Strawbale Gardening - no weeding, no hoeing, no tilling

Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers are all doing great. Looks like I am losing cukes now as well. No big deal since they taste awful.

 

My peppers are doing terrible, stunted, and very few peppers. When I say stunted, I mean they are maybe ft tall. Never had any that looked like this.

Out of 15 tomatoes, 2 are stunted with curl but have flowered and have a few tomatoes on them. I planted all virus resistant-Amelia, Bella Rosa, Fletcher, Krista. The Krista's are the ones with curl. The rest are doing pretty good, they are just not getting enough sun.

Squash, pumpkins, cukes and gourds hanging in there with the coban wrapped, haven't seen any more evidence of the vine borer as yet. I've gotten a few cukes to eat and a couple of tiny gourds are starting to grow on the vine. No pumpkins yet, but plenty of flowers. Went out this morning to hand pollinate but was greeted with quite a few bees. So, I let them do it for me (hopefully)

3 yrs ago, before I started to strawbale, I had terrible years with the wilt. Since strawbaling and going to all virus resistant plants, I've definitely done better.

I do not reuse my bales for any vegetables. Instead I remove the old bales and use them in my flower beds. I start with new bales each year. Since the wilt is a soil borne disease, I'd keep that in mind for next year and start fresh.

What varieties have you guys planted that are succumbing to the virus?

 

My tomatoes are doing excellent this year. I have four plants in regular dirt and two in bales. Both are doing equally well. I have a roma and a german johnson in a bale and a BHN 602 hybrid, two hybrid cherries, and one that cropped up by itself from last years seed. I have already had more ripe tomoatoes than I can eat.

 

Oh you lucky duck, no ripe ones for me yet, just plenty of cherry right now. Can't wait for the 1st vine ripened one!! mmmm

 

Some of my Romas have ripened, but they are someone hollow and very dry, not juicy at all. Alot of my yellow squash and zucchinis have had the blossom end rot, though I did overplant in the bail, so I think that is the problem. I've had to cut a few out of there to make room for them. Lesson learned!

My cukes are growing well and some of the other tomato plants are getting ready to ripen. I hope they have more flavor than the Romas!

 

I'm hoping the varieties I planted taste good, I've heard the flavor is not as good on the hybrid and virus resistant ones. I was afraid to plant better boy, early girl, etc for fear of losing them to the wilt.

One of the guys I work with planted 30 tomato plants and has already lost 18 of the them and he did not plant any of the virus resistant ones, because he had never had any problems until now.

I learned my lesson, guess I'll have to sacrifice a little taste to get them ripened and harvested!

 

I don't know about that. I have three plants that fall into that category and all taste great. I can't tell any difference between them and non hybrid types. All of them taste better than store bought.

I am literally drowning in tomatoes. I am having to pick every four days or so. I am giving them away to a few people....

 

Rick: great problem to have!!! LOL

 

Yep. And it continues despite a recent storm toppling over my plants and causing damage. I am going to have to do a trellis next year for these.

 

Yeah, I had that problem once when I tried the arch. I waited too long to put some supports under the arch and it collapsed during a thunderstorm. It took all my strength to lift it up to get some 2 x 4's under it.

Now, I'd use a cattle panel instead of the concrete wire. The panels are a lot better for a trellis.

 

How was this years production?

Okay everyone, how did we do this year? I've just been doing lettuce this year. The straw beds are still producing quite well. Have replanted for the fall/winter.

For those who did the wooden framing, what have been the results from this year? Was it worth it? Did it make an improvement on the stability of the plants? Just curious, of course in a couple of years there will be rich black compost in those frameworks as the straw breaks down!!

 

Tomatoes and eggplants did really well. Squash and zucchini got big, but not too much produce. Peppers are still producing as are my second round of tomatoes planted a month ago. Waiting on cabbages and collards!

Last year the cukes were incredible. This year? Not much at all.

 

Good year for cukes and peppers.

Bad year for tomatoes. 1st bad year in awhile.

Still have tons of tomatoes canned from previous years.

Looking fwd to next year.

Already have the straw "simmering".

 

Got my last tomato last week, they did fine all summer. Because they didn't get enough sun they produced slow and steady. I wasn't ever overwhelmed with them and kept up with eating them. Peppers rallied last month and I'm still getting a few. Squash, pumpkins and gourds--died from vine borers. Planted a 2nd round of squash, they are bloomming but don't know if I'll actually get any. Cantaloupe did ok. Lettuce currently is doing great. Wasn't a bad year but I didn't get enough surplus to can or freeze. I did not do the quick prep and I think that in retropect it helps break down the bales faster. That's one thing this year that didn't happen. My bales are still mostly intact with very little breakdown--a first for me. And it's another reason I think why I didn't get the production like in years past. Next year I plan to do the quick prep like I have in prior years. Will start moving the old bales out in the next week. Won't replace the bales til next spring. Going to move the raised beds to a more sunny location as well. Good luck all to with your fall gardens!

 

Good story to pass along

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/...ood-scraps-to-gardeners-gold/?test=latestnews

Their home page: http://www.greencoenvironmental.com/

Similar to what I'm now doing with the troughs I built to contain the old straw as I add additional compost, manure, etc.

Combining straw bale gardening with traditional raised-bed gardening and composting.

 

I'm so ready for this year's gardening season!

Got my Totally Tomatoes catalog in the mail today!

http://www.totallytomato.com/

I usually buy all my plants, but I'm going to start-from-seed a lot of tomatoes this year.

Of course, I'll still get some heirloom tomatoes from my friend, Craig LeHouiller, www.nctomatoman.com.

He's also going to have some Ghost Peppers (Bhut Jolokia), too, this year. Hottest peppers on the planet. I can't wait to grow some of these babies along with my Habaneros.

Craig doesn't ship plants or sell seeds, but he does set up at the Farmer's Market in Raleigh.

Last year's straw is turning into some great compost. I won't have to buy any bales this year for the 1st time.

I am going to get a bulk load of 50/50 compost/top soil to blend in with the old straw.

Since I've made some raised beds from salvaged lumber I can contain the old straw better and create a nutrient-rich growing environment.

For those using new bales this year, you can put them out any time, and let them start seasoning up. That way you're ahead of the game and it will be easier to transplant into the bales as they soften up.

 

All winter, I have been building walls out of cinder blocks around my straw beds. Planting time is very near for snow peas. Perhaps next week....

 

Getting started during these cold days

Good thing we have garden planning to keep us sane until Spring. I'm ready for some warm sunshine!
I've been growing in old bale material (supported by wire) for several yrs, then I saw your containers built from old dock timbers. I liked the idea very much and had my husband build one last yr, mixing new and old bales.
I found it to be just great. This yr the entire garden will be in "boxes".
I discovered if I leave space (2 -3") between the boards (on the sunny side) and staple screen material over it, you can punch holes in it and plant flowers or other small veg along the side. Strawberries were good this way and easy to cover if needed.
Sandy

 

isitmidnight: those cinder blocks will work; anything to help contain the straw and any other material you add.

VASandy: you said it; garden planning is about all we have during the winter months to see us through!! lol

Good idea with the screens.

Both of you be sure to post pics when you can.

Kent

 

Tomato list for this year

Here's what I'm seeding this year. A few hybrids, but mostly heirlooms and some Ghost Peppers.

Anything else I plant such as cukes, squash, and some more peppers will be transplanted from flats from local nurseries.

I seeded my Mexico Midgets today since they seem to take a little longer to germinate.

I'll seed my other tomatoes soon.