Hay Bale gardening

[KathrynP]

I'm doing some hay bales for the first time this year too. I've had them in place and being well watered and occasionally pooped on by the neighborhood contingent of ducks and chickens for at least a week now [first group for 3 weeks].....It's far too early to set any plants out in them....we're expecting temps in the 20's the next 2 nights! but have been told the most important thing is to have the bales well soaked for weeks on end to start the composting process before putting in any plants...adding high nitrogen fertilizer [blood meal or pee -or chicken poo - can speed up the process....hope yours recover and do well for you.

I found the link izitmidnight posted very helpful when I first looked into doing this. I love how over the years he has gradually become much more of a nature/organic gardener. There is a youtube clip of a woman giving a workshop on hay bale gardening...very basic and not too long....go to youtube and search 'hay bale gardening'

I'm doing mostly tomatoes in the bales....but also plan on some herbs, cukes,squashes and broc just to see what happens. Will still be doing my usual in the ground garden too.

[NTXGardenGuy]

Originally Posted by KathrynP

I'm doing some hay bales for the first time this year too. I've had them in place and being well watered and occasionally pooped on by the neighborhood contingent of ducks and chickens for at least a week now [first group for 3 weeks].....It's far too early to set any plants out in them....we're expecting temps in the 20's the next 2 nights! but have been told the most important thing is to have the bales well soaked for weeks on end to start the composting process before putting in any plants...adding high nitrogen fertilizer [blood meal or pee -or chicken poo - can speed up the process....hope yours recover and do well for you.

I found the link izitmidnight posted very helpful when I first looked into doing this. I love how over the years he has gradually become much more of a nature/organic gardener. There is a youtube clip of a woman giving a workshop on hay bale gardening...very basic and not too long....go to youtube and search 'hay bale gardening'

I'm doing mostly tomatoes in the bales....but also plan on some herbs, cukes,squashes and broc just to see what happens. Will still be doing my usual in the ground garden too.

I read 20's and then saw you're from Maine
Gotta be freezing up there!!!

[ovenbird]

I am concerned that people here are interchanging the words "hay" and "straw" You do not want hay bales. You want straw bales. They are not the same thing. Do not use hay bales! Hay is the harvested tops of mixed plants, many of which are in seed so you are bringing a lot of unknown seed into your garden. These will potentially become weeds in your garden.

You want straw bales. Straw is the stem of a crop plant that had it's seeds harvested for grain. Typically, you can buy wheat or oat straw. I have used both. I lined the 18" tall bales in rows ~ 36" wide for wide rows. The bales composted in one season. If I were to do this again, I would make a maze garden of narrow rows 13" wide by putting the bales end to end to help them last 2 years. Hay will also compost away more quickly than straw, probably in 6 months, leaving a nice weed patch in it's place.

My straw bale experiences were wonderful. Quick growing crops of huge yield. The root systems on the plants were massive! I am now in raised beds, but I have not adjusted to not planting things as close together. In raised beds the plants need considerably more space. In conventional gardening they need even more space. The grand champion of my straw bale garden was a head of broccoli fully a foot across!

You may get some wheat or oats sprouting from your bales, but they are very easily identified and pulled.

[rockpilefarmer]

Ya know, I have not had good luck at all growing lettuces and root veggies. What do you all think? I am most interested in beets. I have tried so many times, I am about to give up. Now potatoes are a who different thing. I can grow potatoes in the rocky soil, and they are wonderful. Radishes too. Just not beets or carrots.

[jjbondelie]

I was given 3 oat HAY bales, not straw. A friends horses wouldn't eat it because it was too straw like. I am going to try to grow in it, I'm not concerned about it leaving weed seed as the bales are in the horse corral. I winter my horse in there, and grow pumpkins and other large squash in containers during the summer. The ground is too hard to grow anything directly in it.

I have never done bale gardening before. These are huge bales, about 150 pounds each, 3 strings. They are packed very tight. I have started the watering process a couple weeks ago. Should I cut the middle string on the bales to help loosen the spaces between the flakes of hay?? These are extremely dense bales and I want to make sure there is room for the roots to grow. I am still about 4 weeks until I can plant outside. Thinking about some pumpkins, cucumbers, beans, broccoli.......what would do best in them?

Thank you!

[Mulligan Man]

Originally Posted by ovenbird

I am concerned that people here are interchanging the words "hay" and "straw" You do not want hay bales. You want straw bales. They are not the same thing. Do not use hay bales! Hay is the harvested tops of mixed plants, many of which are in seed so you are bringing a lot of unknown seed into your garden. These will potentially become weeds in your garden.

You want straw bales. Straw is the stem of a crop plant that had it's seeds harvested for grain. Typically, you can buy wheat or oat straw. I have used both. I lined the 18" tall bales in rows ~ 36" wide for wide rows. The bales composted in one season. If I were to do this again, I would make a maze garden of narrow rows 13" wide by putting the bales end to end to help them last 2 years. Hay will also compost away more quickly than straw, probably in 6 months, leaving a nice weed patch in it's place.

My straw bale experiences were wonderful. Quick growing crops of huge yield. The root systems on the plants were massive! I am now in raised beds, but I have not adjusted to not planting things as close together. In raised beds the plants need considerably more space. In conventional gardening they need even more space. The grand champion of my straw bale garden was a head of broccoli fully a foot across!

You may get some wheat or oats sprouting from your bales, but they are very easily identified and pulled.

No offense but it won't make a bit of difference, as far as weeds go.

Hay may or may not be made before the seeds in them are viable.

Straw may or may not be weed free but the weeds have a better chance of being mature.

[KathrynP]

Ovenbird, there really seems to be a lot of discussion on whether to use hay or straw....'Strawbaleman' from Izitmidnight's link says to use whichever you can get tho he has only used straw 'cause its readily avail and inexpensive where he lives. Suzy Bartel in her Hay Bale Gardening video on youtube says she has done a side by side comparison and hay bales worked much better for her.

I'm using hay because I have local sources for it and it works with my budget.... I am not using it on an already working veg garden but am putting my bales over a weedy/witch-grassy patch....it if is productive this year then great....if it kills off any of the nasties already there even better! If it adds lots of weed seeds I'm no worse off than i was before and should have a harvest as a bonus.

I would think that if you prepare the bales correctly the heat phase it goes through before you plant should kill off most of the seeds.....but this is all an experiment for me, in addition not instead of my reg dirt garden.

[izitmidnight]

Originally Posted by jjbondelie

I was given 3 oat HAY bales, not straw. A friends horses wouldn't eat it because it was too straw like. I am going to try to grow in it, I'm not concerned about it leaving weed seed as the bales are in the horse corral. I winter my horse in there, and grow pumpkins and other large squash in containers during the summer. The ground is too hard to grow anything directly in it.

I have never done bale gardening before. These are huge bales, about 150 pounds each, 3 strings. They are packed very tight. I have started the watering process a couple weeks ago. Should I cut the middle string on the bales to help loosen the spaces between the flakes of hay?? These are extremely dense bales and I want to make sure there is room for the roots to grow. I am still about 4 weeks until I can plant outside. Thinking about some pumpkins, cucumbers, beans, broccoli.......what would do best in them?

Thank you!

I would leave all three on. What I did was pulled out a handful where I wanted to plant. Put in that handful of dirt or compost and then planted. The roots will find thier way down into the straw/hay! They will go searching for that wonderful moisture!

As for what will grow best, everything you mentioned does well on bales. Root crops do better the next year in the composted straw. They don't do well in fresh bales! Corn doesn't get enough support so it will tend to fall over.

[rockpilefarmer]

I've been reading all the posts. Thanks guys. I guess I will put above ground plants in this year, maybe use them next year for root crops.