Garden-Share

Hay bale gardening

Anyone here into straw gardening. I keep saying I am going to do it but have not yet. I would really like to start at least one to 4 hay bales this year.

I have done several lasagna gardens now, but not planting into the bale itself.

I would love to see pictures of yours if you have them.

0 members like this

< Previous Post

Comment

You need to be a member of Garden-Share to add comments!

Join Garden-Share

Comment by Evelyn Vincent on April 15, 2010 at 12:59pm: Hi everyone, I noticed your discussion here and have some info to share on Straw Bale gardening...
My soil here is horrible, since I'm renting I'm not going to invest in any expensive and long-term soil enhancements. The place I got my info from on this was at http://strawbalegardens.com

You'll want to use "straw", not hay bales.

We've been collecting our straw bales, a bit of a slow process as we have a Prius and can only fit 4 bales in the car at a time. I think we have 9 or 10 bales left to get (we're at 20 right now), so in a couple more trips we'll be ready to start the conditioning process with the ammonium nitrate which takes 12 days, then we'll be ready to plant.

Comment by Dawn Taillon on December 26, 2009 at 11:06am: http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/postmandug_1209391661_2_tn.jpg

credited from a poster at Davesgarden.com.

Comment by Dawn Taillon on December 22, 2009 at 1:10am: Cool ha? Hey this site does not let you add attachments. So the pictures I sent to my email won't work. Frustrating.

Comment by Sharon Kay Westfall-Loomis on December 17, 2009 at 5:15am: I've been doing some "searches" on the internet for "wheat straw bale" gardening. And I came across this blog and I want to share it because it has some great pics and he talks about his experience. I too needed to see some pictures. http://www.outdoorblogging.com/nggallery/page-33/album-1/gallery-11/

Comment by Dawn Taillon on December 17, 2009 at 2:43am: Not having luck with the pictures so if you can get on to see, I recommend seeing all the cool different outcomes and planting ideas. They found that it helps a lot if they border the bale with wood or something to help hold them together as they break down and it looks more like a raised planter too.

Comment by paula on December 17, 2009 at 2:39am: CAN SOMEONE POST SOME PICS I CAN IMGINE IT! I WENT THRU THOSE LINK THEY WERE ALL CITY HALL/POLITICAL

Comment by Dawn Taillon on December 17, 2009 at 2:34am: From what I see that is what most of the people used, if not that, then sodium Nitrate, just initially while you cook your bale and check the temp for proper planting. I guess it breaks it down with the watering quickly. 10 days or so, if I remember correctly. I saw some of them other types of fertilizer high in Nitrogen too and then not after or one time with a time released fertilizer with great results. Let me see if I can try to get the pictures. It is so cool looking. Did you try to see if you could go on the thread for Hay Bale gardening on davesgarden.com?

Comment by Sharon Kay Westfall-Loomis on December 15, 2009 at 6:32pm: Hi Dawn, I took a look at the links you provided regarding the hay straw bale gardening. This is very interesting! Did you use the wheat straw bale? And I'm a little confused on treating the bales. If I use the wheat straw will I need treat it with the Ammonium Nitrate? I think this is something I want to try for next year but I want to make sure I know what I'm doing.

Comment by Dawn Taillon on December 15, 2009 at 1:38am: Here are some comments I saw on the site:
Russ my bales are still producing very well even though most of the tomatoes in the dirt of mine and my neighbors have just about dried up. It has been about six weeks since we had any rain but I picked a couple yesterday about 5-6 inches in diameter. I am definitely going to grow all my toms in bales next year. I think I will even grow my cukes and squash in bales too. The peppers for some reason just didn't do well at all so they will be back in the dirt next year. I think due to using the Ammonium Nitrate the bales decomposed so much that I won't be able to reuse them next year so I plan on getting the bales in late Feb. or Mar. and let Mother Nature take care of softening them up for me. I know Kent and a lot of others fertilize each time they water with Miracle Gro or something similar but the only thing I did was to fertilize at first with a slow release organic and I have not fertilized since! I am a BIG believer in this form of growing and so is everyone who has seen my results. I have a feeling there will be quite a few "balers" in the county next year!!

I gathered from what I saw, less watering, less pests than in the dirt, no fertilizing required after the initial time or at least very little and the pictures are pretty cool of what some of the people did with theirs. Oh and larger, longer producers. I want to do one with annuals, since the watering is not as often, since the hay retains water better and people edge them in wood or brick to hold them together well and be able to add manure etc. in the cracks. Imagine how creative you could be with it? Some build climbing structures around and over them for tomatoes, beans etc. In my case I have a huge problem with soil, and with rabbits and most of all Gophers, which should nip that in the bud.

Comment by Dawn Taillon on December 15, 2009 at 1:22am: I will look to see more on it, to answer some of your questions, but I know some do it because they have a tough time, bending and gardening down low, some do it because they like the creative aspect, plants growing vertically and horizontally, up off the ground and the veggies do exceptionally well apparently, producing in that fertile environment. I checked it out a couple of years ago, but it is hard to garden in my soil, it is caleche and a lot of land, so not easy to amend quickly on a budget. The info is on davesgarden.com I am a member so I can see if you can't but I bet there are links and copies of info from the site around.