Are you looking for a new and creative way to grow that vegetable garden? Take a look at square bale gardening, or SBG for short. Now I know you are thinking, wait, I already have a till-able garden area. That is great, but you can also explore the world of square bale gardening. We all have that little area of yard that we're just not certain what to plant or do with. Or maybe you live somewhere temporary and want to have a small patch of produce, such as a patio garden, or your landlord doesn't want you tearing up the yard. Aside from space and portability, square bale gardening keeps animals away from your plants, plants are higher up so if you have limited mobility it is closer to you, and with the correct prep work the bale acts as a sponge and does not dry out nearly as fast as soil. Now, I know you are saying, OK, I want to do this, but what is it and where do I get these square bales from? In the simplest terms a square bale garden is square bales of straw, not hay, that are turned on their edge, strings facing outward, not down, that you transplant your vegetables in. This does require about 10 days or prep work prior to planting. There are many videos available on sites like youtube, that show the advantages of SBG and the steps involved in it. You can get the square bales from sites such as craigslist.org will have posts for straw bales. You want to check the home/farm garden section. You can also post you are looking for straw bales. Also, ask around. You may have a co-worker or a cousin who knows a farmer, and trust me, farmers are always willing to make a little extra cash. The most you will typically pay is about $3 a bale. If they try charging you more walk away. Side note: Nitrogen is used to prep the square bale. Typically to get the quantity of nitrogen needed from your local farm supply store they will make you sign a waiver, permitting the use of nitrogen. A simple way around this is to go green. Human urine, while kinda gross to think about, can be used in the same fashion. It has lots of nitrogen in it, and we all produce it daily. Basically any vegetable you grow in soil can be grown in a square bale.
Here are the steps to prep your square bales. Location is key. Please note, we are explaining this in the "green" way. If using nitrogen then use half the amount of urine suggested. Find a place that is sunny and warm and allows space for your square bales. When prepping we suggest you do these steps in the evening. First, days 1 through 3 soak bale thoroughly, until water is running out of bottom of bale. Don't worry, you cannot over soak it at this point. Days 4 through 6, using a measuring device that you will not be handling around food (like an old canning jar) measure about 1 cup (8 oz) of urine per bale, sprinkle evenly over bale. If using nitrogen it would be about 1/2 cup. Day 7 through 9 use 1/2 cup of urine, sprinkle so it soaks in evenly. Day 10 use 1/4 cup urine, sprinkle evenly. Day 11, you can start planting. When you plant just place plants directly into straw and you are good to go. You may have to use a trowel to pull about the straw to get some plants in. Then care for your garden as usual. You will still have to stake/cage/trellis all the plants you normally would. Please let us know if you have any questions.
A quick little update from us. We have a portion of the basement set up to start seedlings with some growing lights. We are glad the care-taker of the property is a flower gardener and he had the lights available. He is also our neighbor and friend of the family. We have various pots and flats set up down there that we have re-used and freecycled over the years. We have started leeks, white and yellow onions. We are also growing a flat of lettuce and spinach that we are seeing if we can grow to eat off season. We'll let you know how that works out. Also we have started a flat of seed yukon potatoes we got off of the plants last year. We are hoping they produce like regular. The potatoes, lettuce and white onions are all second generation seeds we saved from last year.
Next week we will talk about when to start seedlings. Have a good one!
- Holly
PS: We would love to hear YOUR imput. Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, check out our facebook page, and please, pass the blog along :)
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