Posted by Stephanie | Posted in Tips and Techniques | Posted on 08-08-2008
A coworker brought this article from The State to my attention earlier this week. It's about an 83-year-old man in nearby Lexington, South Carolina who has an impressive all-organic tomato farm. The article was brought to my attention because his favorite tomato, according to the article, is our famous Park's Whopper Tomato. Seeing that always puts a big smile on my face, of course, but what really interested me about this article is how Mr. Rutland grows his tomatoes. He doesn't plant them in the ground, as you would probably expect. Instead, he plants them directly into bales of hay.
Straw Bale Gardening is a very neat trend that is rapidly gaining popularity across the country, and it's one that I've been interested in for a while now. In fact, seeing this article reminded me to finish an article that I've been working on for a while on the how-tos of Straw Bale Gardening. Growing your veggies in a straw bale is great for a lot of reasons. It's a good solution to inexpensively deal with poor, hard-to-work soil, or just soil with very bad drainage. It cuts down on weeds and pests, so it makes organic gardening all the easier. It also makes gardening much easier on the back, especially for elderly or disabled gardeners (though my back certainly doesn't mind a break, either). Maybe best of all, it's an interesting new way to garden that will pique the curiosity of friends and neighbors.
Hello,
I am determined to try a straw bale garden this year, but have been unable to locate a source for oat or wheat straw bales. Folks here think of pine needles as “straw” so I get blank looks when I ask about the wheat or oat straw. Can you suggest a seller of straw bales anywhere in the Midlands area? Thanks!
You should look in the yellow pages for a Local Hobby and Garden store or and Agricultural Cooperative (Co-op) — they will usually have anything you need for straw bale gardening or any other kind of gardening.