(If you’re reading this on the front page, click through for more images.)
I’ve been gardening for years, but the idea of planting in straw bales is new to me. I ran across this post about straw bale gardening earlier this year and was intrigued enough to mention in on the Attainable Sustainable Facebook page. It seemed like a perfect way to add a garden to a space that was less than ideal for growing.
My own garden space is severely sloped and we were in the process of terracing it with rock walls to create more usable space when my husband’s job took him off the island for an extended period. Without my rock guy, I was stuck – until I remembered those straw bales. I did a little reading and learned that straw bales could last a couple of years in the garden. If they lasted that long, why couldn’t I use them to retain my garden? I’d have the level planting space I needed, plus I could grow more vegetables right in the “wall.” I enlisted my teenagers to help me move the bales into place (they’re awkward and a bit heavy).
The good news: the bales are working quite well as a temporary retaining wall. Eventually they’ll be replaced with a rock wall, but for now they’re a fairly inexpensive solution to my sloped garden space.
The bad news: they’re not that great for growing things in. Now, I admit, I didn’t use the chemical nitrogen as some straw bale gardeners suggest. Instead, I used fish bone meal both during the rot process and as I planted. I’d expected to have a thriving little garden like this one growing right out of those bales by now, but instead, I just have slowly decomposing straw bales. (The tomatillo plant you see in the image is planted in the ground behind the straw bale.)
When I started, I wasn’t sure what would work best so I planted both seeds (green beans and kale) and seedlings. Most of the seeds sprouted but never moved beyond sprout size. I’ve replanted three times, but still no luck. The pepper seedlings I planted have failed to thrive. The pepper plant pictured below is several months old. It’s alive, but it certainly isn’t going to put food on my table any time soon.
It looks like it will be awhile before the rock wall can be finished, so I’ll probably try another round of seeds in the bales (seeds are cheap). Maybe now that they’re more decomposed, I’ll have better luck? In any case, when I’m done with this temporary retaining solution, I’ll have some lovely compost to add to the garden.
My cyber-friend Roxanne at Champion of my Heart mentioned that she didn’t have any luck with straw bales in her garden either. And a search of the Real Food Dude’s site (where I first saw straw bale gardening mentioned) doesn’t turn up any successful “after” pictures, even though some people are clearly having luck with this method.
Have you had any luck with straw bale gardening?
I was pretty skeptical about this method, more so when I clicked through to the originator who seems to be invested in giving workshops and less interested in being specific about his methods. I know a few people who spent lots of time and money trying this out, not one had any luck.
Laura, I’d have been more disappointed if the bales weren’t also serving the purpose of holding up the garden! I’ll be curious to hear if anyone here has had good luck with this method.
I know this sounds crazy, but I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube that showed how to use human urine (I water mine down 1/3-2/3 water)to enrich the bales with nitrates. You throw some soil on top of the bale and then pour the urine over it .. the soil seeps down into the bale and the microbes go to work breaking the bales down into usable growing medium. Once the bales are no longer usable, scatter them around the other plants for mulch or throw them on the compost heap. It’s FREE.
Not crazy at all. I shared this on my Facebook page last week. It’s worth a read! http://www.nwedible.com/2013/03/how-to-use-pee-in-your-garden.html
I feel better hearing that it didn’t work well for you, either. I can send you pix, but I got some squash plants and cucumber plants to come UP, but they just are not growing. After nearly 2 months (we have a late / short growing season here), they are still immature little things with no signs of producing anything.
Though, I did meet a guy at the gardening store who said you can cover spouted potatoes with straw and that it works well for those plants. Maybe next year.
Misery loves company, Roxanne! When I’m done with the straw, it will go to good use in the garden, but it would have been nice to have the original idea work, too.
You’ve just got to watch Ruth Stout’s Garden on YouTube. She said she never watered her garden .. ever .. yet could yield tons of food. She used straw to cover the spuds and nothing else. Check it out .. you’ll never have to toil again .. haha
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to check those out.
Ah well, it was worth a try and didn’t cost much. At least the bales are serving another purpose.
We re-used straw bales from our archery backstop.
I had excellent results with my straw bale….of course, as you know, straw bales are expensive in Hawai’i since they are shipped from mainland and the cheapest I could find was $17 – by the time I paid for wrapping it – so the straw wouldn’t shed all over my car (I have no truck) it was almost $20 and I did buy the nitrogen suggested, which was also high…..good thing my banana plants also love it.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979273200
We had great luck with our bale…and harvested lima beans for months!
I wanted to try the bale gardening but never got a chance, now I’m glad I didn’t (sorry it’s at your expense!). Can’t find straw bales around here anymore – just grass bales. I used two on about half my potatoes and so far the harvesting of those potatoes was SUPER easy and good sized potatoes =) super happy about that. next year I will invest in much more so I can get a bigger, better crop of potatoes.
The plants look yellow, which is often a sign of nitrogen deficiency (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_deficiency) I would recommend a manure or weed tea every few days to build up nitrogen in the straw bale (which will be mostly carbon). Your fish meal is also high in N, so maybe you could just apply more fish meal (http://www.the-organic-gardener.com/fish-emulsion.html). I suspect that the nutrients will quickly drain out of the straw, so they need to be topped up regularly. I’m just relating it back to the need to add N to the soil if you add too much mulch as the microbes that cause decomposition of the carbon in the mulch use up N at the same time. Anyway, at least they are holding up your garden! And will add valuable organic matter at they break down. Good luck!
I would think if the straw is tightly baled there woudn’t be enough room for the roots to grow, unless the plan has very aggressive roots. (Do lima beans?) As the straw loosens and decomposes you might have better luck. Was that the case?
My lima seeds did not have any trouble growing in the decomposing straw bale. I had seedlings coming up within just a few days of planting them. What you do is sort of open a hole in the top of the bale with a spade and fill in with a little bit of growing soil and then put your seed in that…
My understanding was that you wanted HALF-ROTTED bales and that you don’t use the bale ‘as is’. You start with a layer (a sheet or two) of newspaper, right on the ground. You pull off a ‘flake or so’ (i.e. a handful sized slab), put it on the newspaper, then lay the seeds on top. Then Put another slab on top of that. You save the rest of the hay to drop on stubborn weeds.
The lady that taught me this gardened from her wheelchair.
The particular plant we were talking about (although anything should work, with more or less hay) was the potato. Her favorite part was that you can lift the hay, pick the big potatoes, then put it back and let the rest grow.
I have not done this with my own hands, I’m only reporting what I was told.
Dave, thanks. The method I followed did start with full bales, but the method you explain sounds interesting, too!
Having grown up on a farm, I can offer a variation that may not help with gardening on uneven ground, but definitely works well as a planting/soil/mulching medium. Every spring, my dad takes a pitchfork out into the field where he pastures cows and digs up partially rotted hay from the field. Since most smaller farmers who do not have field lots feed their cattle with round bales during the winter months when there is no grass to graze on, the cows inevitably tear hay off and lay on some of what they don’t eat. Over the winter months, this hay builds up in spots where the farmer places round bales for the cattle, so in the spring, there is a nice supply of partially rotted hay to use as bedding soil. Dad has used this for the past two years to grow sweet potatoes in and has had a lot of success.
Actually I have had luck with straw bale gardening although not with growing directly into the bale even with digging out the centre and putting in soil etc. What I have had luck with is….. most of my place in suburbia is sloped and bitumen which I am in no postition at the moment to replace or dig up. ALso my only real sunny spots are those areas. I made up beds on top of the bitumen using straw bales then filled the enclosed area with soil and compost etc. I have successfully grown anything I have wanted to in those beds…spinach, lettuce, peas, broad beans, garlic, strawberries, corn …. Two advantages have been that the bales catch the water from uphill and help keep the beds moistened during the hot summer and at the end of the growing season I have fabulous compost from the disintegrating bales. I have just ordered my forty bales for this growing season.
Frazzled, that sounds fantastic….but if I had to buy 40 bales of the straw at the $17 per bale price we have to pay here, my veggies would cost more than if I bought them from the most exclusive jewelry store in the world!!! How I wish I could….I do love the concept and if the price was not so high here, I would do it again…
I just noticed that Google is showing a tab at the bottom of this page with some videos you can watch on different methods of using the straw bales for gardening………!
$17 a bale would definitely price them into the wealthy only category! They are about $6 here in Tasmania where it is mostly grazing, fruit trees and vegie growing. Rural. Hay bales are more expensive. Love the site and am looking forward to reading more. Thanks for sharing.
When I’ve seen straw bales used, they dig a hole in the straw and fill it with compost/dirt, then plant in the hole. You have to fertilize them, too.
[...] as planned. Last year at this time, my husband was working away from home so I tried my (failed) straw bale retaining wall experiment. This year, he’s battling a back injury and he hasn’t been exactly thrilled [...]