Where is Miss Prissy?

[basicliving]

Quote:
Hey - thanks for posting that link! Very interesting. I may just try this method.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

You're welcome, basicliving. If you do tomatoes just make sure you build a trellis for support. I built my trellis out of scraps we had on hand - 1x4 wood buried and wrapped with chicken wire. It worked!

From last Spring...

 

[jbowyer01]

I have four kinds of tomatos, radishes, zucchini, peas, beans, jalapenos,chilies, and bananna peppers in the ground. I've started some sunflowers (mammoth (sp) ) forget me nots, lavender and all my herbs (oregano, basil, cilantro, etc..) I also put in for the first time asparagus (which will take about 2 years) and horseradish!

 

[Western Chick]

You guys had better stop complaining about the rain you're getting...my garden just got buried in 10" of snow...again.

I'm going to start my tomato seedlings next weekend...only 8 more weeks until I can plant them in the garden!

I'm thinking I'm going to try that staw bale method this year...do you ever have problems with mold when doing that? All I know is that when I leave bales sitting out over the summer they grow muchrooms!

 

[Buster]

Quote:
No garden tilling here, but I'll be getting my straw bales ready soon!

Bookmarked.

I'm going to show DW when she wakes up. We have a lot of straw in a stack here that would be great to do a garden like that with (once we fence the chickens away from it).

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

Welded wire tomato cages? How do you get your hand out through the mesh with a tomato that is bigger than the mesh? The welded wire here is 2" x 4".

My tomato cages are 5' concrete reinforcing mesh that I anchor to a steel fence post. The mesh size is 6" square.

On the topic of mods, I've been curious as to how the labor for managing this site is split up, especially with so many members to keep track of.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Quote:
I've only done the straw bale thing once. Didn't have any problem with mold but my bales did sprout mushrooms a lot towards the end of the summer. It wasn't a problem though, the heat of the sun would make them shrivel up and die very quickly.

An update from a very experienced straw bale gardener, Kent Rogers...

Prepping Update

A lot of folks have asked me about using ammonium sulphate instead of ammonium nitrate in preparing the bales.

The sulphate seems to work just fine.

The nitrate is becoming harder to find since it is now regulated.

If you only have a few bales, Blood Meal is also a good alternative.

Reminder: Definitely think about using a trellis if you're planting tomatoes in the bales. Stakes or cages just don't cut it since the vines grow so tall.

Here's a link to a current article by Kent http://www.carolinacountry.com/cgardens/thismonth/march09guide/Straw3.09.pdf

FYI, I used blood meal last year since I had less than 20 bales and it did just fine.​

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Quote:
No garden tilling here, but I'll be getting my straw bales ready soon!

Bookmarked.

I'm going to show DW when she wakes up. We have a lot of straw in a stack here that would be great to do a garden like that with (once we fence the chickens away from it).

You might want to bookmark this one too. Best wishes!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Rte.66_chicks :

On the topic of mods, I've been curious as to how the labor for managing this site is split up, especially with so many members to keep track of.

Nifty-Chicken can probably give you more specific insight into that.

In summary, though, we work as a team with everything we do.

 

[Buster]

Quote:
Bookmarked.

I'm going to show DW when she wakes up. We have a lot of straw in a stack here that would be great to do a garden like that with (once we fence the chickens away from it).

You might want to bookmark this one too. Best wishes!

Thank you much! That's now on my seemingly endless list of bookmarked pages as well.