Straw bales are here!

Yesterday my hubby (a wonderful man) went out and picked up my 8 straw bales.  I've done my tomato plants for the past 2 years in straw bales with great success!  In the community garden they served a dual purpose of being a fence as well as a growing medium.  This year Joel Karsten wrote a book on Straw Bale Gardening (here is his web site http://strawbalegardens.com/).  Now, when the book initially came out I thought the book was $20.  For me it was a bit steep given that I've already had been using method for the past 2 years.  Yet, I want to support innovation, so there was my dilemma.  Well two days ago I got on my trusty Kindle (not the Kindle Fire) the black and white old as dirt but has over 500 books on it, Kindle.  Straw Bale Gardening on Amazon was on sale there for $10.00, which I then promptly purchased!  Strange how a few dollars makes the difference?  On the same hand this book has a TON of information in it!  Something’s I didn't know, some I did, some ideas I'm going to try.  Now, I feel kind of bad, this book is well worth the $20!    

Now here is what I've learned.  It looks like Joel Karsten has a way better method of trellising than I have used over the years so I will trying that out this year.  I've already rope my hubby into construction.  In the past I've done a Florida Weave technique and have struggled with the height issues of some of my tomato plants.  Remember the bale is already 2 ft. off the ground, so a 6 foot stake only becomes a 4 ft. stake, which for some of the crazy tomatoes is about 2 ft. short.  In the past I had to put a fence around my bales (the cheep 3 ft. kind) to keep my bales from tipping over because of the size of the tomato plants.  I think I'm still going to do this just because if I grow a 6ft tomato plant it will be 8ft in the air.  Not a good situation.  Because I had to orientate my bales in an east to west direction instead of a north to south, I'll be planting low growing tomatoes cabbage, onions, basil on the south side of the garden.  On the north side I'll plant my taller tomato plants.  

  
I'll also be starting my bales earlier next year, this year this was about as soon as it could have started because of other construction issues.  But in the future I may try and get my bales out by mid-April and with a little help have them ready to plant the first of May.  This year given the weather here in Minnesnowta I'm not sure that would have been feasible, but it is worth the try next year!

 
Other ideas I got from the book;  I'm going to be planting Trailing Petunia, Trailing Nasturtium, in the bales and 4 o'clock and tall Marigold next to the bales.  All for the beautician process!   I have a garden club member who was thinking about doing the Straw Bale Gardening but her husband talked her out of it for fear of adding some weeds to their yard.  Well as you guys can plainly see, I got weeds in my grass already (remember that's hubby's job).  My goal is to show her and everyone else that this method does not add weed to your lawn.  As I also live along one of the many paths in Champlin, this is a perfect opportunity for me to show people that this is not an ugly thing in your backyard.  

Here the final issue, my back and knees.  Two years ago when I started Straw Bale Gardening, I had no issues with my back and knees.  I was looking for a cheap fence around a big garden (60'X60').  This year, I’m struggling with a herniated disc, arthritis of the knees and a weight gain from not doing anything.  This is part of the reason why my husband built me all those wonderful raised beds.  Happy wife, happy life.  Even so, I'm struggling!  My mother, who is my hero, is 79 years old and had a hip replacement last year.  She and my dad usually go up north (north of Brainerd, MN) and have always had a pretty big garden.  This year it sounds like they will be spending the majority of their time in town at their town house, to help other family members.  We've all looked at raised beds for her, and so far have not found a good option.  I'd love if she tried the Straw Bales method, but I think I'm going to have to prove it to her first.  Right now, the plan is she not going to do her own garden (a first for her) but she come over to my house about 5 miles away and sit in the back yard with me and watch me garden.  I'll enjoy have her there, but at the same time if I can figure out a way for her to have her own garden for a couple of tomato plants next year all the better!  Until then I'll be growing for the whole darn family with a smile on my face!  

So all in all, here is me eating crow!  Buy the book!  Straw Bale Gardening by Joel Karsten, here is the link http://strawbalegardens.com/.  It well worth the price even if you have done Straw Bale Gardening for the past few years.