Using Straw on the Allotment

There is a sort of unofficial experiment going on at our allotments. A number of people have gone down the straw route ( free from a local stables) and the rest of us going along the earthing up route. It seems last year one person did the straw cover and he had a potato crop and everybody else did not - due to weather.
As I'm new I am being conventional but willing to learn. Looks like a variation on the no-dig method so does work!

My compost has lots of straw in  it due to its main ingredient of poultry muck and bedding.
I always assumed it to be a good thing to have in but researching a bit it seems it does not have much value at all. It does take a lot longer than  expected to really rot down.
I suppose it help keep the soil a bit more open and better for drainage so I do not mind using it.
Only other places I use it are to keep the strawberries off the soil and to start fires of garden rubbish or in my workshop stove.
I have an excess of sawdust and wood chippings ( having a woodworking workshop) but never use these on the compost. It does not rot down quickly and when it does it robs the compost of nutrients rather than put them in.

Nice big wads of it, like Trillium says. I cover mine with bean netting too, try and keep the best of it in place. I did have good results with earlies under weed/barrier netting, but not the mains.

Best of luck

Dave