Does anyone do straw bale gardening?

[ranchhand]

Not 100% sure, but I think one of the key thing is to be sure to use straw bales, not hay. Hay contains a zillion seed heads that will sprout, straw, not so much. That's what I've done in the past and had very few weeds sprout.

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
You are correct; straw is the better choice. I got hay because that's all I could find. I'm hoping the heating/decomposing process will take care of some of the seeds. We'll see...

 

[ParadisePoultry]

Noodle,

Your bales look great!! Hope that chicken poo has rotted for a while, otherwise it might burn your plants. But if it's well watered in, I suppose it will be OK.


Here is my garden so far:

Happy little seedlings waiting for Spring

 

[noodleroo]

Yep, its older chicken poop and pine shavings. I've been washing the poo down into the bales so it can do its thing. I'm putting a layer of soil on top to start the plants in. I felt down in some of the 'younger' looking bales yesterday and the heat seems to have dissapated. I released lady bugs in my plants and herb garden yesterday evening and they were still around in concentration this morning; good sign! There will be no poisons so I've got to start my compost/manure tea and garlic and pepper spray. I just love spring...

 

[ParadisePoultry]

noodle,

You are soooooo lucky. It is still winter here. We can't plant until the middle of May. And still risk frost until June 1st.

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
We are lucky here. We have a really long growing season and some years, we don't even get a freeze. If we do, its rarely below 32F. The down side is the sometimes 100+ temps in the summer. That and the humidity is quite opressive...

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Yes, I realized that a few days after posting it.

 

[ParadisePoultry]

But Illia, the class I took said that was the best way to do potatoes. They don't work so well in the bales, but if you put the eyes on the ground and cover them with flakes of straw, supposedly, in the fall all you have to do is lift up the flakes and viola, potatoes, no digging. I've never done it, but it sounds good.

 

[Attack Chicken]

I'm very interested in doing this. What are the steps to this? I have an old straw bale thats been sitting outside since last October. The chickens use it to sit on and poop on of course... What would be a good plant to try?

AC

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
If I was only going to pick one, I'd say squash or peppers. This is my first time doing it, but I've seen lots of pictures on the internet of others with really pretty squash plants.