Please explain a straw bale garden for us n00bs.

Thanks.

Congrats on the house man! I know you were in a condo before and I know you'll enjoy the space!

This 2 year old thread is still getting some action lol. I will be almkst doubling my gsrden size this year. Since the 2014 thread I've gotten chickens in my backyard for eggs and fertilizer. Been aging chicken shit in my compost pile and im ready to get it into the garden bed. I love being out in the garden on summer evenings with the royals game on the radio. Does any one have expierence raising bees? Ive been considering getting a hive in the yard for pollinating the garden/honey production. Never been around it but am very curious.

How close are you to a corn field? Insecticide for spider mites is hard on bees.

Any pics of your setup? I might be interested in the chicken thing but they all become coyote food or badger food. I don't need to subsidize those one who sucks the peniss diets.

Im not real close to anything that should be too bad for them. I only have 9 chickens in a relatively small coop. I let them out to free range during the day but keep them secured in the coop at night. Ive lost a few to hawks over the last 2 years but nothing crazy. Ill try and get some pics up later.

its basically straw bales with heavy cardboard underneath them, stops the weeds. you set up bales, end to end, and give them a 10-12 day of conditioning of fertilization and heavy watering. at the end of the 12 days you plant your seeds or plants and you are basically done.
i did put in a soaker hose on top of the bales and then put a thick layer of potting mix on top of the hose. i watered every other day. if there was too much water, the bales naturally dispersed the water. i had hardly any weeds that i had to pull, and my yields of tomatoes were spectacular!!
i had never grown cantalope before, and out of 4 plants, i had roughly 40 come to fruition. even had 5 watermelon from 1 plant. i'd never had luck with watermelon. ever. i would warn that one should only plant 2 tomato plant per bale, as they completely overtook everything!! i believe the facebook page is SBMG group. (straw bale miracle gardens) you can also buy a $20 book of the same name at lowes, or online. i would suggest if you are uneasy with this method, try 1 or 2 bales to start. it's the easiest method of gardening that i've ever done. and kind of fun, too!

ooooh, So I bought a house this year and have found a nice little spot to isolate from my chew puppies for that purpose in mind. Me thinks I like this idea.

i even saw an idea where you stacked bales for height purposes, just for this reason! did i hook up your cable this year?

http://i68.tinypic.com/drbj4k.jpg

2 water containers. One in the coop one outside. I speead a small amount of feed around on the ground everyday in rhe garden area so that they will scratch and crap in it. Kept it relativly turned and fertilized. Ill fence in the garden once its tilled and going. They tend to rake care of themselves. Paet of my garden is hand turned by the kids. They might be more excited about the garden this yesr than me.

Buehler, can I use this for anything? Previous owners left this big bag in the shed, pretty much full, however we removed all the grass from the property after purchasing. Can I use it for anything in the garden?

http://i.imgur.com/jPC9p4q.jpg?1

Is that grass seed?

I don't think so? Looks like grass fertilizer to me?

Am I wrong? ROFL

http://www.yara.us/agriculture/produ...oyale-21-7-14/

Heh. It's fertilizer. You can use it. Just remember, use it sparingly. Think about how much plant matter is in a lawn versus your garden. You're growing fruit, which takes more than just biomass but don't get too crazy with fertilizer.

But yeah, keep it around. Are the prills still intact? If they're not, it's probably not worth dicking with.

Prills? As it little formed ball and not dust?

Yes, just fertilizer I can grab a handful of and throw on the ground.