Going a different direction this year (strawbales)

To make a long story short, my soil is horrible. I eventually want to go with raised beds but this year I'm gonna try strawbales while I figure out the raised beds. I'm conditioning them now. I have some seeds started, so will be planting as soon as the seeds come up. Also hope to get a few more bales in a week or two. Wish me luck.

 

I've tried with potatoes in bags which did ok but not great. But that was more my fault I'd say.
I'm also doing some container planting to go along with the bales. The black pots in front of the bales in the pic have potatoes in them. I have 2 more I just planted yesterday. Also gonna do a few other thing in containers.

 

I have grown tomatoes in the large round rolls of hay we feed our horses in winter. They were growing fine until they decided to put the roll in the horse pasture. I have two styrofoam coolers, the cheapie ones from the dollar store, that I grow lettuce in. I can plant them early for salads rather than waiting for the garden to be ready. They hold a lot of soil so even tomatoes or potatoes would do well in them. I put 5 holes in the bottom but next time I am going to put three holes. They will retain more water that way.

 

So what is the process of growing in a straw bale? How does it work?

 

Basically the straw bale takes the place of soil. You have to condition the bale before planting. This gets it decomposing in the middle of the bale which feeds the plants you put in it. Search straw bale gardening on YouTube and you'll get the idea. I've never done it before so this is a learning process for me. Joel Karsten wrote a book on the process which is supposed to be really good.

 

We tried straw bales last year and had mixed results. We planted one with carrots and one with zucchini. The article we read said to cut a groove in the one for carrots so they would grow straight, which we did, but they didn't grow very well. The zucchini did great though and it was so easy to see the small zucchini and pick them before they were over large. We always miss some in the garden until they are huge! It was hard to find the small bales though and we ended up driving 70 miles, one way, to get 2 $1.50 bales!

 

You have a lowes or southern states, something like that? They normally have some.

 

Beans are the first to go in.

 

Looking good,..a friend of mine grew strawberries in bales and they did very well for him.

 

That is cool...please keep us posted!!