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Straw Bale Gardening: Trellises and Drip Irrigation

5/26/2016

Look at the fabulous fun trellises I found at Lowes! I like the tomato towers I have from Gardener's Supply and added these for additional support. The debate about pinching or not for the best tomato harvest goes round and round. After two years of pinching, I have decided to not pinch this year and let the suckers grow, thus introducing the need for more support. Supposedly, pinching leads to taller tomato plants with larger fruit and not pinching leads to wider plants with smaller fruits, but with my short growing season here in Minneapolis more tomatoes seems like the better idea. We all know you can not trust everything you read on the internet and I now believe the idea of pinching is for other growing zones and bad advice for me.
I added a Miracle Grow Soaker System, purchased locally for about $30.00. The reviews had some complaints about leaks due to too strong of water pressure, but mine is attached to a hose fitting with a flow control and a timer. I have the pressure on super low and can soak the bales in about 20 minutes.

I planted Swiss Chard and covered it with bird netting to keep out the bunnies!

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Straw Bale Garden

5/26/2016

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After several years of mushy, tasteless tomatoes and watching my neighbor have success with straw bale gardening, I sold my grow boxes and bought some straw. I learned that my tomatoes probably suffered from too much water as the grow boxes kept the soil soggy. Joel Karsten, a fellow gardener right here in a suburb of Minneapolis, wrote a popular book explaining the process of straw bale gardening. I bought the bales in October of 2015. The old farmer dude who loaded them into my vehicle asked what I was going to do with the bales. He laughed when I explained my plan and commented that "yes, all the best weeds grow in the straw piles."
I set up the bales, following the instructions of the cut side up, not the folded end, and put stakes on the ends to secure them in place. I put paper bags under the bales to provide a biodegradable barrier from soil pathogens. There they sat all winter long.

Starting in late April, I followed the instructions in the book to condition the bales and jump-start the composting process. I bought regular lawn fertilizer and watered daily according to Joel's instructions. I have to say, my bales never got hot, but I also wasn't using warm water as recommended. I sprinkled about 1 inch of potting soil on the bales to prep for my planting.

I bought my tomato plants on May 9, but kept them in my porch due to frosts through the week. When the weather finally warmed on May 16, I put the tomatoes outside during the day and brought them into the garage at night. The overnight temperatures were consistently around 60 degrees by May 20th and the tomatoes were ready to plant!