My Straw Bales Doing Double Duty

Here are some of my bales being used as a wind break for some seedlings I transplanted to 4" pot yesterday. I'm using straight coir in the 4" pots. It is a nice product to work with and I've read goods things and seen pictures about it on the Self-contained Box Gardens forum. BocaBob is the man for coir information.

March 15 is my target date for setting out the transplants so the bales will need to start cooking soon. Perhaps they can cook while they serve protection for the seedlings.

Jerry

Eight days later. Won't be long now.

Jerry: Man, I'd love to have a March 15th transplant date. Mine won't be until around May 1st.

These Texans are mean aren't they? Here we are waiting for the day we can get seeds planted INside....oh woe is me.

grownut: when I was stationed in HI years ago, they gardened year round! What a treat.

did they ever get anything done inside?! *sniff*

I loved, loved, loved my time in HI.

If I ever get the chance....

Day one of the 11 day "make ready" process for the straw bale growing season.

Tex what is the black line down the center.
I have a lot to learn

Tubby

I am always trying ideas. This is a soaker hose that sprays fine streams of water from one side. It can be placed stream side up or down. In this picture it ran along the bottom of the bales spraying up. The extra length was just brought up and laid on top of the bales stream side down.

The soaker was on the bales for several hours yesterday afternoon. It worked OK except there were a few places that had not showed any sign of getting wet. Just before dark I watered the bales down good with a regular sprayer on the end of a water hose. The wetter the bales became the easier it seemed they accepted the water. The soaker may work better at maintaining moisture then soaking the bales initially.

Once the weather heats up it may be necessary to box in the bales with corrugated tin and us some kind of a drip irrigation system to maintain an optimal growing environment.

Jerry

Okay didn't recognize it as a hose..This is to get them cooking right????I'm still learning

Thanks Tubby

Yes, to get them cooking. Day one of the 11 day process for getting them ready for planting.

If you are new to straw bales gardening, here is a link explaining how to prepare the bales.

http://www.carolinacountry.com/cgardens/thismonth/march06guide/straw.html

Jerry

Thanks Jerry.I'll go look..Never to old to learn,I hope

Tubby

Jerry & Tubby: that link to Carolina Country is an old issue with some typos, etc.

An updated version just came out in the mail.

The online version will be up soon. They've been good about publishing some info each year for the past few years in their March gardening issue.

www.carolinacountry.com

Jerry: I am so ready to get some gardening going but, alas, must be patient.

Thanks Kent going to have a look..

It's been four days since I planted in my straw bales and the plants seem to be doing fine.

Day 2 the plants wilted a lot by late afternoon, but it's been hot. Day three they wilted less and just a little while ago when I left the garden they had not wilted at all. They have actually started showing new growth.

I'm looking forward to the outcome of this little project.

Jerry