Try straw bale gardening, they said. It’s easy, a great way way to overcome
poor soils, and anyone can do it, they said. It’s the next
wave of gardening, they said.
Really? Sounds like
it could be a good solution for our mountain gardeners. Let’s give it a shot! Since we like to use Extension as a resource
whenever possible, we were happy to find several fact sheets on the subject, such
as this one from Washington State: cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/FS109E/FS109E.pdf
First we bought some bright, shiny bales of straw (this was
last year, in 2013).
Then it was time to condition the bales. We watered the heck out of them and applied
nitrogen on days 4-10 as recommended to begin the composting process. We also wrapped the bales in plastic to help
keep in the moisture.
We used a soil thermometer to take the temperature daily,
waiting for the spike that indicates the beginning of the compost process. Nothing happened. So, we added more water, and more
nitrogen. And kept doing so all
summer. That thermometer didn’t budge. No
composting happened at all. Huh. Is that even possible? Apparently, it is.
We left the bales outside, where we thought the torrential
rains of last fall and the winter snows surely would cause some composting. And this spring, the bales definitely looked
more weathered. Maybe the bales were
finally conditioned?
We decided to go ahead and plant, first adding a layer of compost and potting
soil to the bale. We tucked in seeds of nasturtium and swiss chard, envisioning
the burst of color and lovely greens. We
watered regularly, and Mother Nature helped us with quite a lot of rain. We also made sure to fertilize.
How did we do? Well,
here is the sum total of what grew:
We’re giving up on straw bale gardening. It seems not *everyone* can do it. Maybe it's our climate. Maybe it was me. Has anyone else had success?
