This Is How We Garden In The City

I grew up on a farm and now live in a suburb of Raleigh, NC.  While it is nice to have a grocery store within walking distance, I realize that I took the land I grew up on for granted.   As a kid I could run all over the place and not worry about watching out for cars or bothering my neighbor when I cut grass. Now that I am grown up and can almost touch the house beside me from my window, I miss having that land to run around on.  I also miss having that land to grow a garden.  Let's face it, there is is nothing like a fresh garden tomato on a hot summer day.

If you are like me, you may have a spot of dirt, but shade from the neighbor's trees blocks the sunshine or after numerous years of gardening the same small garden now has disease and lots of insect pressure.

Well, I have an alternative way to grow some vegetables that I learned from my neighbor.  You grow them in a straw bale.  You can put the bale in any place in your yard and the bales will grow tomatoes or peppers with ease.

Step 1: Get some straw bales.  They are probably cheaper at some garden center or small nursery, but a place like Lowes will have them too.  I typically buy them at the end of March so that they will be ready to use by mid-April.

Step 2:  Place the bales in your yard where they will get at least 6-8 hours of sunlight.  For tomatoes, the more sun the better.  Put the bales longways where the narrow side is up and the the wider side is perpendicular to the ground.  Placing the bales on a flat surface is optimal.  This just helps keep the plants from tipping over too quickly once they get bigger.

Step 3:  Now we need to condition the bales or in other words start making the bales decompose.  We need to jump start the bacteria that will start the composting process.  This is as simple as adding some ammonia and nitrogen through fertilizer.  I just use some cheap 10-10-10, but you could use other types of fertilizer sources.  I just put a cup of 10-10-10 on the top of each bale every other day for about a week.  Then put half a cup every other day for the second week.   Most importantly water the bale thoroughly every day and keep it wet during this conditioning step.  The composting will soon begin.  For about 10-14 days your bale will "hot compost."  If you stick your finger in the bale it will actually be pretty hot in there.  Keep checking after day 10 and the heat will subside and the inside of the bale will go cool.  Now it is time to plant your plants.

Step 4:  Plant your vegetables.  Plant two tomato plants per bale or three pepper plants per bale.   Grab a large screw driver or small trowel to help part the straw.  Take your plant and remove the jiffy pot if your plant was growing in one.  Use the screwdriver or trowel to help open up a hole in the straw and stick the plant in.  Go as deep as possible for a tomato plant while a pepper plant needs to stay at the same level it was growing in your starter pot.   Push the straw back together and water the plants.

Step 5:  Take care of you plants.  Straw bales will dry out faster than soil so you have to water them more frequently depending on the weather.   Watering will probably need to be done every 2-4 days.  You can stick your finger in the bale each day to gauge the moisture.  As the bale composts it provides a great medium for plants, but you will still need to fertilize.  I usually use a cup of 10-10-10 once every 7-10 days, but fertilizer especially for tomatoes or vegetables will work just fine.  Just sprinkle the fertilizer in a ring around the plants.  If you plants turn pale green it is time to fertilize.  Thriving plants will be dark green in the straw bales.

Step 6:  Secure your plants.  As the plants grow they will need to be secured.  I use bamboo sticks and twine to tie them up, but you could make a trellis or other innovative support system.  We will see how my plants progress as we go through the summer.

If you don't have an optimal spot of soil to garden, try some straw bails.  At the end of the season you can continue to compost the bails until they turn into soil or just take the leftovers to your local dump for composting.  Happy gardening this summer in the city.

April 2015 Garden

April 2015 tomato bale garden