Cabin Treasures

Straw Bale How To - My Process

Straw Bale Garden – My Process

2015

1) Obtain straw (not hay) bales and place them on the sides (so the string around them doesn’t touch the ground and the ends of the stalks face the sky); put them where you want them before watering because they are too heavy to move afterwards. You can put little metal posts or rods at the ends of each row of bales to help keep them in place if you want. Make sure the bales are pushed up against each other for support if you have them end to end in a row. If the string breaks on your bales, just tie some other string or rope around them to keep them together.

Altho this type of Nitrogen is encapsulated which lessens its risk, Nitrogen can be dangerous so it is VERY important that you water the bales thoroughly both before you start the nitrogen days, water the nitrogen after you put it on the bales each day and water the bales for a couple of days after you are done with the nitrogen application to make sure it is safe and also to keep it from burning your bale which it can do if you don't water it at all. Also make sure you keep your bag of Nitrogen in a rain proof container or area because if it gets soaked with water while in the bag its really no longer useful for your garden as it will start to break down.

2) Soak them with water for 3 days in a row. (day 1,2,3)

3) The next 3 days in a row (4,5,6) each day put a cup of high nitrogen fertilizer...I use a nitrogen 34-0-0 that has urea and ammonia sulfate in it).

(you can also use 30-0-0 )on top of each bale, spreading it across the top, and soak with water so it goes down into the bale. (ammonia nitrate 34-0-0 is the best but it's really hard to come by, you can also use urea 46-0-0 but cut the amount in half; you can also use an ammonia nitrate of 21-0-0- but use more of it if you can find it). For those of you want to do this more organically...here are the options as I understand them.... instead of the 34-0-0 high nitrogen (with urea and ammonia sulfate) you can use blood meal (dried animal blood with 12-15% nitrogen) or feather meal (ground up poultry feathers with 6-12% nitrogen), fish emulsion, compost tea or another organic, high nitrogen product; there is also an organic fertilizer called Garden Tone; another option is using your own urine, about half a gallon per bale, since it has water-soluble nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, then top the bales with compost. Any of these organic methods will take longer so give yourself extra days to get it to the composting stage.

This is what it looks like as you sprinkle the nitrogen on the bales.

This is what the bale looks like with a cup of nitrogen on it before watering

The right side of this bale is like the one above, the left side of this bale is after I've pushed the nitrogen into the bale with my hose sprayer. It is hard to tell in this picture, but if you look closely at your bales, you will still see some of the nitrogen, however it will look like dandruff as opposed to a white head of hair.

4) The next 3 days (7,8,9) each day put a 1/2 cup of high nitrogen fertilizer on top of each bale, again spreading in across the top and soaking with water.

5) The next day (10) apply 1/2 - 1 cup per bale of a regular fertilizer with even numbers (like 7-7-7 or 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 or 14-14-14) and soak with water.

6) After that, use a meat thermometer and stick it in the bale each day to see the temperature; it may get up to around 165* during the middle of the prep process, so you have to wait until the inside temperature gets back down to regular outdoor temperatures, at least below 100* before you plant. Better if you wait til it gets in the 80* temps. (if you are doing this as early in the season as I do, usually late Feb or first week of March, it may not get quite that hot due to the sometimes colder temps outside)

7) When you plant, you can use a trowel or hand shovel or your hands to make small holes in the bales to transplant your seedlings if grown in doors; put a little potting soil in the hole and also pack some around the plant. If you are planting seeds, spread a layer about 1-2 inches thick, of potting soil, across the top of the bale and plant your seeds in it. You can also plant seeds in the sides of the bales, even if you have stuff planted on the top, especially for things that vine out onto the ground. Make a hole, put a little potting soil in and put seeds in. You can put tall posts at the ends and string wire between them or do that on each side of the bale or put cattle panel on one side, to tie plants like tomatoes to if needed. You can also use a cattle panel to make an arch over bales to grow vining plants.

8) You will need to water more with hay bales, probably daily and in heat of summer maybe twice a day. Soaker hoses may help with this.

9) You can put wire between the T-posts and use this to drape clear plastic over and tuck under bales to protect your transplants, provide more greenhouse effect, and keep the frost off; can also use it tie plants to that need support if you want to, although I don't use it for this.

10) There is another method, that I've utilized previoulsy involving a longer time frame...Water days 1,2,3, then on days 4,6,8 use the nitrogen and on days 5,7,9 just water, on days 10,12,14 use 1/2 as much nitrogen, and on days 11,13,15 just water, then on 16th add an even number fertilizer (like 7-7-7 or 10-10-10) and water, and then when temperature inside the bales goes down, you can plant. You can also buy the bales in the fall, leave them out all winter and they may be ok to plant in without doing anything to them in the spring...I haven't tried that though.

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Make sure you check out the main page "My Straw Bale Garden" for my ongoing diary and pix from previous year(s) as well as my current progress THIS year!

PRODUCE

I've had several people ask what the produce looks like from my garden so below I will post some pix taken of last years produce....Hope that helps :) Most of these were taken of the very first veggie that popped up because I am always so excited so keep that in mind. :0 I still had tomatoe and peppers growing pasts the frosts and into the freezes. Yummy!