straw or hay bale gardening

[Tumbling K]

I have no shortage of slick fence wire at the house, so I can always wire it up.

I also always have hardware cloth, and chicken wire, so could do that too, to help hold in place.

yep, my head is swimming with the possibilities.

and not have to fight the bermuda, nearly as much.....

 

[lazy gardener]

That would be one advantage, for sure!

 

[hillbillyreefer]

I forgot to mention, my garden is frozen solid about 6months of the year, greatly slowing decomposition.

 

[Tumbling K]

I forgot to mention, my garden is frozen solid about 6months of the year, greatly slowing decomposition.

yeah, that would be important. lol

I'll be decomposing pretty much all year long. but I might could get my spring/summer garden, and a fall/winter garden out of one set of bales.....

 

[lazy gardener]

yeah, that would be important. lol

I'll be decomposing pretty much all year long. but I might could get my spring/summer garden, and a fall/winter garden out of one set of bales.....

You might want to see a doctor about that! You could easily get spring/summer, fall/winter out of one set of bales. I find that by the next season, they're formless. Would still work, but not as attractive as a formed bale. As I move on in years, I'm getting more formless also.

 

[Tumbling K]

You might want to see a doctor about that! You could easily get spring/summer, fall/winter out of one set of bales. I find that by the next season, they're formless. Would still work, but not as attractive as a formed bale. As I move on in years, I'm getting more formless also.

thanks for the head's up.

maybe If I imbibe more bourbon, it will have a pickling effect?

I'm just wondering if you could make a hardware cloth cylinder, line the inside with weed fabric and form a raised bed?

or heck, maybe a few wooden posts n the ground, put some corrugated roofing up, and just keep putting fresh hay bales on top of the decomposed ones, and eventually have a raised bed that way?

 

[User395221]

Weeds are a green manure crop as far as I'm concerned.

When my garden was more of a garden and not a wasteland of chicken holes, I also used straw (wheat) as mulch. The wheat would germinate and I'd have wheat growing everywhere. All of my "critters" like eating it, it is not only a great green manure crop but "dinner" for bunnies and birds. It sprouts in spring and dies off in summer. If you really wanted to be rid of it, it's not hard to pull up (unlike the couch grass underneath it which was killed by the mulch, eventually)

 

[hillbillyreefer]

thanks for the head's up.

maybe If I imbibe more bourbon, it will have a pickling effect?

I'm just wondering if you could make a hardware cloth cylinder, line the inside with weed fabric and form a raised bed?

or heck, maybe a few wooden posts n the ground, put some corrugated roofing up, and just keep putting fresh hay bales on top of the decomposed ones, and eventually have a raised bed that way?

I've got a huge pot I've done exactly that in. Filled it with hay, put some compost on top and planted tomatoes in it. Most years it's the largest tomatoe plant on the place. I like the idea of doing it on a larger scale. Less weeding for the kids should make that idea an easy sell, lol.

 

[Tumbling K]

so I have found two different sources for my square bales. one is $5 per bale, the other is $3 per bale.

$3 per bale got rained on, and probably has some mold.

while I don't see that as an issue, I will probably go with the $5, know the guy I will be getting them from.

I'm pretty excited about this hay bale gardening.

I awlays start getting excited when it's almost time to start setting seeds, but his year, have some extra get up!!

 

[shortgrass]

We use corn stalk bales too... We use most if our hay for feeding the cattle, but sometimes we save a couple dumpy looking round bales for the yard; the nitrogen in it is great!

We use mostly straw, just because it's what we grow for bedding lol that and corn stalk bales, which take a lot longer to break down but give me plenty of humus to work with after a year.

I actually like the straw the best as far as gardening with; I don't mind the wheat sprouts and it is easier to turn come spring vs the corn stalks.