Straw Bale Garden Update :)

After what felt like an eternity of winter, no spring at all, and what has amounted to being flung face-first into summer... it is safe to say that we are hitting our stride in the garden. That feels incredible! :D I thought I would show you where we are with our garden this past and present week. <3 

This is a view of my messy but happy backyard. :D If my bales look as though they are casually laid around without thought, you are wrong. I wanted them to extend further out this side, closer to the picture. However, we live in a neighborhood that has a governing HOA. They graciously allow me to put up my garden year after year, with two stipulations: 1. It must not be visible from the road. 2. It must be temporary... no permanent structure. 

The bale closest to us was just a wee bit visible from the road when it was aligned with the rest. (Poo!) We had no choice but to point him inward. As you can see, the swingset is in this portion of yard. I did not want the kids' play to be impeded and I did not want my bales to be in harm's way, so we stopped at the one bale. In the far side of the yard, the bales came up to and then skirt around our small patio. The layout doesn't "appear" to make sense, but it does. Bales closest to the house will receive the most shade. They will host the plants which require it. 

This is some of what it looks like from my door. You get a better idea of the layout. Most of the bales are doubled, so we have two full rows. There are 22 bales in all. You can also see what most excites me in this picture!!! Eeeekkk!!! Hubs brought me a cattle panel! Measuring 50" by 16', this beauty supports 10 bales, front and back!

I have planted an assortment of tomatoes (18 varieties) along those back rows. Interspersed in between the tomatoes are cucumbers on the front and cantaloupe on the back. The cucumbers will vine upward through the summer, helping to hold up the tomato plants when they get really tall! The cantaloupe will be directed down the back, out of sight. I simply *cannot wait* to see these bales fully loaded and growing!

Here is a little peek at the bales. We are not done yet, of course. I ran out of dirt, so I need to get more to put around the base of these plants and the plants in the back row. We are still not done inserting plants, either. I have around 30 plants in the house yet, and more on the back porch. I am also germinating beets and carrots. I have peas, more bush beans, some flowers, and a few other seeds I still need to get started, as well. 

This is the view from the side of the patio. Please excuse the red flag in the background. We call 811 before we place stakes, even though we know by now that our garden is not in the way of anything. It is the responsible thing to do. ;)

As previously stated, these will hold plants that need a little bit more shade. We don't get much as it is. Any bit helps.

These are some of the lettuce plants I have growing. This pot contains mostly red romaine lettuce. There are two regular romaine plants growing in there, as well. The other varieties of lettuce are in other containers. They seem to like it in there, so far!

I know that this update doesn't cover 'everything' today. It is going to be harder to cover everything with every post or they would be unending! haha

Anyway, I hope that this at least lets you know what our progression is like. We continue to place plants into bales and containers as we have time - and weather permitting. The rain is free water, so I am not complaining! haha We also continue to germinate new plants so that we are staggering our grow cycles through the summer. We have begun to harvest bush (green) beans and radishes. We could harvest the lettuce while it is small, but I intend to get it grow a bit yet. 

The last thing I haven't mentioned here is the conditioning process of my Mother's Day bales. All eight bales are a solid seven days into the process. They will be ready to plant into by this weekend. Yay!  In all, I would have to say that we are having a successful garden season so far. Surely, a ton of life has burst forth from my dad's heaven-date anniversary this year. We will be continue to nurture, protect, and eventually enjoy consuming the fruits (and vegetables) of that labor of love for months to come. <3 <3 <3 

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Are you tending your spiritual garden? Fill your heart and life with fruits of the spirit. These may be found by time spent daily in His Word. <3 

Straw Bale Garden 2018 Pics

I am going to add these and run through them as quickly as possible. :) These  pictures show the progression of our plants for this year's garden. 

May 23rd was one year from the day my dad passed away in 2017. I so terribly wanted some good to come from that horrible date. It was important for me to focus on life and not death. I think this would be important to my dad, too. He wanted us all to know that the day he passed would be the best day of his life... the day when he got to meet the Lord he has been loving and talking about for such a long, long time. I didn't get to it until that night before bed, but we seeded plants into fifty little pods.

Three days later, on the 26th, we got a phone call telling us that dad's ashes were ready for pickup. He had donated his body to science the day he passed. We were told to expect this phone call at the end of May or perhaps early in June. Needless to say, receiving this call on the 26th of March was quite a shock! I do not have a picture, but that same day our very first plants sprouted! We find that comforting.

I moved the sprouts as quickly as I could (seen above and to the left) into trays. I was hopeful not to have to thin out so many plants this year. I wanted everything to have its very best chance to grow. :) It was a real joy watching them stretch upwards toward the grow light. <3

Grow, they did! In what seemed like no time at all, the sprouts became seedlings. Now we had true plant starts. We also added a second grow light to our home. We had gone from packets of seeds to nearly 200 plants! We felt so blessed by this wealth of little garden starts. <3 

The plants continued to grow and thrive throughout the month of April. May rolled around and I was in full swing, moving plants out of trays and into 3" and 4" cups. A week ago, we moved some of those outside to harden off. We are tremendously pleased with these little guys! :) 

In the week since, I began to plant some of our little guys, as well. I have two buckets that are presently growing varieties lettuce. I set out some tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, zucchini, two types of cucumber, some of the 18 varieties of tomatoes we are growing, cantaloupe, and I forget what all else. They are all very small yet, but the garden as truly begun! 

Because he knows and loves me so well, my husband gave me the gift of my favorite kind of potting soil as well as 8 beautiful new bales of straw to add to the fourteen we already have. I don't know what everyone else gets for Mother's Day, but I call that true love! <3 :) You can tell the new straw compared to the darker, already conditioned bales. Aren't they lovely?

Hubs also took the time this past weekend to cut down the pine tree which has grown to take up so much space in our yard. You can see where some of it was, by the absence of grass at the left of the bales. My yard now looks larger, and I have more space for gardening! What a win that is! I love this man so very much! <3 <3 <3 Our garden has gotten bigger every year. Yay! I cannot wait to see these overrun with plants!

Straw Bale Garden 2016 - Season Three

There is way too much to share about this year's garden! I should have started blogging earlier, but I was unable to. This is going to be a long one! (Edited to add that formatting is really messing up. It won't let me space, delete or rearrange. This is going to be a hot mess!)

 Let me *try* for the nutshell version. I was sick for the entire beginning of the year, from January through the end of March. Somewhere near the middle of March, I *did* purchase my supplies and lay in some seedlings. Yay! :)

Here you see the sprouts. There were tomatoes (2 kind), cucumber, cantaloupe, cabbage, lettuce, and watermelon. 

 When the seedlings seemed big enough, I moved them to trays made of coconut coir and placed them into the greenhouse that Hubs so lovingly bought me. I had to rely heavily on the kids to keep them watered while I was still recovering. They got a kick out of spraying them daily with a spray bottle.

    We also filled a five gallon aquarium with dirt and sprinkled a packet of carrot seeds into it. Our goal was to get to actually watch the carrots grow before our very eyes!

 Seedlings kept growing, and along with them my hopes of the perfect garden grew. At some point we had eighteen or nineteen different things growing. I kept a religious list... and then Koala lost it. *sigh* 

 It was around then that we did finally bring home the bales. They only need about ten days of conditioning, but with me being so ill and with the weather this year being so temperamental we did not get to condition them for at least a month. In the meantime, they soaked up water and sleet from the sky.

 
Seedlings got larger, so we moved them to still bigger pots, refilling the old pots with herbs. There was basil, mint, cilantro, oregano, spinach, and chives.

It was a real pleasure to watch them grow! 

 The veggies were really taking off. Even the carrots began to show up in the fish tank. We were really excited! I kept hoping the weather would improve so we could get our bales conditioned and move them outside. We did place them on the patio on good days to harden off. 

 When the herbs began to come up, we got even more excited! We were going to plant a garden with SO much variety! I still think they are so pretty. Koala was very involved this year. Giraffe planted half of the seeds, and she the other half. 

 Next we added pumpkin and green pepper to our collection. Green pepper takes a while to germinate, so we left it under foil until it began to sprout. The pumpkin was jack-o-lantern and the pepper were green bell. 

 To our dismay, a few days of under-watering (coupled with yet another cold snap with freezing temps) killed off only too many of our precious seedlings. We emptied a few of the containers into the planter outside and forgot about the old dirt... until these little guys showed up! To our delight, some seeds that had not yet germinated began to sprout! Here you see cabbage, black seeded simpson lettuce and even two small tomato plants I believe are Red Cherry.  

 In April I was finally able to properly condition the bales. This year I went with Scott's Turf Builder Lawn Food, because of the high nitrogen content. There were more cold snaps and issues. *sigh* So frustrating! FINALLY, I got my brandywine tomato (the only one left) and our other few starts planted.

Our only remaining cucumber was placed lovingly in the bale closest to the pine tree by Giraffe, along with a potato gone to seed. (It is tucked deep into the bale from the front.) Unfortunately, this little guy lived a short week or two and also kicked it. :(

 In May we FINALLY made it to the farmer's market. I was really hopeful that I could get a lot of starters to replace the plants I'd lost. The day was ICE COLD. I could see my breath. No shock, another freezing dip was coming! I got an early girl tomato, summer lettuce, 4 golden cross cabbage, an ever green lettuce, 4 pac man broccoli, two kinds of chives, and 4 slicing cucumber plants.

They would be right at home in our bales if it ever warmed up. On Mother's Day I got my chance, and laid in the new plants. 

Fast-forward several weeks bc this is so long. We got everything planted, and only lost one cabbage out of the bunch. Everything else is thriving! :) We ate the lettuce, in fact. Giraffe harvested it too close to the root, so I am watching to see if it grows back. We also noticed our early girl needed support, so Giraffe and I strung yarn between the poles while we waited on Hubs to put up the 2x4 and wire. 

Meanwhile, the lettuce and cabbage continued to grow in the planter. It has been harvested for salad and regrown twice already. The tomatoes were moved over to the bales. I was also given some by Farm Girl and her husband and bought a Husky, for a grand total of 14 tomato plants of five varieties. 

The carrots, too, have continued to grow in the aquarium. We thinned out quite a few to make room. So far, we can still only see the dirt from the outside. Go figure! (All of the roots we saw in the beginning - those tiny seeds I have pics of somewhere - are no longer there. I thinned them too much.)

This is the bale with the golden cross cabbage (we lost one of four), and the two kinds of lettuce that were harvested too low. You can see they are attempting a minor comeback. lol

I picked up more seeds, and Koala and I seeded them into an empty bale. They've just begun to come up. I noticed today that something is making away with them. *frowns* I've seen a squirrel running my bales, and many birds off and on. Insects are another pillager, so it is hard to tell. 

Excuse the dirty look, by the way. That is not a plant ailment. It is diatomacious earth sprinkled over them for pest control. Here you see my early girl (the big one, brandywine (hiding behind her), the two varieties of alium chives, the two I think are red cherries, and (far left) the husky. 

These are watermelon. One sugar baby and one... oh, foo... I really don't remember! This is terrible! I will have to see if I cannot find my info and get it all written down. 

Again, pardon the dust. No sooner had we strung yarn across than the cucumbers than they set out tendrils! Yay! We just love that! You can see they took root and really began to grow. :)

You can see that my beautiful red bell pepper went from lovely to wilty. We are still trying to save her.

And the carrots keep on growing... :) :) ) 

And the lettuce keeps on growing and being harvested for salad. It has a really good flavor, by the way. :)

I re-seeded the carrot bale (which had but five little sprouts). It is now full of wee greens. :)

Every bale gardener's affirmation... the growth of fungi in and on the bales. Sure enough, we're doing a bang-up job this year! This in spite of the illness, weather, and other setbacks. Yaaay! :) 

HUBS TOOK DOWN THE YARN AND PUT UP THE WIRE AND BOARD!!! YESSSS!!!!

Now my lovely, large bale garden actually LOOKS lovely and large! hehe Plants are growing in and on every single bale. More plants are growing in planters and the aquarium. I wake up early every morning and go out there to just breathe a minute. Every morning, there is new growth. This has been a rough year, indeed, in so many ways. With hard work and time, I have my place of peace. It has all been worth it. :)

***Oh! I also have zuccini! lol I'm so forgetful! haha I hope to get some butternut and spaghetti squash laid in, and more potato starts before the season is out. 

Straw Bale Garden, Take One

    Something new is happening in my yard this year, provided the home owner's association ever gets back to me in the affirmative. *crosses eyes*  We are going to attempt our first-ever straw bale garden. 

    A brief background, first. This February our local news ran a quick segment on a new way to garden using straw bales. They explained it very simply - you place a little dirt on straw bales, plant into the dirt and bale, and watch your garden grow! The premise being that the straw bales will begin to decompose on the inside, providing the medium needed to support the root system. In the diagram shown briefly on the news, such veggies as carrots and tomatoes were shown growing very well out of bales.

I was so excited! In an uncharacteristic move, instead of doing my research, I dove right in. It started like this: 

    We placed four bales of straw out in the yard. Getting them home from the TSC store was an adventure all itself! Daddy, myself, and Koala were crammed into the car with bales, dirt, and those circular wire plant supports! haha Giraffe was out for a visit with Grandma, so she missed the grand adventure of stuffing an SUV with straw while you were still in it. lol Once home, Hubs mowed down the yard and placed the bales for me. My yard is uneven, so the bales look uneven as well. 

    This was also my first mistake. *sigh* Due to that lack of research (I have been in a brain fog for a while now because of some medical issues), I neglected to stand the bales up on their sides. The reason for doing this is so that the cut ends of the straw (which is hollow) are facing upward, and able to easier absorb water and other nutrients. 

    My second mistake came a couple of days later, when we placed dirt on the bales. Hubs was gracious enough to do this for me! :) It turns out that the bales need to also be conditioned... a process in which you kick-start the decomposition inside the bale, and fill it with nutrients. Neglecting this step meant that my garden would not grow. At the time, I was still clueless. 

    Once hubs finished laying the soil for me, I jumped in and got my hands dirty as well. Together we planted broccoli, carrots, beefsteak tomatoes, and peas. We really enjoyed the experience, and were pleased with the results. 

    The following morning I FINALLY decided to look it up, and see what I could do to help my seedlings along. You can imagine I was pretty disappointed in myself when I realized that (of course) I should have done this BEFORE getting started! Drat you, brain fog! Still, I am thankful that I realized this mistake one day after starting the process instead of mid-season when plant after plant had died a pitiful death. :) 

     Now we have removed the dirt and seedlings (my poor babies!), stood the bales on their sides, and are now on day three of conditioning. We should be able to start the process of planting again sometime between Tuesday and Friday of next week. This time around the seedlings will be planted into fertilizer-enriched, pre-conditioned bales of straw as they should be. Fingers crossed for a great season!