means germination has not been compromised... now to see if any of the first real leaves will appear deformed. I figured by the time I begin to see the second set of real leaves there should be no doubt that the roots are functioning within the soil supplying the plant with nutrients as the embryo leaves start to wither. Today makes it one day short of two weeks since PLANTING the cups and all plants have at least two sets of real leaves! (I've been giving them 14 hour days and the cups do get a little warm under the lights so that likely explains the speedy germination and growth rate.) All are very green (as I'd expect) and growth rate is exponentially accelerating every day so I don't know how much longer I can keep this experiment going... especially the bean plants (re: "Jack and the Bean Stalk" anyone?). I'll probably give it another week... by then the plants will be killing each other out as you can't expect to grow a half dozen or so plants in an 8 ounce cup for very long. Actually they are already fighting with each other (carrots, spinach, and broccoli are the exceptions so far... I'm sure in another week it'll be a different story for them as well). So to answer my own question (refer to the title of the thread)... I've determine the answer to be... wait for it.... NOTHING. Wow, what a long journey to discover there is nothing to fear with applying massive excess humic shale to the garden.... could it be its all a scam? That's another question for another thread for another time.

Ah, I have not grown Raspberry Sundae but read that it is a compact variety. I am very fond of this group of white flowered blossom trees/shrubs (styrax, philadelphus, deutzias, escallonia) but like all deciduous plants, they can look a bit 'meh' after flowering. As a rule, deutzias tend to have fairly limber branches and an innate grace, unlike the often awkward growth of certain shrubs (exochorda, looking at you) - they respond well to annual pruning after flowering. They are more forgiving of my sandy soil than hydrangeas (vaguely related, I think). I like them, although I currently only have a small unnamed variegated gracilis (possibly Creme Fraiche).