Hay Bale Gardens?

[BettyR]

Does anyone here do hay bale gardening? Im giving it a try for the first time this yearwe have poor soil here and its hard to grow many vegetables.

Am I going to have to stake my squash, okra and bush beans?

 

[rockytopsis]

Does anyone here do hay bale gardening? Im giving it a try for the first time this yearwe have poor soil here and its hard to grow many vegetables.

Am I going to have to stake my squash, okra and bush beans?

I don't have any info on hay bale gardening but I have never staked okra. It has a very stout stem. To me bush beans mean just that they are a bush type so no stake needed there and while squash does vine somewhat I don't think there is any need there either.

Nancy

 

[Grow 4 Food]

I have never heard of it, what is the concept?

 

[bills]

I have never heard of it, what is the concept?

I am curious as well! I have heard of hay mulching, and growing spuds in loose hay, but hay bale's ? :/

 

[simple life]

I have just tried this for the first time myself. From the info I have you have to stake only what you normally would in any typical garden, its no different for the hay or straw bale gardening.
The first link below is the one I followed, but I added a second link because there is some discussion involved over whether straw or hay is better to use.
The second link explains that hay has more seeds or something that can cause weeds. Not quoting this article, its just the gist of it.
I found the first link to be the most helpful in my search with the step by step instructions.
If you just type in hay bale gardening or straw bale gardening alot of sites will pop up.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1084/


http://www.beginner-gardening.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

Edited to add, I believe the concept behind this is for many, there is not a better alternative in respect to decent soil or garden space and things like that.
I had all of my raised beds filled and I wanted to add some things, at the same time I had been wanting to give this a try anyway so I looked it up online.
You can put a garden virtually anywhere you want with this system as long as you get sun.

 

[silkiechicken]

Heard of it but I also hear that you need to live in a place that is warm enough so that the rate of decay int he bales can keep up with plant growth. From what I've read, it doesn't work well out here because our long cool summers don't let the bales heat up enough to decay and be ready for plant growth. Haven't tried it myself, but for what I can grow out of a bale of hay vs digging some holes, it's not worth 8 bucks a pop, as free is much better.

 

[Dodgegal79]

This is an awesome idea, I am going to do it next year. My soil is very very bad, and very thin in my location, so I hope this will help me get a garden going.

 

[BettyR]

Thanks everyone...my garden is beginning to grow...I've been doing some research online and came up with some pictures posted by Lantanalane. These pictures answer a lot of my questions but I appreciate the help.

 

[ironimagery]

Well I am new here and what do ya know. Right off the bat I found information I was hoping to find about "bale gardens". My neighbor had been told about this and last night we went and got 30+ bales of local grass hay free, that had been laying out in the rain all winter ( now ya wanna talk about heavy). So today I got my bales set up and planted some Walla walla sweet sets, Broccolli and coliflower (sp). Then I read on here that root crops like my WW's don't do good. I guess I will find out. After setting the bales up on edge I put a layer of loose clay (dirt doesn't exist here) on top then planted and watered. When the lawn dries out so I can get in with the tractor I will set OLD RR ties lined with plastic and finish filling with dirt. I love the idea so far since in a couple of hours I had a ready made garden.
Rob

 

[Purple Strawberry]

For those who are doing this method could you please keep us posted with pictures and harvest yields.