Strawbale test plot

Donna: dittos on what the others said: Good to hear from you.

Doug: scored over 1200 ft of treated 2x6's and 2x10's from an old fishing pier that the local Rangers had dismantled from Falls Lake near my house.

All the nails pulled out, too!

Will definitely have my bales enclosed this year as far as the lumber will go.

This should save me quite a bit on buying new bales every year.

Wow Kent, so you are going to enclose your bales. Will you line the inside of the framework with plastic? If you don't do the bottoms I think that would be a good idea.

Jeanette

Jeanette: no plans to line the framework. We'll see how this turns out.

Kent, by using last years leftover bales in my enclosed row I had even greater success. By decomposing even more they allowed the earthworms and bacteria to add a lot of good nutrients to the remains. Way outdid the year old hay bales I used otherwise. I will stick with straw from now on. The hay just fell apart and did not hold water. Just Sunday I put all the fallen apart hay bales into the enclosed row bringing it to the top of the enclosure. I'm ready for spring now! Bring on the maters...

Doug

Happy Birthday to the US Marine Corps today!!!

Somewhere back up the line there was talk of running cukes and squash, I always build cages out of concret reinforcement wire and cage both. For the squash I build a slightly bigger cage. They will walk right to the top, no tying.

Jim,
Got a picture of those cages? Having difficulty visualizing them.

I don't know if you can tell anything about them in this photo or not. I just cut the reinforcement wire and make a circle out of. I'll count the number of squares I use for the tomato cages and the squash cages and post it tomorrow.

Thanks, Jim, that helped. I don't know what I was thinking...these look just like regular tomato cages.

Sure that is all they are. I make cages for the tomatoes and cukes the same size. Squash I make slightly larger. I haven't tried adapting them to straw bales but don't see much problem.

Loved the pics Dug, I have been reading along. I would like to try this method but now that I live in TX, I think it just might be too hot here. Do you think the bales would heat up too much in the tx sun?
Cheryl

My suggestion is just to try a couple next year and see! If they work in your heat you'll be hooked.

Doug

Cheryl, surely there are others near you, I am sure there are in some areas of Texas, why not ask them how they did?

Just scroll thru the threads looking for Texas on their names.

Jeanette

Well I'm not from Texas, but a couple of guys I know raised tomatoes this past summer in hay bales and they did great. Probably the prettest tomatoes I saw all year.

I can't grow veggies in this state to save my life. It gets so hot so soon in the season tomatoes stop fruiting. I put some out this fall and actually got a few. I am new to gardening here and still learning. Plant early and change out the crops seems to be the way to go. I would like to do some spring planting of green beans, lettuce and spinach so I was thinking the bales would be a good way to get an instant bed for planting. All the posts here are very inspiring but I keep thinking they are all in places that get more rain than I do.
C

Cheryl, (my daughter is Cheryl also) Good luck with your Texas gardening. I live in the desert area of Wash. state, We have been in droughth (sp) for 5 or more years. No rain at all this year except a couple of days in April. We have after the severe freeze in mid. Oct. received more rain than in all the previous months of the year. My tomatoes were not happy, did not produce very well. I had planted 15 different varieties (all grown from seed in my small gh) and only one time did I have enough extra tomatoes to take to Senior Center. I do have one Sun Gold cherry tomato in the gh now that is providing me enough for salads.

Donna

Good morning Donna,

Happy Thanksgiving.

Have you ever tried wrapping the bales in visquine? Plastic? Some have tried it in other parts of the country, I wonder if that would work for you.. I used hay with 40% alfalfa this year and don't think we had as many tomatoes as I have had with straw.

Jeanette

Hi,
Let me get this strait, some of you are using last years straw or hay in boxes to plant your maters and such. I read that you have had great success.
Well, if I can get my butt out and get going this winter I will have a greenhouse built by late January. I was wondering if I built wood raised growing beds and just used old straw packed down in them with some fertilizer I might have just as good luck as using hay/straw bales. I guess one could use leaves packed or mixed with the hay/straw.
I have several old straw bales from years past to try. If this doesn't work, I can always go back to the bales.

Another subject, if anyone is having trouble with gofers in the bales, you can put down 1/4" or 1/8" hardware cloth before placing your bales. This should keep the buggers out.
I have routinely used hardware cloth on the bottom of my raised beds because of that problem for years.

Another subject, I am planning a seminar at my church in January or February on small plot and container gardens. I am concerned about the unemployed among us not having access to adequate food. I certainly am going to include the bale gardens as my center piece. Here in Western Oregon one should be able to get his bale garden going by early March. I will post regularly on the subject as I get ready.

Another subject, I am now able to think about returning to Haiti. We are having the first organizational meeting on 13 December, at Our Saviors Lutheran Church, Lake Oswego, Oregon. The next team visit is April 15th to 23rd 2010. Isn't God Great!!

Another subject, Happy Thanksgiving to all, I surly am giving Praise and Thanksgiving for the past year. What an adventure, life is great if I can keep up.
Paul.

Paul, Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!

One additional note, you might get someone, if you don't have time yourself and it sounds as if you are pretty busy, to go around and talk to a few farmers in the area to see if they think they might be going to have any wet, spoiled, rotted, etc. bales in the spring they can donate to these unemployed folks, as clean bales are pretty expensive, and those are what bale gardening is all about. Also, don't exclude hay. i.e. don't ask for exclusivley straw.

Sounds like you have a full plate. I have not used previously used bales. There normally is not much left of mine, but I suppose if you put a lot of them together there would be enough for a few. I think I would like the wood with plastic. I mentioned this to Kent, but he didn't think it would be necessary.

Have a good day!! Jeanette

this is my first day keep posting i need all the help i can get going to try bales next year. jim or jlmcv45.

Doug, I scored another 1,000 ft of old, treated 2 x 6's today!

Happy as a clam. I should have enough to do whatever I want to do.

Looking forward to getting my bales enclosed.

Is treated lumber good for vegetable gardening?
C

The boards that I have are from a dismantled fishing pier that was at least 20+ years old, and FREE! :-)

With the size of my bale garden I would never shell out the money for some new treated boards.

Lots of articles on the internet about the "safety" aspect of treated lumber and gardening.

This one seems to be reasonable:

http://www.gardeningblog.net/2009/04/12/using-pressure-treated-lumber-in-raised-garden-beds/

Kent, were your boards from the fishing pier in salt water or fresh?

If salt, that may be a problem???

Jeanette

Jeanette: boards were from a fresh-water lake pier down the road from me.

Sounds good. I sent you a Dmail about something else. Jeanette

Kent; great article! Many thanks.
I wasn't concerned, as I don't have any raised beds as of yet, or enclosures for bales. I have however been contemplating on building several raised boxes for gardening and having the box high enough. About hip high, for me. Then I could have some of the root crops up where they are easier to get at. I have 4 large UMW something or other ( plastic) tubs. that I have cut down to 36" high. That gives about a 3' X 3' area for each box and 3' high. I would prefer a longer box with more area.
I have found, since my accident, bending over for extended periods is out. But I'm not giving up, not yet anyway.
Lining a wood box with plastic sheet would be no problem and would no doubt help control moisture loss through the side walls.
I am thinking of nearly filling the boxes with dirt, then mixing in some sand and compost and or some bags of potting soil and work in leaves and grass clippings as they become available. Hay and straw are getting to be harder to come by in small bales. More and more, round bales are more common. and I ain't about to try manhandling a 1500 lb bale. lol

Why are 1500 lb bales hare for you to handle Russ? What kind of root crops are you planning on putting in those? You know, they leave carrots in the ground for a while into winter to keep them, but I would think those containers you are talking about might be like any other container and I have found that they freeze. They are not like planting in the ground for winter keeping.

I lost a tree peony and a 20 year old Japanese Laceleaf Maple tree when I moved here from the coast because I had them in big heavy clay planters. And their hardiness zones were down to zone 3.

Jeanette

Well Jeanette, even if I would like to be able to lift a 1500lb bale, I don't think it will happen. Super Man hasn't visited me yet.
Yes I too have lost plants that were in containers, due to freeze drying the roots. I have left carrots in the ground in the past, I kept them covered so the ground wouldn't freeze around them. That works for beets too. and probably white potatoes. But if I can store them in the house, either in a cooler unused room or packaged up in the freezer or can them and not have to fight frozen ground, that just seems better to me. And no I don't intend to use the big round bales. I'll just have to go back to dirt gardening first. lol
What I would raise in containers would be harvested before the ground freezes.
But before I go to all the trouble of building the containers I mentioned, I would use those 4 plastic ones I already have. and give it a shot first.
Russ

I have a question? Has anyone tried to take old bales apart and pack them into a raised
bed or box. Or have you just dumped a new bale on top of the old bale and planted it.
I read where hay is better than straw. Old bales are better than new bales. I guess I am confused. I have been just busting up my old STRAW bales as mulch and using new each year, except for one which I used some sticks and twisted the bale tight.
This didn't work at all. Plants didn't do well.
I just saw an ad on Craig's list for Portland for STRAW bales for $2.50 delivered if 10 or more bales.
I am making plans for next year. Here in Western Oregon, it is cold for January and February then warm enough to plant some things in bales early March.
Paul.

Sounds like a plan Russ. For the life of me I can't figure out why all the farmers are going to those. They can't all have fork lifts to move them. I know a few do, but guess that is the business to be in. I think someone sold them a bill of goods.

One farmer here he has about 4 or 5 big pole barns and every year he fills them with the little bales of hay. He sells out of there all winter long. You see pickups loaded down to the tires with hay leaving his place. He's no dummy. But, he also has a fork lift.

Yeah, now I can see putting things in the containers that you can freeze,can, or whatever before it freezes. We got a little bit of snow this weekend, but mostly it has been super cold. For the last few weeks. At least the snow would insulate it, but you know, it sure has been nice knowing we aren't going to have 6 months of snow.

Have a good week, Jeanette

I tried both Paul. I even put some of the old straw in my raised bed figuring it would decompose in there and help. Didn't do much.

That 2.50 sounds pretty good. Yes, yu should be able to start things that early there. You should be zone 7 or 8 aren't you?

I used hay this last yeaqr and it was the worst my tomatoes have done since I started strawbale gardening. Every other year I used straw.

Jeanette

Paul I dumped this years decomposed bales into my enclosed row since I grew in last years decomposed bales there anyway. They did very well growing in the old stuff. I pulled back some of the old bale leftovers before adding the new/decomposed bales to it and the ground underneath was dark and crumbly and full of worms. Works even better than new bales as far as I was concerned.

Doug

OKay Doug I'm stealing your idea and combining it with several other DGer ideas on how to grow hot peppers in our short season (60 frost free days). The plan is this: Lay down a 50 foot soaker hose; dig two 12-inch deep trenches on either side of the hose; place several inches of semi-composted horse manure in the bottom; cover the horse manure with hay &/or shredded paper; wet down thoroughly and back fill trench with the removed soil and additives (K); cover with a black plastic mulch; surround with hay bails; and place either a row cover over the top or the hay bails or window panels from the restore. As soon as soil temperature reaches the desired 70 degrees F, transplant the hot pepper plants 12-inches apart on either side of the soaker hose. Who says you can't fool Mother N. Thanks for the idea Doug and other DGers as well.

Him Raider 3,
Of course when you are doing all of this, you will have a camera handy to
record the steps. Pictures are really worth a thousand words in gardening.
We all want to see how this works. Some of these ideas might work for those
of us who want to extend our growing season.
I know your way will work because I know of someone who did just that
in central Oregon. It worked well.
Here are some techniques you can use in the planting areas.
http://www.foodforeveryone.org/gardening_course/
They recommend a soil that can be used on top of your bales to start
other veggies.
Paul.

Sounds like a good plan to me! As Paul said, keep us updated with pics. Good luck.

Doug

Interesting looking book Paul...Will provide pics later in May. Thanks

Just about done with my frames.

I have another 4 x 16 section (for double bales - 1 for cukes; the other for squash) to do and another 22 inch x 16 section.

The old straw from last year is perfect for recycling back in the frames.

Each year from here on out I'll have to get fewer bales.

Double bale frame

Thanks, Doug, for your test plot. I've been wanting to do this ever since your 1st post.

Been reading posts on this forum for a couple of months and want to try some straw bale plots for veggies this spring. I see all the work on this post and wonder if I am just really lazy~! LOL I want to use the bales because I want a nearly instant veggie patch. I work hard on my ornamental areas but want an easy way for the vegetables. Some questions.
1. straw bales over hay?
2. how many tomatoes per bale?
Ideally I want to grow the following and am wondering how many bales I would need.
4 tomatoes, 2 zuchinnis, 1 cucumber, 4 peppers, 2 eggplant and probably one bale for some herbs.
How many total am I likely to need.
C