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Straw Bale Garden – How to Start In 3 Easy Steps!
Shannon here!
Recently, I was talking with my friend Kim about gardening. I had a garden at my old house, but at our new house we have way less yard and even less sunlight, so there were not many options for me to have an in-ground garden. We talked a lot about raised beds, but when looking at prices, I was like, “Gheesh, that is crazy expensive!”
Then I remembered talking to this farmer a while ago about straw bale gardening. Kim and I talked about it a lot. She decided to give it a go and has been soooo impressed!
So I went down to our local feed store, got 8 straw bales for $6 each, and started my little garden!
What can you plant with straw bale gardening?
You can basically plant anything. Just remember to allow space to grow and check your planting zones. We planted spices, peppers, green beans, and squash.
If you are worried about rabbits, you can grab some of this repellent to keep them from getting near your straw bales!
Here’s how to get started with a Straw Bale Garden in 3 Easy Steps:
- Grab your straw bales
- SOAK your straw
- Plant your seeds then take care of the plants as they sprout
Here are some more detailed instructions as well as straw bale garden pictures so you’ll know what to expect.
Once you get the straw bales, add fertilizer or potting soil like pictured above. I chose organic soil because I didn’t have fertilizer. (If you want to plant right away, you can cut a hole, put soil in it, and plant.)
Then water it for 2 weeks! Like soak it! The whole idea is the straw composts and provides nutrients.
After 2 weeks, you are ready to plant the seeds of your choice and cover with more soil. This is Kim’s garden pictured above. You can see how well they are growing!
Comment if you have straw bale gardened before and can share any tricks we missed. 🙂
Want more information about gardening?
FYI: Careful in your titles, Hay and Straw are NOT the same item. You want Straw. Hay contains seeds of multiple variety
of grasses and weeds, depending on the quality of the hay, are a lighter, thinner grasses.
I edited the title. Thanks so much for letting us know!
As part way thru the text, it is referred to as straw. Hay is full of seeds, so NOT the product to use! It is straw bales to use for this type of gardening. There are some books that do describe the process and all references say NEVER use hay. It is important to correct and update this information to provide the best possible outcome for those who do choose to do this type of gardening. Reference this book available on Amazon: Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated by Joel Karsten.