Planning a new garden from a blank slate. A Straw bale garden introduction.

Every artist has a love/hate relationship with a blank palette. The empty page, a new canvas, daunting with possibility. When I moved across country, I knew that I wanted a home with space to garden. I bought a 1/2 acre of grass and a small struggling raspberry patch (aka, bunny food). It was early spring and I was brimming with ideas and plans, I analyzed the angle of the sun on the landscape and the trees filled out while I unpacked my boxes and got settled in.

I was excited to start digging in the dirt. My first priorities were to get the perennials in. Asparagus, strawberries, blueberries and cherries. My brother hooked me up with some proven asparagus plants so I started to dig. I just about killed myself, the roots of the grass were at least 8 inches, The sod was heavy and I didn't know what to do with it, so I created a berm by stacking it root side up in another part of the yard. I planted the remaining fruit and knew I could not dig vegetable plots.

The only way I could see planting a vegetable garden was to hire someone to come in and tear up my land, build raised beds, haul dirt and spend a lot of money creating my dream. I considered grow bags or container gardening, my blank palette was becoming a back braking chore. Alas, my friend Jimmy suggested Straw Bale Gardening. The no-dig solution!

I had 16 straw bales delivered. Bonus, they are much lighter than bags of dirt, until they get wet. The day of delivery it started to rain, I wasn't sure how to arrange them so I just winged it. I put down cardboard under some of them, so the grass wouldn't grow up through them. Before you can plant in them, the bales need to be "conditioned" using nitrogen fertilizer. The nitrogen breaks down the organic matter and is about a 2 week process. (To be explained later)

Much to my amazement, mushrooms sprouted and died back a few days later. According to the Straw Bale Gardening Facebook group, this is a good sign and indicates that the medium is ready to plant!!

So, if you want to create a garden where one has never existed, I highly recommend joining the straw bale gardening movement.

Follow along on future posts as I am excited to share what I have learned.