Ready, Set, Go Organic: 32 Strawbales

After weeks of watching our local craigslist.com for strawbales.
After reading numerous ads for bales ranging for $9.00 to $4.00 a bale.
Yikes!
We finally hit pay-dirt, wheat straw for $2.50 a bale.
Yippee!
We had 32 bales delivered yesterday, they are stacked (It doesn't look like much does it) at the end of the driveway.
Tonight we plan (weather permitting) to lay them out and let the snow and rain begin to do the work of transforming the straw into a fertile planting medium.

Dove

Dovey, may not look like a lot to you, but I see a lot "of work". LOL, should be fun.

Jeanette

You got a point there.
I didn't do any of the unloading or stacking when they arrived... just stuck my head out and snapped the photo *wink*

Let us know how you construct your garden.

Jeanette

dovey: I wish I had my bales now!

Kent

Kent, your information doesn't have what zone you are in. I know nothing about Wake Forest, or NC. When will you be starting yours?

Jeanette

Kent I was so excited when they arrived, it represents being able to garden again... even though it's still a couple of months away.


Jeanette, I'll post a photo of the layout.
We are having a beautiful snow today so we haven't been able to set our bales yet.

When can you start your garden Dovey?

Jeanette

Jeanette: no clue what gardening zone I'm in. After working a 12 hr shift today I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

I'll start prepping my bales around 2nd week in April. Probably transplant around May 1st.

Kent

Sounds like a zone 6. I am 5 and do my bales the end of April and put the plants out near mid to end of May. Our last frost date is the end of May. I'm not sure when you would do it in the Twilight zone.

We didn't have a moon tonight for about 20 minutes. Eclipse.

Jeanette

Kent
According to the Better Homes & Gardens zone map you look like a 7B
http://images.meredith.com/bhg/pdf/gardening/hardiness/hzm_NothCarolina.pdf
Oh how I would love to be in a zone 7! That's on the top of my list when Matt retires, where ever we go..."Nothing lower than Zone 7 please"

Jeanette,
We were outside watching the eclipse in a frosty 11 º
Woke up this morning to 2.5º *brrrr*
I hope we can plant around the end of April.


Last evening regardless of the weather Matt decided he would move the bales. His thinking the longer they sit outside in rain and snow the heavier they will get.

Cuervo supervised

Almost finished

dovey:

I think the consensus is that it is easier to transplant into the bales if the strings are top & bottom; altho there is a school of thought that believes the way you have them is best it you intend to plant seeds - so you can spread potting mix along the prickley edge of the bale: The way you have them is the way Kent started doing this straw bale thing - but I believe he now puts them top & bottom: No right or wrong way - probably some of each would be ideal depending on what & how you intend planting: Your picks are great!

Sunny Perry :-)))

Hiya Perry,
Matt and I had quite a long conversation (as husbands and wives do) about how to place the bales - up vs side.
Which way holds more water, which way is easiest for tucking in seedling's.
The winning point was that the bales are wrapped with wire and they would probably rust slower and last longer if the wire wasn't on the ground.

We intend to direct sow and plant vegetables we have started in the basement.

Dovey, I think you might be right about the wire rusting, but do you think they would rust through in one year? I tried using a couple of my bales that looked pretty good the second year, but it wasn't long before I could see I was not going to be happy with them.

I think the main reason Kent changed was because he found the water ran through the straw like "drinking straws", and he had to water too much to get some to the plant roots.

I can sure see your reasoning though. Let us know how it goes.

Matt was really smart to figure they were going to be heavier wet. I hope he had a hand truck for them. Standing them on end on a dolly sure does help. And beautiful Cuervo did a very good job.

Jeanette

Jeanette

dovey: Perry beat me to it. First thing I noticed was your bales with strings OFF the ground. Just so you can get a better feel, why don't you put at least 1 row with strings ON the ground and which way YOU like better.

It was a dramatic change for me. Less watering and less water run off.

As for the wire, once the bales start shrinking, the wire won't do much good. The bales will hold up just fine regardless. Some may shrink more than others, but they will all stay in place.

What are your neighbors saying about all those bales! :-)

Kent

Good question Kent. LOL About the neighbor's thoughts.

Jeanette

Our neighbors next to us (the ones with the red caboose in their back yard) are old and travel a lot. I don't think they've noticed and if they have I think it's real hard to point a finger when you have a fire engine red caboose in your garden.
I worry more about what they may think when we start to tap our Maple trees next month.. ack!

Our house sits back from the street on about 5 acres, we're on a pretty busy corner. I often wonder about the people that have to wait at the signal when coming home from work everyday think of our garden shenanigans.

I remember reading on one of the threads that water retention was better with the bail on it's side. If you all feel confident the wire won't rust away, I'm pretty sure I can convince Matt to tip them over, he's use to me changing my mind. ;-)

Thanks for the feed back, it's very encouraging.
Dove

A view of the caboose