Straw Bale Gardening (Part 2 Southwest Style)

I agree Ray, let's keep it here. Lots of chatter at the other forum. Sometimes I just want the fax ma'm.

Here's a very happy tomatillo this morning.

And a happy little garden plot, just to the side of that bale.

Another of Bale D, taken today, to compare with the one I posted Sept 30.

Looks like the bales standing on there sides are doing good. I was a little leary of how thosw ould do and if they would dry out to quick.
How often are you fertilizing?

My lettuce isnt looking all that great but the cauliflower and broccoli plants are really strong and nice looking.
The snap peas are putting on a little more growth and it looks like the cilantro seeds are also doing pretty good.
The cabbage in the alfalfa bale is still limping along and the cauliflower are toast. The bales are almost as cool as the hay bales. I'm really starting to think they are way to high in nitrogen and are burning the roots.
The pepper plants that are about 3' from the alfalfa bales are starting to become monsters. Their roots must have found the nice dark tea coming off those bales.

Gulp - fertilizing??? I hit them with a bit of Miracle Grow the other day, otherwise, nada. I'm hesitant because I think I over-did everything with too much nitrogen all this year. The compost and alfalfa tea rant I was on for a while. Maybe I'll scatter some tomato food granules later.

I wish somone would "get the bale ready" and let me buy them ready to sow plants in them! I' d never get through all that 11 or so days of adding all the ingredients. LOL Jo

Its a peace of cake. As long as its straw and not alfalfa. Grrrrrrrrrr

But....but.....but....I'd have to stay home for ELEVEN whole days!! LOL Jo

Thats what in-laws are for. LOL

Hey Jo, just buy the bales now and let 'em sit till next year. They will be ready and waiting for ya. That's what I did, although not by design. I just never got around to the project last year when I bought the bales. Took me a year to get a round tuit.

Ray./...I AM the inlaw...LOL

Mary...If that works for you...then it works for me...do I have to leave it out in the weather...or put it under tarp? Jo

Jo, you crack me up!

Jo, I think you can just leave it out in the weather. But when you position the bale, do not place the twine that binds them down - on the ground. The twine will rot and you will have a mess of straw.

If you buy straw bales bound with plastic (think heavy-duty weed-eater type) 'string' you won't have the problem of rotting and bales falling apart. The straw bale guru over on that forum recommends turning the unbound sides up, but I set mine with the 'string' up. It kinda makes rows that way and I planted greens and lettuce between the plastic ties. Leaving the bales out in the weather will work pretty good - if it rains enough. Not enough rain and you'll still have to water the bales. Mine sat in the yard and soaked up irrigation water for several months. That started the decomposition and when I moved them, I turned the bottoms up. So far, so good. I do think it's a water-intensive method of gardening and I doubt I'll try this in summer. Give it a try, Jo; it beats bending all the way to the ground!

I will set next week as "go find straw bales week". Thanks for all your help...and Brenda...that is my goal in life...to bring laughter to a cruel old world. Jo

☺♥♥♥

You're awesome, Jo!

JO!
You're killing me!
ROFLMAO!

For the dreaded In-laws and the rest of you, here is what the cauliflower and broccoli look like.

The bale on the right is the lettuce and spinach mixture.

Lookin' good Ray - and I like your small marmalade helper! ;~}

She is a funny old cat. The wife and I think she has to be around 19 now and she still rules the house. If the two younger male cats or the dog her off she lets them know. Yet she is the sweetest dang cat.

Looks good Ray. I was reading a little on the Strawbale Forum the benefits of this type of gardening. Very compelling.

Looking good! The stray feral cat that adopted us (and is becoming downright domesticated...) is named Marmelade. Looks just like your kitty!

So far so good with seeds sprouting, though I did have to reseed some. Between the dogs dancing and the fact that watering tends to rearrange the seeds, there were some spaces with nothing. One row of romaine didn't come up at all. Maybe the seeds were old?

Anyhoo, got a pretty good stand of lettuces and greens. The beets and carrots should be coming up soon - I hope.

Brussel sprouts, the only transplants I used. So far. The little seedlings are more greens, kale and arugula.

One more. All the border stuff is intended to discourage dog-dancing, but so far has been only partly successful. My dogs aren't like Ray's and they don't believe me when I say I'm gonna cut their fat paws off!

Short green fence posts, 3 foot tall chicken wire, mean voice! Also try putting some beans in 2 pie pans wire together or a soda can. Toss this hard in front of the dogs every time they seem to be considering the garden. Worked for mine and I have one mentally challenged mutt and one very stubborn hound. Now I have no idea how to keep a determined chicken out of the little greens! Think they are going to get a cover over there run. Tried to avoid cause it is such a big area BUT chickens are much smarter and sneaker than their reputation suggests! Beautiful plants. I'll be by for broccoli!

Good idea, Jo. I think I may even have some of those posts. I would love to have some chickens but there are so many reasons I shouldn't and now you've given me one more. Don't have a goat for the same many reasons!

Plants are lookin' good, TF!

Excellent Alma - perserverence always pays off. Yummy looking greens.

How are every body's bales doing?

My cauliflower and broccoli are putting on some really nice growth.
The lettuce is also doing very good but there are a lot of weeds on that bale.
I'm starting to think I might flip it over instead of continue the fight of trying to get rid of them from around the lettuce. Its a little frustrating. I think they might have come from my compost. Grrrrrr

A couple of the snap pea seeds came up and are doing good. The cilantro seedlings didnt make it.

The cabbage in the ground are about twice the size as those in the bales.
But the cauli/brocc plants are about twice the size of those in the ground.

I'll try to get a pic or two to post tomorrow. Not enough light now. My brussel sprouts are growing well, bok choy looking pretty good. Lettuce not as big as it should be but the most puzzling thing is the spinach. I think some bird has a taste for spinach. It came up bus has all but disappeared. Whatever ate it didn't pick on anything else - at least not that I can see. Carrots and beets are up but still very little. Kale looks spindly. I'm about to replant some greens and I'm going to put seeds both in the bales and in ground. We'll see how it goes. I still think it's an interesting experiment and I'll probably try some more stuff in the spring.

Anyone still curious about EM can check it out at emamerica.com. I'm curious to know if anyone has had experience with it.

Hmmm, I think we had some discussion here about EM way back. Ray? Anyone actually find and use some?

The plants in my bales are growing just fine but not nearly as well as the ones in the ground. I'll try to get some pics later today, I need to update my journal anyway. And it's probably time for another dose of Miracle Grow.

I vaguely remember the conversation.
I havent used any or even looked for it.

The web site is intesting. I have a friend who takes it internally. Many uses.

Sorry, cant help with this one.

Some strawbale pictures taken this morning.
Lettuce varieties in the right bale. It also has spinach at the back.
Bale on left has cauliflower on the right and broccoli on the left.

cabbage in the ground.

cabbage in the bale.

Looking good, Ray. Were both cabbages planted at the same time? (bale and ground?)