Growing Your Veggies In A Straw Bale

Growing Your Veggies in a Straw Bale

By Joseph Parish

We once lived on a hill with a very uneven backyard. In such a case I have seriously limited my gardening activity. The overgrown tree roots had heavily damaged the yard for any sort of deep bed planting, however the desire to develop a garden was so strong that I had to come up with a solution.

I researched the internet and the various garden books located in the library and chanced upon one mentioning growing vegetables in bales of straw. I discovered that it was quite feasible for a gardener to establish a raised bed garden using nothing but straw bales. The idea fits my problem perfectly. The bales hold a good supply of water for the plants plus the added 2 feet of height makes the task much easier to deal with.

The proper bales selection is of utmost importance as you would want to obtain either rice, wheat or barley since they drain very well and will not begin to develop mildew. Straw bales tend to work better than hay as they have considerably less weed seed content. In a pinch you can safely use rye grass, fescue or Bermuda grass.

One precaution to take though is to ensure that the bales you use are not treated with any sort of herbicide due to obvious reasons. Select very firm and extremely tight bales. When you place the bales in your garden put them where they receive strong sunlight. Remember, you are growing vegetables in these bales and many of the veggies will need a lot of sunlight. The surfaces of the bales although accepting the water may produce runoff so take that fact into consideration when placing the bales in place.

Place in a slightly larger sheet of plastic under the bales to prevent excess water from being rapidly absorbed into the ground. Position each bale in such a manner that the binding twine is parallel with the surface of the soil.

Never cut the twine as the bales will be required to hold their shape when the plants begin to mature. To start planting you should thoroughly soak the bales with water, keeping in mind that a 40 to 50-pound bale will require about as much as 15 gallons of water. Add a bit of limestone at the rate of 1 pound per bale. Merely fork the limestone into the moist bale.

Now is the time to add some fertilizer. We would suggest some manure teas. Use this mixture initially and later in the season to fertilize the growing crop. With the proper fertilizers and water your straw bale should warm up to a temperature of about 100 degrees or more. This seems to be the perfect growing medium to keep plants happy and growing. After the 3rd day if you do not notice an increase in temperature merely add additional fertilizer to the bales. Never let it dry out and ensure that you inspect it for the proper moisture and heat on a daily basis.

When it is planting time use 3 to 5 inches of good soil applied to the very top of your straw bale. Push a small hole into the straw bale then set your young plant into the hole. When using this method plant your tomato plants 2 per bale, peppers will be planted 4 to the bale, your cucumber plants are setup for 4 to each bale while lettuce plants can range from 2 to 4 in each bale.

It is possible to grow any vegetable you choose in your straw bale garden, however veggies like corn and okra are not recommended. These types of vegetables tend to make the bales a bit too top heavy and they may be easily blown over by the wind. Annual flowers are readily grown in the straw bales, but perennials are not recommended.

Water your straw bale garden frequently. Weeds should not present a problem as they should be very few and can readily be pulled by hand.

Your biggest concern will be the local slug population. Slugs tend to thrive within this moist environment that has been set up here. Hand picking is usually the best method of control. All other insects and diseases can be properly treated the same as you would in a conventional garden.

At the end of your first harvest you can easily poke some new holes into the straw bales and begin a second planting. Make certain you add additional fertilizer again when starting anew. Bales can last you for several seasons of planting.

As you can see, you don't need a cultivator or considerable space to successfully have your home garden. Try it out and see if this method is for you. Perhaps once my greenhouse area is restored I may setup several bales as an experiment.

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