Strawbale Gardening - no weeding, no hoeing, no tilling

You'll probably see crickets, too, but this is not unusual. My bluebirds spend a lot of time around my bale garden. It's a buffet line for them.

Hopefully, you'll also have a good crop of lady bugs.

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kookookacho: glad to see the GJ joined the party. Get the Duke's mayo and sourdough bread ready!

 

Straw Bale Gardening at the NC Governor's Mansion

Got an email recently from the chief gardener at the NC Executive Mansion.

He said he's going to add 8 bales to their vegetable garden this year and see how they turn out.

They have garden tours from Spring to early Summer and then in late Fall.

I need to drop by and take a few pics.

FYI for those interested:

The address is 200 N. Blount St, Raleigh.

Tour info: 919-807-7948, toll free: 1-866-724-8687

Executive Mansion info: http://www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol/EXEC/Exectour.htm

 

Can I plant today? It's the last day of spring break, and I have time today.

 

ACF: I was looking at the forecast. The weather folks are calling for high 30's for Thurs night and then it looks like a gradual warm up.

There probably won't be a frost, but you don't ever know.

I'm planning to do some planting on Saturday, depending on what the forecast is. It looks like we'll be out of the woods for frost.

So, unless you won't have any time over the weekend, I'd wait a few more days.

IMHO.

 

My cars had a nice frost on them this morning!

 

Any suggestions for snakes?

Okay, the mosquitos and the crickets, I can live with. This morning while watering the bales, I found two copperheads sunning themselves on top. Does anyone have any ideas on how to discourage them?

I am impressed. My bale garden is healthy and growing faster than my ground garden.

 

Haven't seen mosquitos, but I have seen lots of crane flies. They also call them mosquito hawks. they fly out of the bales when I water.

 

Making holes in your bales

Back on page 25, post 242, I showed how another bale gardener was using a large bottle to help make holes in the bales.

I tried it and it works great!

I used my garden trowel to make a slight crack in the bale and then pushed a 12 oz. drink bottle down in the bale to make my hole.

I sat on a stool as I worked my way down the bales.

If the bottle was too tight to easily push down in the bale, I just took my heel and tap, tap, tapped down to the depth I wanted.

Tamped a little potting mix down in the bottom of the hole, set my plant, and added about 2 good handfuls of mix around the plant.

 

Quick question about temp

Kent,
Thanks so much for your continued advice. I just have a quick question...
my bales are mostly around ambient temp, with some a little higher, one up to 85 degrees. Should I wait till the temp lowers some, or is it okay to go ahead and plant?

 

ponychick: since you've been watering/treating the bales since the end of March/1st of April, you should be in good shape.

I see a low temp of 40 Wed night, so you may want to wait a few more days just to make sure the low temp isn't an issue, otherwise the bales sound like they are ready.

I was impatient this year and planted my bales a little early.

 

Neighbor's bale garden

My good friends and neighbors, Anthony and Beth Cottelese are in their 2nd year of bale gardening.

They just do a small one next to their house.

Thought I'd post some pics of their garden.



Romaine lettuce





Romaine, Red Leaf, and Butter Crisp lettuce





Red Potatoes - These are planted in old bales they used last year. They didn't bust them up; just planted $1 worth of seed potatos straight down into the old bales.

Notice the cracked red clay soil in front of the bales.

Bale gardening is perfect for those of us who don't have good soil.





Tomatoes in the back

 

I hope this hasn't been already addressed, but it's a long thread and I tried to read it all! Anyway, I was wondering about the costs involved in buying the bales. It seems that it would be a very expensive way to garden if you have a large garden as we are planning. Are the bales reusable after the first year? I was wondering how the costs compare to a regular garden. It sounds wonderful, if I could just get past that part!

 

brea: you definitely need to consider the cost of any project as it applies to you. Bale gardening is not for everyone.

My garden is 60 bales which is probably larger than most folks especially for those who are just trying it out.

Bale prices are anywhere from 3.25 - 4.00, depending on who's selling them and whether you get them delivered or not.

You can get a better price if you find someone who had some straw get wet, but you can't always count on that.

Hay/grass bales are more, but are great for small bale gardens. Those who use hay are ecstatic with their results. The natural nitrogen in hay is the secret, I'm sure. No nitrogen in straw bales. That's why you have to modify your feeding habits with straw over dirt gardens.

I get a lot of produce out of my bales. We can a lot, especially tomatoes. My bride also takes the squash and makes squash casseroles which she freezes and we eat those for a long time. Great recipe with mushroom soup and mozzarella cheese. Mmmmm. Mmmmm.

Tillers, tractors, or paying someone to break up your garden and run your rows has a cost for dirt farming.

Making traditional raised beds, hauling in dirt for the beds, etc. has a cost.

My water usage is way less with bale gardening since I can water right into the bales which hold a lot of moisture, especially as time passes. This is very beneficial during the hot days of July and August.

In dry times, a dirt garden takes many, many gallons of water to get moisture down to the roots. Most of the water runs off the rows and in the middles, which is a waste.

Then, you have the weeding for dirt gardens.

Bale gardens have NO weeds. There's NO grass to chop and plow in the middle of the rows. I just cut the grass with my lawnmower. Takes no time at all.

You can reuse the bales, but I don't, yet. I do use the old straw for mulch.

Some sort of trough-like structure would work great to help contain the old straw so you could reuse the straw year after year. That would work great. I think I'm going to do that next year.

So, all in all, it depends on how much garden you need, what equipment you have to work with, soils, etc, whether bale gardening is for you.

For me, it's just the ticket.

 

Thanks so much for your response! That is just the info I was looking for. I'll have to sit down and figure out the cost differences. I will probably try doing both the first time, a small strawbale garden along with my traditional garden. That will give me a chance to really try it out without putting a lot of money out the first time. This is very intriguing. Thanks so much for sharing!

 

I always look forward to the first set of mushrooms in my bales. The 'shrooms generate the most emails from new bale gardeners who think something has gone wrong, but they are a good sign. The sun will take care of them or you can just brush them off.






A few other shots of color around the yard.

Dianthus





Azaleas

 

We do both also. Have for the last 2 years. Our garden has rows that are about 200' long. We planted 4 rows of corn, 2 of purple hull peas, 2 of butterbeans. Added squash and pickling cucumbers on a row and will transplant some peper plants. For the bales (we have 8) we grow tomatoes and burpless cucumbers in them.

I've even added 4 bales closer to my house for some tomatoes and peppers to have close to the house and avoid having walk or to ride down to the garden for a quick tomatoe for a sandwich or supper.

 

Irrigation Question

If I use drip irrigation lines with 1/2 gal/hr emitters spaced 18" oc, will that provide enough water if watering for an hour a day?
:allears:

 

kookookacho: I have no experience with drip systems, so I can't answer that question.

Other folks at the strawbale gardening forum at www.davesgarden.com have used them, and seem to be happy with them.

The pics they post usually have the hoses on each side of the plants to make sure the entire bale gets watered.

Try your set-up out.

Keep a check on the bales and watch your plants until you get it dialed in the way you want it.

 

I haven't poked around that much and it's not jumping out at me but what is the dues to be a member of DG?

 

I just renewed my membership for $19.95.

www.davesgarden.com IMHO is the gold-standard for gardening websites.

Plus they have other "communities" you can visit and get info from.

You don't have to subscribe to access a lot of their info, but the Straw Bale Gardening site is for subscribers only.