A new project, one that I have high hopes for is straw bale gardening. I lugged home two bales of straw in the trunk of the Malibu, and have been conditioning them for a week now. They've been staked, plastic was placed underneath them, and they require daily watering. I hung around the farm service place, where all the farmers go to get their lime, fertilizer, seeds on Saturday. Even had my bib overalls on!
The farm lingo may as well have been Latin to me though...I could not understand one word they were saying. Who knew that farmerese was such a complex language? The two office gals, both older than my 58 years, were twittering and giggling like high school girls. Men were plentiful in there. (Next time I'm single, I'll know where to go to cruise!)
Oh yeah, yeah...we're talking about straw here.....
Conditioning involves a layer of manure....and high strength nitrogen. Nitrogen is hard to find...that's why I donned bibs, and went farm girl to Custom Farm Service!
Miracle Grow, a gardener's standby, has only a smattering of nitrogen...this is the stuff the farm boys use in the field. Every other day, I sprinkle the bales with these granules, then wet down the bales. This encourages the breakdown of the bales, into a compost, which will be a more conducive soil home for planting. By the time this twelve day process 'happens' it'll be near time to plant.
As you can see, the gathered field stones will enhance my water drainage, and makes the garden prettier. I call the scarecrow, 'Dirty Dan' in honor of my ex. 'Nuff said. I can poke him, and spray him with the hose, whenever the mood strikes, he hee.
Ok....that's my farm entry for today.
There's more than corn in Indiana, y'know!
.jpg)
14 comments:
Hey your yard looks so nice!!! Like your Dirty Dan - adorable!!! I've been working on a scarecrow idea, but its not near as neat as yours!!!
Sounds like you're a farmer at heart to me! My dad did the straw thing all the time and me too when I had a garden. There is too much shade from all the trees here now for one so I envy you with this.
It's nice that you have Dirty Dan to take out all your frustrations! Pretty funny! Happy gardening!
Dirty Dan...tee hee. Give him a kick for me in memory of Dirty Don. ha.
hey...I knew you were north, but I was thinking Ft. Wayne. We'll have to meet for coffee or somethin' next time I come through. Chelsea and I drove up on Saturday to rescue him. You probably know who he stayed with...Dorothy and Barney Bumbaugh? Not certain of the last name. Anyway, they ride bicycles, too and open their home to riders. Good thing dug didn't know about the cake, that man has never met a cake he didn't like. :-) hug you, Cheryl
The bales look so nice with the field stones around them! Very interesting stones! Prolly carried there by a glacier long ago???
That ol' Dirty Dan...grrr...
Hey Corgidogmama!
I've never done the gardening in the hay before. That sounds interesting! Maybe I should give that a try. What are you going to plant in them. I planted onions in some pots by the house. It's still too early to plant anything else.
Don't forget the seeds you won in my giveaway!
Hugs,
Angela
Okay I'm slow - but this hay - with all your conditioning - is going to become soil to plant your garden with?
Impressive gal.
sandie
Wow, you been one busy little girl. I like the scarecrow..especially the hose part...lol..hope your garden does well.
Molly
Wow, you must be a bundle of energy. I'll be interested in seeing what your garden looks like when it gets going.
I had heard of this but didn't know what it entailed. Interested to find out how your garden grows!
I has my own garden. I grow earthworms in it, but I let Mommy plant things there too. She bought me some hay bales last year. I played jump games on them a lot until she took them away and used them to make winter blankets for the garden.
This is going to be fun to watch and to see what happens. Never heard of straw bale gardening☺
The bubbles? I use a FREE program I got off the web - PhotoScape. There is so much that this little free goodie can do with a picture and I am still finding more every time I peek around!
The area does look really cute. Do you plant IN the bale, or after they compost, do you spread the compost out and plant in the ground covered by it? I'm not sure how this works. We've had a bunch of old bales of straw around but I've never heard of this before, and we have to toss it so that the horses don't eat the moldy hay and get sick. If I'd known, I could have put it in one of the empty corrals so they couldn't get to it and used it.
Is there a place to read up on it? I've got several plants started now (sweet basil, chives, lavender, parsley, and tomatoes) I couldn't do anything last year without having running water, but I really hope to do something this year!
P.S. I forgot to ask about those chews you found out about from Dozer's Mom. I'd like to get some of those for the older dogs around here, too!
Never heard of the straw bale thing. Too bad I missed you at the liberry. I have half a barn loft full of straw bales, you did not need to buy them. I also have a back barn lot full of barn cleaning in various states of composting if you are interested. Let me know. DD and I are in the process of recycling some containers for container gardening which is the only way we will have a garden this year. She wants to do taters and rainbow carrots, and fixin's for salsa. Just how successful all this will be remains to be seen.
Post a Comment