Pros and cons of straw bale gardening gardening know how. After the bale has decomposed you get compost you can use elsewhere in the yard. Straw bale gardening coast to coast trials and tribulations of using bales to grow vegetables and herbs. I bought this booklet after reading about straw bale gardening online, via a link to karstens website from a facebook. A variety of crops can be grown in bales, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons, and herbs. Be sure the bales are straw and not hayor youll be growing whatever is in that hay along with what you intended to grow. It solves every impediment todays home gardeners face. Watering is just one technique you will learn before finally harvesting your garden.
For the first 3 days, simply water the bale thoroughly so it stays damp. Joel karsten, author of straw bale gardens, straw bale solutions, and straw bale gardens complete, developed the straw bale gardening method more than 10 years ago. In this article, youll find the whys, hows and wherefores. Step by step of creating a straw bale garden straw bale. Beginners guide to straw bale gardening safer brand. This makes it a great choice for anyone with hard soil or no soil at all, as all the magic takes place above the surface of the ground. Just letting you know, i will be speaking at the portland build, remodel and landscape show this coming saturday, jan 3rd at 1 p. Although this method is commonly called straw bale gardening not everyone uses or has access to oat, wheat, rice or other straw. Theyre like growbags at a fraction of the cost and without the plastic waste. Karsten recommends erecting sevenfoottall posts at the end of each row of bales, and running wire between them at intervals of 10 inches from the tops of the bales. Straw bale planters are an easy solution for people lacking clean soil or extra space for gardening. Strawbale gardening is a way to enjoy growing fresh greens, root crops, even tomatoes and peppers in an area you may not normally be able to grow in due to poor soil or lack of growing space. Remove a chunk of straw and fill the hole with potting soil small seeds or to plant in rows put a couple inches of potting soil on top of the bales. Straw bale gardening university of wisconsinmadison.
Easily accessible to those who battle to reach normal garden beds, this type of gardening can be very effective and useful. The hidden danger of straw bale gardening no one is. Straw bale gardening is another form of container gardening where the container slowly decomposes becoming a rich compost. Straw bale gardening is an old and tested practice. The practice has been tested in dry climates like ours. This technique allows gardeners to create raised bed gardens on. Contact your local county agent to find out where to get straw bales in your area. Remove straw to form a hole that is as deep as rootball of your plant though if youre planting a tomato, of course, youll want to go deeper.
The straw bale process is for the person who is tired of tilling, trying to improve soil condition, weeding, constant watering, etc. Quality produce cucumberleft and cantalouperight grown on straw bales in stillwater, ok without use of any pesticide. A straw bale garden bed starts with a bale of straw. Digging in red clay, weeding and bending over to pick bush beans come to mind as three seasonal pains. The main difference is that the container is the straw bale itself and is held together with two or three strings. If you follow the relatively simple instructions in this book, i can assure you that you will be successful in straw bale gardening. Gardening with straw bales is the answer to any organic gardeners prayers. Container gardening without the container advantages of straw bales height 2 foot raised bed no digging, cultivation soil type doesnt matter inexpensive raised bed used bales can be used as mulch, compost mobile at least. It requires less weeding, it takes less space than a traditional garden and you can plant earlier because the bale decomposition warms the plant roots. Straw bale gardening is a great technique to have in the gardeners tool kit.
Pine straw will not work because it will not break down quickly. Make sure its level water carefully so it doesnt wash away or cut the bottom out of a plastic flat, pin it. Straw bale gardens teaches gardening in a way that isnt only new but is thoroughly innovative and revolutionary to home gardening. Straw bale gardens complete by joel karsten overdrive. Straw bale gardening features a great way to grow vegetables even when space is limited. Straw bale gardening demonstration 2016 sacramento mgs. Add productive garden space and raise your planting bed with straw bale gardening. Id already done this step prior to buying the manual. Straw bales are stalks of plants, typically corn that are dried and baled together in various shapes and sizes. Straw bale gardening comes with the endorsement of horticulture professor and noted garden myth debunker linda chalkerscott.
Enter growing in straw bales as a way to avoid them all. Straw bale gardening is simply a different type of container gardening. A pioneer and an entrepreneur, karsten has been featured in the new york times, national television and radio, and dozens of other major media. Youll find a bumper crop of vegetable gardening books on the shelves today, but it is a very rare title that actually contains new. New york timestake your straw bale gardening to the next level in more places, with new products, and even, sometimes, skipping the straw. Day 1 the bales laid out in roughly the configuration we decided on for the back yard, with a long section for tall, vining vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini, and larger rectangular areas for everything else. Once a straw bale has been prepared for planting, it can be transformed into a beautiful threedimensional annual garden, or host a fresh vegetable garden. The authors website also provides information and photographs that may be helpful if you would like to. Condition the bale as soon as moisture hits the bale, it will start to decompose, and the inside will heat right up. The bale is first conditioned and then vegetable plants are planted and grown inside the bale.
He is the longtime tomato adviser to the seed savers exchange. The hay bale garden everything you need to get started. Easy planting, less weeding, early harvests provides great advice for lowmaintenance straw bale gardening. Growing vegetables in straw bales, strawbale gardening. So, hay bale gardening differentiates from straw bale gardening in several ways. How to condition and plant a bale of straw for gardening. Cherri hankins, of buckeye, gave a demonstration on straw bale gardening saturday at buckeye home, farm, lawn and garden centers open house. Pdf using cereal straw bales in home gardens researchgate. One of the coolest things about straw bale gardening is that it combines the best of container gardening with vertical gardening. I bought this booklet after reading about straw bale gardening online, via a link to. Last year i tried a few offthewall types of gardens, including a straw bale garden. The surface under the straw bale is not of any importance because the plants roots will.
Plants that suck up a lot of nitrogen, like squash, do well in a straw bale garden. I can still remember the moment that i was led down the straw bale gardening path. I would also love to sign a copy of my book straw bale gardens for you as well. An indepth guide to straw bale gardening for beginners. Tomato seedlings transplanted into straw bales, which are set up on a concrete driveway.
Straw bale gardening is a great alternative for building raised garden beds, and the. Straw is typically yellow, dry, hollow and not food for animals. Straw bale gardening grow more food, in less space, with. My straw bale gardening experience so far extension douglas. The hidden dangers of straw bale gardening the grow. We tried it this year for ourselves and our 81yearold mothermotherinlaw whos thrilled to have easier access to tending garden plants. Setting them up is the hardest part but there are many benefits to this type of garden.
Straw bales have been used as a growing medium for vegetables for at least half a century in europe. Gardening with straw bales university of tennessee system. Just be prepared to answer some questions from your neighbors. In fact, gardening with straw bales is the perfect project for children or the child in all of us.
Straw bale gardening is an easy way to setup your own veggie garden, by using the decomposing straw bales as the foundation for your garden. Straw is the remains of cut stalks of grains after the seed hears are threshed out. Why your garden needs a straw bale preparednessmama. Planting seed large seeds and for individual plants cucurbits, legumes, beets and chard, kale, kohlrabi, etc. A garden in a bale of the many benefits of straw bale gardening, one of the most popular is the backsaving easier access. Its a gardening method of raising vegetables, herbs, and flowers planted directly on a straw bale you can also use hay, alfalfa, oat, or rye bales straw is more common and generally cheaper and has less weed seeds bales bound with poly twin work. Not only do bales of straw offer a better medium for growing vegetables, you can also reuse them for mulch or soil amending after the harvest.
Hay bales are grasses that have been dried and baled together. There are several benefits to this specialized kind of garden. Straw bale garden straw bales allow you to set up a garden anywhere, even on hardscapeadding valuable greenspace to your urban habitat. Straw bale gardening, is a most informative and detailed book for the avid vegetable gardener. To help with online shopping during covid19, we are offering free shipping on. In forest glen, girl scout annie aguirre and other members of troop 20804 used straw bales to plant an organic vegetable garden in the back of a community church.
Craig lehoullier, who gardens in raleigh, nc, is the author of epic tomatoes and growing vegetables in straw bales storey, 2015. Avoid soilborne pathogens such as root knot nematodes via straw bale gardening. Creating a straw bale garden by melinda myers horticulturist and gardening expert may 1, 2017. The current straw bale gardening expert is joel karsten who wrote straw bale gardens by joel karsten fyi, joel will be speaking at this years free home grown food summit april 612, 2015. These types of containers can be located anywhere there is at least 68 hours of sunlight and access to a water source.
A beginners guide to straw bale gardening raleigh news. Once the straw inside the bale begins to decay the straw becomes conditioned compost that creates an extraordinary plant rooting environment. All these features may look very appealing, and a temporary garden is a cool concept. For the next 7 days, in addition to watering the bale, use a. Breakthrough vegetable gardening method all new information on. Some folks have used hay bales if they were more readily. Straw bale gardening is all the rage this year and since ive started my new garden from scratch i thought i would give it a try. But before you jump in, youll also need to consider the downsides of straw bale gardening. The concept of straw bale gardening entered my gardening horizon several.
As interest grew, he became one of the most indemand garden lecturers in the country. Hundreds of helpful, stepbystep color photographs illustrate how to arrange, prepare, and successfully grow a straw bale garden. With a few years of experience and having written a book on the topic, i am sold. The use of straw bales as a soilless growth medium in gardens has gained media attention in recent years. He welcomes questions about the project via his website. The breakthrough method for growing vegetables anywhere, earlier and with no weeding. You will learn the many benefits of straw bale gardening and on your journey you will understand techniques including fertilizing, designing and how to pick the best plants.
Ever since the publication of his book, straw bale gardens cool springs press, joel karsten has become something of a gardening celebrity, making television and youtube appearances, being interviewed by major papers, and gathering a facebook following that counts over. Straw bale gardens have taken off over the last decade or so. A variety of crops can be grown in bales, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons, and. Straw bale gardening is a gardening technique where the bales acts as natural containers for your plants. The straw bale process is for the person who is tired of tilling, trying to. Her setup that day was small compared to the 68 bale garden she and her husband, john, have at their home but it could be just the right size for a beginner. It is worth a trip to the library to check out his book. Place the plant in the hole, add some quality potting soil around it for extra nutrients and stability, then fill the rest of the hole in with some of the straw you removed. Gardening with straw bales alan windham professor, plant pathology what is straw bale gardening.
Ive seen some really pretty and clever methods of straw bale gardening. Some gardening tasks despite being good exercise are just not very enjoyable. The book straw bale gardens joel karsten, cool springs press provides detailed information about setting up the straw bales and all aspects of straw bale gardening. More importantly, straw bale beds offer the opportunity to grow quality produce that is relatively dirt and insect free. The straw bale garden i started this spring has been one of the most successful vegetable gardens ive ever planted. The reception and enthusiasm for straw bale gardening, introduced in 20, has proved revolutionary in vegetable growing.
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