The Ruth Stout Gardening Method: How to Make Gardening Easy Jenny Graham, June 28, 2024June 28, 2024 Growing food with the Ruth Stout gardening method takes the hard work out of gardening. Let’s take a look at this no-nonsense, easy way of growing food. The Mulch Queen: Ruth Stout Gardening Method Ruth Stout, aka the Mulch Queen, was born June 14, 1884. In March of 1930, she moved to a 55-acre farm on the outskirts of Redding, Connecticut. This is where her love for gardening began and where the Ruth Stout Gardening Method was born. She gardened, the easy way, up until she died at the age of 91. What is the Ruth Stout Gardening Method? The Ruth Stout Gardening Method uses a thick layer of mulch to suppress weeds and grass while breaking down over time to feed the soil and conserve water. The thick layer of mulch is placed on the whole garden area, directly on top of unbroken ground. This form of permaculture requires little work from the gardener. In the gardening world, it is also known as the No Work, No Dig method. Does the Ruth Stout Gardening Method Work? Yes, quite well actually. Ruth was able to grow all of her produce using this style of gardening. She pointed to the fact that God created it to work. It mimics the natural process of organic material falling to the ground to build soil. No Work, No Dig Method Of Gardening Unlike traditional methods of gardening, the Ruth Stout method does not use any tilling, plowing, hoeing, or broak forking to disturb the soil. It also skips the step of building and maintaining a compost pile. A thick layer of organic material is put in place as permanent mulch to decompose in the garden. Starting a Ruth Stout No Dig Garden Starting an organic vegetable garden using this no-work, no-dig system is easy for beginner gardeners. Pick a garden area in full sun that you frequently pass by and don’t even think about getting out any heavy-duty garden tools. All you need is a load of mulch material and a shovel or pitchfork to spread it. When Do I Start a Ruth Stout Garden? The best time to start a Ruth Stout system is in the fall, just before winter. Starting it in the fall gives a little time for the organic mulch to break down. This will give you a fertile plot to plant in come growing season, in the springtime. Truth be told though, you can start it at any time. Don’t let the time of year hold you back. If you are ready to garden, then just get started. Using Straw or a Thick Layer of Hay Mulch Back in the day, the Mulch Queen used spoiled hay that she acquired from neighboring farms. Spoiled hay or straw was safe to use and could usually be found for free back then. Is Straw or Hay Safe to Use in the Garden Now? The problem with using hay in the garden now is that most hay farmers spray their fields with a persistent herbicide, called Grazon. The contaminated hay can leech this herbicide into garden soil, contaminating soil for years, making it impossible to grow some fruits and vegetables. Wheat straw bales are less likely to be contaminated with herbicides but are not 100% safe either. Testing Hay or Straw Mulch to See If It’s Safe You can test your hay or straw mulch to see if it is contaminated with herbicides. Simply plant some beans in garden soil and mulch them with hay or straw. If several sets of true leaves grow normally on your plant, you can assume it is safe to use in the garden. Other Organic Material for Deep Mulch There are different types of mulch you can use for Stout’s method. Any type of plant material like leaves or shredded wood chips can be used. You can also mix in some grass clippings, as long as they aren’t full of grass or weed seeds. Different Types of Mulch You Can Use in the Ruth Stout Gardening Method kitchen scraps compost mulch pine needles shredded leaf mulch shredded paper cardboard sawdust, from untreated wood grass clippings living mulch or cover crops used as a chop-and-drop cedar mulch shredded wood mulch untreated wood chip mulch How Much Natural Mulch Should Be Used? The Mulch Queen would have answered, “Twice as much as you think!” More specifically, about 8 inches of mulch. While this may seem like a lot, after it settles and decomposes it will only be 2-3 inches thick. Where Do You Get This Much Mulch? Start by looking for bulk mulch suppliers in your area. You can often get truckloads delivered. It is usually cheaper than buying mulch by the bag. If going with spoiled hay, look to neighboring farms. Just be sure to test it for herbicides. Straw bales can often be found at feed stores. How to Plant Seeds in a Ruth Stout No Dig Garden When you are ready to plant seeds in your new Ruth Stout garden beds, simply move the mulch aside. Ruth didn’t sow seeds using traditional gardening methods. She would just sprinkle the seeds onto the dirt and lightly pat them in. Once sprouted, she would move her spoiled hay or organic matter back around the seedling, covering the soil. Maintaining a Ruth Stout Garden With the no dig, no work method of gardening, you’ll find that your garden tasks are pretty easy. Ruth claimed she hardly ever had to water her garden. The thick layer of hay mulch helps retain the moisture in the soil. Additionally, it keeps weeds and grass from taking over. Adding Organic Mulch Throughout the Season Continually adding mulch to the garden throughout the season is a good idea. Keeping a thick layer of mulch will keep you from doing excessive work in the garden. What to do With Weeds and Grass Ruth would say, “If weeds begin to peep through anywhere, just toss an armful of hay on them.” She would also recommend grabbing a pitchfork and simply flipping patches of hay that were getting a little weedy. How the Mulch Queen Planted Potatoes Ruth was best known for growing potatoes by “just throwing them” on the ground. She would then cover her seed potatoes with her spoiled hay. In a few months when it was time to harvest, she would “kick the straw aside” and pick the potatoes off the ground. Don’t skip watching this video of Ruth around her garden. She is an absolute treasure. Advantages of the Ruth Stout Gardening Method The Ruth Stout gardening method has a heap of benefits. The thick layer of mulch retains moisture, reduces erosion, regulates soil temperature, adds organic matter to the soil, fertilizes the soil, and smothers weeds and grass. Furthermore, it creates an easy method of growing your own food. Disadvantages of the Ruth Stout Gardening Method Some organic mulches, like wood chips, take a long time to break down. This can tie up nitrogen. Ruth would add soy meal or cottonseed meal as a source of nitrogen to get her plants off to a good start. It takes a couple of years for your soil and garden to fully reap the benefits of deep mulching. In this case, you may need to add organic amendments for nutrients in the first year. By the second year, your mulch should be decomposed enough to start feeding the soil. Knowing Your Soil The best way to know what your soil needs is to have a soil test done. Figuring out what soil type you have is also useful when deciding what type of organic material to use for a mulch. Certain amendments will be better for some soil types and deficiencies. Deep Mulch of 6-8 Inches That’s a lot of mulch! It could get expensive. Hay Seeds That Germinate Bales of hay are full of seeds. After some time hay seeds could germinate, bringing grass in the garden. Mice and Other Rodents in the Garden Rodents are always looking for a safe place to hide. They love to burrow into and under piles of hay. Slugs and Snails in the Garden Slugs and snails will also set up shop if you use lots of hay mulch. You may find that you need to regularly pick them off of your plants if you have a slug problem. What Would the Mulch Queen Say? To most of the common issues with a deep mulch garden, Ruth would simply say, “More mulch.” More often than not, that was her answer to problems in the vegetable garden. The Most Popular Ruth Stout Gardening Books The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, by Ruth Stout and Richard Clemence Gardening Without Work: For the Aging, the Busy, and the Indolent How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back: A New Method of Mulch Gardening I thought you’d enjoy this excerpt from Ruth Stout’s book, Gardening Without Work. My no-work gardening method is simply to keep a thick mulch of any vegetable matter that rots on both my vegetable and flower garden all year round. As it decays and enriches the soil, I add more. The labor-saving part of my system is that I never plow, spade, sow a cover crop, harrow, hoe, cultivate, weed, water or spray. I use just one fertilizer (cottonseed or soybean meal), and I don’t go through that tortuous business of building a compost pile. I beg everyone to start with a mulch 8 inches deep; otherwise, weeds may come through, and it would be a pity to be discouraged at the very start. But when I am asked how many bales (or tons) of hay are necessary to cover any given area, I can’t answer from my own experience, for I gardened in this way for years before I had any idea of writing about it, and therefore didn’t keep track of such details. However, I now have some information on this from Dick Clemence, my A-Number-One adviser. He says, “I should think of 25 50-pound bales as about the minimum for 50 feet by 50 feet, or about a half-ton of loose hay. That should give a fair starting cover, but an equal quantity in reserve would be desirable.” That is a better answer than the one I have been giving, which is: You need at least twice as much as you would think. – Ruth Stout What Can You Grow in a Ruth Stout Garden? Potatoes Strawberries Tomatoes Peppers Eggplants Cucumbers Squash and Pumpkin Asparagus Garlic Greens Onion Peas Beans Radishes Soybeans Cabbage Lettuce Kale Turnips Corn The Ruth Stout Gardening Method Stout’s method is good news for gardeners everywhere who want to take the hard work out of gardening. Start your organic vegetable garden today and enjoy the extra free time you’ll have by using the Ruth Stout method of gardening. Happy Homesteading & No Work Gardening, Jenny @ The GrahamStead Family Farm Jenny and her family have been homesteading for over 20 years. They are currently farming on their 10-acre Florida farm, which they built from the ground up, 9 years ago, growing 100% of their meat and most of their vegetables. From their small herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle, pastured poultry, sheep, and seasonal pigs, they are able to raise enough meat for the family while selling extra to the community. Striving to butcher at home, as much as possible, using the bits and pieces of their harvest by preserving food, making bone broth, and (Jenny’s favorite) tanning all kinds of hides! Gardening Homesteading