Straw Bales Getting A Face Lift

This was a great year for growing tomatoes in straw bales. I have never grown such lush foliage and so many really large tomatoes in all my years of garden.

As you can tell in the picture the bales have broken down to about 1/3 their original size. At first I planned to till the broken down bales into my dirt row growing area for compost. Now, however, I have decided to enclose the row of bales inside a R/R tie box that will measure 2' wide x 24' long x 16" deep. When the box is completed I will remove the wires that held the bales together and level out the spent bales. New bales will go on top of the old ones and the process will begin again.

Once the R/R ties are secured with rebar rods there will be attached to the R/R tie box a system
for caging the tomato plants. This year I had a guy wire strung between two trees which worked by trailing twine from the guy wire to the base of the plants and then attaching the vines to the twine with plastic clips made for this purpose. It worked well, but the weight of all that lush foliage tended to cause the wire to sag in the middle like a cloths line full of wet cloths. As the bales began to break down they settled and pulled away from the root system of the plants exposing some roots. The plants couldn't follow the collapsing bales because they were attached to the guy wire via the twine and clips.
Jerry

This message was edited Aug 22, 2009 12:22 PM

another

That looks so pretty! The box around them should help keep moisture around the roots and that rustic look of the RR ties is so nice. Between the bales and the shade, I'm not surprised that you have had a bumper crop. :)

Jerry: good use of those RR ties.

Phase ll

With the tin liner

Loaded with new straw bales. Tomorrow starts the cooking process for Fall. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, & brussel sprouts and a couple tomatoes.

While spreading the old bales I ran across the giant grubs.

I had a chance to get some rr ties earlier t his year, but when I told them it was for a garden border, they told the chemicals in the rr ties would hurt the plants!
Is this true, will the chemicals in the rr ties, leak out, and harm the garden?

My take on R/R ties for use in the garden is that if they are old and dry, that is they are not not smelly and oozing creosote, then they will have already leached the bad stuff that is on or near the surface of the ties. Just for an added precaution I lined the sides with tin. There will be some air pruning of the roots growing in the new bales because there is air space between the bales and the tin. So, I'm good to go with using them.

It boils down to what you want to believe. The world is full of believers and disbelievers. Some believe everything is bad for you while others believe nothing is bad for you. And there are in betweeners.....what I am. I probably feel about exhaust fumes and chlorinated drinking water the way some feel about using R/R ties in the garden. For 45 years I fought 2-3 hours a day sitting in traffic breathing the exhaust fumes from the cars around me and during that time I drank chlorinated water. In April of '06 I retired and my 35k miles per year sitting traffic went down to 4k per year. I live in the country and use my well water. I have never, never felt better than I do now.

Anyone who is uncomfortable with using R/R ties should stay far, far away from them.

Jerry

I'm especially interested in how the broccoli and sprouts will do - I have some in large pots, but a few more days of cooking and I'll be able to put some of them into the bales, too. :)

Is this your first year for those or do you have experience with them, already?

quilter_gal

The picture of Broccoli below was taken April 20 this year. This past Spring was my first time to grow in straw bales. The broccoli grew quite vigorously and produced nice large tight heads.

The only time I grew Brussel Sprouts was in the Fall in dirt back during the 90's. I was not very successful.

Jerry

Thank you so much! How great to have photos that you can look back on! :) I'll probably keep this kind of a "picture diary" so that I have good references like this, too.

It looks like you grew two broccoli plants per bale, then? How big did the plants get?

I've never had any luck with any of the crucifers, spring planting in the ground, but I'm hoping that fall plantings in containers and bales will fare better.

Here is what one PHD has to say about using old R/R ties: http://www.plantanswers.com/vegetable_garden_feb08.htm

Note paragraphs 2-5. What I did in a 24' long two tier R/R tie raised bed. One end is 4' wide and the other end is 8' wide.

Again, for anyone that feels uncomfortable about old R/R ties should stay far, far away from them.

Jerry, that looks great. Similar to what I did last year with the treated lumber. As far as putting new hay in; well this year I didn't add any new hay/straw and just grew in the old rotted stuff. I think it was better than last years crop! I agree with you on the use of the RR ties. If they are old and used I don't see any harm in using them. I have an 8' x 16' raised vegetable bed built from them. This is what I raised tomatoes and other summer veggies in before Kent got me hooked on bale gardening.

Doug

Doug: I plan on enclosing my bales next year for all of my tomatoes and peppers.

Thinking about getting rid of the rusty concrete wire and replace them with cattle panels.

I also want to look into an irrigation system.

Lots to do over the Fall and Winter!

Kent it's ALWAYS lots to do! That's gardening in general.. But we all enjoy it.

Doug

Hi All, just got wind of bale gardening this year and sounds so interesting. I wonder if straberries would grow in it?

A search on the Strawbale Gardening Forum for "strawberries" turned up this thread, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/972760/ and several other good threads regarding strawberries growing straw bales.

It looks like Gourdbeader in Toledo, OR has had good results growing them in straw bales.

Jerry

Yes Jerry found his forem after I posted this, Thanks

ff you need to talk to Gourdbeader about the strawberries. She is the expert on them.

Hi Everyone! Im Still here! I laid low for a few months due to some medical problems that turned out well! I had a Heart Scare that turned out to be Thyroid complications, Easy fix, so Im all better( Thanks to the miracle maker upstairs)!
We have really had some weird weather for the past few months too! First no rain, but my garden did great. Then too much rain , and my garden started to go down hill. Then the grass hoppers and then the catepillars. I decided it was time to start a fresh garden for Fall. I thought it would be good to see what would grow in refertilized old broke down bales.
I began by removing all the old vegetation ,and then pitchforking the composted bales. EEEEEyeeeeewwwww! I found my own share and half of Georgias grubs! I think I turned up at least a dozen with every turn of the fork!
Is it true these could be Japanese beetle babies???? ( Oh and these are the little ones! You should have seen the ones that were almost as big around as my thumbs!)

I was going to poison the area for grubs but really didnt want to have to do it! Then My old grey headed brain got the best idea! Why not let my chicken babies do the dirty work for me!

I will have to re rake everything back into place and put the concrete blocks back into line, as soon as "Jimmy" the roo and his gals get through!
I will add a little organic fertilizer and turn then put in some Fall plants! Hope fully vegetables by Thanksgiving and surely by Christmas!

Eufala, I am so sorry for your medical problems but glad they turned out miner compared to what they could have been.

Those grubs are really good for your chickens. Smart idea.

Please send pictures of the new garden.

Jeanette

OK folks you got me excited about this, we never heard of bale gardening before... I have 2 dozen bales on the way and I am going to save them for spring tomato plants. Thanks!

What kind of bales Rat? Good to have a jump on it. Not have to scramble at the last minute.

Jeanette

Hi Jnete, They are coastal hay bales. We can get the "goat quality" down by the farm for a couple of dollars each so i'm going to do that. I don't imagine we need "horse quality" bales for tomato plants.

I started off with a small raised bed on the back side of the house, now you all have me growing more stuff than anyone on this side of town. Ken's tomato bales look so good, I am copying those. I am still keeping all the peppers in the dirt though because they have done so good for me.. You all are great, and I'm not just saying that... I couldn't have grown anything except bugs without all your help!

Well Rat, now you haven't tried them yet. There is a lot of work to them. So, yes, his do look good but he had done a lot to get them like that. Whatever works. If the peppers do well in the dirt then leave them there. You guys in Tx have much different growing weather than we do up north. That helps tons.

Good luck. Jeanette

Eufaula: good pic with the chicks!

RATFOOD: welcome to the mix.

Hi there, "Ratfood,"

I'm in the DFW area - not quite as hot and dry as you have it down there, but almost. :)

I don't know what kind of soil you have, but here, I have a heavy, sticky clay that drains very poorly. The idea of attempting to amend it was just daunting, so I turned to containers, "lasagna" beds and hay bales.

The hay bales were unbelievably successful, even though I made a lot of mistakes and had a seemingly endless series of little disasters in my garden. Four bales produced incredible amounts of cantaloupe, honeydew and cucumbers - I had squash planted and they produced a lot of fruit, too, but I wasn't impressed by the flavor, so I took them out. The melon and cucumber vines grew 15-20 feet, covering the south-facing wall and part of the roof of my raised deck.

The most important thing I learned with those first bales is that you really need to enclose the sides or you're going to spend a lot of time watering. Not wanting to set up permanent structures, I just wrapped the sides of the newest bales with two sheets of 4mil black plastic, secured with landscapers' cloth pins. You should also provide some sort of structure, even it it's just staking the bales at the ends. The bales look so solid when you first get them, but in a few weeks of weathering and watering, they will get floopy and fall in odd directions as they rot.

The bales for next summer's vegetable garden are just sitting - I'm not going to "cook" them, just let them weather all winter. I'll sink 4X4's into concrete at the ends of the rows and wrap the sides of the bales with plastic at some point. The posts will provide structure for the fencing or whatever for the melons and tomatoes to grow on and the plastic will hold in water and heat in the early spring. It will also keep the top-dressings from washing off the sides of the bales onto the lawn.

Eventually, as I bring in gravel and shale and sand and use the broken-down bales for compost and mulch and lasagna beds, the soil will become friendlier towards growing things, but that is several years in the future. If I had waited until I had decent soil in order to have a vegetable garden, it would have been a long wait. :)

Good luck with your hay bales - it's lots of fun!
Elizabeth

Elizabeth, that sounds good for me too since we have such a short season. I think just using the long staples to hold the black plastic to the sides of the bales. That would keep the roots warm too.

Jeanette