Strawbale Gardening - no weeding, no hoeing, no tilling

Something is eating my squash. One had big chunks taken out of it. :x

 

LOL.....might be your avatar

 

Nope. Mantids eat other insects. I am thinking it could be slugs or the rabbits. :banghead:

 

I bet it's a wabbit... I saw one at the exterior of my fence last night licking it's chops. Fortunately, I have a big dog that guards the interior. So far so good for me on that... I have more trouble with the ants.

 

I'm still chasing fire ants....from one raised bed to another

 

My squash plants got so big they fell off the sides of the bales. Really did a lot of damage to them. I also think I will do a trellis for cukes next year. They are running several feet out from the bales.

 

Hello Again

Just a note to say hello. I'm from Metro Detroit & I haven't been on since I started SB gardening in May of 2008, but after taking a few pix of my garden & posting on Facebook, everyone started asking me what the heck I'm doing. Took me a bit to remember your blog, Kent. I want to thank you ever so much for all your help with this!

This is my 3rd season using strawbales - I have herniated discs & can't do traditional gardening anymore. Plus, my neighbors on either side have full-grown black walnut trees & every summer, my tomatoes would start out great & by the 4th of July would stop flowering & die off. Not anymore!!! My biggest problem now is keeping the critters out! LOL

I did put some plastic down under them just in case to keep the poison from the walnut trees away but I don't think it would matter - the darn squirrels busted up some bales last fall by burying the walnuts in them & I just pushed them back together & planted again. So far, so good.

I also pick up the bales people throw out after Halloween & they're free - leave them out in the garden all winter & I don't have to worry about getting those strange looks about ammonium nitrate (He was from Mich too but up further into the "Thumb"). If I need some fresh ones in the spring, I use urea. No problems so far with that.

This is my first season trying okra in them - this probably won't be a problem because the plants don't get nearly as big as they do down south. I have to plant a ton tho & last year the bunnies got to them, so this year they are up out of their reach!

Again, thanks so much for your help & advise! I couldn't have done it without you!!!!!

 

Rick: squash will tend to grow off the side of the bales as the bales collapse under the weight, but I generally haven't had a problem with them getting damaged. Early on I tried repositioning them and just damaged the squash myself, so I just let them do their thing now.

juga: excellent post about how bale gardening has been the ticket for you. It certainly works for me, too!! Keep spreading the "gospel"!

Kent

 

Some of my first squash, cukes, and zucchini. Cukes tasted bad so I am not sure if I need to pick them sooner.

 

Looking good Rick!!

 

Why is it that every year our cucumbers look like a round bulb on top and skinny on the bottom :?

 

Rick: good veggies! I like the straight neck squash a lot better. This will be my last year trying out the crooked neck.

Annette: good question.

Kent

 

I just read that it's called curling and might be due to improper pollination.

 

Found three pumpkin plants today with the vine borer inside the stem.

Read you can put panty hose around the vine where it comes out of the hill which prevents the larvae from entering. Anyone ever heard of doing this? Had any success?

 

Here are a couple pics showing where the plants fell of the sides of the bales and the stems are rotting:

 

I reused the straw for my tomatoes this year by building bins. In the center of one row, I have a tomato plant that's very wilted in appearance with curling leaves. What should I do? The plants are 3-4 feet tall now.

 

Rick

You have vine borers. If you slit the stem where all the saw dust is you will probably find a white grub looking insect. Last week after losing 3 pumpkins I wrapped my remaining plants with coban(self sticking wrap)..so far my remaining plants look good. You should be able to get Coban at your local hardware/ farmers/ horse store. Good luck. If you want to see how I did mine take a look at my blog at :http://simplelifesforme.blogspot.com/

Good Luck!

 

Me?

 

I've now pulled out four tomato plants from a row of 12. Hopefully that's it for ones that will wilt, curl, and die. It hurt to pull the two today because both had bunches of tiny tomatoes starting to form.

 

I know the feeling.

Worst year EVER for tomatoes for me.

Wilt and early blight.

Had high hopes for this year's crop, but it is not to be.