Straw-Bale Garden Beautiful Plants

Here’s an update on the progress going on In the straw-bale garden after 2 months. Beautiful plants and lots of fruit coming on.

[@cyndimister4193]

Absolutely beautiful 😍❤️

[@jackphelan9480]

😍 Awesome!❤️

[@martycoyle6383]

Your garden is beautiful, gotta watch those white moths they lay eggs on your cabbage then hatch and eat your plants.

[@trevapotter9239]

Nice 👏🏻👍🏻

[@rodhatte]

Your cabbages are not too close at all. Just remove the outer leaves. They don't do nearly as much photosynthesis as the other ones, so just remove them (at the base). They might even do damage by taking up more water than they give back in energy, plus slugs like the older cabbage leafs better (if they are a big problem in your area).

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

Thanks so much for the info. I don’t have a lot of luck with the cabbages. I will definitely do this next year. Happy gardening.

[@captaindoug8887]

Looks good Tracy...a few questions: 1. How deep do you plant the starts...same as the spuds..12"? 2. The clip on set up.. I was waiting for the "pig panels" all of a sudden they were installed..elaborate? 3...Other clips the author lays out chicken wire then the bails, he then wraps the wire around the bail, wires the connection on the top fore shaping...no problems with deterioration before harvesting...is this an issue? Looks like fun and I am going to try...Doug..Vancouver, Wa.

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

Thanks 1. I do plant both the same depth. 2. I didn’t do a video on install of pig panels. Sorry about that. I took the panels and ran a piece of rebar down through a few of the squares on each edge. Arched the panel over and repeated on other side. You could use anything as long as it is secured at the bottom. It was kinda difficult. Two people would definitely be easier. 3. I do not wrap my bales. You can do this and it would probably allow use of the bales a couple years instead of one. I use my bales for one year and have no problems at all with deterioration before harvesting. I think the people that wrap plan on using them longer. It is definitely a fun and interesting method of gardening. I love it. I hope this answers your questions. Happy gardening.

[@reubenpotter8992]

Dang, that looks awesome

[@carolinasmoker9764]

How often do you fertilize, and what do you use? Thanks, Clay!

[@diannereynaert9729]

What do you do for horned tomato worms and squash bugs? Ty..

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

Thank you for your question. Honestly. Since I have been straw bale gardening I have had no issues of horned tomato worms. I keep an eye on my plants and inspect them pretty good each time I go out. Inspecting and staying ahead of the game is very important. As far as squash bugs now that’s another story. They can be awful. I am not an organic gardener so I do use Sevin dust and diatomaceous earth. I sprinkle or spray the sevin on the leaves and under them trying to avoid any blooms or fruit. I also sprinkle the diatomaceous earth around the base. This helps a lot. One important thing to do is to inspect the plants and picking any bugs off and killing them. I check on my garden morning and evening. Just part of my gardening routine. Of course if you have lots of squash plants manually picking would be a little hard. I also think the diatomaceous earth will help with horn worm prevention. One thing with straw bales is you don’t tend to have as many problems with insects. Not saying you won’t have any I’m just saying you won’t have as many. I hope this helps.

[@diannereynaert9729]

Ty, I will put some diatomaceous earth around squash plants. Finally bought a little. Probably not enough though. Can you condition the bales in this cold weather? Will they still warm?

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

If you condition when temp is cold the beneficial bacteria will take longer. You could condition and wrap in black plastic to try retain some of the heat to speed up process. If during the conditioning u get a couple really cold days maybe just add couple more days or stop and just pick up where u left off. I am going to try starting my bales first of next month to be able to seed some directly on the bales this year. I will let u know how that works for me and u keep me informed if u do start soon. I love to hear people’s testimonials of what works and doesn’t.

[@nancyseaton9661]

You mentioned asparagus. Is it growing in one of your straw bales as well? Since it doesn't produce for at least a couple years what are you doing the next year? Do you keep it in the same bale or put it in a new one?

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

I had asparagus in one of my raised beds but decided to give those plants away. I felt I could better use that space. You are correct It typically takes about three years for asparagus to produce so that would not work for straw bales. I’m bot sure if transplanting to other bales would work. Happy gardening.