Straw Bale Gardening

Straw Bale Gardening is an awesome way to create an almost instant garden and is a marvelous solution for people with poor/no soil.

It does require a good water supply and a few dollars. Almost any vegetable can be grown in strawbales; with lettuce, cucumbers, bush tomatoes, bush beans doing very well.

Sue Daly has created beautiful and productive strawbales gardens in her garden in Okupu …. See this article in stuff. 

Shopping List:

• Straw Bales (rush bales available from Patty O’Shea from March through May)

• Organic high nitrogen fertiliser (eg Blood and Bone, Fish Meal)

• Other organic fertilisers such as seaweed extract, seaweed meal, wood ash (sparing)

Choose a site:  arrange your bales so that they get 6-8 hours sunlight each day and you can easily access them from the side. Lots of water will be needed so a tap/hose is important. Arrange the bales so the cut side of the bales is facing up. This allows water to enter the hollow stalks and help them to break down. 

Prepare the ground:  remove excessive weeds by hand or mowing and cover the area with about 3 layers of wet cardboard. Arrange the bales on top. Soak them thoroughly with water. 

Condition the Bales:

Fresh bales are too high in Carbon and also too tough, dry and hard to plant into  and need to go through a process called conditioning, which starts to soften and decompose the straw so plants can grow well.  It is good to time this before a wet period as it uses a lot of water. By adding lots of high nitrogen fertiliser in effect a composting system is kickstarted which slowly releases the nutrients in the hay. 

Conditioning Schedule:

Day 1  - apply 3 cups of nitrogen fertiliser evenly over bale & water in well 

Day 2 - water 

Day 3 - 3 cups of nitrogen fertiliser  & water

Day 4 - water

Day 5 - 3 cups of nitrogen fertiliser & water

Day 6 - water

Day 7 - 1 1/2 cups nitrogen fertiliser & warm water

Day 8 - 1 1/2 cups nitrogen fertiliser & warm water

Day 9 - 1 1/2 cups nitrogen fertiliser & warm water

Day 10 - 3 cups general fertiliser & warm water ...include potassium & phosphorous (bone meal, fish meal, woodashes etc)

Day 11 - water

Day 12 - planting day!

Planting: using a trowel, dig a small planting hole and fill with potting mix or soil as you insert the plant.

For seeds: put a thick layer (5cms approx) of potting mix or weed free soil across the top of the bale and sow seeds in that.

Notes from Sue:

• It’s good to do this process during rainy weather!

• Bales will still need further fortnightly feeding 

• Homemade liquid feeds are excellent...think banana tea, compost tea etc.

• I used blood & bone for the nitrogen fertiliser initially but finished with liquid teas.

• Plant annuals only...no perennials. The beds won’t last long enough. 

• Don’t grow tall things like sweet corn  (too exposed to wind) but tomatoes are fine with a frame/stakes inserted.

• The bales will gradually collapse over a year so consider how your plants will adapt.

• Some weeds will appear but are easily removed.

• At the end of the season the bales can have their string removed and the remaining pile of beautiful dark wormy compost can be spread out.....

Resources:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/84297060/me--my-garden-sue-dalys-productive-straw-bale-vege-patch-on-great-barrier-island?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2mrJtMvrdvgGe8CCkDEyllhB08bkXKVx3z_TODYcEJbcrD6adfFEEyJ7A_aem_C9DZ27ty-nPs-_l2iQkIYg

Straw Bale Gardens ­Complete, Updated Edition:

The Breakthrough Method for Growing Vegetables Anywhere, Earlier and with No Weeding By Joel Karsten (approx. $39 through Fishpond)

Happy gardening!