Straw Bale Gardening

[bughunter99]

I continued my zone pushing efforts yesterday and planted more tomato plants, and a cuke. These plants went into straw bales. My theory is that elevation off the ground should provide some frost protect as well as the bit of heat provided by the decomposing bale (I hit it with blood meal a few weeks ago.)

I've never planted in these before, I have a feeling they will have higher watering needs than plants in the garden because our winds will dry them out. I'm also concerned that the added elevation will make them more vulnerable to wind damage, though I did plant them behind a screen from the predominant storm winds.

Anyway, its a new experiment that I'll post beginning pictures for as soon as I find my camera battery charger. I went this route this year because I have limited places to plant tomatoes due to all my trees. This is the best spot for it. I'm giving the soil a break this year by getting them up, off the soil.

The biggest problem I have with them so far is that they are really ugly. Since I am into edible landscaping this will need to be dealt with and I have a plan!

Stacy

[tlintx]

I'm excited to see how your zone pushing goes!

I wonder if you could make pockets in the sides of the bales and stuff lettuce or another pretty edible in there?

I wish I could get straw down here. Maybe in October I'll see if I can beg some from one of the many, many Halloween displays.

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by tlintx

I'm excited to see how your zone pushing goes!

I wonder if you could make pockets in the sides of the bales and stuff lettuce or another pretty edible in there?

I wish I could get straw down here. Maybe in October I'll see if I can beg some from one of the many, many Halloween displays.

Since the deer ate two plants last night, I think I'll be planting some deer resistant stuff in there!

[Tracydr]

I've been thinking about doing some straw bales just to add more gardening space. I'm out of raised beds and need more room. I have plenty of sunny areas but they are all thickly traveled and I'm unable to remove the gravel and put in raised beds. Straw bales would be a cheap and easy solution, especially for greens in the winter but also for tomatoes or peppers.
Right now, I'm using grow bags and that works well but the potting soil is probably as costly as the straw bales, if not more.
One thing that I like about the straw bales is that as they break down they make useful organic matter for the soil. I can either use that in my raised beds by moving it or allow it to build up and just put a raised bed on top of the gravel once I get enough straw built up.
I'm thinking once I get a big enough pile of straw where I'd like a raised bed, it would be pretty easy to talk my husband into building a raised bed frame. Then, I could just add a trailer load or two of the aged horse manure from our horses and I'd be all set with a nice new garden or two. See, I have ulterior motives!

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

I've been thinking about doing some straw bales just to add more gardening space. I'm out of raised beds and need more room. I have plenty of sunny areas but they are all thickly traveled and I'm unable to remove the gravel and put in raised beds. Straw bales would be a cheap and easy solution, especially for greens in the winter but also for tomatoes or peppers.
Right now, I'm using grow bags and that works well but the potting soil is probably as costly as the straw bales, if not more.
One thing that I like about the straw bales is that as they break down they make useful organic matter for the soil. I can either use that in my raised beds by moving it or allow it to build up and just put a raised bed on top of the gravel once I get enough straw built up.
I'm thinking once I get a big enough pile of straw where I'd like a raised bed, it would be pretty easy to talk my husband into building a raised bed frame. Then, I could just add a trailer load or two of the aged horse manure from our horses and I'd be all set with a nice new garden or two. See, I have ulterior motives!

The bale cost will vary depending on the purchase place. I found mine on a farmers web site for $4 a bale. At our local fancy nursery they were $12 a bale!
The breaking down into something was a big point for me too. I started my bales about a month before I wanted them to start breaking down in the interior a bit. The 14 or so inches or rain we had, aided that nicely! I sprinkled them with blood meal, bone meal and compost to get the bugs working. When I planted I used a sharp knife to cut a planting hole in the bale which I lined with some compost.