My straw bale garden - Page 4

Gardadore · January 2, 2013

One thing I forgot to add was that after I get things planted up I often add a topping of moistened straw around the plants to help keep the water in the top few inches as that evaporates faster. The insides stay moist for a long time. In dryer climates people have rigged up soaker hoses across the bales. I have not needed to do that. One cause of failure among friends has been not adding enough soil to the planting space when planting the tomatoes, eggplants, etc. Thus the roots were kind of left hanging. I like to make sure they are encased in the damp potting soil or coir no matter how deeply I plant.
On the other site where I learned about this method we had a T-shirt made up with a picture of a tomato plant growing out of a bale, the statement Strawbale Gardening plus the catch phrase: "No Weeding No Hoeing No Tilling" That pretty much sums up the advantages.
All I know is for me the eggplants, peppers and tomatoes have always done better in the bales rather than directly in the ground. That doesn't mean I haven't lost tomato plants and had problems with critters snipping them off or getting wilt and late blight using bales!
Another great method is using Earthboxes or their equivalent but that is another subject. I grew my Ground Cherries in one of those last summer and had an awesome crop. But maybe I'll try the bales in 2013 for them as well.

livinonfaith · January 2, 2013

I used a long serrated carving knife to cut out deep holes in the bales for the soil and roots. It was a lot of work, but the plants seemed to like it. (until all that rain came)

For the ones I planted by seed (lettuce, kale, chard) I cut long shallow trenches. Then I stuffed a few inches of soil in there.

I just couldn't make a space in the bales that was big enough, otherwise. It was packed in way too tightly. I wonder if that was because the bales hadn't decomposed enough or if everyone has that problem.

January 2, 2013	#46
Gardadore Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Saylorsburg, PA Posts: 261	One thing I forgot to add was that after I get things planted up I often add a topping of moistened straw around the plants to help keep the water in the top few inches as that evaporates faster. The insides stay moist for a long time. In dryer climates people have rigged up soaker hoses across the bales. I have not needed to do that. One cause of failure among friends has been not adding enough soil to the planting space when planting the tomatoes, eggplants, etc. Thus the roots were kind of left hanging. I like to make sure they are encased in the damp potting soil or coir no matter how deeply I plant. On the other site where I learned about this method we had a T-shirt made up with a picture of a tomato plant growing out of a bale, the statement Strawbale Gardening plus the catch phrase: "No Weeding No Hoeing No Tilling" That pretty much sums up the advantages. All I know is for me the eggplants, peppers and tomatoes have always done better in the bales rather than directly in the ground. That doesn't mean I haven't lost tomato plants and had problems with critters snipping them off or getting wilt and late blight using bales! Another great method is using Earthboxes or their equivalent but that is another subject. I grew my Ground Cherries in one of those last summer and had an awesome crop. But maybe I'll try the bales in 2013 for them as well.

January 2, 2013	#47
livinonfaith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina Posts: 1,332	I used a long serrated carving knife to cut out deep holes in the bales for the soil and roots. It was a lot of work, but the plants seemed to like it. (until all that rain came) For the ones I planted by seed (lettuce, kale, chard) I cut long shallow trenches. Then I stuffed a few inches of soil in there. I just couldn't make a space in the bales that was big enough, otherwise. It was packed in way too tightly. I wonder if that was because the bales hadn't decomposed enough or if everyone has that problem.