Straw bale gardening, it’s becoming more and more popular. I wondered if it would be as good as growing in raised beds, I had great luck growing in raised beds using a thick layer of straw as a mulch, the Ruth Stout method. A few years ago, one of my neighbors and friend who had very poor soil, in fact she had mostly rock. She took a large chain link fence dog kennel and 4 or 5 bales of hay and gave it a go.
That year, we had a gardening round-table in our community, we discuss tips and tricks for growing at our elevation and climate, my friend mentioned that her garden was going crazy, we were invited to come over and take a look after the meeting, I think most everyone at the meeting eagerly went over to see her garden.
It was unbelievable, the plants were bursting out of the dog kennel, when she went inside the kennel, you couldn’t see her anymore, the plants completely obscured her. The plants were quite happy and healthy, she didn’t even try to keep the plants inside the kennel – allowing the birds and other animals to nibble on the plants that were escaping the chain link fencing.
Seeing her garden really sold me on the straw bale gardening method. One thing I’m going to be contending with starting this year are gophers, they have been around in other parts of the neighborhood, but I’ve not seen them around this area. This year, I’ve started to see the tell tale signs of the gophers, they are small, not like the ones I remember in California, those created holes large enough to step in and break a leg. Our gophers our here make holes that are only a few inches across, though they do create lots of piles of dirt. I’ve seen them around the garden area on our property, I suspect they will be very interested in whatever I choose to plant in the garden.
I’m thinking that growing in straw bales, closer to the SkyCastle, I can protect it better than out farther away. What about you? Have you grown in a straw bale? If so, how did it work for you and are you going to do it again? Let me know in the comments below :)
Strawbale gardening dangerous?
keyhole gardening
gardening roundtable