Strawbale Gardening: General Discussions - 2012 - Chapter 37

I'm having no luck with my straw-bale plants. I think I planted them too early, before the straw had begun to compost. The plants are midget and the outer leaves are turning yellow.

Russ, do you know if Kent has planted his tomatoes yet? He is in NC also. Don't know how far from her. It is so hard for the rest of us to know how to advise you as far as when to plant since we are not familiar with your climate.

You don't have a zone on your information so don't know what to tell you. Not that the zones know all and tell all, but it does help. I thought the weather in NC was pretty moderate now.

I'll let you know if Kent has planted his. I plan on stopping to see him on Saturday for a little bit! We're heading to the Outer Banks for a week or so. Finally get to meet the Strawbale King!!!

Doug

In place of hugs , Doug , shake his hand for all of us .
Going fishing ?

I didn't think to ask, but would the age of the bale have any effect? The wheat straw that I bought was left over from last year, the guy I bought them from was just happy to get them out of his shed.

Shouldn't matter except that they will decompose faster. I tried that one year and got year old hay bales from a friend for free. They produced just fine but fell apart sooner.

Sally not really planning on it. Just getting away. The oldest son rented an 8 bedroom house right on the beach and our side of the family and our DIL's side is going. We may go deep sea fishing, don't know yet. The weather doesn't look great. Mostly in the mid 60's for the week. I'll make sure and tell Kent we ALL said hello! I'll try and get a pic of us to post.

I wouldn't think it would matter. I am going to use my last year's alfalfa bales. I checked them yesterday and they are kind of semi solid. LOL, do you know what that is? Anyway, I am hoping they will be just fine. If I have as good of flavor as I had last year, I will have to decide it is the alfalfa that is doing it. Like Suz said.

Doug , pictures will be welcome

All the prep is done. Planted in all my containers today. I will be planting in the straw bales tomorrow.

Ok, when you do plant in the bales, make the holes big enough that you can put some of your potting mix or whatever in with the tomatoes and then water. Jeanette

Could someone please give me the link for the first set of instructions for starting the strawbale garden. So many of the older links no longer work. I miss the beginners link that was at the top of the forum. I have so many people here at the senior citizens center that would like to have these simple instructions. Thanks Guys.

oops! Found it! Heading to Senior Citizens to give a little heads up on Strawbale gardening and hopefully new members for DG. It was so much fun the last time I talked to them about my gardening in bales,You should have seen their faces!! So many live in tiny subsidized apartments and had no idea that theycould have a garden of their very own in such a tiny space. They all have access to a small area in front of their homes that would accomodate 2 or even three bales, so Im going over there today to give them a heads up on what they can do to feed themselves and their neighbors! I Love it!!!

Two fine lookin' gentlemen!! Stopped by to meet Kent yesterday. Just can't figure out why my hair is as light as his and he's blond!!

This message was edited Apr 22, 2012 10:17 AM

Hey straw balers! I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to check in this year. I've been trying to keep up with Kent on FaceBook though.

I could only find 5 old square hay bales (my preference over straw) this year. It gets harder every year to locate the square ones as farmers use the big round bales more now. One fella gave us a couple of the decomposed old round bales (way smaller than the new) out of an abandoned field. We had to build more boxes around the beds to house the loose hay and pack it down as much as possible. We still have a couple more outer beds to build on the newer arched trellis to be finished.

We got rained out today and are now forecasting SNOW!! Good grief!

Wow Bev. Those are big! and difficult to work with. I think a lot of the farmers around here have gone back to the square ones. (Not square, oblong. There are some that ARE square and they too are hard to use because of their weight. Think they may be 4xr4)

I think even the farmers found the round ones hard to use. They have to have a forklift to move them or pick them up. If they were going to sell them the buyers had to have the forklift too. So, I think more are going back to the rectangle ones.

Some of the farmers would take the round ones out and unroll them the length, and then the cattle would all eat from that so it worked out good for them. But, it takes certain things to make them work.

Gotta go. ttyl,

They call the rectangular bales "square" around here. I've not seen any of the true square bales, but have heard of them. The big round bales are easier for the farmers to handle and store in their fields (wrapped) on the farms. They put up enough square bales for the barn-kept critters, but it is becoming more difficult to find help. So the small farms only put up what they can handle themselves. It's a sad situation.

They (meaning the farmers) here might also call the rectangle bales square, but it is confusing to me 'cause I can't handle the square ones. Too heavy. The rectangles are anywhere from 65 to 75 lbs I think, but the square are almost double that.

The biggest hay selling farm around here bales in the regular rectangle bales. He has about 6 or 8 pole buildings (covers) that are probably 60 to 80 feet wide and 100 feet or more long. And that is a REAL wild guess by me. Then the bales are stacked probably at least 15 feet high. He has big flatbed trucks with 2 trailers (state limit) coming in and hauling to the retailers and farmers. By summer they are all empty. This time of year he shreds and chops a lot so I am assuming that is for feed for the calves, or maybe pellets. Just guessing on all of this.

We went out and covered the alfalfa bales from last year with black plastic to heat them up and then ran the plastic down the middle too to kill the weeds. Took the hay off of the hosta bed and gee they look great. I covered them because I made the bed, about 18 inches high next to the house, late last fall and moved the hostas into it so they didn't have a good chance to put down roots. Didn't want them to freeze. And the Helebore in there was blooming under the hay. LOL Sure cool.

We had some local plant trading this week and I have a big cold frame and my carport full of plants waiting to be stuck in the ground. A friend that lives 40 miles west of us reported seeing snow already. I guess the snow warning is true...not a thing I can do now. I hope every green thing, and everybody, survives this 2-day snow/freeze deal!

Back again for year 2 of strawbale gardening! Does anyone use coffee grounds to condition or top dress your bales. I picked up about 15 pounds from Starbucks this morning. I have cabbage growing in last years bales and still trying to heat up the new bales with blood meal. Hubby built boxes to contain the bales, we used old pallets and they look nice and tidy now! Love to have any advice from you pros!

Sorry, I have not gardened either way with coffee grounds. I know they are good for the soil, and I would think for keeping slugs away because of the texture, but don't know about strawbale gardening with them. Also, don't recall anyone else mentioning them. Hopefully someone will come on and tell you.

BTW, do you have any idea about nutrients with them?

DoxeeMom, It sounds like your family has been up to the same gardening projects as ours! I need to get a couple more boxes built for my loose hay to be finished! I've used Starbucks coffee grounds for the last few years in the garden, compost bin, and in the mix I usually add to my bales. The worms love the stuff and will get into the bags of grounds if I leave them sitting too long by the compost bin.

Jnette, Here's a DG article written a few years ago that was full of info about using coffee grounds in the garden:
"Happy, Hunting Grounds" [ http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1501/ ]

I better get back to being busy!
Y'all have a good'un!

Doug: belated thanks for stopping by the other day. It was great to meet you and your bride!

Sorry we had such a cool and wet greeting for you while you spent some time on the Outer Banks.

Everyone else: shift work, computer router issues, etc have prevented me from joining the conversations, but I'll try to catch up soon.

Kent

Looking forward to your input .

Bev, thanks for your feedback. What else do you use with the coffee in your mix? Should I put it on now with the blood meal, or after I plant tomatoes etc.

Looking for a good deal on a tumbler composer too. Need something enclosed to keep the dogs out! Sounds like they work faster too.

COMPOSTER not composer!!!

LOL, have you tried Craigs List?

DoxeeMom, I didn't catch your spelling error until you brought it to attention, lol (knew what you meant). Now I have images of a musician turning cart-wheels across the lawn, hehe.

I make a mixture of all my resources, so it is a little different every year. Primarily it consists of compost, composted horse manure, green sand, blood meal, bone meal, charcoal (biochar), burn barrel ashes (paper & yard waste), and the Starbucks. I dump all that I have in a big pile and keep mixing it until a uniform color, then spread across the hay and water it in. I'll keep applying the blood meal until after the hay heats up.

I think everyone has their own method and do what they can with what they have. There's no right/wrong, just whatever works to get the bales cooked and ready. I do believe that in some areas like mine, covering the bales at least on the sides, keeps them from drying out so quickly. The boxes really work for us (used black plastic around them a few times, too).

I'm using composted shredded leaves in place of potting soil around the transplants in the hay, too....since I have so much.

Looks good.

Thanks Jnette. I hope the weather cooperates with me tomorrow (It's raining hard here again now). I have lots to do yet in the yard and garden. I don't think we ever really get finished with anything.

Y'all have a good night, I'm off to bed...I know I'm gonna dream about that tumbling composer dude, hehe.

I had the big compost tumbler and it isn't all it's cracked up to be . My best friend wanted one sooo bad and I told her it wasn't worth it , but she wanted it so we made a trade . I don't think she uses it .
I keep an old margarine tub by the coffee pot and dump all my grounds in there , filters and all , dump it in my compost pile a coupla times a week and hit it with the water hose . I layered wood chips with 30-0-0 fertilizer and watered well with each layer, last summer . Had compost and planted collards , brocolli , cauliflower seven months later. I kept it pretty wet those seven months .I have another one started , both are in a 9 ' circle , 2 ' deep , held with plastic lattice . Don't remember if I posted a picture in this forum , but will again . I promise you , it works better than the tumbler and can do a ton more compost .

I wish I could get some straw bales , they compost down and make the prettiest compost ever.

Oh I love my Tumbler Composter!! I didn tuse it much during the Winter, it still has the yard clippings in it from last Fall, but I do use it in the Spring and Summer! I load it up with chicken manure from the hen house and grass clippings . I even added shredded newspapers and office shreds. Will have to go out and get it started really soon!
So It was a good Trade Digger, LOL!!!!!

I primarily use the old school compost bins, 3'x3'x3' (1 cubic yard). No matter how much stuff I put in it, it never stays full...it decomposes fairly quickly. The tumbler is good for fast compost, but you have to stay with it everyday for a couple weeks each time, or at least that's my experience with it! I'm too lazy to use it unless I'm desperate for compost, I guess.

I dump all my kitchen scraps and coffee grounds into a small bin outside the kitchen door, then carry it to the big compost bin by the garden every few days. Good stuff!!

Ooooh we have thunder, lightening, rains, ... Oh my! ... but the rain barrels are full now. No work outside today for me!
Better run, power is flickering again!

Oofie , so glad you like it . I never had any green stuff to add to it so sounds like it has a good home . BTW, Johnny cooked brisket on the grill (bbq) and it was great .
How are the babies ? And P P ? Sending a d-mail so as not to hijack the thread .

I got a compost bin from the county in FL. It looks like a beehive, and has a door at the bottom for removing "cooked" compost.
I find it makes an excellent Duck Dwelling *G*

Hi Friends,
Here is a picture of what I call my, "Grow Tower."
Last fall I stomped the bottom rope bin full of leaves and let them sit out over the winter.
They cooked down about 3", enough room to add some soil. I have a grafted tomato
in the rope bin with about 12 different flowers and veggies planted above.
Right now they are covered with my umbrella greenhouses, waiting for warmer weather.
I have set up a drip system to allow watering twice a day when and if the weather warms.
Great gardening.
Paul.

This message was edited May 2, 2012 7:41 AM

Pretty cool Lonejack. You are zone 8 right? Near the water. I think that keeps it warmer over there.

lonejack: I love your tower!! :-)

ALL: let's get a new chapter going.

Click to go to Chapter 38 - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1256122/

I grow tomatoes in straw bales. I set 8' high poles at end of a row, string strands of wire between the poles and tie the plants to the wire. Last year I did not prune suckers and had a jungle. Any suggestions on how many suckers (if any) to leave for best results.