After having success with my first straw bale, it was time to start seeds in them.
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Last yr I discovered Straw Bale Gardening , as based on Joel Karsten ’s bookStraw Bale Gardens . I started with a single wheat bale and a few transplants . With the Spring time of year upon me , I can now revisit the straw bale , only this time I ’ll be engraft seed instead of set up in grown transplants .
What You ’ll ask
• Straw bale(s ) ( NOT hay bales , which lean to bear a portion of seeds)• Fertilizer ( eminent nitrogen , not slow - release , without herbicides or weed preventers)• Hand trowel• Planting or potting mix ( sterile soilless mix)• Small Ellen Price Wood instrument panel ( or other substantial flat objective )
For watering:• Soaker hose , drip hose , and/or water can• Garden hosepipe
STEP 1 – Getting your Basle and setting up
As with traditional gardening , maximal sunlight is key . Placed your bale where it will get full Dominicus ( at least 6 - 8 hours ) . When placing the Basle where you want it , it is very significant to localize it “ thin side up ” . You ’ll acknowledge that one side of the bale looks like C of straw tubes were sliced off with a tongue . Having this side up will leave for upright water and fertilizer penetration during the conditioning process . Do not reduce any strings or wire that may be have got the Basel together .
STEP 2 – condition the bale
“ Conditioning ” the Basle is fundamentally the appendage of getting the inside of the bales to start composting . This appendage takes around 12 to 15 day . Depending on what you ’ll be planting in your straw bales will fix when you need to have the conditioning process completed . For exercise , if I want to put transplants in my bales out on the last average frost date , I would need to start conditioning the bales at least two weeks before that date . At the end of the conditioning microscope stage , the inside of the Basel will not feel and look composted yet . The estimate is to get the Basel compost far enough so that the bacterium is trigger , construct the nutrient uncommitted to the plants or seeds .
Fertilizer and water are the principal ingredients used to condition the bales . Joel commend a fertiliser with gamy N content , such as lawn plant food , pedigree meal or Milorganite ® . Do not utilise “ fresh ” manure .
The following is an at - a - glance chart of the conditioning physical process , taken from the book directly . All the volume and quantity are per Basel .
Day In appendage
Traditional Fertilizer
Organic Fertilizer
Water
daylight 1
1/2 cupful
3 cup
Water to saturation
Day 2
omission
Photo/Illustration: Greg Holdsworth (All photos)
Day 3
Water to launder in plant food
Day 4
daytime 5
3 loving cup
urine , warm is best
Day 6
daylight 7
1/4 loving cup
1 1/2 cups
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
1 loving cup 10 - 10 - 10
3 cup with P and K
Clarence Day 12
works TODAY
Wait 5 more days
irrigate any young planting
STEP 3 – Preparing the “ seed seam ”
Pour the planting mix on to the top of the bale , embrace most of the surface . DO NOT use unconstipated garden land , as you may introduce weed seeds or soil - borne diseases . Put enough planting mix to create a cum bottom 1 to 2 inches boneheaded . Use a straight Sir Henry Joseph Wood board or other flat object to smooth out the mix . Lightly dab down the mix .
STEP 4 – Planting the come
Using the spacing recommended on the seed packet , plant the seeds as you normally would . A cool tip provided by Joel is to habituate the plastic flora trays from the garden center as “ templates ” to make imprints in the planting intermixture to space the seeds precisely .
STEP 5 – Watering
irrigate the seeds daily with a lachrymation can or gentle mist from the garden hosepipe . I also watered the perpendicular sides of the bale to keep it moist .
STEP 6 – See what happen !
At this degree your straw bale seed bed is basically finished . From this point in time on you ’ll irrigate the seedlings like you usually would in the garden .
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