Wheat/Oat Straw Bale Gardening

I am a member of another forum...ok a few more. In this one there only one other woman that likes gardening so we set up a space just for me and her to chat.

Well, Last night she mentioned something and sent me the info on it today.

Im going to try this for my veggie and herb garden this year!
Wink

Here what she wrote to me.

Quote:

Ok SH--I have a case of insomnia so here ya go!

Little bending & kneeling, this is great for wheel chair bound people! Kids love it too!! Especially if they don't like to get their hands dirty (Belle!). No hoeing or weeding or bugs, woohoo!!

Takes 1-10 days to prepare your bales:

Days 1-3: Water bales thoroughly & keep them wet.
Days 4-6: Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day & water well. I found it at our local feed & seed in a 50lbs bag for less than $10. Larger garden supply stores (not Lowe's!) should be able to lead you in the right direction.
Days 7-9: Cut back to 1/4 cup A.N. per bales per day & continue to water it well.
Day 10: No more A. N. , but do add 1 cup 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale per day & water them well
Day 11: Transplant your plants into the bales. I use a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to the first leaf & close the crack together as best you can.

I use wheat straw for this, but you can also use oat straw; pine straw will not work. Wheat is denser & seems to hold water better than the oat which is great for our dry, but humid summers here; you'll have to decide for your own climate which is better. Look for bales that are tightly bound & bound with synthetic twine cause it holds up better through the season. I paid $1/bale. Got them from my friend Amanda. (Amanda is the woman who I wrote about in the Austrailian Hurricane thread in Open Topic, just fyi! ) She is a 25 yr. Master Gardener & doeas all kinds of neato stuff & she turned me on to this. Amanda is a big time organic nut & she assures me that the ammonium nitrate & the fertilizer are necessary for this to work properly so I believe her! She has 20 set up in rows of 5 that she can mow between. I have 6 set up in 2 rows of 3. We lay them out short end to short end & near a water source. I am placing 3 broc/bale, 3 cauli/bale, 2 pumpkin/bale, 2 tomatoe/bale putting the tomatoe cage around it like usual. Amanda has okra, cukes, squash, peppers, & collards in addition to veggies i listed for myself.

You cannot over water these! Excess will just run out the straw. Because of this, watering needs to be done 2x per day--they need to stay moist & not get dried out between waterings. She sprinkles them with the 10-10-10 fertilizer about once/wk. But you don't want to over fertilize. The bales may start sprouting, but scissors easily takes care of that, if it bother you. Something Amanda tells me (aside from ALL of this!!!!) is that she does not need to do ANYTHING for pests---the pests completely leave her veggies alone! I've been sold since she told me about this las tfall & have been waiting ever so anxiously for spring!!!!

Here are some addresses for you to do your own research if you want:
www.nicholsgardennursery.com/strawbales.htm
www.co.clay.mn.us/Depts/Extensio/ExAPHydr.htm

sorry I don't know how to insert links! But this is good stuf to checkout---maybe your local extension has some info onit?

K SisterHooker...i'm alll typed out
i'm gonna try the bed ting gain!

HEY!! went back & when Iposted this it turned the address into a lLINK!!!! woo hoo!! how kool is that????

Sh is me. That my name over there. Its short for SisterHooker. Dont ask! Razz

That's amazing Denee! I wasn't even aware you could do this but giving it a few moments thought, why not Very Happy

Just think how easy these would be to move around as well, sorta like container gardening really. The pest prevention is a massive advantage Cool

We live on a farm so we have plenty of bales every year. Maybe I should tell my brother about this but I presume he already knows and hasn't had the time to try it out yet.

Great post. Say thanks to your very helpful friend Smile

BTW Denee I edited the subject of this topic so that it will be easier for people searching the Web to find this page. Is this alright with you? Question

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