Starting a Straw Bale Garden

You know at the old house, we planted in raised beds that 

Keith built, with great success. 

We also (let's face it, KEITH built it, with help 

from my grandson and his girlfriend) built a hoop house, 

whose frame is still standing there. 

Several years ago, I became interested in Straw Bale Gardening, 

and I read the famous book by Joel Karsten, and then bought it for 

my Kindle. 

Pretty much there everything stopped while we moved, etc.. 

Last year, my tomatoes were all in planters, along with 

the green peppers. 

This year, I got interested in the bales again. 

I found that there is a dearth of bales in this area at the moment, and 

they could be found from 8.99 to 10.99, UNTIL I stumbled on 

some at a lumberyard for 6.50 a bale.  I got five. 

(took 3 trips)

We put down weed barrier first. 

We moved the bales into a square, and... we are planting in the middle, as well. 

This is the bottom of the bale, do you see the cut straw 

with it's straw-like openings?  This is where 

the nitrogen is placed, and watered in. 

The folded side is put on the bottom for this purpose. 

I asked Keith to supervise after a while.  He was glad to. 

We spread the fifth bale into the middle and around the edges.  More about 

that later. 

Today I started the conditioning process: 

That's Nitrogen fertilizer spread on top, and 

it has to be watered in. 

Guess what?  The hose doesn't reach. 

So, I hauled buckets.  It didn't take too long. 

Tomorrow, the bales are watered again, and on Saturday, 

they are treated with fertilizer again, and watered. 

There is a strict formula to follow. 

One thing I found is that the straw spread around made it 

very hard to water... so I am going to extend that hose 

tomorrow or Saturday. 

How I wish I still had ducks and could use their enriched pond water for these bales. 

These are my only two volunteer tomato plants left.  I had them on the floor of the basement...

and mice got them. 

I'm protecting these. 

I also enrolled in two Facebook Straw Bale Garden groups, and my gosh, 

the people could not be any nicer, and are extremely helpful. 

Straw Bale Miracle Gardens 

Straw Bale Gardening

Both show as closed groups, but just petition and you will be added. 

They are so helpful. 

I can't leave you without a few pictures from nature: 

This morning, I took the dogs to the vet early.  As we drove, I could see 

two turkey hens coming up a pasture on my right.  I slowed down and finally stopped.. but that freaked the first hen out. 

How I wish I had been able to jump out of the car. 

They are such powerful fliers! 

And they are big powerful birds!