Straw Bale Gardening How To

If you would love to grow fruits and vegetables this season, but you have never had success, this gardening method is for you! This will be our third year harvesting all kinds of produce from our own yard, and I was an avowed plant serial killer who lived my life dodging arrest warrants from the EPA for garden genocide. But, no more!

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More info: Straw Bale Gardens Complete by Joel Karsten

Straw Bale Gardening

Benefits

•         Grow an abundance of fresh fruit and veggies at home with ease.
•         No lawn needed. You can garden on an apartment balcony, pavement, a deck, an abandoned lot, a rooftop, anywhere.
•         If you have no time for gardening, you DO have time for straw bale gardening.
•         If you tend to kill all plants, you’ll be shocked that you are not killing plants.
•          No weeding necessary. Ever.
•          No bending. Easy on the knees/back.
•         Impossible to overwater.
•          If your soil is bad, no problem. You’re not using any. No grubs, soil disease, or rocks to deal with.
•          Bales discourage burrowing pests.
•          Enjoy the outdoors.
•          No need to buy a truckload of good soil.
•          All it takes for success is watering every morning (and late afternoon on very hot days).
•          90% maintenance free (almost 100% if you automate watering with a soaker hose and timer!)

Shopping List

·         2 or 3 straw bales (not hay bales), or as many as you want for your space

·         1 bag cheap lawn fertilizer without weed killer or crabgrass preventer, not slow release, and at least 20% nitrogen (like Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Food)

·         1 small bag 10-10-10 general garden fertilizer (like Expert Gardener Flower Food)

·         1 bag planting mix (like MiracleGro Planting Mix)

·         1 roll landscape fabric (or use flattened cardboard boxes)

·         Vegetable/fruit seeds or seedlings

·         Hose or watering can, gardening gloves, trowel, measuring cup, pinwheels to keep birds away

·         Optional (recommended): lawn stakes and chicken wire to surround bales to keep animals out

Note: You’ll have enough leftover fertilizer and planting mix for another 2-3 years. Straw bales can also be reused next season.

 

Straw Bale Gardening in 8 Steps

1.       Plan: First, get your start date. Look up this year’s predicted date of last frost in your area by entering your zip code here: https://morningchores.com/frost-dates/ or Farmer’s Almanac or another site. Then check your calendar for the date that comes NINE DAYS BEFORE THE LAST FROST DATE. Plan to set up your straw bales on that date or soon afterwards. (Example: if the last frost date is May 7^th, then you can set up on April 28^th.)  What’s your setup date this year? ____________________________

Next, decide how many bales you need. If you don’t have a yard and will be using an apartment balcony, 1-2 bales would be good. If you have a driveway, yard, or patio and it’s your first year, maybe 3-4 bales. If you’ve done this before and you kept last year’s bales, you can reuse the bales by propping them up or putting the straw in crates or pots. How many bales do you need to purchase this year? ___________________

Watch your space for a few days. Where is the place in your yard/patio/balcony that receives the most sun? __________________________________________________________________

 

2.       Purchase: Buy straw bales (not hay bales) from a local feed store or craigslist. Likely $10 or under per bale. If you can find organic straw, great. Most people cannot. (Virtually all straw is sprayed with something and it all breaks down over time. It’s very unlikely any will end up in your veggies.) If you don’t have a truck, place a disposable plastic table cloth or tarp in your trunk to avoid getting straw bits all over your car.

 

3.       Place: Arrange your bales north to south in the place in your yard/area that receives the most sun. Place bales so that their straps are on the SIDES of the bales. (The straps should NOT be on top of the bales.) Put landscape fabric or cardboard under bales. You can also put chicken wire under the bales to prevent burrowing, but I never had to do this and I have many critters in my yard. Again, be sure bales are standing with their straps on the SIDES, so the straw is vertical, like grass growing out of the ground.

 

4.       Fertilize/Condition: You have to condition the bales before planting in them. Conditioning takes about 5 minutes a day for 10 days. Day 1: Sprinkle ½ cup lawn fertilizer evenly on top of each bale. Use a hose-end sprayer to spray the fertilizer granules into the tops of the bales. Water bales till water runs out bottom. Day 2: Water only. Water bales till water runs out bottom. Day 3: Sprinkle ½ cup lawn fertilizer on top of each bale. Water them. Day 4: Water only. Day 5: ½ cup lawn fertilizer per bale again. Water bales. Day 6: Water only. Days 7, 8, 9: ¼ cup lawn fertilizer per bale each day and water. Day 10: 1 cup per bale of 10-10-10 general GARDEN fertilizer. Water. Fill in any cracks formed in the conditioning process with straw or sterile planting mix.

 

5.       Plant: After conditioning for 10 days, buy seeds or seedlings and plant them. For plants you are starting from seed, put a 1-2” layer of planting mix--not soil from your yard!--on top of the bale and plant seeds in that. Follow spacing directions on seed packets. Makes no difference if you start from seeds or you’re more comfortable planting seedlings, or you use a mix of both. If you are planting seedlings, you do not need to put a layer of planting mix on top of the bale. Pop the seedlings out of their pots (with potting mix still attached to roots), open up a crack in the bale with a trowel or your hands, and plant the seedling with its potting mix into the crack. Water everything after you’ve planted. Planting tips: If your bales are on pavement or a balcony, I do not recommend pumpkins or melons, as they will need to trail on the ground, spread out, and put some additional roots into soil if you want a lot of them. Tomatoes, cukes and beans are fine anywhere, as long as you give them something to climb (ladder, fence, poles, wire, chair). Potatoes are the only thing planted differently: Stuff the seed potatoes a few inches up into the bottom of the bale, no more than 3 per bale. You can plant radishes or another early crop on top of the potato bale. Potatoes will be ready at the very end of your growing season—October in the northeast. (See “Straw Bale Favorites” below for tips on highest yield crops and how many seeds/seedlings of each you can plant in one bale.)

 

6.       Care: Water each bale for about 2 minutes per bale each morning, aiming at roots of plants (or at seeds if no plants showing yet!). As plants grow, do not water leaves as it can spread disease. It’s impossible to overwater straw bales. Whatever the plants don’t need will simply run out of the bale. If you do not have a hose, empty a gallon water jug twice onto each bale. On hot summer days, water the bales in the late afternoon as well. You should use liquid Miracle Gro or another fertilizer every couple of weeks (except on very new seedlings; wait till they mature a bit). Mushrooms may pop up the first few weeks; this is fine; just ignore them and they will die off. Your bales are composting, which is good.

 

7.       Reap: Pick things as they ripen and enjoy!

 

8.       Protect: You may want to encircle the bale row(s) in chicken wire with some lawn stakes if you’re concerned about rabbits, woodchucks, etc. Though I have tons of rabbits and they never bothered bales, even when I didn’t have fencing up. The bales themselves and the height are a deterrent. If you have deer… you’re going to need higher fencing! Highly recommended: Shiny pinwheels stuck into the bales will completely keep birds and their poop away!

 

 

More info: Straw Bale Gardens Complete by Joel Karsten, SBG Facebook groups, Google, YouTube.

 

Straw Bale Favorites

I like to plant half a bale with one crop and the other half with something else to diversify!

Any herb or flower imaginable: dill, mint, rosemary, basil, zinnias, cosmos. (You can even plant them in the sides of bales to pretty them up and have flowers for vases!)

Beets: 48/bale, 2 crops.

Cabbage: 4/bale, 2 crops.

Green onion: 60/bale, 3+ crops.

Leaf lettuce (start from seed): 30/bale, 4+ crops.

Onion: 48-60/bale, 1 crop.

Radish: 60/bale, 3 crops.

Turnips: 30/bale, 2 crops.

Potatoes (plant lettuce or radish on top): 3/bale, 1 crop.

Tomatoes: 2/bale, 1 crop. NEEDS something to climb. A tomato cage stuck in the bale is a good start. May need propping up later as plant becomes enormous.

Cucumber: 4/bale, 1 crop. NEEDS something to climb. A tomato cage stuck in the bale is a good start. May need propping up later as plant becomes enormous.

Melons: 3/bale, 1 crop.

Peppers: 4/bale, 1 crop.

Pumpkins (Sugar; Jack-Be-Little, etc.): 2/bale, 1 crop.

Jalapenos: 2/bale, several crops.

Watermelon: 2/bale, 1 crop.

Butternut squash, any kind of squash: 2/bale, 1 crop.

Bush beans: 2/bale. Several crops.

Yellow Crook Neck Squash: 2 seedlings/bale. 1 crop.

Zucchini: 4/bale, 1 crop.

Egg plant: 2/bale?

Strawberries (seedlings): 5-6/bale, several crops. But I only recommend in bigger quantities (probably at least 2 bales dedicated only to them) to make it worthwhile, otherwise you probably won’t have enough berries to eat all at once!

I do not recommend carrots in bales. They do not come out carrot-shaped! However, if you have straw left over from last season, which will be somewhat broken down, I bet they would grow very well in that with a 1-2” layer of potting mix on top in a planter. Note: In fact, everything grows well in last year’s straw in whatever pot or container you have hanging around! Just make sure there are a few holes in the bottom of the container for drainage. Don’t waste last year’s straw!