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Dick Adams[_2_] · 06-01-2012, 11:04 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible

wrote:
wrote:
(Dick Adams) wrote:

Anyone here into straw bale gardening?
Like to read opinions on it before I try it.

I used straw bales and old shower doors for a cold frame
one or two years. It worked well.

I tried tomatoes in a bale a few years with no luck at all.
I am not sure exactly what happened but they didn't grow well
and then got wilt.

Thanks - I'm considering tomatoes. The management of my house
wants them planted in area she has assigned to me for gardening
because she thinks they will be top heavy.

As for the problem with your tomato plants, my initial questions a
1. Was there enough well-composted soil in the straw bale?
2. Were the straw bales adequately soaked and fertilized?
3. Did the plants get enough sunlight?

My limited experience says that vegetables should be planted in
rows North_to_South maximize exposure to the sun. Last year I
crowded the rows of Habenero Peppers to fit them all in the
garden plot. The quality of harvest was definitely a function
of row position - from excellent to poor.

Also I just learned that peppers are perennials! So if they winter
indoors, they will prosper again the next spring. This is great
news - expecially here in the Land of the damnyankee Snow."