straw bale gardening

[BadgeBunny]

My grandmother always told me that was the easiest way to grow potatoes.

I tried potatoes both in barrels and in bales last year. Both worked pretty well ... Barrels have the advantage of being reusable next year. Bales have the advantage of being able to thrown in the chicken coop for litter and then used as compost in the spring. I can see me doing both again this year, just because I have those two big patios in the back yard. I sure which Everett hadn't had such a concrete fetish ...

I'm seriously thinking of stacking some bales and doing a BUNCH of sweet potatoes in the middle and onions and different herbs to dry all around in bales now that I have a cellar (i.e., that tornado shelter) to put them in ...

 

[lkothe]

I've grown some 'maters this way.....just soaked the heck out of the bale a few days then put plant in....water as usual, added some fertilizer a time or two....seemed to work ok for me.

Deano

 

[SomeCallMeMom]

*shamed* I have this book... obviously I need to study it closer!

Page 44. I only remembered it was in there because I was reading last weekend trying to figure out what I needed to do to start my garden!

 

[turkeyrun]

wheat straw bales are $3-$5 on CL. more you get the cheaper they are. I got 30 bales for $100, he actually loaded 36 bales on the trailer. IF you can find 1012yr bales, even better and cheaper. Where I had the bales last year, I tilled into the soil and will plant my corn this year.

Did some raised bed wood frame gardens last year; will replace with bales this year. Cheaper, easier to move, and improves the whole garden.

The cardboard weed/grass prevention is highly recommended, the cardboard breaks down and just till it in, too.