Straw bales - best use in the garden?

[Tania]

We got 20 large straw bales for free, they are still in a pretty good condition, just slightly moist from the recent rain.

What is the best use of them in the garden?

I know we can build straw bale beds (we probably will), although the idea of constantly applying fertilizers and water to these beds does not appeal to me very much.

We can use it to mulch potatoes.

We will add some to our new hugel beds that Stan is building.

What else?

Any ideas are very welcome!

P.S. As these bales came from people who purchased it for a large party, they have no idea if the bales may have any herbicide residue. So I am testing it first by mulching a pot with planted pepper seeds and another large pot with winter pea.

Thanks,
Tatiana

[Tracydr]

It makes a lovely mulch, rotting down over the season, ready to turn under in the fall.

[Cole_Robbie]

strawberries!

[Tracydr]

Do you use the bale to plant strawberries or use it for mulch? I'm hoping to start strawberries this fall, if I can find some crowns. I've never really done them before except for some failures due to heat in AZ.

[Cole_Robbie]

Mulch is the only way my family has done it. I think straw bale gardening is neat, but I have not yet tried it.

[Redbaron]

Stuff a scarecrow

[PaulF]

After putting down a couple of layers of newsprint spread the straw out about 6 inches thick for mulch....I mulch everything: tomatoes, potatoes, melons, pumpkins, strawberries, etc., etc. Like Tracy, it all gets tilled under in the fall.

[Tania]

No way I am using straw for mulch - I am totally sold on ramial wood chips, and this is the only mulch we use. In our garden, it works much better than straw, and wood chips are much easier to spread and move around. Last time we did straw mulch was 2011. Not going back

But I am open to the idea of growing potatoes under straw (no dig method). This is what I meant when I mentioned 'mulching potatoes' in my first post.

And our garden is no till.

So we need some other uses for straw.

Actually, after we inspected the bales closer they look more like coarse hay. With a few grass seedheads, but not very many I can see.

Tatiana

[Barbee]

I use straw as the base for my compost. Takes a bit longer to break down than other carbons but produces a nice rich compost.

[Tania]

Watched a movie by Geoff Lawton about composting and garden. I likes the episode where he builds a new garden bed from cardboard and hay.

Cardboard and other carbon-rich 'waste' goes on top of the grass. Then he piles up hay (looks like about 8-12").

Then he creates a hole in the hay, reached the cardboard and cuts a hole in the cardboard (so the plant roots would reach the soil underneath). The hole is filled with compost and seedling goes there.

It is an interesting and simple concept. Easy to create, no digging, and the bed is planted immediately.

I am very tempted to try that next spring.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Tania

Watched a movie by Geoff Lawton about composting and garden. I likes the episode where he builds a new garden bed from cardboard and hay.

Cardboard and other carbon-rich 'waste' goes on top of the grass. Then he piles up hay (looks like about 8-12").

Then he creates a hole in the hay, reached the cardboard and cuts a hole in the cardboard (so the plant roots would reach the soil underneath). The hole is filled with compost and seedling goes there.

It is an interesting and simple concept. Easy to create, no digging, and the bed is planted immediately.

I am very tempted to try that next spring.

If you do Tania, please post your results on my "Red Baron Project" page.

[Tracydr]

What about growing oyster mushrooms with the straw and use the compost?

[Tania]

Tracy, it is a very interesting idea!

We were thinking along the same lines lately, with all the wood chips we got extra - we are going to inoculate the wood chips with mushroom spores once we get spores from the local wild mushrooms.

Did not know you can grow mushrooms in straw!

Tatiana

[Tania]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

If you do Tania, please post your results on my "Red Baron Project" page.

Sounds good

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Tania

Tracy, it is a very interesting idea!

We were thinking along the same lines lately, with all the wood chips we got extra - we are going to inoculate the wood chips with mushroom spores once we get spores from the local wild mushrooms.

Did not know you can grow mushrooms in straw!

Tatiana

I've been reading a lot about mushrooms since we just moved to a more favorable climate. There are oyster mushrooms for all sorts of organic material-straw,hardwood and pine are just some of the options.
Check out Mushroom Mountain in South Carolina.
They even have non edible mushrooms grown to break down materials for compost!