Straw Bale Gardening: Start to Finish

Straw bales (not hay bales) are a great place to plant vegetables. Here's my start-to-finish results! The straw is an easy, loose place for the plants to spread out their roots. Also, up on the straw bale there is essentially ZERO weeds to pick. (Note: do NOT use a "hay" bale: unlike straw, the hay has lots of seeds and you will have wheat/oats/grass/etc. growing as weeds in your garden!). Straw bales have some benefits like "raised bed" gardening.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• straw bale
• hay bales
• straw
• bale
• gardening
• growing
• vegetables
• raised bed gardening
• garden

[zenzorxed]

Great method!

I need instant 'soil' for a 9 x 12' space for strawberries and raspberry transplants NOW! - I could use this method, couldn't I?

[OrganicGarden123]

@zenzorxed Yes, you could probably use a straw bale for your space. Just note that if you need to plant right away then you would want a more mature (somewhat composted) straw bale. Or mix in a bag of compost or topsoil. Happy gardening!

[VirtualRealityTV]

Wow. ! Think I am going to buy a Roll of hay, $80. and plant a garden in it. I love this. why not, forget the $250 corrugated iron garden bed u have to fill with soil etc. Definitely an interesting idea. I do find that my roll, compost's and grows hay! but this probably wouldnt compete with my veggies and strawberries. . Nice Idea!

[OrganicGarden123]

@VirtualRealityTV I assume that you are being facetious, but I'll humor you and reply anyway. :-)

If you have the space and money for a proper raised bed, definitely go for it. That is what I ended up doing. But during my first year gardening, the straw bales were perfect (and free). Also, note that STRAW bales will have FAR less seeds than the HAY that you suggested. Hay will indeed grow more hay, competing with your veggies. Happy gardening. Peace.

[LeseMajeste]

"Straw is the residue from grain crops. Grain crops are indeed dessicated with herbicide.."

I was raised on a farm and I can tell your from experience that as long as you stick to wheat straw, made from wheat, their won't be any herbicide used since the wheat is planted in the Fall.

Any weeds that might of grown die in the Winter and by the Spring, the wheat crop is so thick weeds don't have a chance of growing.

[OrganicGarden123]

@LeseMajeste THANKS for the tip! How can we tell whether a straw bale is wheat straw? What are the 'other' kinds of straw that we should avoid (due to herbicides) and how can we tell the difference? Which kind of straw is it that we most commonly see for Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations and are they typically free of herbicides/pesticides? Your further insights would be MUCH appreciated....

[quackmasterJ]

sick, piss,......what the fuck?

[PeonysA]

how much urine and time do you think each straw bale needs in order to be ready for planting?

[Flossiesmommy]

@jefferdaughter. You are right & thank you. I am a big "amender"; where I lived before i had an amazing vegetable garden because of it. Unfortunately, amending a sand dune would take massive amounts of organic matter. I think it'd raise the soil about half-way up my first floor... ;) I am very fortunate in that I do have a community garden bed in town...but not big enough for potatoes. I have planted my potatoes in potting soil in tall boxes, this year. If ONLY we had grass with which to make c

[Jefferdaughter]

@Flossiesmommy -Sandy soil, or should I just say 'sand', benefits from the addition of just about any and all organic matter you can put on it or in it, including straw, grass clippings, etc. Just be sure that whatever you use is (relatively) free of chemicals. Happy gardening!

[Jefferdaughter]

Most of the straw available these days, at least in the Northeast, is not wheat straw, but oat straw. Or occasionally another small grain. Oat straw does not work as well for animal bedding as wheat straw, but should work find for this. Unless you get straw from an organic farm, I would not rule out the effects of chemical/ industrial farming (mineral deficiency, chem residues...). BTW, straw goes for $8-$10./bale in our corner of the Northeast, if you don't have neighbors 'into' Halloween.

[AdwordsIncome]

@OrganicGarden123 Wheat straw has a beautiful, consistent golden-yellow color (as opposed to a mixture of colors in a bale of hay - green, yellow, brown, gray) and you'll also see the recognizable wheat head here and there. Once you've seen it, you'll know.

[EkocentrumICPPC]

What a fabulous idea. I will try it with some tomatoes and celery this year.

[Flossiesmommy]

I just moved to NE Florida, and my yard is sandy, to put is mildly. We are so close to the beach (I'm not grouching about tha!) that there is very little loam in it. Would straw bale gardening work for me, or do the roots need more nutrients than they are going to find, once they leave the bale?

[ArizonaAdventures]

that looks like fun

[dontbelivewhatyourea]

We use "old/dead" hay and have NO problem with weeds.