Mad As An Old Wet Hen

That’s the phrase my grandmother used all the time to describe one of her sisters.  I’m not kidding when I say that every story she told about my great-aunt ended with this phrase.  She obviously had quite a temper and, although I never witnessed one of those tantrums, I treaded lightly around her.
That’s how I am feeling today about straw.
Yes, straw.
For years, I have used straw as a mulch.  I liked the way it looked, it was easy for me to haul around, and did a good job suppressing weeds.
Last year, the straw seemed to have a lot of grass seed in it.  This year it was full of grass seed.

So I have spent the better part of the summer pulling grass from my mulch.
Not happy.
My happy place had turned into a grassy place.  No LOLing here.
Every time I would start on a section I would get more and more frustrated.  So I did what most of us would do.  I turned to Facebook.  Within minutes of asking for suggestions about mulch in our gardening group, I was directed to a local guy who bales pine straw.  Several in our Master Gardener group use him as well as our local botanical garden.
So I gave him a call and he met me the same day.  He had six bales left and I was able to get all of them in my truck.  They were lightweight and very easy to work with and in a matter of a couple of hours, I was done.
My happy place was back.





I know any mulch is not weed proof, but I’m hoping to have better luck with this.
What is your favorite mulch?
Brenda