Alternative Vegetable Gardening Experiment: Straw Bale vs. Potting Soil Bag vs. In-Ground Planting

I live in an area that is cursed with clay; the heavy, worthless rock-hard tan rubbish that isn’t fit for much of anything. Therefore I must purchase plants that are tolerant of poor growing conditions or amend the heck out of the beds.

This year I decided to try alternative methods to grow my vegetables. As an experiment, I planted tomatoes and green peppers in two prepared straw bales, a large bag of potting soil, and directly into the ground. My goal is to provide the same amount of water, fertilizer and sunshine to each specimen to see which will be the healthiest, generate the largest quantity of tomatoes/peppers, and give me the best flavor of produce.

For the straw bales, I followed a 10-day recipe to “cure” the bale prior to planting. It went something like this:

How to Grow a Straw Bale Garden

By Kent Rogers

Www.nicholasgardennursery.com/strawbales.htm

www.county.ces.uga.edu/chatham/hay_bales.htm

www.co.clay.mn.us/Dept/Extension/ExAPHydr.htm

Day 1-3 Water bales thoroughly and keep them wet.

Days 4-6 Sprinkle the bales with ½ c. of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day, and water in well.

Days 7-9 Cut back to ¼ c. of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water in well.

Day 10 No more ammonium nitrate. Add 1 c. of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water in well.

Day 11 Transplant your plants into the bales. Use a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant.

I should have used a tarp over the bales to retain the moisture, but I didn’t think about it at the time. Instead I ran the sprinkler twice a day, two hours per session. The bales were soaked. Unfortunately, when I planted them I followed the suggestion and used a spatula. Later on, when I had to replace a green pepper that a bird had snipped off, I used a small shovel to make the hole. It was much easier to put the replacement plant’s root ball into the hole.

One of the greenhouses in Bloomington (I believe it was Owen’s) had a straw bale planted by their door. They had apparently scooped out enough straw to put in a shovel full of soil. After seeing that, I came home and forced soil around the root area of my plants. I think they perked up after that.

The mosquitoes LOVE to hang around in the bales. As soon as I bring out my watering can, which always contains a weak Miracle Grow concoction, the mosquitoes swarm up and attack me.

I have placed tomato cages around my plants. Only time will tell if the straw bale is sturdy enough to hold the cages in place.

For the potting soil planting, I used the biggest bag of high quality soil that I could find. Schultz moisture control is a potting soil that I use for container and basket plantings, so I felt confident that it was the right choice for direct planting. I used a piece or rebar to punch about a dozen holes through both layers of bag, allowing good water drainage. Next I cut an “X” near each end of the bag. I folded the ends under and planted the tomato plant in one hole and bell pepper plant in the other. I immediately added a small tomato cage, which I placed directly through the bag of soil. I pressed hard enough so that it was buried into the ground underneath by about 2”.

I did not use my Mantis tiller on the garden this year. Instead, I dug holes directly into the ground. They were big enough to bury the entire stem of the tomato plant, up to the first set of leaves. Roots will grow out the entire length of the stem, allowing the tomato to have a sturdy grip when the top is heavy with fruit. I always place tomato cages immediately over the plants. This avoids the possibility of future damage to stems or branches when the plants have become unmanageable.

Within days, a bird had snipped off one of the bell peppers that I had planted in the straw bale, and a deer or rabbit (both have voracious appetites, and both are prevalent in my country garden) had eaten off all of the plants that were in the ground.

I have purchased a six pack of small tomato plants and a one-quart size Early Girl to plant into the ground with hopes that the deer and rabbits will steer clear.

Every year I soak three to four page sections of newspaper in water, then layer them onto the garden between the rows. When I am short of newspaper I use corrugated cardboard pieces to block weeds. Rows that contain small plants, such as onions, are covered in cypress mulch. These preventative measures are not necessarily pretty to look at, but they do an excellent job of keeping out weeds and retaining moisture. PREEN also does a great job of stifling the sprouting of any weed seeds that may be present. Unfortunately, PREEN is not selective, and it will also stop radish, turnip, zucchini, and other seeds from sprouting, as well.

I originally planted my rag-tag garden on May 16, 2011. In the following weeks the only plant that has thrived has been the tomato that was placed in the bag of Schultz soil. Only time will tell how the rest of the experimental garden will grow. I’ll keep you posted.

Happy gardening,

shel

Autumn Clean-up

It was a perfect 72 degree day yesterday in central Illinois; perfect weather for tackling those dreaded autumn chores.

I spent the day closing down the gardens at my mom and dad's home. There had been a hard frost, so all delicate plants that were not protected had to be removed. I pulled out tomato plants (not easy to do as the doggone roots had really taken hold, which makes for a great tomato but also for a bad back!), clipped them into smaller pieces, and put them into the black standard compost bin. I also added armloads of silver maple leaves (more on that later), spent coneflower heads and stems, and dozens of Wave petunias, seed geraniums, coleus, nasturtium, and impatiens that had been killed.

There were many geraniums that were protected from the cold temperatures. I carefully pulled the plants from the potting soil, cleaned all of the soil from the roots, and pruned off the old growth to about 3". These geraniums are kept in my temperature-controlled garage (it is 3/4 underground, so the temps are rarely below 50 degrees) in a paper bag. During the winter I will check on them about once a month to make sure that there is not damage to the plant from either errant mice that have escaped the three cats and two huskies that reside here, or from fungus or disease. If the plant appears to be infected I throw it out; if it looks too dry I will lightly spritz it with water a few times a week until it looks rehydrated. At the end of February I will pot up the geraniums into a sterilized container that has been filled with fresh high-quality potting soil (please, do NOT put those awful packaging peanuts in the bottom of your containers!) and begin to wake the plants up by giving them a deep drink of water and putting them in my sun room. At the first signs of new growth, I will begin feeding my geraniums with a weak fertilizer solution. As the plant gets more robust, my fertilizing regime will increase. By the middle of April I will have beautiful, full plants, ready to be moved out into the sunlight on warm days. I have successfully overwintered standard geraniums like this for many years. They continue to get bigger and better.

Back to my leaf story...the maple leaves had blown into a corner area close enough to the compost bin that I didn't have to mess with a rake. Instead, I used my arms to scoop up masses of leaves. Mistake!!! I was totally creeped out when mom pointed to the hundreds of minuscule wolf spider infants crawling from the leaf pile onto the skirting of their trailer. Normally I am a proponent of spider survival (they do, after all, control the mosquito population) but this was too much. I ran into the house and grabbed the can of Raid Ant & Roach spray, the only kind under the sink. The spiders that were exposed got a good spray and died a quick death. Some of them escaped under the trailer, and I'm sure that there were many, many more in the leaf pile. That was the end of my composting for the day. I wasn't about to let any spiders crawl around on me, no matter how beneficial they are!

Before my day had ended, I had spread another four bags of cedar mulch onto the garden with the freshly-planted Cleveland pear. Friday I will continue with my autumn clean-up by planting the last of the bulbs (a few tulip and hyacinth, with some bloodmeal added for good measure), unhooking the garden hoses and putting them into the shed, pulling the last of the stubborn cool-weather weeds, and placing the snow shovel on the porch. Since the folks have two raised vegetable beds, I will add compost and additional garden soil to them, along with some peat moss, and till it with my Mantis. After that, I start in on my own two acres.

I hate autumn chores simply because there is so much death involved. But I truly look forward to a season of rest, where I can dream over garden catalogs and drool over my Horticulture magazine. Rest well, gardens. Spring will be here soon, bringing about the rebirth of beauty in our gardens.

shel