Hey Kent...I've been "lurking" here...and I just have to tell you this story.
When I lived in Va. Beach...had a lot of friends in the Navy....one couple was transfered to Hawaii....he liked to run early in the morning....he met this big tall guy and they started running together every morning....then he found out the name Tom...preceeded Selleck. It was a while before he found out though. Jo
Straw Bale Gardening (Part 9)
Oh, yummm, Tom Selleck! Jo, bet your friend was surprised when he found out ;~)
You have to remember, Kent, that was a long time ago and thoughts have changed since then. Yes, I think now a bus driver would get in trouble for doing that. I've stopped with emergency lights flashing and gotten momma duck and ducklings across the road. Also, have herded cattle out of the road :~)
Lana
Lana: I know I've gotten off gardening, but we/Sheriff's office still get quite a few calls about cows in the roadway. Got a call a few weeks ago about a pot-bellied pig causing traffic problems. BTW, they don't teach "cow/pig herding" in Basic Law Enforcement School. :-)
Jo: good story! Everyone says Selleck is a pretty good guy. And HI was a runner's paradise! I'd never did much until I was stationed there.
KR
LOL, the uninitiated chasing cows/pigs makes for fun watching!!! Been there done that :~D
There's a local house right beside a VERY busy intersection that raises all kinds of fowl. I've seen the intersection at a stand still with everyone waiting for the Pea hen and chicks to get out of the road :~) Even the semis stop for that! We're not so far off gardening topic. They provide our best gardening tool...manure!
Lana
10 - 4 on the tools, of gardening. A youngster 2 doors down raises chickens, shows them at the fair. They put the manure in a garbage can and I get to collect it.
I may even decide to raise some of my own next year. and let them have all the area around the garden. May be they will curb most of the pesky bugs. Of course after the plants get a head start, I may even allow them in the garden. I am not sure if they will eat squash beatles or that grey Japanese beatle or especialy that darn pest Asian lady beatle, that our beloved dept of agg. imported to help curb soy bean aphids. All three would leave a very bitter taste for the poor chicks.
The regular lady bugs done the same job, don't know why they couldn't leave well enough alone.
I know this didn't have much to do with bale gardens except that the plants for the most part would be up out of the normal reach of chickens. I know they jump up and they can fly too . Oh heck lets just garden Russ
Someone needs to tell us in the northwest what a Terrapin is??? We have turtles too.
Jeanette
A box turtle I think you'd call them.
Lana
I am having a hard time keeping my dog, Blue, from jumping up on the bales and eating the blood meal. I covered, I thought, the blood meal with compost. I guess she smells it and dis through the compost to get at the blood meal.
I have been pretty much letting my 3 large banty type chickens loose in the garden, but they must have eaten all the easily available bugs and are now doing too much digging so I am keeping the chicken yard gate closed for most of the day.
If you are interested in wild birds see my post under Wildlife for an unusual experience I had yesterday.
Donna
Donna I couldn't find it. Please post it here. I am interested. Jeanette
Donna, click on rutholives name then go to posts she has started. It is the last post she started.
mouse button is not letting me link you.....crazy computor
chris
I think this is it...
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/710556/
Shoe
Jeanette: this is what's commonly referred to as a terrapin in my area. This color scheme is common. Basically reminds me of a miniature tortise. They can be around wet or dry areas, and they can turn up most anywhere in your yard. Very slow moving, so trying to cross a highway during the day is tantamount to suicide for most of them.
If you see tomatoes that aren't staked with chunks bitten out of them, then this guy is usually a prime suspect.
Kent
Edited to add this: Happy Easter, everyone!
After church I deep-fried a 13.6 pound turkey, and as my late Uncle O.H. used to say, "I did him proud!"
This message was edited Apr 8, 2007 3:17 PM
Thanks for the pic, Kent. I had a couple pics of one drinking from my pond last summer but the pics are stuck on my old harddrive that went capoot. Need to get that fixed and save the thousand or so pics on it :~(
Lana
Well the temp finally was on the rise. I went out when it got up to 36, gee it got up to 40. Anyway I watered in some more blood-meal, in the bales.
If I remember right the box turtles are mostly sandy brown. I haven't looked them up though. We have some painted turtles here but rather scarce, We have two main kind of snaping turtles one is the lether back, the other is the one many people call the aligator snaping turtle. It has the hard shell that has the jaged edge. then there are some just plain turtles that are usually sunning themselves on a log or something. but that is about it for around here. They don't get very far away from a pond or river.
Never had any problem in the garden with them. I'm about 3/4 of a mile from a small river. and we have a lot of small ponds in a water shed area.
For as cold as it has been I'm wondering if I should have covered the bales after watering. I don't feel any heat radiating out of them. Hope they are decomposing some.
We have snapping turtles here too but the terrapin/box turtle is a turtle of a different color :~) They stay on dry land and burrow into the ground, leaves, etc in the woods during winter.
Lana
I looked up turtles after I sent the last message. That is what that web site said too. also the leather back snapers we have are concidered Eastern soft shell snaping turtle. I have caught them on hook and line when using chicken liver for bait.
I really enjoyed all of the information on the turtles you guys. We have turtles around here also, and have waited and waited, and waited for them to cross the road. Have moved a few also. They aren't something that we have in our gardens tho even tho I am just across a 2 lane highway from a river.
Jeanette
Well, I bought 90% of my plants today from my local/favorite ag-supply store. I'll prob transplant over the course of next week.
A flat of veggies (mix what you want) was $14.50. Each flat held 12 4-packs. What's the price from some other locations?
My potato sprouts bit the dust due to a couple nights of unseasonably cold weather last week, but they should bounce back.
My bales this year never did get to "cooking" like last year. About 80-85 was max temp, I think. Weather just wouldn't cooperate. Of course, after waiting all winter, I started about 2 weeks ahead of schedule, anyway.
Kent
This message was edited Apr 13, 2007 4:54 PM
Kent, I went to our new (30 miles away) Home Depot today to look at their plants. I bought a nice Clematis vine in a color I didn't already have was $ 9.98 in a 1 gal. pot, not a bad price. I bought 2 four pacs of annuals, at $1.70, which would come to$20.40 for a flat of 12 4 pacs, more expensive than yours.
It is trying to rain and quite windy so I am in the house rather than in the garden. I truly hope it really rains, not just a little shower..
Donna
This is my deck right now; who needs Lowe's?
Dang DG & its cursed co-ops.
I kinda strawbale gardened today.
I had some red potatoes that had sprouted afros. So I looked at my "straw lasagna" bed that was supposed to house herbs this summer & thought, START SOMEWHERE. So the potatoes went in to the left, near the bale compost bin.
The straw was put down in thick slices so I just pulled them back a row at a time & replaced. I disturbed a pretty comprehensive snake or mouse town but no snakes or mice jumped out at me so I planted as quickly as possible & moved on.
These are the bales delivered last year that I could start with right now, except for the fact that they seem to be disintegrating quickly. Very wet winter?
And these are the 100 bales that were delivered a month ago for when I feel like really doing something. In the foreground is my lasagna bed that started with a layer of cardboard in the fall, then got some straw and a winter's worth of shredded paper.
One last pic. This is the straw/herb garden as it was laid down in the fall, backed by a scary bed of cosmos & zinnias. Things topped out at around 6 feet. More picturesque then, eh?
The cat is Julie, the Mae West of cats who looks as if she couldn't saunter any faster than a buxom beauty in a corset, but when the mouse-ridden straw was delivered last fall, she stacked those mice up on the deck faster than I've ever seen. Poor little mice.
This message was edited Apr 13, 2007 8:04 PM
Ahhhh, Julie is pretty kitty. Nice picture. : )
Micah below is purring at her.
I started training my pole beans to the fence today. They have been growing like little weeds.
~Lucy
Is there anybody else in the western NC area? My bales were gradually creeping up in temp anywhere from 70 to the high 90's and then along came record lows over the weekend and beginning of the week and all the bales plummeted to around 60. My problem is I don't know if they cooked enough. The other problem is not knowing what this consarned weather is going to do next. Average last freeze is April 15th, but can I trust to plant my seedlings or should I give it another couple of weeks? I have tomatoes, cukes and melons in seedling form. I also plan to do some direct sew in bales (maters and cukes and melons) and in ground (maters, cukes, lettuce, carrots, and snow peas). First time I've tried gardening on this scale and only my 2nd year in NC. Any advice gratefully accepted. BTW, this area is the apple valley area and we lost about 100% of the apple crop over this last weekend. Really sad. First time in 52 years that this has happened.
sandie4020, I lived in Asheville until 2004 but thw weather is so funky that I have no real advice of any value.
You guys are all getting so far ahead of me I feel left behind. Our last frost date is the end of May so will be a while before putting anythng out. Hope to get the straw this next week. Finally found some at $4.50. Have to drive 50 miles each way to get it with a truck that gets 10 miles to the gallon and gas that is over $3 per. So, that is some expensive straw.
Enjoyed your pictures tho. Summerkid how do your neighbors feel about all the straw stacked and lying everywhere? LOL, I was looking all over for the mice and snakes. Guess that pretty cat got them all. She sure looks satisfied with herself.
Jeanette
I'm in upstate SC, and have the same questions:). My tomatoes are taking over the bathroom, and pretty soon they're going to crawl outside and plant themselves in desperation. My question for today is my potato conundrum. I got my seed potatoes yesterday, and cut them up to cure "for a day or two" as directed on the site. Then I read the_fine print_. Sigh. Cut them up and plant them "if you have good moisture control".I don't think that includes a possible 2 inches of rain. While these are not going directly in the bales, they are going in a "bale corral" and will be grown by the "mulch method" ie, basically just dumping them on the ground and covering them with hay. I'm late starting, but the company said that if I keep them well covered and insulated, they should do okay. I guess we'll see. I'd appreciate any input, at this point I'l lprobaly wait til Monday to put them out.
Margo
summerkid and BlueGlance, nice kitty pictures. I don't have a kitty, just my Lhaso Apso Bluebird. She helps me in the garden!!!!
If I bought 100 straw bales and had them delivered would cost me more than $600.00 so I( am settling for three for this years experiment. Don't think it is anyway near enough warm enough yet to plant anything in them. Have only planted really cool weather plants outside. Have some things being hardened in but still have to keep them protected at night.
Donna
Donna what are you going to put in your 3 bales? I'm going for 10or 12. 6 of them will have tomatoes. That is 2 per bale. I started 30 from seed so guess that leaves some for friends. This year I am following Carolyn's (from the tomato forum) directions to a "T" and so far the tomato plants are looking pretty good. Sure is a temptation to fertilize them tho. However, by doing it her way they aren't growing real fast so they should be just about the right size and stocky when I put them in the bales.
We've had freezing weather the last several nights so it is just a reminder that it is too early for putting anything outside.
I did get a rose from J&P a couple of days ago that my daughter bought for my birthday last month. So, some things are ready for planting. LOL
Jeanette
Catmad;
I'm way out of your area. We usually plant potatoes on good Friday. They come and get niped by frost a couple times early. By the time it warms up it seems they have a good root system. and send out a lot of tubers. and that is without any protection.
I would think that with a corral of bales that should offer a lot of protection in its self. are you going to cover them with any thing but straw?
I set just a few out simular to what you are planning to. Only I put a thick layer of news paper down on the ground, then some straw, then some potting soil over top of the potatoes. They are in between two rows of bales. and since it was going to be down to 30 & 31 for a couple of nights, I put some plastic over top of the two rows of bales. That would be like covering the tomatoes with hot caps to keep them from freezing.
When we lived in central Missouri every body planted potatoes on St. Pattys Day.
So I really think you should be safe by offering them some protection with the bales. Our last frost date is some where around the last of May.And June can have some darn cool nights too. However the ground is usually warm . Hope this offers you some comfort on planting them. Russ
One-third of my neighbors think I'm interesting, one-third think I'm psycho, and the other third couldn't care less what goes on in other people's yards!
We're in hillbilly heaven here along a river anyway, so if I don't object to boats & jet-skis & docks littering their yards, I don't suppose they can object to a little straw in mine.
Sandie: you should be OK as soon as you're comfortable with no more frost for the Hendersonville area. Like I said earlier, my bales didn't "cook" like last year, either.
Due to a modified schedule for next week I ended up transplanting all the veggies I had today and it's been 14 days since I first laid my bales out. The straw felt good and soft and slick inside, with some nice white mold here and there.
Some of the bales were still cooking some and were warm to my hand.
With the string side down this year, I was very pleased with the ease I was able to make a crack in my oat straw bales with the assistance of a garden trowel. I added a good hand full of Miracle Gro potting mix (a first for me) to each plant and pressed everything back together and watered everything in well.
I noticed my Daddy's rye bales were very tight and compact and I had a hard time trying to crack his bales, which were also string side down.
The string side down gives me a little bit larger area for my cukes to run on before they drop down over the sides.
I've also noticed that the water doesn't run out nearly as fast with the string sides down and more or less trickles through the bales, which I like better.
Summerkid: I loved your picks, especially the nice looking camping trailers. I went on frappr to see if you had a marker and to see what river you were talking about. Your community looks like a nice place with the river running through it.
Lucy: be sure to get a pic of those pole beans for us.
Margo: never heard about "curing" potatoes b4 planting; as long as they're not sitting in water, the 2 inch rainfall shouldn't hurt. My potatoes seem to be doing well after losing the first tops to frost.
Jeanette: hang in there! Your day is coming, but I know how you feel, because some of the early ones got me going a few weeks early.
Kent
Jeanette, I can't believe what your bales are costing you. Do you have a freecycle where you could ask whether anyone has some substandard straw, especially this time of year?
Kent, unfortunately, Kankakee is a very depressed Rust Belt town, and its denizens are small town without being friendly or charming. What they can't shoot, they burn. But an acre of good soil on a riverbank is nothing to sniff at, and at least my honeybees are legal here.
Kent... I had 4 bales last year with strings side down, all you said is true on planting in them. Plus, They held up better, and I am reusing them this year. I just tighten up the strings, and they were ready to go.
I will get some pictures of the beans in a few days. They are just now getting attached to the chainlink fence. Here is a picture when they first started.
~Lucy
Jeanette, For sure I am going to plant beans in one bale, as I hate bending over to pick them. I am also planting beans on/around a bamboo triangle, 6 bamboo 6 ft. tied at the top and spread at the bottom. I plant 5 or 6 beans at each pole. Works pretty good for me, only need enough for one person. Sometimes I can a few pints.
think I will try pepper in one bale, and maybe a tomato or two in another. Still getting down almost to freezing at night, so I guess no hurry.
Donna
Beans add nitrogen, too, right? Like peas? So that straw could be used as a nitrogen-rich mulch for other areas of the garden, or am I putting apples with oranges somehow & expecting peaches?
No, I've never heard of a freecycle around here Kid. Everyone in this area grows hay which doesn't leave much stubble. Your area sounds pretty good Summerkid, that nobody bothers each other. Not too many places around like that any more.
BlueGlancer I laid my bales with strings down last year and they just cannot be reused this year. I doubt that I could tighten the strings. The main thing I will say about doing it that way is that I didn't have much seed sprouting from it. A little big on a couple of bales from oats but that is all. Your beans look great.
Kent, I'll bet what Margo's "curing" the potatoes means is that I have heard of leaving them to scab over. Some dusted them with something to keep them from rotting also.
Donna, sounds like you will have all of the best vegetables in your garden. When you have those, what else do you need? The beans sound wonderful. I am going to try some Blue Lake pole beans this year. I have had the BL bush beans and they were so good.
Summerkid, when you figure that out, how to get peaches out of apples and oranges you only tell me and we will together have a gold mine. LOL
Night you all from the West Coast (still to hear from you Donna)
Jeanette
To you all,
When you have time, I was just browsing and found the most beautiful house I could tell was a work of true love, go to a forum called "Parking Lot" by Summerkid and look at the work involved in this house. It is absolutely gorgeous. Everything about it is truly beautiful. A real work of art.
Now, I guess we wait to see how the "house of straw" is going to turn out. I hope we get to see it produced on our forum.
Jeanette