"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Farm1 wrote:
"Dick Adams" wrote:

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

What do you have in mind when you use the term 'straw bale gardening'?

I've grown spuds in a bed with straw bales around them and infilled iwth
dirt. I've cut a hole in a strawbale and put soil in and grown things in
it. I've used slabs of straw bales as a base for no-dig. I use lots of
straw bales in my garden and have no idea what on earth you mean by your
question.

I was looking for people like you who have actually done it.

Have you tried tomatoes, onions, squash, or melons?

I've planted a pumpkin into a well rotted bale into which I cut a hole. It
did well. If I was going to plant toms or beans, I'd do them in a bed with
bales around like Len did but in a smaller bed than he used. The spuds did
well in the bed we put bales around.

I always rot my bales for a while before doing anything with them unlike Len
did. I buy bales and drop them on the ground and then turn them when I
think of it so the soil microbes can start work on them.

Bales also work well to extend the growing season (beginnig and end) and
especially if they are starting to rot. Use them straight on the ground to
protect things and with an old window or some plastic on the top of them.

Farm1 wrote:
"Dick Adams" wrote:

....
Have you tried tomatoes, onions, squash, or melons?

I've planted a pumpkin into a well rotted bale into which I cut a hole. It
did well. If I was going to plant toms or beans, I'd do them in a bed with
bales around like Len did but in a smaller bed than he used. The spuds did
well in the bed we put bales around.

I always rot my bales for a while before doing anything with them unlike
Len did. I buy bales and drop them on the ground and then turn them when
I think of it so the soil microbes can start work on them.

It appears to me that Len uses the straw bales for both the base and the
edge of a garden plot. This is one of the two common forms that I have
found. One of my problems is, in spite of my claim of being perpetually 17,
my body will be 69 before the next harvest. So I'm looking for raising the
height of my garden.

Bales also work well to extend the growing season (beginnig and end) and
especially if they are starting to rot. Use them straight on the ground to
protect things and with an old window or some plastic on the top of them.

Extending the season is important to me. Although I'm a Southerner, I currently
live just west of Baltimore in the Land of the damnyankee Snow - winters are
worse than they are in Armidale. Straw bales could mean an eight month growing
season!

Dick

"Dick Adams" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote:
"Dick Adams" wrote:

....
Have you tried tomatoes, onions, squash, or melons?

I've planted a pumpkin into a well rotted bale into which I cut a hole.
It
did well. If I was going to plant toms or beans, I'd do them in a bed
with
bales around like Len did but in a smaller bed than he used. The spuds
did
well in the bed we put bales around.

I always rot my bales for a while before doing anything with them unlike
Len did. I buy bales and drop them on the ground and then turn them when
I think of it so the soil microbes can start work on them.

It appears to me that Len uses the straw bales for both the base and the
edge of a garden plot.

No, he just uses them round the edges. The base is lawn. He may not even
use them anymore - those pics on his site are now quite old.