This blog is a record of my life as the Lord shepherds me through His will. It is a testament to the lessons I learn, or attempt to learn.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Guest Blogger

Straw Bale Gardening: 101 

Written by Tasha Via 

It appears as though I have sparked some interest from many of you about my straw bale garden.

Let me just preface this by saying, I don't really know what I'm doing.  This is the first year I am attempting this and, as I quite frequently am reminded of, I kill just about everything green around this house.

With that in mind, I do have a couple of helpful sites with step-by-step information on how to get your own straw bale garden started.  And since I never profess to be better than the average gardener I will let these sites speak for themselves.

Why would you choose to do a straw bale garden?
  • We live on top of granite...literally.  It is about six inches down under the whole town of Rolesville.  It makes gardening even that much more difficult.
  • You don't have to have a large yard to have this kind of garden.  Just large enough to put a few bales of straw.
  • You don't need much soil.  It really saves money in the long run.

Where did you figure out how to do this?
First of all, I saw the idea for the first time on this blog.  I figured it was worth a try.

Her bales looked awesome by the time it was all said and done.

Then, my friend, whom I've talked into doing this with me, found this great link to a local guy who is obviously a pro at this sort of thing.

Do you have any pointers for us?
Yes, I have already learned that you are supposed to place the straw bales sideways, with the string around the perimeter and the loose ends up and down.  This will help keep them together as they begin to disintegrate.  I turned and rearranged my bales yesterday.

Do you have any other resources that you can pass along?
If you are still unsure about this technique or have more questions, this site may be able to help.  It goes into great detail about the type of bale you should buy, the different layouts of your garden, how to plant your seedlings and how to take care of the garden.

And if you're still not sold on this idea, you can read more about straw bale gardening HERE, HERE and HERE.

Hopefully by the end of the summer my garden will look something like this!  Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

2 comments:

  1. Are you going to try one of these? It would work perfect in your yard. Even if it was just one bale!:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am getting very interested! I do have the room. I may add it to the garden I already have, because I was very surprised at how well my garden did even though I planted it so late.

    I have to keep it looking super good and organized though, since we are trying to sell our house now. Yeah, I will blog about that one later too!

    ReplyDelete