Strawbale gardening attempt in 2B.

Well I've been following this forum for a few months now and reading all I can (thanks for the genesis of all this Ken). Decided to give this a try in Hardiness zone 2B (Alberta Foothills). Got 100 bales at the end of March and have put out 34 of them for gardening (8 in a straight row along my storage container, 4 blocks of 2x3 in the garden and one in the woods and one test bale by the house). The rest are for mulch, composting and livestock bedding.

Followed the fertilizer regime with urea (46-0-0) but never got the temp spikes. Realized that it is too cold up here in early spring to get that spike. All the bales have sprouted mildly and another bale that I had to take apart for mulch shows clear evidence of decomp (white strings of fungus between all the straws).

Anyway, we're in the process of getting a foot of snow tonight so I won't need to water them for a couple of days. At this altitude (4000 plus ft ASL) even in late spring our days are in the 80's and nights are in the high 30's. Plan on putting in tomatoes, beans, cukes, squash, lettuce, strawberries, and peas. We'll see how it goes. (I have a heated greenhouse with some tomtoes in it for backup).

Wish me luck.

Scott

That is amazing Scott. Oh BTW, Welcome to the strawbale gardening forum!!
I am in zone 5 in Washington State and tonight the temps are suppose to be 28. The days are running in the 50s.

I don't plan on putting my tomatoes out for another couple of weeks at the earliest.

However, I am using last year's bales since I couldn't get 2 string straw.

How long is your season then? Very interesting. How much did you have to pay for the straw?

We can get frost well into June and late in August, so it can be short. We are usually frozen up (water and land) by late October (October 12 in 2009). You hedge your bets and put out the sensitive stuff at the end of May with plans to get it covered if the temps dip. That said, the long daylight hours get things growing faster in early summer. Greens and brassicas do well. Corn can do well but cold summers ruin us. Cool weather vegetables do well all summer. Tomatoes can go outside if one is courageous and has backup in a greenhouse. Peppers are GH only for the most part.

This is my first year with a big garden (two actually - one is 70x70 the other is 70x40 but is two thirds raspberry canes). I'm planting EVERYTHING to see what works and doesn't. Right now I have potatoes, beets, spinach, kale, onions, carrots and parsnips in the ground. Lettuce on a bale and radishes on a test bale. Nothing even peeking through yet (a foot of snow will retard germination) but I am hopeful. Besides, seeds are cheap. If it doesn't work now, I replant in late May.

I am still curious about how much the straw cost you up there. And yes, I can imagine the foot of snow might stop things for a bit. Long daylight hours that would be wonderful. For me too. LOL

Sorry. I got mine for 2.50 a bale. That was for prime dry straw that had been tarped for the winter. If I had searched a little more I could have gotten bigger bales for free since they are rotting in the fields all around the area. Needed some nice stuff for pig/fowl bedding though and the one supplier seemed easier in the long run.

You are very lucky. You are not having to buy the large 3 string bales? That is all they are starting to bale here because they transport it out of the area and it halls easier on the big flatbed trucks. No sway.

Must be better than the big rolled bales since they are doing this now.

Scott: welcome, Aboard!!

Good post.

Looking forward to seeing some pics!!

Kent

Here is what my bales look like this morning. Oh well. I won't need to water them for a while.

Shazam!

Almost 70 here.

Just got back from a 3 mile run.

Hang in there.

Well, at least they are working for you. LOL

It's gonna be 90+ here today! Too hot! Planning on doing some planting this evening, after the sun get a little lower on the horizon. Had a friend here this morning weed whacking all around my garden. My hay bales are beautifully composted, a nutty brown, and ready for plants!

sjemac: Hi, fwiw - I live in 4a bordering on zone 3b - kind of a cold pocket where I'm at: I put my bales out in the fall and forget about 'em until June when I plant the tomatoes, cukes, zukes into them: Works really good - so if you decide to continue for another year - something you might want to try.

How long is your season then Perry? Or do things really heat up starting in June? Maybe that is the answer for a lot of us. To just wait until the ground is warm enough that their little feet really take a toehold. I might just do that myself. Leave my tomatoes in my mini greenhouse until June, looks like I might anyway, and then put them in.

Wonder if we will be out of the 30s at night time by then. That is the problem. The nights are so cold the ground can't heat up.

I'm interested in doing a little strawbale gardening. Emphasis on "little"! I'm disabled, and can't stand for to long at a time. I'll be moving to SE Mo. the first of July. Will this be to late to try growing something? I want to try it with a bale or two, to see if I can do it, then I'll go further with it, if I can handle it! I need advice!!!

Doe41, may I suggest you start a new thread, and ask about strawbaling in July/August in SE MO? I'm sure there's something you can try, but there will be time needed to "prep" the bales, and then plant. Hopefully someone local can be more helpful about the possibilities.

Cat's got a good suggestion Doe41. You see, we can suggest all kinds of things, but they wouldn't be worth the time you took to read them because we don't know anything about the climate, length of seasons, etc.

Good luck in your move. How exciting!!

Jeanette

jnette: Our frost free time is from 6/10 until 9/10 if we are lucky - as for heating up - we get a few of the hot days but it never really gets hot: It is always cool enough to sleep in the evenings: Perhaps the best way to explain it from my perpective as a corn person is when I plant silver queen corn (92d) I may or may not get it before the frost does it in - As for tomatoes - I don't care for them so of course they grow great which my wife appreciates - cucumbers are another favorite of mine and they do really well also:
But I have found that the bales "prep" perfectly by putting them out in the fall and letting mother nature do the rest - The mushrooms just began to come out on mine this last week - but then it snowed on mothers day---------Oh well!

If your growing season is brief, your best bet is to start processing your bales while it's still very cold. You can start your plants under fluorescent or grow lights and have them ready to go, and your bales all 'cooked' and ready to plant, by the time your climate is ready to cooperate. The bale gardening process (hay or Straw, although I personally recommend hay) is very managable- you don't have to wait for your ground soil to warm up, and you only need to fertilize and water the bales- not all of the surrounding soil. The bales will heat up while they're 'cooking'(composting), and so will give you a head start of your garden. As soon as their internal temperature goes back to normal (and that'll be warmer than your yard/garden soil), you're all set to go!

Also, bale gardening is IDEAL if you're physically challenged. Very little maintenance, no tilling or weeding - after the bales are planted, all you'll need to to is water daily and fertilize from time to time (you'll fertilize less frequently if you're working with hay bales, as they provide many nutrients to the plants and hold the moisture and applied fertilizers much better).

This message was edited May 16, 2010 11:19 AM

I've got a few of my bales planted. Cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cabbage. peas and spinach. Waiting to plant the beans until this weekend since we still have risks of frost. Tomatoes will have to wait until mid-June. Had some radishes planted in a test bale and they let me find out that I had a MASSIVE infestation of flea beetles. Looked at all my options and the size of the garden and realized organic was out.

Malathion to the rescue. Everything that has been coming up has been much healthier -- except for the stuff attacked by cutworms. I'll post pics of the bales later.

Here's the first strawberries I've put in bales. They've a touch of frost damage but are doing well so far.

Here is the setup of 31 bales in comparison to the rest of the garden. Everything in bales is also in the ground so I can get a comparison. So far the bale planted brassicas are larger and more robust. The ground ones were initially pummeled by cutworms. Most of them now have beer can collars.

Ran out of beer cans but I'm emptying them as fast as I can. Hic.

Garden from the far side. Bales are along the shipping container. It's about 70' by 70' and lay fallow for a year before we bought the place. The soil sucks so it will be a few years before I get it where I want it.

sjemac: loving your pics.