My straw bale garden

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by Marko

livinonfaith, in one word - PERFECT! The total yield was 60 kg (132 lb) of peppers and 20 kg (43 lb) eggplants.
Bales dimensions are 100x60x40 cm (40x24x16 in). First I watered them well for three days. Then I started to add ammonium nitrate dissolved in water. After a week the bales became very hot inside. I measured temperature daily and when it dropped below 80F (in ~10 days) I planted peppers.
In the begining you should add more nitrogen, because straw is still decomposing, but from august very little fertilizers are necessary.
Straw hold water well and despite very hot summer last year I didn't have any problems with watering.
Anoter good thing with straw bale gardening is that you get a LOT of compost at the end of season.
The only thing I will change this year is support system. You just can't drive a pole in straw and expect it will stay still and support loaded pepper plant.

That's what I wanted to hear! After I wrote to you, I did a little more research and most people who are successful seem to be using the same or a very similar bale starting method as you. It is really helpful to have someone actually tell me the dimensions of their bales. While its likely that the bales around here are going to be around the same size, it's nice to make sure so that I know how many plants will work.

Supporting the plants, especially the tomatoes, does seem to be the main problem. After four years, I've finally gotten enough tomato cages for my garden. But unless I can find a way to stabilize them, those aren't going to work. There has to be a way to attach them to the ground, possibly with long stakes between the bales. That's something to think about.

Being able to reuse the straw at the end of the season is a huge benefit, as well. I have several places in my yard that will be very happy about that. Heck, the neighbors will probably be happy, too!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I honestly didn't expect you to answer so quickly.

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by RonnyWil

I tried some tomatoes a couple of years ago and they did very well but when I went to pick them the bales were full of fire ants and I was too close to the bale. A dozen bites on my foot and I decided no more bale gardening.

Yikes! I have fire ants in the yard. They are a menace!

I can live with the odd bee sting or bug bite that you get when you garden, but I've had fire ant bites that left permanent scars. I'm looking at one on my hand right now. From one tiny little ant!

I try not to use many chemical insecticides, but baiting fire ant hills is my main exception. Hopefully, being forewarned, I can put it out around the bales early and keep them under control.

[Alpinejs]

off topic....I hear so many talk about egg plants. Just how much egg plant
parmesian can you eat? I am unaware of any other way of eating that stuff.
What do you do with it????

[RonnyWil]

Originally Posted by Alpinejs

off topic....I hear so many talk about egg plants. Just how much egg plant
parmesian can you eat? I am unaware of any other way of eating that stuff.
What do you do with it????

You can slice it lengthwise and brush it in olive oil and grill it. You can slice it, batter and fry it. And here are a few more:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Fruits...plant/Top.aspx

[Marko]

The best way to use extra eggplants is to pickle them. Pickled eggplants are delicacy.

[Iva]

OK, Marko, time to bump this thread!

Are your bales prepared for this year. Will you be using the same ones or have they broken down and you had to get new ones?
I have obtained only four bales for this year jut to test this method. If all works out well for me this season, there will be many more next year.

I have been watering them for ten days now and they are starting to cool already. I only added the high nitrogen liquid feed now (didn't have it on hand before) so I hope that was not a mistake. I will see if the bale starts warming up again because of the nitrogen. I plan to plant eggies in there next week after the weather stabilizes a bit more.

Any additional advice?? Help appreciated!

[livinonfaith]

You're smart to start with just a few. I went ahead and put almost everything into the bales this year and have no idea how they will work out. I've put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak.

Twenty seven "baskets", to be a little more precise.

[babice]

Woah! This is the first I've heard of this and now I want to know all about it!! Since I'm growing on my deck and will likely have way more tom babies than I have planters I may have to try this. Plus I always use hay in the fall in my beds. Livinon- is this difficult to set up?

[Marko]

This year I have 12 wheat straw bales from organic farmer. Peppers and eggplants were planted on april 27.

Iva you should use KAN, this is ammonium nitrate with added calcium, magnesium and boron. Be careful, do not plant before temperature drops to 28C/82F.

livinonfaith, consider strawbales as a nest rather than a basket

[babice]

Originally Posted by Marko

This year I have 12 wheat straw bales from organic farmer. Peppers and eggplants were planted on april 27.

Marko - I noticed you don't have your toms in the straw nests. Do the toms work better in containers?

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by Marko

This year I have 12 wheat straw bales from organic farmer. Peppers and eggplants were planted on april 27.

Iva you should use KAN, this is ammonium nitrate with added calcium, magnesium and boron. Be careful, do not plant before temperature drops to 28C/82F.

livinonfaith, consider strawbales as a nest rather than a basket

Oooh! Yours are so pretty, Marko. Peppers are just such beautiful plants with their glossy leaves.

Babice, they aren't that much harder to deal with than dragging bags of soil around. Unless they get wet, then they get really heavy, really fast. I moved most of the first set of ten by myself. With the second set, they were in the driveway with a plastic sheet over them to keep them dry until I could move them. A storm blew up, the sheet blew off, and suddenly, I had damp bales. Luckily, they didn't get soaked or I would have been in real trouble.
Fortunately, I have a 14 year old who likes to show how strong he is. He carried 11 out of the 17 that we moved that day. If I had to carry all of those to the back yard by myself, it would have been ugly. I wouldn't have been able to move for a week!

You might not want to put bales on your deck without some kind of protection between the bale and the wood. They hold a LOT of water and I'm thinking the constant moisture could do permanent damage. If you could put them on some kind of waterproof barrier that drained between the boards of the deck, that might work.

[Iva]

Originally Posted by Marko

This year I have 12 wheat straw bales from organic farmer. Peppers and eggplants were planted on april 27.

Iva you should use KAN, this is ammonium nitrate with added calcium, magnesium and boron. Be careful, do not plant before temperature drops to 28C/82F.

livinonfaith, consider strawbales as a nest rather than a basket

I couldn't find KAN in smaller bags (and I could never use 5 kilos of it) so I bought a high nitrogen feed (Substral Kristalin Start) that also has other 'goodies' in there, so I guess that should do.
The bales were already cool when I added the feed, so I will wait for a couple of days to see if this warms them up again, and plant then.

You have beautiful plants going there! I will post pictures of my bales when I have something nice to show you

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Alpinejs

off topic....I hear so many talk about egg plants. Just how much egg plant
parmesian can you eat? I am unaware of any other way of eating that stuff.
What do you do with it????

Grilled. Fried. Curry. I love it in green curry with tofu!
Eggplant and basil, a Thai recipe, is another easy favorite.
Roasted eggplant soup. Yummy!
But, plain old grilled with basil, garlic and olive oil is delicious.

[Marko]

Originally Posted by babice

Marko - I noticed you don't have your toms in the straw nests. Do the toms work better in containers?

Tomatoes grow very well in straw, the only problem is support. My bales lie on concrete plate and I can't drive a pole in the ground.

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by babice

Woah! This is the first I've heard of this and now I want to know all about it!! Since I'm growing on my deck and will likely have way more tom babies than I have planters I may have to try this. Plus I always use hay in the fall in my beds. Livinon- is this difficult to set up?

Babice - This seems like a perfect solution for your backyard overlooking the creek.