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Straw Bale Gardening

 

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Yep, you read that right.

I am taking on a new project. Have you heard of it before? The thought behind a straw bale garden is that the straw bale acts as a natural compost. You can read more here and here.

The whole compost part of the straw bale is great but what I like most is that it is a raised garden without actually building a raised garden.

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You see… I have little bunny rabbits that run around in my back yard pretty often and I think they would love an herb dinner. Plus, I really don’t have a clue where I would want to put a permanent garden but this isn't permanent rather seasonal.

So, stage one of the garden

I got the bales at a smaller home improvement store for $6.99 each. The compost (mushroom), blood meal, and soaker hose all came from good ole Lowes.

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After digging a bit to get the bales on level ground, I placed them in their intended spot right next to the porch. Supposedly, if you can put them against something it helps to keep the moisture in. For me the cement porch served as a great back board.

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After I laid on the compost and blood meal I made sure to water the bales extremely well. The water helps to “cook” the bales and get the break down of the bales started which in turn helps the composting to start.

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The soaker hose is quite a bit longer than my bales I decided to coil them on the top. Seems to work just fine.

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After this week of “cooking” I should be able to plant my herbs and veggies – I am thinking maybe next Monday or Tuesday.

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I like this kind of gardening – no tilling, no building, no fences – just put out a bale and get to work.

Anyone else giving their green thumb a test drive?

1 comment

  1. This is awesome! The first I've seen of this. I can't wait to see how it works out! Exciting!!!

    ReplyDelete