The Straw That Broke The Gardener’s Back

When we moved to our property, we hit the ground running — and “running” left no time for raised beds. So we did what made sense: amended the soil, skipped the till, and went with the no-dig method. I’d seen the gorgeous Instagram gardens with the neat straw rows and I knew exactly what I was doing.

Except I bought the straw from a feed store.

It would seem that feed store straw is not garden straw. I thought I would save some money but little did I know, it was full of seeds just waiting for a wet Arkansas spring to unleash them. Within a week of receiving some decent rain, I didn’t have a garden. I had a straw farm.

My onions are in there somewhere. I’ll have to take their word for it. The tomatoes are just visible above the grass - for now. Lucky for us, we have lots of local farms we can buy from but I’m already planning for next year. A summer without a garden is just kind of sad. 

There is something deeply humbling about doing the research, making the plan, putting in the work, and still watching it go sideways because of one detail you didn’t know to look for. Nobody’s Instagram post mentioned the seeds. The straw looked exactly right. It just wasn’t.

We’re leaving it. At this point I’m not sure what’s living in there and I’ve decided not to find out. The garden is on its own this year. We’ll call it a field study.