Gardening on straw bales? Similar to raised beds, this technique makes it possible to grow vegetables on bad floors or on the balcony. You don't need a large garden or high -quality topsoil. Only one or more straw bales and two weeks of preparation. This method is simple, cheap and clean. Today we give you some tips on how to plant plants on straw bales and what advantages it offers. If you want to harvest organic vegetables, crispy salads and fresh herbs, you can already start preparing!
Gardening on straw bales: the perfect natural planting bucket
No ditch, no rake, no weeds. This revolutionary cultivation method was invented by the American Joel Karsten and is becoming increasingly popular. His book “Awesome Gardening withBale”Appeared in 2014 and tells of the new technology with ingenious advantages.
Advantages of the straw bale nursery
- low entry costs - the purchase of straw bales is relatively cheap
- Regardless of the ground conditions - you can achieve good harvest on bad floors
- Flexible location conditions - the garden can be created everywhere: on a terrace, on the balcony or a paved front yard
- minimized workload
- no weeds
- No loosening of the earth
- Better yields due to increased temperature inside the straw bales
- You can plant laterally
- Waterlogging and soil -borne diseases are practically excluded
- The decomposed straw is compostable
So you can proceed
1. Get dry straw bales
Ideally, the straw bales should be purchased directly from a farm in the area. Look for rectangular straw bales, no large straw bale wheels. Make sure that there is a significant difference between straw and hay: the hay usually consists of grasses and herbs. It could also contain weed seeds.
If you don't find what you are looking for in a farm shop or at a stud, you can also order straw bales online. The easiest way to get straw bales in autumn. If you prepare everything for your straw bale garden before winter, you can already set the plants in spring.
2. Position the straw bales
Before you set up the straw bales, put a protective mat (weed fleece) on the floor to prevent weeds from growing up through the bales. Order the cuboid bales side by side, with the open side up. The bales should be as right -angled and just as possible. It is still advisable to fix the bales, because they are decomposed during the season. Most of the time they are attached with the help of posts and wire.
3. Preparing the straw bales
The straw bales must be prepared about two to four weeks before planting. In general, watering two to three weeks a day and fertilizing every two days. So straw is supplied with nutrients. From the beginning of March you can start adding the fertilizer into the straw bales. The straw bales are fertilized and irrigated until heat is created inside the bale, which promotes the growth of the plants.
Which fertilizer is suitable?
Fertilizer usually serves to supply the straw nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium and other elements. But which fertilizer is best suited for the straw bales? There are so many different types of fertilizer that you can easily lose track. First of all, it is important to select fertilizers without pesticides such as moss and weed control. It should be a fertilizer with a very high nitrogen content, because thanks to nitrogen, the microorganisms can quickly get started inside the straw bale. When choosing, pay attention to the NPK ratio. These are the nutrients contained in the fertilizer: n = nitrogen, p = phosphorus, k = potassium. Try to use a fertilizer in NPK ratio 18 - 20 % nitrogen, 10 % phosphorus and 15 % potassium. You need about 500 g of fertilizer per bales.
- Rest fertilizers and long -term fertilizers (a kind of mineral fertilizer) are not necessarily suitable for this.
- Finished organic fertilizers usually contain less nitrogen or no phosphorus or potassium at all. However, you can also put together your own mix so that you can get the corresponding ratio.
- The mineral fertilizer in the form of salt is well suited. It is water -soluble and immediately effective.
- The organic fertilizer made of vegetable or animal raw materials must first be opened up by microorganisms in the straw. If you work with organic fertilizers, you need approx. 600 g fertilizer per bale.
- Straw bales can also be prepared with vegan fertilizers.
The straw bales are prepared every day:
Day 1: Water the bales thoroughly. Then spread the fertilizer evenly on the bales. One to two cups of fertilizer per straw bales are required, ie approx. 100 grams of conventional fertilizer and approx. 600 grams of organic fertilizers. Then pour in half a watering can to the saturation.
Day 2: Only watering
Day 3: fertilize and water again until fertilizer is drawn in
Day 4: only watering
Day 5: fertilize again and water warm again
Day 6: Only watering
From the 7th day the fertilizer can be reduced by half: approx. 50 g of conventional fertilizer and approx. 300 grams of organic fertilizers. Until the day. 10 fertilization and water.
Day 10: Add about 200 grams of phosphorus and potassium. A mixture of bone flour and wood ash in a ratio of 1: 1 would be ideal. Water until fertilizer has moved in.
Anyone who has worked with conventional fertilizer can plant on the 12th day. Better wait 5 days for the biodetermination.
When you put your fingers in the bales, you can feel warmth and moisture. Black, floor -like lumps are a signal for the decomposition process. Do not worry when mushrooms sprout - that means that the straw decomposes as it should.
Water straw bales properly
In addition to the fertilizer, watering is the be -all and end -all when preparing the straw bales. Ideally, you water with pleasantly warm water. Can also be used. Cold water will slow down the microbiological process inside the straw bales.
You can use a watering can or garden hose to water. In order to make water easier, an automatic irrigation system would make sense for larger gardens due to trickle hoses.
In the first four days you water thoroughly until the bales have sucked up and the fertilizer is pulled in. From the 5th day, simply water every day until the fertilizer is incorporated into the bales.
4. Rank aid and frost protection in one
For the plants, the tendrils, there are usually 2 meters high trellis over the bales. This can be covered with a protective film and use in spring as frost protection for cold -sensitive vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers or peppers. It is important that the cover is removed on sunny days. Otherwise, the young plants can burn in the warm straw bales.
5. Plant straw bales
Use a good trowel with which you can sting the holes for the seedlings in the bales. Then becomeThe young plants Einlant. Make sure that the seedlings are not planted too densely. Fill out the gaps between the plant and straw with bought plant substrate so that the roots do not dry out.
Poices or seeds? Both are possible. For seeds, a 2 or 4 cm thick substrate layer on the bale is required. As soon as the seeds germinate, you will attach your roots to the bales yourself.
What can I grow on straw?
You can actually grow everything on straw. Just make sure that the space is limited. There must be distances between the plants so that it does not become too narrow. Plan the number of straw bales according to your needs. To feed a family, you can start with 5 straw bales per capita.
Here is a planting proposal:
- Strawberries
- Broccoli
- Kohl
- potatoes
- Romana-Salat
- Cauliflower
- Tomato
- Paprika
- Cucumber
- Pumpkin
- Garlic
- Kohlrabi
- Leek
- Onion
The side walls of the straw bales also contain a lot of potential and it would be a shame if you don't use the space optimally. There you can plant herbs or annual flowers. Fennel, mint, tarragon, oregano, basil, sage, parsley, chives, chard are a good enrichment for your vegetable garden on straw. Also edible flowers such as marigold and nasturtium make the straw garden a real eye -catcher.
6. No now!
If you have an automatic irrigation system, you have saved the effort to harvest. Because the high -quality straw does not contain weed seeds.
7. The duck after harvesting time
After the harvest, the bales become soft, limp and gray. Then you can compost the straw or use it as a mulch.
Gardening on straw bales is definitely a new trend that needs to be regarded. The method actually works and inspires more and more people worldwide.
