Hay Bale Gardening

Want to grow vegetables or flowerings, but not keen on digging around in the dirt? How about if you have a bad back, or use a wheel chair? Hale bale gardening may be the answer for you. The idea is simple, all you have to do is properly prepare the bale, then plant your veggies and/or flower right in the intact hale bay, keep it well watered, and watch them grow!


Choosing a bale
Any straw or hale bale will do fine. Oat bales tend to sprout less. If your bales do start to sprout, you can pull the sprouts by hand, give them a 'haircut' with pruning shears, or pile mulch (hay, leaves, bark mulch), over the sprouts you wish to smother. You can often find spoiled bales not suitable for animal feed on craigslist for cheap. Bales aged 6 months or more and left in the rain are best, but even new bales can be used.

Find a home for your bale
Find a permanent home for your bale, near a water source, with drainage flow away from the house, in a place that can support heavy weight. Decks, driveways, patios, in the yard - anywhere with at least 6+ hours of sun if you want to grow vegetables. Bales work best when resting on their narrow side, so that the string doesn't rest on the ground and rot. Try stacking bales 2 deep to minimize water loss. You use as many or as few bales as you like, just make sure you leave generous room to walk between rows of bales. Once they are wet and planted they will be extremely heavy and impossible to move, so choose your space well.

Preparing the bale
Thoroughly soak your bales a few times a day for 5-10 days. Try adding some organic fertilizer, compost or manure tea to soak your bales in nutrients. During this time the bales will heat up and start to decompose. Don't skip this step, or you will end up cooking and killing your plants! After 5 days, reach deep into the middle of the bale and check the temperature, to make sure it's not still hot before planting.

What to plant?
In each bale you can fit one selection:
2 Tomatoes
3-4 Peppers
3 Squash/Zucchini/Melons
12-15 Beans or Peas

Try adding companion plants such as herbs, marigolds, petunias, nasturtiums, or alyssum. You can tucks these in between the larger plants, or why not tucks some of the trailing plants like nasturtiums or alyssym in the sides of the bale?

Planting time
Mature plants can be planted directly into the bales, just pry the bale apart with a trowel, and pop the plant in! You can add a bit of compost around the plant to get it started. Seeds can be planted by removing a few inches of a small area of the bale, and replacing it with potting soil or compost. Plant you seeds in it and watch them grow!

Maintaining your bale garden
Water every 1-2 days, maybe every day when really hot. A drip or soaker hose watering system will cut down on water waste. Add a water time, and don't worry about forgetting to water again! About every 1-2 weeks, add some supplemental liquid or water-soluble organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer may not have as high of nutrient content as non-organic, but the nutrients are released more smoothly and evenly, to get the best prolonged plant growth.