Straw (Hay) bale gardening - part 2

In October last year I wrote about trying out a straw bale method of gardening in my town garden.  The neighbours border trees were positively shooting out roots into, and dramatically invading, my shadecloth veggie bed - they obviously loved the water I was providing to the beach sand garden I'm trying to grow veggies in.


Well, as promised, here is a report back.


When we returned from the farm in mid-January I was met with a veggie patch I could barely enter.  It was completely overgrown with tomatoes, basil and borage - the borage plant was completely out of control, but that's fine, because I couldn't see a single thing wrong with my tomato plants - obviously they (and the basil plants) work brilliantly as companion plants to tomatoes.  A word of warning though - because of the size of the borage plant achieved, don't plant them as close as I did - one plant (situated in the middle of one of the 3mtr beds) completely overtook this 2 X 3 mtr veggie patch. Or maybe it was just a mutant borage plant.  It spread to 1.8 mtrs high (before it collapsed on the ground) and the full 3 mtrs wide...)

How do I get in?  Straw bale bed on the left,
composed beach sand bed on the right.

I had been over ambitious with the planting - planting up a single tomato plant, 2 lettuce seedlings, and a basil seedling to each straw bale.  The lettuce seedlings got eaten, the basil is OK, but not in a major way, but the tomatoes - fantastic!


As a control I had planted two tomatoes on the other side of the patch - in the composted beach sand the garden has as soil.  They have also grown, although not as much.  The one plant has absolutely no fruit on it, and the other has just a couple.  A stark contrast to the profusion growing in the straw bale bed.  And the straw bale bed does not get as much sun as the normal bed.


Also, the tomato plants which I had growing in (large) pots on my patio are not performing / producing anywhere near as much as the straw bale plants!


I had to string up my tomatoes to the roof structure - they covered the floor to the extent that I couldn't get inside without trampling on some...

Plump, beautiful tomatoes

Beautiful plump, firm tomatoes - of all different kinds - even the heirloom tomatoes are producing madly.

Gorgeous heirloom tomatoes

My second observation - straw bales decompose (duh).  When they decompose they do so at their will, and not in a tidy fashion.  There you can see how the "fallen" tomato plant dragged the straw bale over with it.

Collapsing straw bale

This is the straw bale I had outside, into which I had planted a zucchini and borage plant.  it didn't get enough water.  The zucchini died of thirst while we were away and the borage - it wasn't a happy plant at all and I had to put it out of it's misery.  The left over straw - well, that got plonked on top of my high flying pumpkin hollow.

Collapsed straw bale

My conclusion - I will definitely be giving straw bales a go again.  The amount of fruit on these plants, compared to a couple I had growing both inside and outside is outstanding!


And I will prepare the bales exactly as I did last time - yes, it is very different nipping outside on a chilly winter morning, pouring "you know what" onto the bales to fix them with nitrogen.  They were also dosed with a sprinkling of Talborne Organics for Vegetables a couple of times.  When it came time to plant out the bales, I opened a hole (putting the nitrogen fixing method firmly in the back of my mind) in the top on the bale, filled it with some composted sand, planted the seedlings, and kept them damp.


Voila!  It worked!


Incidentally, I discovered the roots from the neighbours trees growing up into the straw bale which I had left outside the veggie patch.  I had just plonked it down on top of the soil.  The bales in the shadecloth veggie hut that I had placed on a thick layer of damp newspaper - they have no roots growing inside the bale at all :)

Growing pumpkins / squash 3 ways

I am determined to grow some squash, and at least a pumpkin this year, so I am trying three different ways in my town garden.


Firstly, I have planted a pumpkin and squash plant in a straw bale - yeah, I know it should probably only have been one of the plants, but my space here is limited.

Secondly, I have planted one of each (providing the snails don't eat the damn plants before they've had a sporting chance) into a big hole in the (rooty) ground which is filled with compost, and a thick layer of shredded paper from our office, and with still more compost on top of that, and finally some shadecloth to protect it all...

The bricks are there to ensure that the
shadecloth doesn't blow away in our
 summer South Easterly wind

And, finally, I have planted a pumpkin plant into a compost filled large pot, which is situated right next to an irrigation sprinkler.

Which one will work?  Time will tell.


But, I mentioned in this posting that my neighbours tree roots are encroaching on my vegetable patch area - here are the trees / bushes in question...

Metrosideros / Eugenia hedge

And here are the roots.  The Metrosideros / Eugenia are situated roughly 3 mtrs (10 feet) from the boundary wall to where I have planted my sweetcorn - the only place I have in my town garden...

Roots!

I wonder if I will get any corn this year...?  To "weed" this area would take more than I am capable of digging up - the amount of roots below the soil is horrific


On the farm - well, I reckon that the broad beans were such a success that I'm going to try the same with pumpkins LOL  So I am also growing a couple in b-i-g buckets filled with neat compost on the far, with timed irrigation running past them... Let's see what happens.

Straw (Hay) bale gardening part 1

This was my covered 'town' vegetable patch at the beginning of this season. The bed on the left is over run with roots - our neighbours have walled and treed their boundary, and I have evidence that those roots have very happily sauntered over our way where the watering is frequent.

Because of the roots, I have decided to try an alternative method of growing this year.  I am going to grow some of my vegetables in straw / hay bales.


I started by covering the bed with shredded paper (from our office) and on top of that I placed newspaper.  That should prevent the weeds from taking advantage of the beautifully moist, fertile growing environment that I am about to create.


Three bales should be enough for that bed...

Then, it's time to begin the composting process.  (If you're squeamish, please ignore the following two paragraphs)


For this I am going the natural way - one of the simplest methods to provide nitrogen to the bales is to use urine.


You apply it as follows:


Day 1: Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the "nitrogen fertilizer" evenly over each bale and water until it gets worked in - roughly 10 ltrs (2 gallons) / bale.
Day 2: water the bales
Day 3: 1/2 cup of the fertilizer evenly per bale + water
Day 4: water
Day 5: 1/2 cup fertilizer evenly per bale + water (this is when it may begin to smell, but won’t last too long. You will also see black specks beginning – that is a good thing for it indicates that the soil is developing)
Day 6: water
Day 7 - 9: 1/4 cup (or half of what you were using before) fertilizer per bale + water – your soil temperature will be around 125 degrees
Day 10:  Add 1 cup of garden fertilizer per bale + water – use a nitrate, phosphorus, and potassium organic fertilizer (such as Talborne Organics in South Africa).
After 10 days check the temperature of the bales.  If it is too hot to touch don't plant anything yet - allow it to cool down to at least 35oC (100oF) (just below human blood temperature).

A bottle of "natural nitrogen" :)

I am going to be planting the bales up as an experiment - at the back (the northern / sunny side) I will definitely be planting two tomato plants / bale, and in the front I am going to be planting companion plants such as: carrots, chives, lettuce, parsley, basil and borage.  Apparently, borage assists in detering tomato hornworm - and having read so much about it in the recent northern hemisphere season, personally I'd prefer to avoid it, if possible :)  Oh, and I wont forget some marigolds too.

Finally, following the "forest" permaculture principle, I'm going to try and plant them up from highest to lowest plants - with the lettuce right in the front.  I want the other plants to provide some shade for my lettuces - they tend to bolt so easily in the heat of our summers.

If this experiment works, then I will be having a very large straw bale vegetable patch on the farm.  It will certainly overcome the hard, compacted clay ground issue.  Whilst also providing compost material at the end of the season :)

Oh brother, this is brilliant!

I was reading a blog posting by Mama Crow about straw bales.  Now, MC has spoken before about them, and I always assumed that she was going to build a straw bale home.

But she isn't!

Well.... actually, she is...

But, she is also going to plant herself up a straw bale garden!

Photo source: http://www.growandmake.com/straw_bale_garden

That is absolutely perfect for our clay / rock hard soil.  And, it is a raised bed vegetable patch at the same time!

Photo source:
http://www.growandmake.com/straw_bale_garden

This is the inital layout I am planning:

Straw bale vegetable garden plan 

As you can see, being in the southern hemisphere, I have orientated the planting with the northern sunlight in mind.  I reckon planting the lettuce behind the peppers will provide enough dappled light - time will tell.  I may also alternate tomatoes and peppers bales in a row.

I am going to try both methods of laying the bales down - one bale will be with the twine side horizontal to the ground, and the alternative bale will be with the twine vertical.

The advice for successfully growing in straw bales is as follows:

• Days 1–3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them wet.

• Days 4–6: Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales. I didn’t have any trouble finding ammonium nitrate from my local ag-supply store. They sold it in 40-pound bags. I have heard, however, that some people have had difficulty finding it in more urban settings. Ask around. (Apparently, ammonium nitrate is used in bombs - that may explain the difficulty in obtaining it.)

• Days 7–9: Cut back to 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water it in well.

• Day 10: No more ammonium nitrate, but do add 1 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water it in well.

• Day 11: Transplant your plants into the bales. I used a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to its first leaf and close the crack back together as best you can.
(Info source: http://www.carolinacountry.com/cgardens/thismonth/march06guide/straw.html#intro)

And, apparently, when growing squash / watermelons / pumpkins in straw bales, the crop yield is terrific.

And at the end of a years' growing, when the bales are looking really sad and sorry for themselves, simply open them up, spread the straw around, and add another straw bale on top and start all over again...

They can even be used for growing flowers in...

Googling straw bale gardening or info and images brings up a wealth of info / idea's!

I had been trying to visualize mixing clay and compost for my vegetable patch on a grand scale without a tractor / rototiller.  Now I have one more problem solved - thanks MC!

I reckon this might even work for those over there in Terlingua - their ground is even harder... J