 Last month I worked a display garden at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle. I met many readers attending the show and having so much fun that I am convinced all of us should consider a trip down to Seattle next February to attend this annual event. It is the best weekend getaway you can take to brighten up an always-bleak Alaskan February.
Anyhow, weeks before the show began, our particular garden’s designer, Rosemarie Nichols of Nichols Nursery in Albany, Oregon, got a hold of half a dozen, wheat straw bales and made gardens out of them.
First, the bales were placed on their sides so that the straw ran perpendicular to the ground. Then they were wet down and soaked with water often for ten days or so until they were thoroughly wet. Next four to six inches of really good compost was placed on top of each bale. Finally, lettuces, Swiss chard and other leafy crops were planted right in the compost. Voila! Instant gardens in raised beds.
By the time the bales were laid end to end in front of the Garden Writers Association’s “Plant A Row for the Hungry” garden at the Seattle show, the seeds had sprouted in the compost.
The result was a very functional garden wall that turned out to be, literally, the showstopper. People lined up six and more deep to study what had been done and to ask questions. It became immediately apparent similar straw bale gardens were going to crop up all over the Northwest as a result of people seeing these.
Since you didn’t, let me tell you that trying a straw bale garden is worthy of pursuit here in Southcentral.
Using a straw bale(s), enables you to put a garden anywhere you have sun. There is no digging; you could put one in the middle of your driveway for that matter. Just remember, put the bale where you want it before you soak it down. Once wet a bale of straw is extremely heavy and very difficult to move around.
To start, get as weed-free straw as you can. Wheat straw has been suggested as a relatively seed-free straw. In any case, do not use hay. Hay has seeds in it. Straw, not hay: this is a key point. You local feed store will help locate good straw.
Next, you should use the very best compost you can. Better yet, use humus as it has better microbiology which is what makes the system work: Wetting the straw wakes up the protozoan populations that reside in the straw, in particular paramecium, those single celled animals you diagramed for some unknown reason in High School biology. These go up into the humus layer and eat bacteria. The resultant waste, released right in the plants’ root zone, is full of nitrogen and other nutritional goodies that are taken up by the plant. There is no fertilizing needed.
A second reason why you want the best microbiology is the soil particle holding capacity of the microbes. Secretions from the bacteria in the humus and fungal hyphae are what hold the compost together on top of the straw. Potting soil will not do; use humus or compost.
You can plant almost any leafy vegetable crop in the humus/compost layer. I don’t advise root crops like carrots or potatoes, at least the first year as they will not develop properly. You can grow flowers as well. You can even plant starts and, not to get carried away with things, mushroom spawn in the sides of the bales.
Each bale should last at least two years. Duyring this time it will naturally compost. The end result of a straw bale garden is wonderful, composted mulch for your gardens and flowerbeds.
Here in Alaska straw bale systems will provide a warmer growing environment than the conventional soil bed. First, the straw itself composts thus generating heat. And since a bale is raised above the ground, the sun has a better opportunity to warm up roots, which grow into the straw. The hollow reeds will hold in heat at night.
And finally, you won’t have to bend much when you garden in a straw bale garden. You will never have to really weed one either.
As it turned out, our Plant a Row Display Garden not only won a gold medal from the show’s judges, it was voted the best garden in the show by those attending, the highest honor or all.
I would like to think that this vote had to do with the message to plant one row in your garden to feed the hungry—a message that started here in Anchorage, went national and so far has provided over 26 million meals. However, I know the straw bale garden had a lot to do with the win.
So, my suggestion this week is that you clip this column and hang on to it so you will remember both ideas later this spring: Plant a Row to Feed The Hungry and try a straw bale garden. |
