My potatoes are going to chit...
Hurry up April. Ground prepared last fall just need to lay down a core of straw, cover and go. Onions seeds are starting to get to the point where I can say prolific first crop(for seedlings).
Had some squash bug problems last year in the Acorn and Butternut beds surprisingly not in the zucchini…whatever. Changing techniques this year, straw bale growing. It’ll get the plants up off the ground and stymie those critters, of course we’ve also changed locations for the squash beds.
I’ve got two bale that overwintered so most of the prep is done just gotta charge with fertilizer.
When that’s complete I’ll inoculate she top of the bales with Pro-Mix+, blood meal, powdered milk and worm castings.
The bales are approximately 2ft. high which should allow the plants to cascade over the sides keeping the leaves and fruit off the ground. Could this technique also lessen the chance for mildew to form on the leaves (????)?
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I store it off the ground by the comfrey beds maybe that’s why they leave it alone. They ate the comfrey once then left it alone. I didn’t figure the deer into the plan, thanks for the thought. They bed down by a pine tree not 20 feet away. I’ve got enough welded wire laying around if they bother the bales I’ll rig up some kinda security.
The bales are a little frozen now but by the end of the week I should be able to move them into place. Charging the bales takes about 10-15 days so we’ll see how tempting they are. Got time to watch.
On edit: for growing in bales never use hay, straw only. Hay is not a good medium for this type of cultivation. Hay has seeds which could overtake the plants you want to grow. Straw on the other hand has little seeds in it. Wheat straw is grown for the seeds most are gone, plus the straw has a tubular shape allowing the water to enter, hydrate and drain. The orientation of the bale is critical.
It’s very interesting I’ll post a YouTube video about the technique.
