Here ya go Sally!
Doug
Strawbale Gardening: General Discussions - Chapter 23
thank you so much , now i can get my dg fix easier.
Now wasn't that nice of Doug? What did you do Doug? How did you do it long distance???
Jeanette
shoot, jnette, i don't try to figger out how they do it. i have trouble finding "power" to even turn this thing on .lol sally
Silly Sally. Now I know how Doug fixed it for you.
Jeanette
you know a lot more than i do about puters .
Well Missy, when you get to be as old as I am that information just automatically pops into the brain without you knowing it. When you get there you will see for yourself.
What do we fish for?
Jeanette
This message was edited Jul 1, 2008 4:13 PM
i bet i'm older than you , but i'm a itty bitty kid when it comes to electronics. my expertise is in building and insurance . i majored in recess and boys in high school . ha , beat that one! lol btw i'll get to pick my first tomato in a few days , and the squash is awsome. had that last four nights. my sis is flying in the seventh and want to make that cake for her .i cook like our mom , and she hasn't had any of moms cooking for twenty five years . hard to believe moms been gone that long . she made rhubarb pies and cakes when we were in michigan as a kid ,so know my sis will really appreciate your recipe. don't remember if i thanked you or not ,so will now. thanks , sally
OHHHHH Sally, I am so jealous. I want that tomato!! You can keep the squash. And the boys. LOL,
Oh boy Sally I am going to have to take another look at it and make sure I typed it right. For some reason it wouldn't cut and paste from my recipe file. I will look. I sure would hate to have sis mad at me. Put a big scoop of ice cream on the plate with it.
I'll look. Jeanette
Ok everyone, you can come back and I will go away. Sally if you want to talk to me just D-mail me. We might go fishing yet. LOL
Jeanette
Out of the 3 straw bales I tried to start, only one heated up any. It also has shoots coming out of the top of it... grass I guess. Someone said the bales were very, very tightly packed, plus they are old (been under the shed since last year), which may be the reason I'm having problems! All 3 hold water pretty well!
I want to plant a canteloupe in the bale that seems to support life (the grassy one). I haven't added any nitrogen yet, but plan to spread 3 yr old horse manure & sawdust mix across the top of it today. Any thoughts out there from the bale gurus?
Do the nitrogen before you plant, Bev- get it starting to compost- when you see the little funky black mushrooms, you'll know things are good. Those cantaloupes will need the nitrogen and the fertilizers you'll add via manure tea, miracle grow, etc. Don't rush the bales- get 'em right first.
Good luck!
Suz
Thanks Suz, I'll do that. I'll try to get on the ball with this today!
OK- got new shots of the garden this morning . . .
the first few will be of the HAY bale side. Here's the magic zucchini plant . . .
This one's of the zinnias, planted a few weeks ago in the HAY from the same seedlings as the NEXT photo (from the STRAW side)
Here's the one of the zinnias in the STRAW
And a general shot of the HAY side of my garden . .
and one general shot of the STRAW side. . .
And here's one where you can see the cukes . . .
OK- thanks for humoring me. Here's the last one, of the zucchini babies . . . (boy, you can tell it's been a while since I've had a garden, huh?)
Wow Suz, nice looking veggies, especially in the hay bales. I think next year I'll try hay instead of straw! It's easier to get around here and cheaper.
I watered in a bunch of composted horse manure into 2 of the straw bales that had mushrooms and some grass growing in them (just noticed the 2nd one with mushrooms this morning). The 3rd one fell apart after watering (the twine broke)... needed mulch anyway, haha. I'm going for planting a late crop of something (can't find canteloupe plants now), haven't decided what yet. I'll have to wait and see if the bales compost out or not, too.
Thanks for your input!
Thanks so much for your kind words! I think it's pretty wonderful. A friend of mine wants to set up a series of classes with my and her 4H students, to teach the bale gardening concept to them! I'm thrilled.
If I only had to grow a couple of things, I'd think tomatoes and zucchini or baby watermelons would be good ghoices- they seem to really thrive in bale environment.
Namaste- Suz
Suz, looking good. I'm glad someone else is doing a comparison test. My enclosed bales are doing much better than the open bales. I am using only straw this year but after seeing your pics I will be using hay next year!!!
Doug
As much as I hate plastic, has anyone out there tried wrapping the sides of their bales with green or black plastic? I'm wondering if that might not do the trick with keeping the surfaces moist. I think putting long bale sides together is definitely the way i'll go from here on out.
Happy Fourth, everyone! Stay safe.
Namaste- Suz
Don't know where my time goes. Well I do know for one thing that I move much slower than I did 40 years ago. He He.
I am still on dialUp and not sure from what I hear that that will change any time soon.
Glad to read all your mail and see the photos.
I still did not get any bean seed in my hay bale to germinate. But seeing the black mushrooms on top makes me think I can still plant some more seed and get beans. So will try again. We are receiving a little rain shower right now, otherwise I would go out and take a picture of my potato crop on one of my compost piles.
I am very upset with the woman who is/was supposed to help me with my computer problems. I paid about $300.00 a month ago for her to install several items on my computer to make it work better. It may be better internally but sure doesn't seem any better to me, in fact much worse. I used to before she worked on it, be able to resize my photos in either of two ways, very easily. Now I can't find any way to resize, I did have her come out here again a couple of days to show me how to resize and the only way she could do it was to send a photo to someone , get it resized by several clicks on various things, that I can't even remember what she did. No help at all. So since it takes me 5 to 10 minutes for the computer to send the large photos and probably makes it difficult of anyone to look at them, I am not sending photos. I did sign up again with Picassa, but so far haven't figured that one out either., My little brain is not working too well.
Donna
Donna; Did you just let me know why I can't find some of my pictures, while I am on DG??? Old dog needs to learn new tricks????? LOL
Most of what I know about computers has been trial and error error error.
I think you should still be able to get a crop of beans.
I haven't tried to start beans in bales yet. I think if I were to try I would soak them over night and make a pocket in the bale, and plant the bean seed with some potting soil, Water the bean seed and soil. Keeping the area moist untill I saw the sprouts. I remember last year I was afraid the squash seed I planted in a bale wasn't going to grow. I still kept it watered. It took more time than I have experienced planting in dirt. However they finally took off, and I did get 13 butter nuts off three plants. I don't know if my thought is right or not but I think that the difference in color, The straw bales being lighter in color than dirt. they may not stay warm enough in early spring. This is just my thinking, not based on fact. Also with the straw there are thousands of little straws sticking up in a breeze which may help wick off the needed temperature and moisture for germination, again I don't know. Really just looking at possibilities.
Again this year, my bales are still behind the growth rate of the tomatoes in the ground. Last year was the same however they did catch up and I can't remember for sure but I think the first tomatoes did come from the bales. But then I was fertilizing the bales and the tomatoes in the ground had to rely on the composting materials I had put on in the fall.
Any one else have any thoughts on this???
Russ
Russ-
All I can tell you is that the difference in the growth rate between the romatoes planted in hay, vs. straw, is off the charts! My tomato plants in straw are small, healthy but small. The ones in the hay (which has slumped) are crazy! Monstrous, vigorous plants. Would seem to point to the need for more fertilizer, maybe more soil, for the straw plants.
I'll try to remember to take pics soon of the 2.
G'nite! Suz
Have my first eggplant showing. They are white. I do have some black and rose bianca but no eggies yet. This year they seem to be healthier orgrowing better. I use straw.
Last year my plants had to get much bigger before producing. Haven't really fertilized about a week ago put some worm casings and dynamite fertilizer. most of my stuff is in buckets.Best laid plans did not work this year but next will be more bales. This my second year. deanna
Thanks Russ, but I think my problem was too much bloodmeal. I have a soil therm. and it read 120 degrees for quite a long time. Now I think okay, I just haven't taken time to soak and plant the bean seed. Maybe today.
I haven't found anywhere to buy wormcastings since my supplier, 130 miles distant, closed his business. I do have quite a lot of compost from my piles. May need more nitragen (sp) in it as forgot to scatter alfalfa pellets on the piles.
The dayliliy blooms are looking very good this year. Would send some photos if I could get my computer to resize. Must go outside and do some weeding before it gets too hot.
Donna
Hi Gang...
looks like I'm out of the picture parade for a while also........(heh tried to take a pic of myself & broke the camera)
Good going Deanna, yes, my plants are starting to produce quicker & on smaller plants, too. I've got lots of fruit on the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, & zuccinni. Some of the larger growing heirlooms are just now putting out blooms & the patty pan squash are lagging, but this is the first year I've grown them so don't know what to expect.
The drought has just now broken...nice rain last night...not long enough, but anything helps.......Rob's corn & squash looked rough, this may save them.
Donna, I'll admit to being jealous of your DLs...mine have burned to a crisp...I've had to salvadge the very last of some of them by putting them in potting soil in the shade where I can water them...I've had to put up short temporary windbreaks because the breezes have been a little brisk & very drying...that computer chick sounds like the pits....my son is a systems VP & hates the image these crooks give the many truly helpful geeks out there.
Foggy
Suzan; You are a zone or 2 warmer than we are. I am thinking that in addition to the hay having already more nutrition than straw, the hay is darker in color. Which I feel would absorb more heat from the sun than the straw. I think I will try experimenting a little with a darker cloth on a couple of my bales.
I will choose the one doing the poorest and the one doing the best.
I will keep you posted. Not going to do much today as I am one of those people that are affected by the weather. Have a nasty headache and just downright groggy.
I am thankful for any rain that will come from this weather front and will just put up with what it does to my system. It isn't as bad as it used to be since I take a med for migraine headaches. just have to be thankful for every thing.
Russ
OK everyone, these were planted nearly 20 days earlier in dirt, so they are not in the experiment.
These are the ones in straw bales, I have been giving them MG two to three times a week.
The next pictures will be the ones I have chosen to experiment with.
This one seems to be the littlest one, so I am using it. I found some of my black pond filter material. Put it around this tomato. I will continue the MG feedings on this one as with all the rest in the bales.
Thes two look to be the biggest of the toms in the bales. I have put the same black filter material over that bale. This should either prove or disprove my therory, about the color of the bale. for zone 4 gardens.
I am still open minded on this so there will be no predetermined thought as to the outcome.
The next picture is of some other tomatoes in dirt planted the same time as the ones in the bales.
These are in a different patch, that don't get as much afternoon sun. The were planted at the same time as the ones in bales. this is just to see if there is a difference in the color choice.
I have lost my train of thought as Barb had me go with her, to get a sunday paper and some milk.
So I think I will just send one more picture of the Vardaman sweet potatoes.
Sure is hard to keep your mind on anything when you have a headache.
Foggy; This one is for you.
This is the cat who claims us as its servants.
LOL
Russ
russ, why do you keep on ? hope you go kick back in a recliner ,or couch , and shut your eyes for awhile ? get over that headache .hope all's better by now . sally
LOL
yes you can definitely see Kitty's right where Kitty can keep an eye on you, Russ.....
Foggy