Happy Sunday, Gardener!
We hope you’re enjoying this St Patrick’s Day weekend! :-)
Gardening this week became what I can only describe as a dilly-dally of a what to plant where exercise. I know rotation is important. But when you’re working with a postage stamp garden, does it really matter where the tomatoes and peppers go? And are the squash bugs and vine borers gonna be fooled when we move the next crop three rows over or even 10 feet away?
This always leads to the same conclusion. Straw bale gardening. It’s like a combo raised bed/container system with built-in compost. No weeding, can’t overwater. Takes a bit of up front prepping and the bales are anywhere from $4.50 to $7.00 each.
The major concern is that the bales be free of any persistent herbicides. For some reason, plants, especially in the pea family, just don’t do too well with herbicide. So using a guide from our article on “Bad Compost” (https://www.gardensall.com/bad-organic-compost/), we can track down local providers of chemical free/organic bales.
Anyone curious about this particular method which allows us to bypass rotating the crops in favor of rotating the growing medium, check this article out.
Meanwhile, the garden will receive its final clearing and clean up in preparation for the laying of the bales (a solemn but inwardly joyful ceremony). With the tops of the bales some 2 feet above the ground, we can start off fresh and clean.
Hope all of you are getting into the swing of the new season. Let us know what you’re looking to plant. Someone wrote in about being covered up in two feet of snow, but the sap is rising in the maple trees. Have faith, spring is on the way!
Have garden stories or tips? We’d love to feature your how-to’s, stories, and/or garden photos on the website! Feel free to reach out anytime via email or our Facebook Page!
This Week’s Gardens All Articles:
Happy Growing!
~The Gardens All Team
P.S. If you would like us to publish your garden stories and photos, we would love to! Just reply to this email.
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