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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2015 23:48:02 GMT
Exactly. And why I had to stop going out in the backyard. I want to scream and cry when I see the mess(es) he's made out of the raised beds. Like putting invasive spearmint in one, along with a mum. A cactus in another. Other perennials in pots...and that's not even the worst of it. The real maddening part being, he read the books I bought on SFG...not once, but twice. But the hell with common sense and $$! It's his way, or the highway. Period. If it weren't for eBay, his disasters would never have gotten started!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2016 15:09:29 GMT
If anyone is thinking of doing a straw bale garden this year the only thing I would add from my experience is to space the plants further apart. I used the spacing the author of the book suggested (I don't remember if that's in the video or not). This year I will only do 3 plants per bale on top. I'll definitely do herbs again by sticking them in the sides. I was really skeptical about that, but it worked great and left me space in my beds that I had formerly used for herbs.
I did not do as well with peppers in the straw bale as I did with tomatoes, but I think it was a spacing issue. The tomato plants eventually grew to block some of the sun from the peppers. The peppers in my soil beds, with full sun all day, did fantastic last year.
All in all, I highly recommend this way of gardening. I will still use my soil beds, but this has expanded my garden and it's easier to maintain.
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Post by RetroMonde on Feb 16, 2016 17:29:33 GMT
I was curious whether you'd do it again; my daughter and I have been talking about this years garden and I'm anxious to try the bales this year. Were they hard to keep wet when it got really hot? Mine will go in the south yard on a concrete slab (where an in-ground pool used to be). It gets hotter than Hades there. Guess I'd better re-watch the video and think about prepping some bales.
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Post by denise15601 on Feb 16, 2016 23:48:47 GMT
It looks like a lot of work to me, versus plain ol' dirt.
I am leaning towards a smaller raised garden this summer.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 1:24:04 GMT
It looks like a lot of work to me, versus plain ol' dirt. I am leaning towards a smaller raised garden this summer. I thought about trying them this year but, you're right, they do seem like a lot of work. I did containers & raised beds last year & want to expand a bit this year. I always peruse the catalogs & get over-enthusiastic this time of year & want to grow everything. Denise, try the pole beans (seeds from Agway) great yield, easy to pick, & seem to keep going all summer. I had 2 containers last summer & still have some in the freezer.
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Post by denise15601 on Feb 17, 2016 1:36:49 GMT
I might try them this year-kid. I tried pole beans many years ago and they didn't work. Depends on how high I raise the garden and if I feel like putting in poles. Zero energy here.
I love squash, but it just hasn't worked for me for years. I hope at least I will have a few asparagus to impress kritter. But the fact that I will be putting dirt on the asparagus plants, won't help.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2016 1:16:11 GMT
It looks like a lot of work to me, versus plain ol' dirt. It could not have been easier. I planted, watered and picked. That's it. If I would put in an automatic watering system, I would literally have to do nothing after planting but pick. For me my dirt garden took more work. I had to turn the dirt over in the spring, add new dirt, and weed throughout the whole season.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2016 1:33:31 GMT
I was curious whether you'd do it again; my daughter and I have been talking about this years garden and I'm anxious to try the bales this year. Were they hard to keep wet when it got really hot? Mine will go in the south yard on a concrete slab (where an in-ground pool used to be). It gets hotter than Hades there. Guess I'd better re-watch the video and think about prepping some bales. I can't wait to do it again. They weren't hard to keep wet. Somewhere I heard (in a video) or read that the guy in the video suggested keeping the tops of the bales damp all the time. So I babied the seedlings after first planting. But it wasn't warm enough then for them to dry out in a day or two so I could go days without monitoring them. Once I realized the plants really were going to take root and grow in straw, I treated them just like my plants in soil. Which I don't keep damp all the time. By the time our temps really ramp up here we're usually getting a lot of rain. We don't go long without a good soaking shower during the dog days. I give all the plants a good soaking any time we go for 3 days without rain or if they start to look limp in the AM. If you have long periods of very hot dry weather you might need to water more often. You get better growth with rain than watering, and we get enough rain most of the time, so I let nature take its course when I can. I think you'll be pleased with the results if you try it. It was hardly any more work to me than tending the herbs I grow in my kitchen window. I just picked a lot more. ETA: You can use plastic soda/water bottles for an easy DIY slow drop irrigation system if you think you won't be able to water often enough. Here's just one video from youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=81rBhI50JzM If you want to see more just Google soda bottle irrigation. You can use milk jugs too, and sit them on top of the soil (or bale this case). But unless you use really generous spacing between plants, I think the smaller soda or water bottle would work better for straw bales.
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