I just ordered the hay (could not find reasonably priced straw to save my life), for the next round of gardening. Last year, I used 8 bales and was ecstatic with the results. So this time around I ordered....
Well, I wanted to expand the garden in the back yard....
And the front has a place that NEEDS a raised bed anyway.....
And I bet that a layer of soil/manure on the hay would make a good spinach bed...
And you can always use a little hay to make compost..
And...
And...
And....
45 Bales of hay arriving this weekend to be prepped and sown.
I blame all of you for my enthusiasm.
I blame you all!
We've got to get you into a 12-step recovery program quickly.
Before it's too late!
Run to the light!!
But, before any recovery can begin, you've got to admit this to yourself: "My name is Hastur and I'm a Bale Gardener."
Balers' Anonymous next meeting scheduled for.....
It's too late to bale out now!
*thwack* to CajunKy for that pun.
For the record, the neighbors probably think I'm crazed because of this. I have 9 bales out front that I'm going to surround with a 2' high lattice fence to make them 'pretty'.
Not to mention the half bales along the front. A couple of bales broke when they were being unloaded, so some of the hay went to my friend who wants to use it for containers, and the rest is going to be the start of a spinach bed. Basically, I'll surround it with some 12" high fencing, just to make it look nice.
But that's just the front. Out back, where no one can see it, it's much wilder.
You can see the bed that I made around the bales from last year. There are leaves in there, on top of the left over hay, and once that rots down again, I can put 9 bales in there again.
Yes, there is an excess of hay back there, but it's going to be incredible once it starts growing stuff.
Have mercy! I wish I had that much room. I wouldn't be scratching my head and trying to figure out how to fit in all I want to plant this Spring.
You'll really hate this then: That's only 1/2 of the yard. The other half has a swingset that is going to be taken out so that my husband can use it to practice his katas. I also left plenty of room next to the fence, so that I can put in bales along the fence line to start beds for climbing stuff. *grin*
I'll post pictures after this upcoming weekend, to show how the latticework looks around the bales out front.
You are a lucky lady. What is katas? I'm assuming some kind of martial arts?
I am very lucky indeed. Not everyone gets a chance to try different stuff in a place that has a good environment for it, and I definitely appreciate that I do.
Katas are Martial Arts maneuvers. My husband practices with sword, stick and 'other' (like an oar he picked up at one point, or branches that fall from the trees). He also throws shuriken and tumbles and rolls all over the place as he practices his hand to hand.
Hence he won't give me the other half of the back yard for my stuff. *grin*
Sounds like he'd be tough to beat if you arm wrestled for it, too, huh?
Yeah, he would. I'm pretty strong and all, but he's been training forever, and he cheats!
Don't they all? LOL
Hi Ditchlily206, a lurker on the Strawbale forum.
I think in MA it is called "Using available resources", not cheating! LOL
A rose by any other name is still a cheater. LOL
Well, all I have to say, is that if your husband does that stuff out in the yard, the neighbors certainly will not complain about a few bales of straw/hay. Gee, maybe they will all chip in and buy you enough bales to make a REALLY high fence. LOL
Jeanette
He does it in the back yard, not the front, so the neighbors don't see it. Hence having to give up half of the yard. The front yard is for being pretty or scaring kids. *grin*
Any pictures of the lattice fence? I'm really getting hooked on the idea of this bale gardening thing. Want to see all my options before starting, so I'm lurking all over the place!
Yes! I've been busy, but here's a pic of the lattice work to 'hide' the bales:
And another, to show how the lattice really works on an individual bed:
BTW: The dirt on top of the bales is about 1" deep. My husband and I really like sugar snap peas and string beans so I put the peas and beans on top of the bales and then covered with a mixture of potting soil and manure and humus.
Also, the lattice is the resin/plastic type stuff you can get at Home Depot. It did cost about $11.00 per 8 foot section, and is 2' high. I chose it because once it was put in, I would not have to deal with it any more, and could use it to hold the bales in, but still look pretty enough that the housing association wouldn't be leaving nasty grams on the front door. It is held together with zip ties, and is staked into the ground from the bottom. So far, in spite of looking all weak and pretty, it's holding up quite nicely.
I took this today, of a section of the peas. I wasn't sure if they would like the bales or not, but you can see that they are VERY happy.
Boy, you are really serious about this aren't you. LOL, I have heard that those associations can get really onery about some of these things. But, even a bale of straw looks better than some of them.
Jeanette
And the beans. They are only starting to come out of the dirt, but that's OK. I think they were not quite so happy with the cold as the peas were. But now that it's warmed up a bit, they're starting to look cute.
I'll probably take more pictures in a few weeks, when I plant the broccolli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and cauliflower that I'm starting for the 'empty' bed. I'm also starting some marigolds in peat pots to plant in all the beds with the current crop, and some corn to plant in with the beans.
I am hoping that by summer, I'll have one heck of a harvest on my hands.
Yeah, I want to convert every inch of my area to food production, if possible, and make it pretty in the meanwhile. But I'm just one person, with a regular job, and who is a combination of lazy and has a lot of other stuff to do. Sounds like everyone else out here, eh?
Seriously, one of the five year goals is to live entirely off our little plot and the local Farmer's Market. I want to use the FM for meat, eggs, cheese, and coffee, and have all of our veggies growing on our own area. And, since I don't see any reason why I should not be able to landscape with vegetables, I'm working to make that possible. There are no rules against growing edibles where they can be seen - they just don't want stuff to LOOK like it's just an edible. So peas in the front is cool because it's a wash of green, with pretty white flowers when they flower up. Marigolds and nastutiums are gorgeous so I'm putting those in to protect the peas. Later, I'll put in a bed of chard because all the red and green on the leaves makes a nice low bed, against yet more marigolds which will be tall over the chard.
It's a slow process, but once it's done, it's going to be brilliant, I hope.
You know Hastur, there is no reason you can't stick in flowers among the veggies. I love to have sweet peas climbing other things. Or petunias always look nice in with other things too. I stuck some in the bales last year and they hung down where the tomatoes were growing up. It all looks nice if you use your imagination. Nasturtiums are really nice but they draw aphids so don't use them. But, I think Marigolds detract aphids. Things like that can really brighten up the green of the vegetables and they don't take up much room.
Jeanette
Marigolds are said to keep tomato cut worms away and it has worked for me.
1. The lattice work looks great. Won't it be a pain to bend over to tend your crops?
2. I suggest that you drip water the bales. That way if you don't make it out every day the bales will still get the moisture they will need, especially in the summer.
I use a timer with 1/4" tubing from the faucet. Go to http://www.mrdrip.com/drippers.htm
for supplies. I use 1/4" soaker hose attached to the 1/4" tubing on the bales. Run a soaker the length of one bale. Use the 1/4" tubing between the bales.
If you drip about 45 minutes a day you will have sufficient moisture. The drip times may vary depending on the season and amount of rain. I drip rain or shine. Here in Oregon, we don't get a soaking rain but a fine drip rain most of the time.
If you really want to get fancy you can include a fertilizer injector in your drip system. I use worm tea and water soluble fertilizer in my injector.
3. Are your beans bush beans or pole beans?
4. It seems as though you can sneak edible plants in among your flowers if you plan it right. The Homeowners association will probably praise you for the look.
Anyway if you slowly convert your property to edibles and do it in an attractive manner the homeowners will not say anything, especially when they are being foreclosed because they are spending too much of their hard-earned money on expensive, dangerous food.
Lone
Here is the web for the 1/4" soaker hose. I find it hard to find.
http://www.mrsoakerhose.com/
Lone.
Since I have to bend over, no matter what I do, I don't see this as a major issue. When I was growing cukes in a bale, it didn't do anything to just bend and get them. I also figure that the peas and beans will grow higher than the bales, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal.
I've never worked with a drip system before, so thank you for the information. I'm familiar with soaker hoses, but he drip system is new to me. Research!
The beans are bush style. I didn't want to have them climbing the corn and then getting out of reach for me to pick. Same with the peas. I've grown to really like bush peas and beans because they are so much easier to pick usually.
I'm a firm believer in worm tea and water soluble fertilizers when possible. I've also gotten bloodmeal to put on the peas and beans when they are about 9-12" high. I've seen really good results with bloodmeal because it does not seem to reactivate the bales, so the plants don't get burned.
Yeah, the trick is to make it all pretty. That seems easy enough, with some nice fences and such. I'll keep posting stuff as I add to the bales and they grow.
lonejack,
Thanks for the links. I plant to use drip irrigation (fertigation) this year and this site will help me with the design the system.
Jerry
Hay is 14.95 a bale and Straw is 5.95 a bale,... I think I am going to try the straw.
How much are you all paying for your hay?
I paid $5.00 for new crop wheat straw last Fall.
Jerry
I was paying $4.00/bale this last fall.
I'll probably pay about the same amount to re-up the gardens after the spring harvests, but come fall, will be layering in a bunch of leaves to finish the start of the beds. This way I can keep using bales to create humus rich soil in the beds, whilst growing stuff that doesn't like the hay bales so much (I'm still trying to figure out a good way to grow really tiny seeds like lettuce or radishes. So far I'm coming up with a layer of soil on top of seed tapes)
I'll have to post more pictures of the pea experiment. They're growing like gangbusters in the bales and seem very happy. Come to think of it, all the spiders that apparently made the migration are also happy.
We can get excellent quality timothy orchard mix for $4 and $5 a bale. Not quite as good for $2.50 and $3. So I am definitely going with the hay again. If I had to use straw I wouldn't bother.
oh you all want to make me load up the horses and assorted critters here and move back to Kentucky or maybe move to Texas... HUMMMM
I just called a feed store across the road from us and they quoted me 7.95 for straw and 17.95 for hay! They have wet stuff (they call it cow hay) outside for 9 or 9.50.
I've posted to Freecycle (got one bale of straw from that) and Craig's List to see if anyone has wet stuff to get rid of (I know it will be hard to move if it's too wet) they want to get rid of. We're in the middle of quite a few storms, so I might get something cheap or free yet.
Straw is around $3/bale with hay going for $6+ around my area.
Well, people are even giving their animals away 'cause they can't afford to feed them so you know it is going to be a rough spring. Maybe when things start growing it will loosen up a bit.
Jeanette
I used alfalfa hay last year, this year it is $10..00 a bale, and I don't think I can afford that. I have pretty good soil here, so I guess I better plant in the ground. Donna