when i moved in i started pulling weeds like a crazy man and then i flipped the soil and then i heard it was a good idea to put hay on top for the winter get it ready for the spring hay isn't a great solution for the garden number one you have to put in about four to six inches of it to really insulate the garden and that's a lot of hay to be putting on top number two that when you go through the hay you're going to find all these little weed seeds okay now these are all going to be in your garden next spring okay germinate and come up so you're kind of defeating your purpose by using it well what do you think the next step should be then what i'd like you to do is rake it off bring it all over to the compost pile put it there i'll go to the trailer get some things and we'll get this garden ready for spring that sounds great the thing i like about raised beds is it allows the soil to warm up earlier in the spring and it provides great drainage leaving the plants high and dry that's a good thing that's what most vegetables love super i think this is about the last of the hay yep let's bring it over to the compost pile zipper right this way boy that's quite a pile yeah it sure is the last owners uh basically put everything out here and i'm doing the same we got plenty of grass clippings you got perennial cuttings tons and tons of leaves yeah and look what it breaks down into over time black gold look at that that's perfect okay now i'm gonna dump this and if you would spread that in about a two inch layer like i did on the other side of the bed we'll be all set no problem now while you're spreading that i'm going to add some ground limestone to the bed what's the limestone for roger well the soils in new england are notoriously acid vegetables don't like acid soil they like a ph of about 6.8 so what the limestone does is raise that ph up to a more acceptable level for the vegetables that sounds good well i think we're all set why don't we take and work it in with our spade forks now we're ready for our covering instead of putting hay on top of the soil we're going to plant a cover crop of winter rye hold out your hand and that's that seed right there now winter rye that kind of sounds like grass well it is a type of grass and if you look here i brought along a sample now this is what it looks like after germinating for four weeks it's four weeks growth but the beauty of it is it'll germinate at 33 degrees so it'll germinate all fall withstand minus 40 degree weather for the winter and in the spring it helps the garden dry out quicker and it keeps weeds from coming up in the soil that sounds good but do i have to take it out before i put my vegetable garden in no that's the best part of it it's a green manure you simply turn it into the soil and it improves the soil and you're ready to plant your garden sounds good so i'm just gonna spread this out and i want you to take your rake rake it in very lightly for me and i'll trust you to water it well how much how often if you water it for two or three days you'll see it sprout right up excellent you