My sister used to do that when she had a big garden. Lay down slabs of old hay like floor tile, sweep enough to the side for planting, when the plants got big enough she would put down more old hay. There ended up to be an inch or 2 layer of compost between the dirt and the hay, very few weeds(hay has less seeds than straw), and she always had nice crops.

There is a guy near me that uses spring-chopped corn stalks for garden mulch, he likes them better than straw or hay.