Straw bale Garden!

13 years ago

I'm starting a garden with my neighbor in our shared backyard. We're using straw bales as the walls of our raised beds. I've looked around and everyone says use compost or manure. So, I found a lady giving away free old horse manure!! I got two truck bed loads and mostly filled two of the beds. Also one bed has some compost from my compost bin. Then I started reading about raised beds and people are saying to mix the compost with other dirt. My question is... Is old compost dirt or not? What is the difference between soil and compost? I am having a hard time understanding this. I'm also afraid of spending too much money on this garden. I am on a tight budget... :(

I went to home depot and check out on the "garden soil" guess what the ingredients were? Compost, Manure, Sphagnum moss...

http://warfieldgarden.blogspot.com/

If you need more info, here's our blog with pics and stuff.

I feel frustrated...

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Comments (4)

Kimmsr
13 years ago
Soil contains a mineral element, the particles of sand, silt, and clay that make up the soil type you have. Compost does not contain any soil, usually, and is partially digested organic matter that will continue to be digested as time passes. A mixture of 6 to 10 percent organic matter, compost or other vegetative waste, in soil is a good garden soil to work toward.
Spending money on something called "garden soil" usually is a waste of yours. If necessary, because you do not have any, spending money on compost can be justified.
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gardenlen
13 years ago
check out our bale garden presentation we use lots of mushroom compost from the farm, have never added any soil, plants have never suffered.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden
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Straw bale garden
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Comments (16)
Hi! This year I built raised beds. I lined them with cardboard and then a layer of straw. I put good garden soil on top of that, and planted seeds and transplants. My problem is that nothing is growing well. Everything sprouts, grows a bit, and that's it. I read up on straw bale gardening, to see what's up. I never did the 10 day thing with the ammonium nitrate and high nitrogen fertilizer... I'm worried the plants aren't growing because of this. Any suggestions? Is it too late to do something to the straw now? I'd heard straw was good for growing, but I didn't realized you needed to condition it first!
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Maryna, your cucumbers certainly do seem to like the straw mulch! The straw bale gardening, is actually when straw is kept wet for a period of time, causing it to heat up and kind of compost inside. Then you plant your seeds directly in the bale of straw instead of in the ground. The composted straw is great fertilizer and is warmer than the soil that the bale sits on. From what I've read, results are great! There's actually a book about it.. I bought one 4-5 years ago. Wish I had some straw, and the room in my yard, to give it a try! I put a link to a web site below, that explains it. Here is a link that might be useful: Straw Bale Gardening
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Comments (1)
I agree, let's start a forum on straw bale gardening. I just purchased ten bales of nice clean straw yesterday, April 10, 2015 and would like to know if I can put them out now even though it is far too early to plant as I am in zone 4 Wisconsin. It would certainly given them plenty of time to start composting. Is it necessary to follow the two week preparation period for the bales? or can they be set out now.
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PNW Gardening Forum/Straw Bale Gardening
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Comments (0)
I was sad to find that the PNW Gardening forum disappeared with the new changes, it would be great if one could be created. Also, I am trying gardening in straw bales this year, and it seems a popular enough method of gardening I would love to see it have a forum as well. In addition to all of the props straw bale gardening is getting I would add this; I garden from a wheelchair, and the straw bales are the perfect heighth for me to work on.
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borderbarb
13 years ago
This video might help you with your plans. If you google on key words "straw bale gardening" you will find many methods and sucess stories for each method.

Re: soil in the planting bed ... from what I gather from the hay/straw bale garden articles ... plants grow well in the bale .... so seems that they will also thrive in compost. If you have enough water and sunlight, your garden should do well !

Here is a link that might be useful: Video - straw bale garden
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Hoojib88
Original Author
13 years ago
Len oh my gosh!! I've read your blog before! By the way, great job! I actually designed our beds after yours, I'm so glad I've gotten to "meet" you! :) I used clippings from the yard and noticed horrid "hulk" ivy (that's our nickname for it) growing out between and under the bales... I had to take it all apart today and get that ivy out.. ugh! I think we're going to add some soil from the back yard just to help fill in the gardens.. We still have one more bed to fill and I'm tired of getting truck loads of manure. It's tough filling and unloading a truck bed with manure! Phew!
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Straw bale Garden!

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Kimmsr

gardenlen

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Straw bale Garden!

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Kimmsr

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