Straw Bale Gardening: Difference between revisions
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[https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=312128 by knowledgebase] | [https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=312128 by knowledgebase] | ||
Hello. I'm about ready to try straw bale gardening around my house. I have found little information on how successful this approach is in a rainy climate. Really the only tip specific to this type of climate I have found is to possibly wrap the bales in plastic to encourage their heating up during the conditioning phase. My concern is more about what happens after the bales have been conditioned and planted. Is there an increased chance of mold or fungus using straw bales compared to a traditional raised bed garden if it's a rainy summer? Are there any steps that could/should be taken in a rainy climate using the bale method of gardening? | Hello. I'm about ready to try straw bale gardening around my house. I have found little information on how successful this approach is in a rainy climate. Really the only tip specific to this type of climate I have found is to possibly wrap the bales in plastic to encourage their heating up during the conditioning phase. My concern is more about what happens after the bales have been conditioned and planted. Is there an increased chance of mold or fungus using straw bales compared to a traditional raised bed garden if it's a rainy summer? Are there any steps that could/should be taken in a rainy climate using the bale method of gardening? | ||
=====Straw Bale Gardening: A Beginner's Guide===== | |||
[https://home.howstuffworks.com/straw-bale-gardening.htm by Kate Morgan 2/5/24 howstuffworks] | |||
If you didn't grow up with livestock or on a farm, you may not know there's a difference between bales of stray and bales of hay. In fact, the two are completely different. Straw is dry, stiff and yellow. It's a byproduct of a grain crop; once the seeds of a plant like wheat are harvested for food, the straw is gathered and baled. It doesn't have much — if any — nutritional value left, so it's often used for livestock bedding, but not food. | |||
Hay, on the other hand, is grown specifically to feed livestock. Hay bales are made up of plants — usually grass or legumes — that have been harvested and dried as food for cows or other grazing animals. Because hay is still full of seeds, if you try to use it for garden planting, you're very likely to end up with a whole lot of unwanted sprouts. | |||
