The Ruth Stout gardening method involves keeping the soil covered by a thick layer of hay mulch and simply growing your vegetables in it. It is a form of permaculture that’s also similar to sheet or lasagna gardening and allows you to create a fertile substrate that needs no digging.
Ruth Stout didn’t invent perpetual mulching — it occurs naturally in forests and wild fields. However, she was the first person to write and speak about this method, earning her the “Mulch Queen” nickname.
Ruth’s story began in 1930 when she and her husband moved to a 55-acre farm on Poverty Hollow Road in Redding, Connecticut. It was there that started gardening at the age of 45. And every spring, she had the same problem: the man who was supposed to come and plow the field was always late. (Read website article for details)
Ruth then realized that by keeping the garden soil permanently covered with hay she would have to work less and still get good results. The layer of hay meant she didn’t have to plow, it suppressed weeds, required no watering, and broke down into compost that provided her vegetables with valuable nutrients.
The core principle behind the Ruth Stout method is perpetual mulching with hay. Ruth used it with great success for over 35 years and essentially created a garden that required no digging, tilling, watering, or using fertilizers.
Some of the plants that grow very well in a Ruth Stout garden are vegetables that benefit from mulching, such as: – Potatoes – Strawberries – Tomatoes – Peppers – Eggplants – Cucumbers – Squash and pumpkin – Asparagus – Garlic (Read website article for complete list)
more home & garden: natureofhome.com