Strawbale Gardening - no weeding, no hoeing, no tilling

All of my bales will be ready this Friday. I plan to plant this weekend. Can't wait.

 

I think I will give it until after the 15th. which is supposed to be the official frost date I believe.

 

Rick: when you get your first tomatoes, we'll all be coming to your house for lunch!!!

Annette: Waiting is hard, isn't it!!! LOL

I know one thing, there's a lot of folks interested in Straw Bale Gardening this year. We've had over 1,000 hits on this thread just in the last several days!!

Hard to keep a good thing under wraps!!!

It's still not too early to get a bale garden going. Nothing like fresh veggies on the table.

 

1000 hits,wow!
Kent: yes, the waiting isn't easy but better that than everything being killed if it decides to freeze one last time.
I'm really looking forward to those fresh vegetables,we had a little garden for a few years now but after the first initial growth spurt the results were less than satisfying.
I like buying vegetables from the farmers market but picking them from your own yard is a whole lot better! If there's enough cucumbers I'm also planning on making pickles.

 

These near 90 degree temps make me feel like I am behind the curve. Going to get back down into the 70's starting this weekend which should make it less stressful on the new plants.

 

I'm looking forward to the 70's also! 90 degrees today is a little much a little too soon

 

Kent,
I've had my bales out since 3/17 and I have watered them everyday that it has not rained. But even with all of this warm weather we are having down here in SC, my bales still feel cool in the middle. I have a good bit of sprouts on most of the bales. How long does it usually take to get the bales ready for planting without using any nitrogen?

 

nozlnut: you should be ready as long as you're comfortable with the low temps at night. Good rule of thumb is plant 2 weeks after last average frost date.

By the time the bales start sprouting a little "hair", that's a good sign. The next sign will be the 'shrooms jumping out of the bales.

 

Thanks Kent! I guess I'm just getting antsy with all this warm weather.

 

One of my bales has sprouted the mushrooms all down one side. :cheers:

Kent, do you use the liquid miracle grow on all of your plants?

 

Rick, I use the MG on all the veggies I plant: tomatoes, cukes, zucchini, peppers, and squash.

 

The second sign-sprouting mushrooms,is that always the case?
Haven't seen any on our bales yet.

 

I have thought about this for a few yrs and have decided to 'pull the trigger' but, I tend to 'over think' stuff....One thing I haven't seen discussed is the size of bales. The bales of straw that I can get vary greatly...There's the 2 stranders (50-80lbs) 3 stranders (80 to about 140) 4 stranders about 500 (that are WAY more than I want to deal with ) Does it matter? I'd think that the larger bales would be good for squash and 'vining' plants...................One more thing. Just curious, I'm in Oregon, been around ranchin', farmin' and loggin' all my life. What is 'pine straw'? LOL, you should have seen the looks I got when I've asked some friends....We have pine trees, pine wood, pine nuts, heck even pine cones....But am not sure what pine straw is (there are several people curious)

PS. really have enjoyed this thread and the pictures, I could pull them up and show my DH, 'this is what I'm talking about', thanks :-D

 

janner: welcome aboard!

LOL about the pine straw, but I've learned that different parts of the country do different things.

For instance, I couldn't find grits to go with my eggs for breakfast in Wisconsin on a convention trip awhile back! Young waitress never heard of them!

Anyway, pine straw is nothing more than baled up, dried pine needles that we use around bushes, etc to keep the weeds and grass down. Totally different animal from wheat/oat/rice/barley straw.

Stick with the 2 or 3 stringed bales. I've never seen a 3-stringer around my area, but hear they are common out west.

Kent

 

If you're using straw, you'll see them. Hang in there. I still get a kick out of going out in the morning and seeing what popped out overnight!!

 

I bought our tomatoes last weekend,Better Boy,Celebrity and Amelia,a hybrid tomato.
http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefront/p-224-tomato-amelia-vr.aspx

 

Got the plants! I am only doing eight bales just to try it out. I bought six cukes, five tomatoes, two squash, two eggplant, some brussel sprouts, and some peppers. Going to plant this AM. High of only 70 today so they shouldn't get to stressed out today.

As far as tomatoes I bought two grape hybrids, a german johnson, a celebrity, and another hybrid. I want to see which ones do the best. I am putting three of them into my raised bed and the other two in a bale.

 

I bought mine on Thrus. from a local roadside farm. Along with Bella Rosa, Amelia, and Crista I also got some called Fletcher which have been developed by NCSU to be virus resistant as well. My bales haven't started sprouting yet but I have 2 more weeks to planting time.

We did a little rain on Thurs but none since, so watering by hose for now.

Ready to go!

 

Everything went in last night. One observation I did find; the older bales were much easier to work with. I had two bales that were at least two weeks older than the others. The older bales had the mushrooms and straw growing out of them. I could make a hole and easily dig out a cavity for the plants. It was much more difficult planting into the newer bales.

I still have two raised beds. I put three tomatoes in one bed and two more into a bale. Will see which ones do better.

 

So maybe I've got newer bales as well since there are no mushrooms to be seen anywhere,got plenty of grass though