Straw bale gardening?

asop

Every spring we plant the typical tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers etc. and came across an article about this method! Anyone try it? Thanks

skicat

I know one gal that tried it last year and had no luck with it. My sister, on the other hand, had an acquaintance from church who had great success with it. I think the trick seems to be getting the compost tea to work properly.

babun

I saw a guy selling a "blanket" that goes over the bale.
It has holes in it for the plants. Seems like a good idea, keeps it warmer, less moisture lost, cleaner look.
He sold a lot of them at the Nashville fairgrounds flea market.

mlincoln

I have seen it but have never done it. It seems to me it would be one heck of a lot of watering and feeding for tomatoes. They feed and drink a ton, and I think you'd have to be wetting the bale almost constantly.

The earthtainer, on the other hand, has always intrigued me. Set up costs aren't low, but the idea of filling it up with water and leaving for a week sounds mighty cool. As somebody who has had trouble with soil-born diseases, the appeal of using clean potting soil is immense. I may do it this year.

yonson

My understanding is that you need straw bales that have begun to decompose - not fresh straw.

gunnut505

Bonus! Plant tomatoes & get mushrooms, too! And crickets!
Around here, we use a slice of wetted alfalfa in a tire carcass, and water every 2 weeks. Bales are stacked, rebar driven through them, then a 26" beam for the bond beam around the whole thing. Then smear with 2 coats of stucco, and you got a hippie house.
I've tried a lot of less-work-involved gardening schemes over 40 years, and the only thing that gave measurable results was raised bed (at least 2' over a 1' bed of humus), and starting seeds indoors on the top of the water heater in peat pots. Good luck with rotting hay, compost tea, & like that; I wonder if Nature purposely made it hard to grow your choice of food instead of what normally grows there....