Tutorial: Straw Bale Gardening I - Getting Started

Nick dotes on his seedlings

The first step in creating a straw bale garden should be performed by early February at the latest: Making the decision on whether to start from seed or from seedlings purchased from a nursery.  If you read my seed post you will know that I sit right on the fence on this topic.  There is a certain pride with growing your own from seed, and a larger variety of vegetables to choose from.  On the other hand, growing from seed requires a large-ish time investment, and unless you are a professional you probably won't end up with seedlings that look half as nice as what the nursery is offering.  If you choose to go the nursery started route you can afford to go straight to the garden design and set-up.  If you want to grow from seed I recommend ordering either online or from seed catalogs as I have had poor luck with seeds bought in nurseries and other stores.



Getting the actual garden starts with choosing a spot and obtaining/placing the bales.  Choose the spot for your garden wisely.  Observe closely what areas get at least 8 hours of continuous sunlight.  Don't forget that it may be winter when you are making these observations, and the path of the sun will probably change quite a bit north come late-spring and summer when the growing goes on.  This can make a big difference in the hours of sunlight an area receives.  Also realize that any overhanging trees, or tall neighboring trees, will have leaves on them, giving more shade than you might realize.  I note these cautions from experience, as Straw-Bale Garden 2011 might have been more successful had I placed it better.

Hauling the bales into position

Next find a local farmer with some straw bales for sale.  Any kind will do I think; I used wheat straw last year.  I heeded the cautions of many online "experts" and did not look towards hay.  I think that I agree with the assessment that the hay would just sprout a lot more seed and need more maintenance, though it would no doubt also offer more natural composting fertilizer to the plants.

Anyways, find bales to buy.  I used Craigslist to find a local selling some for $2.50 apiece in 2011 which was a very good price.  I managed to fit 10 bales total in my SUV, brought them home and proceeded to place them and begin the conditioning process.  Be sure to place the bales right where you want them as they will be too heavy to move once they are wet.

Lucas working in the garden, spreading soil on top of the bales

The bales can be placed on their sides (string down) or with the straw sticking up and down (string around). If you lay them on their sides they should retain water better, though the string will rot on the underside unless it is made of some type of plastic.  Up and down aligns all of the straws to draw water straight down and through but keeps the bales in better shape.  I put mine up and down and to overcome the water problem we watered soil and composted manure down into the bales as we prepped them.

Finis

Lucas giving the bales a good soaking

This gardening stuff is fun!

Our cat, "Disco Stu" comes to investigate

Prepared bale

Bales prepared for seeds

If you follow our set-up procedure, when you are done you should have something like this (left).  It takes several applications of soil and soakings to achieve this as the soil will continue to disappear down into the bale.  After soil remains on top continue to water the bales for 2-3 weeks, enough to keep them nice and wet.  Some say that this is enough to start the composting process by itself. but I recommend treating each bale with a healthy dose of high-nitrogen fertilizer at around 3 weeks to jump-start the process.  I used blood meal last year and it seemed to do fine.  Inorganic fertilizer might work even better.  Then just keep the bales wet some more and you should be able to detect a rise in their core temperatures using a meat thermometer.  Note when the bales peak and begin to cool, then one more week and they should be ready to plant in.  Throughout this don't let them dry out.

If you plan to plant seeds directly, you will need to add a 1-2" layer of soil on top to sow the seeds in (see right).  I did this for salad greens, just sprinkling them on top and it really worked well.  Later I tried some melon seeds which I just covered with a bit of soil and they all germinated fine too.  Planting seedlings is as easy as choosing a suitable instrument and carving holes to accommodate the seedlings with root ball and planting the seedlings directly in the holes.

Extra Recommendations:

1. Set up a soaker-hose system for watering before you plant.  Wrap the hose in whatever manner achieves good coverage and stake it down.  It will be much harder to do this after planting, trust me.
2. Invest in a timer for your soaker-hose.  The water bill can get out of hand if you forget to turn it off (again, trust me) though it doesn't hurt the garden any.
3. I used slow-release Miracle-Gro pellet fertilizer made for house plants on the top of my bales last year after tiring of fertilizing with a watering can.  They seemed to work great.

So there you have it.  Put in a little effort up front and you can have a self-sustaining garden for the entire summer.  I know this post is titled "Getting Started", but there isn't much more you need to do after getting the plants in the bales beyond normal maintenance.  Weeds didn't become an issue last year until late in the season, and then the pulled out without any real effort.  Watch out for slugs, bugs, mold, rot, signs of under-fertilization or burning, and most importantly - keep the garden watered.  Then sit back and have your mind blown by what can grow from a bale of straw.

Next up: Pictures of Straw Bale Garden 2011 in full swing, so stay tuned.

Cheers.