Our Straw Bale Garden

Our seedlings are growing and so far we haven't knowingly killed anything living... yet that is.

So, in preparation for our garden we've been trying to figure out the where, when and how bits. We've determined we need a fence to protect the garden and that we'll need hoes and rakes to get the soil ready. There are some concerns about having the garden so close to the road, and the type of soil we'll be planting in and how it's going to effect the growth of the plants. Being down hill from the road means we'll get a lot of run off in the soil and that's not good - things can't grow in salty soil.

Today I happened upon this article on Straw Bale Gardens. Mind you, I've heard of this before and thought it was a great idea last year - but this year it's an even better idea! Because we have tons of left over straw bales from last year that would be perfect for a garden - we can't use them for anything else!

And boy if I don't know how I hate to weed... tho I was quite willing to do it! Hard work never hurt me before ;) But just look at these clean organized rows, I dare any kid to try and step on my seedlings (well w/o getting on the bales)!

Here are the directions I found online (below) - I think we're ahead of the curve on Days 1-3 ;) Especially with all the rain we've been getting over the past couple of days. Now we just need to figure out how many bales we need!

How to Grow a Straw Bale Garden

Preparing Your Bales

It takes 10 days to prepare your bales.

• Days 1–3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them wet.
• Days 4–6: Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales. I didn’t have any trouble finding ammonium nitrate from my local ag-supply store. They sold it in 40-pound bags. I have heard, however, that some people have had difficulty finding it in more urban settings. Ask around.
• Days 7–9: Cut back to 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water it in well.
• Day 10: No more ammonium nitrate, but do add 1 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water it in well.
• Day 11: Transplant your plants into the bales. I used a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to its first leaf and close the crack back together as best you can.

Of course you're all invited to come over and see how it comes out! Maybe we'll even have something ready to eat we can share with you. OH and if you want to try this and just need some bales - let us know, we've got a bunch ;)

Much Love,

Heather & Dan

The Planning of the Garden

So, in between everything going on in regular life we're planning our vegetable garden and today I thought hey... why can't we start growing things now. Sure it's the dead of winter, but somethings take forever to grow... that and I kill plants, so we might have to make several attempts at growing things successfully. These musings have been mostly prompted by learning that it takes a number of years to grow some of the things we'd like to have:

1. Coffee Beans - 4 years
2. Asparagus - 3 years
3. Grapes - 3-4 years
   (We're still investigating the homemade wine process but figure if these folks can make peapod & elderberry wine [ffwd to 3min. 40seconds] that we could have a go at grapes!)

Beyond those "luxury" items, I believe my first challenge will be tomatoes. Because our growing season is short I think I'm going to go with the
"Bush Early Girl"

I'm hoping if we start early the plants will be big enough to put in the ground (and live) by the ends of the frosts sometime around May 11th. Of course the potatoes will need to go in earlier!

Here are our FINALISTS for this years garden:

1. Orange Rocket Carrots
2. Looseleaf Lettuce
3. Snow Peas
   
4. Zucchini
5. Mellon
6. Tomatoes
7. Green Peppers
8. Potatoes
   

Of course I welcome any and all comments and suggestions as I hope to make this my first successful garden ever - all others have failed miserably!

Resolution.2010.

So, 2009 didn't work out so well.
By the end of it all we had piles and piles of wet straw - even some straw growing grass... if only we wanted to grow grass on our walls!

But we are not discouraged, not too much anyway. Had a good cry, got over ourselves and are now moving forward with renewed vigor. With God's blessings and grace for our plans we hope to actually get the job done!



Proposed Plans
(pending approval and under prayerful review)
1. Revise House Plan - move 2nd bedroom upstairs to provide for more living space on the main floor.
2. Review Floor Plan with More Informed Person(s)
3. Evaluate Costs & Break into Phased Development Stages

• In the meantime: Plan Garden, Plant Garden, Mind Garden
• Think about sheep & chickens... prepare for 2011
  

4. Implement Phases & BUILD HOUSE!

Mind you all this while one or the other of us still needs to work to pay for things. We will be testing the waters of full-time freelance work in mid-February, so budgets will be tight and it's possible that we will be eating things Marshall shoots with his BB gun. Let's just hope they're big enough to actually eat... alright - just grossed myself out EEEWWW!

For those of you out there who enjoy British Comedy here's a clip from a show we've been watching that's seems very familiar :D http://www.youtube.com

I'll keep you posted on Marshall's BB skills!
ttfn