Straw Bale Experiment

Category: Gardening | Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:10 am

I read about growing in straw bales a while back so last year I decided to give it a try. I bought two straw bales and set them up in the garden. Then, I mixed up some chicken manure tea and poured it over the top of the bales. I let it set for a couple of weeks and then I dug out about 2 inches of straw so that I had two rows, filled them up with potting soil and planted one row of beets and one row of carrots. They came up, but didn't do very well. This was at the end of last summer, so I figured that I must have planted the beets and carrots in the wrong time of year.

I let the bales set over the winter and then back in February I planted onion bulbs. I also tried a few carrots and beets. Again, the beets and carrots didn't do so well. The onions, however, seemed to take off.

As the season progressed I transplanted a couple of borage plants in the bale and even stuck in a marigold or two. The borage grew, but not like the borage that I had in the garden. The same with the marigolds.

When it was all said and done the onion bulbs never really grew that big except for one. The rest just grew big tops. When I pulled them up the root system on the onions was incredible, but the bulbs themselves were pretty small.

I wouldn't say it was a complete failure because I had fun doing it and learned a lot. Plus, now that I've spread the straw out on the garden it has made a very nice mulch. I'm thinking that I might not have prepared the bale enough before planting, but I don't believe I'm going to try it again.

Straw bale in the beginning ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )

Straw bale - 30 days ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )

Straw bale - 60 days ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )

Straw bale - 90 days ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )

Straw bale - spread out ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )

The onions from the straw bale ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )

Last edited: Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:16 am

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