Straw Bale Gardening: Start to Finish
Straw bales (not hay bales) are a great place to plant vegetables. Here’s my start-to-finish results! The straw is an easy, loose place for the plants to spread out their roots. Also, up on the straw bale there is essentially ZERO weeds to pick. (Note: do NOT use a “hay” bale: unlike straw, the hay has lots of seeds and you will have wheat/oats/grass/etc. growing as weeds in your garden!). Straw bales have some benefits like “raised bed” gardening.
25 Responses to Straw Bale Gardening: Start to Finish
Leave a Reply
So do you have to use extra compost/fertilizer for straw bales? I would think you would since I wouldn’t think the straw itself has much nutrition. Around here at least, seems most straw is the remnants of the wheat after harvest. It gets sprayed by chemicals so isn’t really organic. But neither is my “organic” garden which gets spray over from the fields near us quite a bit. : (
ElijahsLittleGirl
October 19, 2012 at 9:52 am
Nice idea, esp on sprayed ground. I bet my parents could do that. They live in a rock pile, not even kidding. Then the bale and old plants will make a great start to a compost pile for next year – or the new garden spot.
ElijahsLittleGirl
October 19, 2012 at 10:47 am
Yes, I agree with you, which is why the video title says “Straw” bale gardening rather than “Hay” bale. I agree with you that hay would have more seeds/weeds.
OrganicGarden123
October 19, 2012 at 11:07 am
You should do some research before you open your yap. Mono-cropping is not real farming. 2 acres for 3 bales? Are you retarded? That straw is going back into the soil of his yard btw. He has accomplished a lot. You, I suspect only accomplish trolling. Stop watching youtube and go grow something.
dewaynecurry
October 19, 2012 at 11:10 am
This is such a cool idea! And I love how “melty” the bales look at the end, almost like they were being turned into compost themselves. What a great cycle. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this video! Maybe I’ll try this sometime, landlord permitting.
witchapparatus
October 19, 2012 at 11:43 am
For some of us, who have 2-3 inches of topsoil and a 60 day growing season this is neither tedious nor expensive. It’s all relative. If you live in an area where you see great success with traditional gardening methods, it might not make a lot of sense. Maybe you need to grow your own and smoke it so you won’t be such a downer?
Penny Richens
October 19, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Some people just need to take out things on others. Or just like to be negative.I loved the video. And you did a great job. A real Congratulations to you. :o)
LanaV6
October 19, 2012 at 12:37 pm
well, it wasn’t much a waste of resources since the straw bales were being thrown out by my neighbors after being Halloween/Thanksgiving porch decorations, and I used them to grow more tomatoes than my family could eat, in an area where I could not plant directly into the soil since it was a chemically-treated lawn the year before. Those scrappy bales got me started on a home gardening journey that has yielded hundreds of pounds of food over the past couple years, and healthier living. Peace.
OrganicGarden123
October 19, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Hay isn’t always wheat. It’s a lot of things, depending on the area. Hay is grown for livestock and isn’t considered a waste. It’s a way to give field soil a rest too. Look up crop rotation. Not pickin’ a fight here, but, you seem uneducated at the farming you’re defending.
dynodish
October 19, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I like this idea. I was thinking though, if you use hay, you’re going to get weed growth from all the seed left in it. That might break down to good plant nutrients, but, it would be a pain. If you use straw, you wouldn’t have so much of a problem and it would be more airy for plant roots. Either way, you’d have some nice compost piles for the next spring. It’s good looking when it fills in.
dynodish
October 19, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Ever thought about growing marijuana it straw? Or magic shrooms? Then maybe you could justify the expense of gardening the expensive, ridiculously tedious way.
heath32600
October 19, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Plants will grow in straw. A real no-brainer. Pardon me, but do you have any idea what kind of REAL farming went into growing the straw itself? What I see when I watch the video is two acres of wheat being cut and harvested and the remaining straw being used to grow 2 tomato plants. What a waste of resources. Why not till the straw into the soil in fall. Then plant it in spring You’ve managed to accomplish so little with so much. Congratulations.
heath32600
October 19, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Can I put straw, green leaves and rotting bones in the bottom of containers (in which I plant tomatoes), would it hurt them anyway?
Auser001
October 19, 2012 at 3:41 pm
hugulkultur is best for such locations
JakJarsha
October 19, 2012 at 4:17 pm
I seem to have many, many millipedes in my straw bales. Should I apply diatomaceous earth on the bales? I have some considerable leaf damage on young plants, but don’t see signs of aphids or slugs.
cbeetow
October 19, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Human urine is very high in nitrogen ;).
craftylilmonkey
October 19, 2012 at 5:44 pm
cool nice project.
Godgrowsit
October 19, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Amazing!!
spiritartman
October 19, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Id have to water those things 5 times a day here in Texas.
TheTubeTempest
October 19, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Great video. Thank you for sharing.
stellbo
October 19, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Hi. you can plant seeds or seedlings, planting at the same depth that you would plant them if you were putting them in the soil.
OrganicGarden123
October 19, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Hi there, Thank you for posting the video. It’s great. How deep do I make the holes? Do you recommend planting seedlings or can I also plant seeds? Cheers.
genista2001
October 19, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Great video! We’ve done this for 3 years. We put the strings on the ground, this orientates the pieces of straw horizontally so that the rain/water (we do use soaker hoses and captured rainwater) doesn’t just run through and out the bottom.We have had considerable success with kale, squash, potatoes, zukes and tomatoes. We have only used the soil the seedlings are in no additional soil.We have a very short season so don’t plant seeds, we start our seedling indoors.Thank you for this video! 🙂
dontbelivewhatyourea
October 19, 2012 at 9:09 pm
You’d really have to stay on top of this during droughts.
But with all that carbon around the plants, you are going to have to keep dumping nitrogen on it, because the decomposition of the bales will require it. Probably not as severely as happens with wood chip mulch. Even so, it’s something to consider.
LoonaBimberton
October 19, 2012 at 9:52 pm
If you think that the pine is making your soil too acidic, then growing in straw bales may be one way for your to get started.
OrganicGarden123
October 19, 2012 at 10:04 pm