Straw Bale Gardening 101 - Beginner basics

Thanks for the update. Newbie here getting ready to put out my first bales. And a bit of a question if I may --I've got an area up against my barn where the soil is compacted and has a layer of gravel. Would putting my bales here work okay? It's otherwise fine, just no place for the roots to go under the bales...

Grownut, how is the sun in that area? How deep a layer of gravel, and where would the water run to? What are you going to plant in them?

Just a few things to think about. Maybe Kent will think they won't matter.

Jeanette

Don't think it's very deep. The water will run into my garden. I have about 6' of gravel all along the side of the barn and then it falls off to my patch. We've been bringing in compost and ash and goodies and leveling it slowly. I'm hoping the bales will allow me to finally have a squash (bug free) harvest...

Sounds very nice Grownut. What about sun? But, if you have a lot of heat, even without the sun, it might work. Someone else would know better than I. I don't grow or eat squash.

Jeanette

Faces SSW. Gets a whole lot. Probably from about 9:30 on if the hickory tree survived the winter...otherwise more.

grownut: consider the bale as the primary rooting source for your plants. Like water, roots will seek their own level, so if some go out of the bales, let them do their thing.

We've got one guy bale gardening on top of his townhouse in Washington DC.

One guy put a bale in a wagon.

As Jeanette mentioned, drainage and sun are primary factors to consider.

Sounds like you've got things ready to go.

Welcome aboard.

riprarin' -lol. Really I can hardly wait. Wondering how much sooner I can plant in bales. Need to hit up Doug for info as he's really close by. (Lurky me I'm on a first name basis with him...badbad)

grownut: stay close with Doug; he's done a bang up job with his bale garden.

Poor man...little does he know...little does he suspect...lurking somewhere to the southwest.. a wannabe baler...lol. Been reading you guys posts for a while now. Doesn't mean anyone knows me...