Straw Bale Planters get covered for Winter

Today we worked the straw bale planting beds some more… Experimental straw bale bed # 1 – which was dragged together, cut  & planted several  weeks ago continues to be much warmer than the surrounding soil.  The rest of the garden soil has dropped to about 40 degrees at about 6 inches deep, but the bales continue to hold a temp of 65degrees, even in the upper 4″ soil portion of the planter cuts, as well as deep internally in the bales.  The bale at the west end, getting full sun along its high side, has a higher temp that fluctuates throughout the day up to 80 degrees!  Today we built a simple cloche or hoop cover for it.  Rebar, PVC, and quality greenhouse fabric will keep the temp inside above the rest of the air during the night, giving my winter greens a better opportunity for growth & water retention.   The arugula has sprouted prolifically & densely & so I moved the babies around by small bunches – to open areas for hopeful growth.  I am such a lazy gardener, saving time with these casual approaches to planting.

Bed #2 was planted with tomatoes last summer & did not retain water or do very well at all, for whatever reason.  I am hoping that the straw bales address the issue of water as well as amending with organic substance to the soil as it breaks down.  This experimental bed is in early stages – has had a few inches of rain, and got a late start overall.   The straw is still fairly dry inside the compressed bales, and does not register any temp variability from ambient surrounding soil.  I hope it is not too later in the year to get some temp increases as the straw fully wets & decomposes internally.  Does this bale planter need the sun’s heat to bring the temp up inside?  We will see.  We are cutting out the straw planters now, a time consuming job.  RJ is bringing his chain saw tomorrow to rip it up faster- he calls it “hogging it out”.  Once that is done, we will plant spinach starts & my ‘saved seed’ broccoli rab.  Then we must wait for more good soaking rains. One it is wet & filled with rainwater, we will cover it with the fabric.  If there is a great temp increase inside, we could have the makings of a warm greenhouse effect! Very excited to see how this works out over the winter.

The handsome coco lined hanging basket that was used as an “upside down” tomato garden last summer never did well either.  Seemed too dry always…only a few cherry tomatoes dared the hot dry conditions to actually redden up.  The salad greens appear to be much happier in their small but moist winter home.  Ambient air temps will be a factor in this little garden’s success, but…So far – so good!

Straw Bale Planting Beds –Building with bales!

WATER RETENTION

Last seasons garden was semi successful…I was happy to be planting a garden in the 5 raised beds bequeathed to me in this wonderful vintage home.! I discovered that this soil was also quite vintage, and so last winter we used each bed in turn as our compost pie. Then, in early spring I amended the beds with oyster shell, perlite, azomite, chicken manure, rock phos & other minerals. I was so used to dealing with the hard clay of my former garden, unfortunately I went too far toward building a permeable soil – and spent the dry summer dealing with a very silty soil that does not hold water well. Luckily, I have been continuing to make plenty of compost, and will correct that problem very soon. In the meantime, I am trying a great experiment in water retention & mulch for this winter’s garden. Frey Biodynamic Organic Winery is using these innovative straw bale beds in their old parking lot. Instead of tilling the compacted & hardened soil, they brought in a number of straw bales, made rows and proceeded to plant right into the bales, by cutting holes or “rows” & adding soil into those areas for planting. After 3 years the original beds are now made of wonderful humus about 4” deep, and the original soil underneath is getting healthy too! They inspired me to try this method in my raised beds. I brought in 4 straw bales, and laid them onto the soil in the bed, first removing about 3 inches of soil to use elsewhere. I was having a hard time cutting the straw until after the first rains, when it was really soaked through. Now I could more easily cut, reach in & grab handfuls of straw to remove until my hole was deeply set, and my little starts would be happy in a small bit of soil set into the decaying straw. It was a decent soaking rain, and I felt confident about planting now.

STEAM HEAT

An interesting development! As I was reaching into the first hole, I felt extreme warmth inside the bales. Richard has a compost thermometer, so he inserted it into the bale, and – wow! It was a 60° day, but the interior temperature was almost 140 degrees!!! Over the next week, as the bales slowly dried out, the temp went down to 120°, then 100°., then 80°, where it has stayed for well over a week. Today the soil temperature was 60 degrees in the rest of the garden, and the straw bales remain at 80°. The starts are doing just fine, not extraordinarily so – but showing normal growth rate for this cooling time of year. My hope is that they will get an edge from the heat, and in fact – I am going to use bales in another bed for some spinach, normally almost impossible to grow here in winter. I will use the hoop bed (see rear of picture) and add a “greenhouse” cover to it soon. The hope is that the decaying straw will add warmth to the interior of this mini-greenhouse – heck, I may be able to put my lemon trees in there!! And, then – next spring! Head start on tomatoes!! Ok, I am getting ahead of my self, but am very excited & hope to be reporting positive news in the next months – from this little experimental bale garden.