Setting up a Straw Bale Garden ~ PreppDay Wednesday ~ PART 1

Raise your hand if you haven't heard of Straw Bale Gardening?  I would've raised my hand just one year ago so don't be shy.  I desperately wanted a garden, a BIG garden where I could grow a crazy amount of food, can it and be that much closer to a true Prepper.  But my soil where I could plant was horrible (sure I have 13 acres but it's covered in beautiful trees and a mountain side so my space really is limited).  

Where did I find out about this new-fandangled kind of gardening you ask...why Pinterest of course!  Here is the original post I Pin'd that led me on my fun journey ~ gardening with giant bales of straw that is!

Photo via No Dig Vegetable Garden

Before we get going on the How To's, let's talk a quick second about some of the Positives:

+1)  Can be done anywhere ~ you plant into the straw so the bale can be atop grass, rocks or concrete if you'd like.

+2)  Good for bad backs ~ it's a built in raised garden.

+3)  No digging required ~ sow your seeds right on top or spread the straw to place a plant inside.

+4)  Little to no weeding ~ straw bales are the stalks of grain with their seeds removed.  Hay bales on the other hand have their stalks & seeds included which means a pretty grass might grow on top.  Simply give the grass a haircut and it still help's to prevent more nasty weeds from growing.

+5)  Inexpensive ~ bales range from $2-$5 depending whether you choose local hay bales or organic straw bales.  Still cheaper then hauling in yards of soil if your ground is as bad as mine. 

Ok so I was convinced.  I ordered $60 of straw which gave me 20 bales.  Now let's move on to the How To's in setting up your very own 

Straw Bale Garden.

Set your bales up in the spots you'd like them.  They are on the heavy side so now is the time to move them, not after they get soaking wet and have ginormous plants springing from them.  I placed a couple rows with three sets of 2 bale-wide planters and a middle row with 2 sets of 4 bale-wide planters.  Never mind the FREE railroad ties for now, I'll show you what I did with them in a minute.

A quick word on which way to orientate your bale.  If the bales are wrapped in a synthetic twine then go ahead and lay them down flat.  This gives you a larger planting surface and allows for a slower drainage while watering because the straw stalks are laying sideways, not up and down.  If the bales are wrapped in a natural twine then stand them up tall so the twine wraps around the bale and doesn't touch the ground.  Otherwise it will rot away by the end of the season. Usually you can get 2 years from your bales before you have to discard them as....get this....COMPOST!  There's another positive for my list above!

Ok so I have my bales placed where I want them.  Now it's time to prepare them and get 'em a-cookin'!  You need to water your bales a couple times a day & soak them for about a week.  I'm sure you noticed my lovely green hose in my pictures.  I set up a sprinkler and let it do all the work.  You don't want them to completely dry out during this time.  This starts the decomposing process ~ meaning if you were to plant & water first your bales would cook your plants.  Try poking your fingers into your bales after about a week.  You'll be amazed how hot they are inside!  Then let them cool off for 1-2 weeks before planting.  

Notice the dirt on top of my bales?  I wanted to speed up this water 'n wait game so I topped my bales with some organic store bought compost so that during this week of watering it would soak into the bales.  Chicken, turkey or rabbit manure would work great too.  I still waited about a week before planting to allow the bales to cool off a bit.

While I was patiently waiting for my bales to cook 'n cool off I noticed my garden spot did not get as much sun as I thought.  So SuperHubbie to the rescue, he got out his chainsaw and chopped down the tree's that were giving me trouble ~ BONUS ~ firewood for winter!

Once the tree's were cleared out of the way I again wrangled in Hubbie to assist me with lining my bales with the railroad ties we picked up for FREE!  Those worried about possible chemical's still residing in the wood leaching into your bales you can simply line the inside with plastic.   The ties will also work as a prop for when the bales start to break down and in a couple years work as a raised bed. Don't forget what wonderful compost they will be at that time and great to mix with soil to plant with on your THIRD year!

In the meantime I decided to also try my hand at a Straw Bale Cold Frame.  It's actually a green house with walls of straw bales and a window placed on top.  Your plant & flower-starts get the warmth and protection of a green house but on a much smaller scale.  You can see my Pin here.

If the weather was going to be extra warm in the afternoon, I just slid open the window to let in more air.  The screen even kept any birds or animals from crawling in.  

Finally it was time to plant.  Straw Bale Gardening has it's own Square Foot Gardening built into it so there is yet another Positive for my list (we up to +7 now?)  Square Foot Gardening basically maximizes your planting surface by planting in 1' squares.  Read more about the How To's in Square Foot Gardening here.  If you decide to not border your bales then don't forget the sides of your bales for planting.  Strawberries would be great spot for this.

In my first row of 2 bale-wide planters I placed tomatoes, onions, parsley and marigolds.  Roma Tomatoes....mmmmm....Roma's.

Heirloom Purple Tomatoes.  I thought my 4 year old who loves anything purple would actually eat them.  In this planter I also substituted the onions for bell peppers.

In my larger planters I planted parsley in the corners, squash on each side and 2 rows of dwarf corn in the middle.  Dwarf corn is recommend for Straw Bale Gardening because the standard variety needs a bit hardier of a base for their roots.  I also lined marigolds throughout to deter any bugs.

This garden is actually mine from last year.  Starting a Straw Bale Garden does take some planning ahead and a bit of time.  So if this sounds like something you'd like to try, then get a move on girl!  Tomorrow for GreenThumb Thursday and Part 2 of this series, you can watch the progress and see that it actually works.

See ya tomorrow ~ Please feel free to leave me a comment & let me know what you think about this process!  See Part 2 here.