Straw Bale Garden 2016: The Verdict is In!

    Here is a picture of our garden from the beginning of the year. You can see the eight distinct bales in their L-shape layout. This worked out very well for us. The garden looks so small to begin with! This was also our first year using the set up with posts and wire for veggies and fruit to vine on.

   This year our tomatoes were the most noticeable, for sheer volume. We had at least seven different types of tomato growing. From the top of my head there were Early Girl, Brandywine, Red Cherry, Husky, Heirloom, Roma, and Mirabelle Blanche. 

   The only ones we have not tasted yet are the Mirabelle Blanche. I planted those around mid-season. The two plants I have growing are just now producing wee tomatoes where the blossoms twinkled just last week. 

   My personal favorite tomatoes are the acidic Early Girl and the huge, fat, pink Brandywine. The latter makes for an aw-inspiring tomato sandwich or BLT. Slice it thickly enough, and you'll only need one slab of tomato for the entire sandwich. Mmmmmmm...

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You can see that the tomatoes grew quickly, as well as the zucchini and other vegetables. I was sincerely proud of how well our garden grew!

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   Our broccoli tended to bolt a lot this year if we tried to let it get to a decent-sized head. The heat was simply too much. Instead, we harvested it in dozens of smaller florets. It tasted best on vegetable pizza. That was a huge hit, by the way! :) This was the first time I've made it for my children, and they were delighted! I was also delighted, because the flavor took me immediately back to my childhood. :) 

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   As a side note, it is hard to pick a favorite. This year I'd have to say it is a very close race between green pepper and spaghetti squash. 

   The sheer fact that green peppers are in the running is *exactly* why I love gardening SO much! It has the power to take vegetables that I can tolerate in a few dishes and elevate them to a level of pure ecstasy! :) I felt this way about cucumber. Not bad, but not my go-to by any stretch. Yet, since that first year I now grow them obsessively! haha 

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   I planted green peppers began as a way to bring my mother joy. Not kidding. I love my mom oodles and spades, and she loves green peppers. I was determined to grow things she and my dad would use and adore. *Let's call them Preacher and Granna.* :) 

   As it happens, it is very HARD to wait on green peppers to get big enough and full enough! We had so many on our single plant that I occasionally let my girls pick one to throw in our dinner. We were able to send a couple up with Preacher on one of his random stop-in visits, but those weren't completely fully grown either. (Bummer!) 

   We *finally* exercised a little patience and ended up with what were - in my opinion - the fattest, juiciest, most tasty green peppers I've had in my entire life! :) Sadly, our season ended just shy of full when the peppers became too heavy and the plant dropped over the side of the bale. Next year I plan on planting more green peppers and seeing to it that they are properly braced. :) 

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   The carrots were planted too close together. I knew this, but it breaks my heart to thin them out. To sort of 'help' that problem, we began to pick and eat carrots from the garden somewhat early. They were small (even tiny sometimes) but really tasty. The flavor was great! Now I only have a couple of carrots left.

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   The watermelon were slow-growing this year. The vines shot out, but the female flowers were few and far between. The guys who cut our lawn were careful, but have at least twice run over the tips of my watermelon. Plants died each time. *frowns* I ended up with exactly one Allsweet watermelon and one Sugar Baby. Both were incredibly tiny, but flavorful. 

   If I am going to have success with watermelon, I strongly believe I need to be able to plant them on a hill at the back of the property. Previous attempts at this have failed because the soil in our yard is so acidic and nutritionally depleted from years of farming before the land was purchased and made residential. I have been discarding my yearly bales against the back hill every season in hope that the remaining fertilizer and composting straw will bolster the health of the land.

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   The pumpkins did not fare much better, I'm afraid. I planted the Jack O' Lantern and Small Sugar varieties. The lawn guys mowed over the tip of my JOL plant, which killed off some of the vines. Squash borers got into the base and finished off the job. Poo! 

   I do have a few Small Sugar baking pumpkins on the last two vines. One looks especially good, and is ripening as we speak. 

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   Speaking of squash borers, let's get to the ugly part of gardening. I had never had an issue with this particular insect before. I was in for quite a shock this season when my very huge, very hearty zucchini plant suddenly wilted and died! The main stem looked like someone had chewed it into sawdust! Oh, the heartbreak! Giraffe LOVES zucchini, and had been planning on sharing every one she did not eat with our neighbors (A/C guy and family), Preacher, and Granna. She only got to share a handful. We had some truly massive zucchini, too, before that happened. :/ :/ :/ 

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   These evil little demon bugs did not stop with the zucchini. They moved almost immediately to my newly-growing squash plants. (I had to wait for seed to come in the mail for butternut and spaghetti squash). My poor baby butternuts stood no chance whatsoever, out there in a bale by themselves. All of my plants were just in their infancy when the borers got to them. *sniffle* We laid in a second sowing of seeds to no avail.

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   My spaghetti squash was in the same bale with our cantaloupe. This is, I believe, the only reason they fared better. The cantaloupe had been put in weeks earlier than the spaghetti squash, and was already taking over the entire available trellis space. 

   My wee spaghetti squash grew quietly and steadily, intertwined with and protected by the abundant cantaloupe. They continued their journey, growing stronger, thicker, and longer... spreading massive luxurious leaves out across the bales of tomatoes. It was thrilling to watch them curl tendrils around the branches of my tomato plants, holding them captive against the trellis. 

   We have pulled somewhere between seven and a dozen spaghetti squash off of two vines. Oh, they are beautiful! Some are smaller, but others are phenomenal! I'm not sure when I've seen larger! They taste fabulous any way you cook them. My little Giraffe and Koala especially enjoy it with marinara and a bit of cheese. *smacks lips*

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   Let's backtrack and talk about those cantaloupe I mentioned. I full-on HATE cantaloupe. I'm no fan of his green cousin the muskmelon, either. I do not generally care for melons outside of a mere tolerance for watermelon. 

   Giraffe, however, adores cantaloupe! She has asked to grow it every season we've planted a bale garden. I declined because Coffee Guy had not allowed me to experiment with many bales previously. This year I have ample bales. I told Giraffe that if she planted them herself, she could have all the cantaloupe she wanted. :) 

   Her vines - happy little things with quaint yellow flowers - flowered in plenty but struggled to pollinate. Giraffe took charge of the situation, waking in the early morning here and there to pollinate them by hand. This ended up yielding four beautiful cantaloupe! :) They were so ripe and so rich that they fell off of the vine at the slightest touch. This was just in the nick of time, too. The vine suddenly wilted and turned brown. Drat those bugs!

Not one to avoid the fruit of our labor, I made sure to taste them. I still hate the flavor of cantaloupe, but my heart is bursting with love and pride in the motherhood area. ;) 

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Let me see... what are we forgetting? 

~ The several varieties of lettuce and cabbage were all very good, but we finished with those early in the season. 

~ The chives grow well. They are still growing, tucked in under the eight-foot tomato plants down by the naked bases of their stems. I find them too strong for my taste.

~ The spinach went primarily to our Russian Tortoise, Pebbles. (Who, incidentally, escaped and has not been seen in weeks!) She ate it too quickly to share with us. ;)

~ The basil turned out to be an herb that I have no interest in whatsoever. That stuff is STRONG! I will stick to the pre-dried herbs from the market, thank you. It is still growing out there. Now that Pebbles isn't around to eat from it, it is pretty much a useless decoration. I did use some leaves to drive off ants in the kitchen. However, I found a much more effective method for ridding ourselves of them. That is another story, quite hilarious and strange! lol

~ The cilantro, mint, oregano, and red bell peppers were a bust. They did not grow well and I chose not to replace them. After all, the garden was quite full.

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   In all, we've spent every possible moment from the first week that the lettuce really came on tending, harvesting, and eating from our garden. :) Much has been learned in the field of backyard science. I like to think that hands-on work and observation provides an extra boost to our home education efforts. 

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By the end of summer, the garden was completely overgrown. It was like having a wall of green right at the back of the yard! lol My beautiful dad came by often that summer, walking through the garden. He gave me so many tips on how to tend my veggies, complimented those things that were going well, and harvested (while he still could) veggies. I was able to send him home with goodies for he and my mother. It was the most precious time I have ever spent with him. <3

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   Now we are reaching that most gracious time of year, the fall. :) Autumn has always been my favorite of the four seasons.  This will be my thirty-sixth autumnal season, and I find that I am no less enthusiastic about it. :) 

   I thrill at the thought of cooler weather (which we had briefly before the sun decided to have another go round). I physically long for those cool nights of warm clothing with the scent of leaves and the laughter of children in the air. *breathes deeply* Ah yes, I can already summon them to my senses. :) 

   This has been a very hard year in some ways. However rough the cold months of the year may be, my garden has proven itself a sanctuary from spring through fall. It provides a place of intentional calm. My heartbeat slows to the palpable rhythm of this ephemeral nursery. 

   There is something deeply symbiotic about working with nature. The Hawiians might call it "aloha aina": the love of the land. It is good for the soul. Because of that, I can say that this has been a very good summer. May so very many more follow in the years to come. :)