Hay Bale Gardening: What to Know | The Family Handyman
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First things first: Hay bale gardening bales are about often made of straw. They're a smart, economical version of container gardening, by any proper noun.
If y'all aren't ready to till part of your backyard and there's no room in your upkeep for raised beds, don't give up on starting a garden! There's another way to abound tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and lots of other vegetables.
More than 20 years ago, Straw Bale Solutions author Joel Karsten created an alternative gardening method when he needed a low-cost fashion to grow vegetables. He discovered bales of organic straw, hay or other quick-composting materials can replace the need for soil, while offer fresh nutrients to plants. The outer trounce of the bales also insulates plants, offering early-flavor frost protection while keeping roots cool during summer's summit heat.
"Straw bale gardening is merely a different blazon of container gardening," Karsten says. His easily adaptable procedure, likewise known every bit hay bale gardening, has been so successful it'due south caught on across the globe, from isolated areas of rural Cambodia to urban areas of the Philippines.
Why Choose Hay Bale Gardening?
Hither are 4 strong reasons to give hay bale gardening a endeavour:
Affordability
A harbinger bale is considerably easier on the upkeep than raised beds and soil. While information technology might toll a few hundred dollars for the wood to build garden beds, a bale averages $five to $10 if purchased directly from a farm. Bales should last a full season or ii.
Accessibility
The height of a bale makes plants easier to reach and tend for anyone in a wheelchair or unable to kneel easily. No tilling or heavy tools are needed, although a small paw trowel and pruner are helpful for planting and harvesting vegetables.
No Soil Required
If you lack good soil, a bale gives you a place to plant. Information technology likewise elevates plants above the soil line, so they are less vulnerable to soil-borne fungi, diseases and insects.
Bale Basics
Straw Bales vs. Hay Bales
Straw bales are yellow-gold rectangular cubes made of densely packed dried stems or stalks left over after harvesting wheat, oats, barley and other grains. These bales typically hold up best throughout the growing season and provide dandy insulation.
Hay bales are greenish rectangular cubes of forage crops, such as clover and alfalfa. They may have some stray seeds in them and are non quite as sturdy equally straw bales.
Where to Buy Bales
You lot may be able to notice ready-made hay or harbinger bales at farm, garden or dwelling house centers. Another option is to bank check the online straw bale market, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for local farmers selling bales. Some other hack from Karsten for penny-pinchers: Picket for autumn displays using harbinger bales, and enquire if you can accept the bales when the season'south over. Save them for spring workout and planting.
If y'all become through online retailers, watch advisedly for sizes then you don't end upwards with a tiny bale meant to emphasis a flower bouquet or loose straw meant for animal bedding or mulch. Standard bale sizes should be about 16 inches by eighteen inches, and run about 3 feet long. They should be tightly wrapped 2 or three times with twine.
DIY Bales
Technically, you tin can employ anything dense and compostable to create your own bale. You can endeavor grass clippings or leaves pressed into a rectangular bin for the shape. Add some water to help demark the materials together. Karsten advises wrapping a bale made of looser materials with twine or chicken wire.
How to Prep the Bale
Successful hay bale gardening requires yous to pre-condition the bale for at least 12 days before planting. This should take place two weeks before your area'south typical last twenty-four hour period of frost. Conditioning hastens the composting process in the heart of the bale, creating growing material to nourish plants. Use a spade or gardening fork to create a few holes along the top of the bale then you tin can reach the inside.
Fertilize Bales for 10 Days
You'll demand a product that'south at to the lowest degree xx percent nitrogen; Karsten suggests a cheap lawn fertilizer that's not a timed-release production. Organic gardeners may opt for blood meal. BaleBuster includes additional boosts of fungi and leaner for a more thorough composting.
Days 1 to 6
Add one/ii cup of traditional fertilizer or iii cups of organic fertilizer per bale on the first, tertiary and fifth twenty-four hours of conditioning. H2o daily, about a gallon of water per bale. Use warm water if possible. Overwatering may launder away needed nutrients.
Days 7 to 9
Employ 1/4 cup of fertilizer (or one-1/two cups of organic fertilizer) per bale on Days seven, 8 and 9.
Day 10
Add one loving cup of ten-ten-10 fertilizer or three cups of organic fertilizer with potassium and phosphorus, which tin bind to the composting material. H2o enough to wash the fertilizer into the bale.
Days 11-12
Keep the bale moist on Twenty-four hour period 11. Composting generates heat, and that estrus needs to cool below 105 F before planting seedlings, such equally tomatoes. Seeds volition typically germinate better with warmer temperatures.
What to Plant in the Bale
Annihilation that grows in soil should grow in a harbinger bale. If you lot're new to gardening, try planting seedlings, such every bit tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, from a local garden center or domicile store. Seedlings are given a healthy head outset in greenhouses and can be easier for showtime-time gardeners.
You tin can likewise plant your straw bale with seeds. Larger seeds, such every bit peas, beans and squash, can exist planted right in the bale.
How to Constitute the Bale
For seeds, button them down to about a knuckle's depth in the newly composted material. If you're planting vegetables with tiny seeds, such as carrots or lettuce, it'due south best to add nigh an inch of potting soil on top of the composting bale to keep seeds at the correct depth. Dampen the soil, institute the seeds gently and sprinkle with a light layer of boosted potting mix, which is sterile and able to hold moisture.
For seedlings, make a hole to identify the roots as you would in soil. Add together a little potting soil and cover the roots, making sure the seedling is secure and level.
How to Tend the Bale
One of the biggest mistakes new straw bale gardeners brand is overwatering. A harbinger bale can agree three to v gallons of h2o, which can wash away important nutrients. Stick to virtually i gallon of water per bale daily when workout bales and during hot, sunny days. Yous don't take to water as oft during cool and cloudy weather condition. Gently feel inside the bale for wet, if in doubt.
Another watering approach is to identify a soaker or drip hose across the bales for less hassle and even watering.
What to Do with the Bale Postal service-Harvest
If you're lucky, you'll get ii seasons of planting out of your straw bales. Yous tin can compost spent bales, apply them as mulch or recycle with your lawn and garden waste.
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