Here in NW Pa the rain and cold ended many crops early and quite a few people just turned the gardens under and will plan for a more successful garden next season.
photo credit: kanegen

I moved most of my gardens under glass or used raised beds so my crops lived. They didn’t have as large of crops as usual but there were fresh vegetables.

And there are very few apples in the area this year. I have many trees so there will be apples but not the large selection I usually have. I also will not be pressing apple cider. But blueberries are doing well so I will freeze some of those to put away for those cold winter days.

When planning for next year you may want to look at using raised beds for easier gardening and the ease of covering your crops against too much rain or cold nights.

By adding plastic piping that can be bent in a U shape you can make a tunnel and cover it with plastic for cold and rain protection. I may even have to cover the gardens soon for frost protection.

Yes, a few places just above me may get their first frost in August! They are calling for possible frost in upstate New York.
photo credit: lepiaf.geo

So tell me how your garden turn out and do you plan to plant a winter garden? It’s amazing what you can grow indooors in the winter.

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In my garden adventures with hay bale ad straw bale gardening I have tried several different gardening techniques. While I like growing melons and gourds in the bales both are heavy feeder so I created a hay bale/ straw bale square garden technique to use with these crops.
photo credit: JBColorado

Use four bales, hay or straw. Each bale type has its strong points. Lay the bales out to form a square with an open section on the inside. In the inside you will want to make and place a trellis or stakes to hold up melons or gourds. Growing these crops vertically will take a lot less space. There will be a lot of weight on this trellis so it has to be well made. My trellis is 10 foot tall, made of metal and welded together.

Once the trellis or stakes are in place fill in the square with fertilizer. Top with straw or grass clipping and water well. This is your onsite fertilizer pit for these heavy feeding plants. I have found that by using this method my crops grow twice as fast and larger than ever before. And with melons I put two plastic milk jugs into the pit, upside down with the bottoms cut off and the cap off. This is my watering funnel to make sure they get enough water.
photo credit: gui.tavares

Now it’s time to prepare the bales for planting. This link will give you the bale preparation method.

Plant three plants in each bale. I plant them near the back and plant flower in the front for color and to add interest to the garden.

The only point I must stress is to make sure you have the trellis or your vertical stakes very secure! It makes a mess when they fall, and yes, this is experience talking.

You can let the melons or gourds lie on the ground and make a unique looking garden but it takes more space and insects will be harder to control. If you decide to let the produce sprawl on the ground, mulch the ground to keep the weeds down, add a few flowers and some garden art and it will make an interesting garden.

Hay bale gardening or Straw bale gardening has many positive aspects. Its worth giving it a try, particularly if you have poor soil or trouble getting a garden tilled.

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photo credit: Valerie Everett

I prefer straw bales as they contain less seed and last longer but straw is more expensive so my choice for the garden depends on the best buy I can get or which crop I am growing. For squash plants and gourds I use hay bales. For my tomatoes and peppers I use straw.

Hay Bale Gardening method

So, if your soil is poor or you want to use the raised bed method but are short on soil,  you may want to consider growing your crops in hay. First get bales that still have the string tightly around the bale. This gives you control in moving the bale.

And if you know where you want your garden position the bales. The bales get heavy when wet so you will simplify preparing the garden if you select your garden area when you purchase the bales. If possible let your bales set outside during the winter. This gets the bales wet throughout.

If you are just getting your bales, give the bales a thorough soaking, and let them begin to break down before you plant your vegetables. If the weather is warm, soak them several times during the day for four days.

On the fifth day, apply your choice of liquid fertilizer to the top of each bale. I use liquid compost I have made. Manure tea works well too. Repeat this for three or four more days depending on the crop you will grow. (Gourds and heavy feeders get four days on added fertilizer) When you are done soaking the bales allow one or two days for the bales to set.

Next apply a 50-50 mix of topsoil and manure on the top of each bail or your own compost soil mix. The soil is about 4 inches thick on top of the bale. This will hold the moisture in the bale, add nutrients to the bale during the season and is a place to plant seeds.
photo credit: Average Jane

Moisten the bales with a fine water spray. You are now ready to plant your bale garden. Pull apart the bale by hand to make a hole to put your plant. I also add some soil if I am planting a transplant. Each bale should hold two tomato plants, four pepper plants or two squash plants. Cucumber and lettuce are spaced differently. I use the square foot gardening spacing guide. An example would be six to eight cucumbers, three yellow squash or 12-15 bean seeds per bale. And lettuce would be spaced 6 inches apart.

Annual herbs like basil, cilantro and parsley grow well in bales. I tend to mix them in with other vegetables. Watermelon and cantaloupe can also be planted in bales but I like to have a stronger fertilizer mix for these heavy feeders so plant them in a straw bale square.

Root crops don’t so as well in bales. Their roots are crowded but I have found they thrive in containers and are so easy to harvest – just tap the container to loosen the soil and dump the container. And grow potatoes in loose straw for a great crop.

Hay bale gardening is easy and the garden area has a unique look. I also use a square bale garden formation for heavy feeding plants, lay out the bales for an interesting garden and have mossed the sides of the bales for a very artistic flower garden. hay bale gardening a versatile form of gardening.

Tips:

• Buy your bales off season for a better price. Sometimes in late spring they will be free for the hauling.
• Plant flowers around the base for a fun look to your bale garden.
• Stack the bales two high if you want a garden that is easy on the back.
• Straw bales have less seeds in the bale but cost twice as much
• Bales should last two years.
• When you are done using the bales, compost them for more soil for another gardening year.

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My first gardens were very successful although it took a bit of practice to plan the succession planting or using garden space several times during a growing season.  I also liked growing in raised bed gardens. The gardens were easier to mow around. I had fewer problems with rabbits and could cover any garden area easily with a shade cloth, net or plastic it the temperatures dropped. Water and weeding the garden was also easier.

Below is a you tube on Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. If you haven’t tried this form of gardening I recommend it.

I use Mel’s methods and a form of straw bale gardening. It’s just a process that works for me and cuts down on time spent working in the garden. It also saves on gardening space, a big plus for those with limited gardening room. And its perfect for apartments and urban gardening. I like to garden but I also enjoy sitting and enjoying the gardens beauty!

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My house sits in a hill and has a very unique and challenging front yard with rolling slopes. It’s beautiful when its mowed and the gardens are flowering.
photo credit: bobrpics

Another challenge is added where the house sits into the hill and I have to try to create easier landscaping and mowing.

What I did on the north side of the house was to dig more of the hill away and put in a rock wall and a tiered garden above that. I no longer have an extremely steep slope to mow and my garden area is close to the house.

The wall had to be put in properly so that it would handle frost and the ground expanding in the winter. I also have a drain out into the wall to prevent water drainage problems. On the very bottom of the rock wall I put in a rockwall planter, which I also wrapped around the foundation of the corner of the house. This added section linked the gardens with the house and created a larger looking and very inviting garden area.

A rockwall planter will add a lot of character to your yard and property. It’s easy to build and can be put in over a weekend if you have your materials ready to go. You can purchase the rocks or collect your own rocks to cut down on the cost of the project.

Building a Rockwall Planter.

First decide how you want your rockwall planter to be laid out. I use a garden hose to outline any new informal garden area I work with. A garden hose gives you the chance to lie out a shape and see if it’s visually pleasing and easy to work with.

Any garden or landscaping I add to the house is put in with the idea of being easy to maintain. Try various outlines for the rockwall and decided where you want to position the planter. After the decision has been made use lime or flour and sprinkle heavily where the house is to mark you pattern. 
photo credit: bartlomiej.malysz

Smooth the area where you are going to build the planter and tamp the soil into place. You will want to work about 12 inches into the outline. This is a very important step so take you time. This is the base of your planter and it need to be even and stable to hold rock firmly in place.

I used basketball-sized rocks for my wall. I was lucky and harvested them all from the creek in my back yard. If you don’t have many rocks you may need to purchase them. You can usually get them from your local hardware store or try a construction site. They may deliver them for free. If you have rocks brought to you have them unload them as close to you project as possible.

Separate the rock into three piles of small, medium and large rocks. To save strain on your back, stack the largest rocks closest to the planter. They will be the fist size you will be using. I also used a wheel barrel.

Start you wall by laying out the largest stones evenly along the line. Make sure the rocks are touching as you build your first row of the wall. It takes a little practice to get the rocks fit together tightly and to be stable. You may have to rearrange the rocks a few times to get the results you want.Work your way to the medium rocks then follow by using the small rocks. Make sure the wall does not exceed 18 inches high and feel secure and does not wobble.

Next attach a landscape fabric to the backside of the rockwall planter. This will prevent weeds from growing out of the planter. A black plastic tarp is best and you can find them in the gardening section at your hardware store. I put a drainage tile in the bottom of the planter by the section I had by my foundation wall. I wanted to make sure I had no water problems near my house.

Fill the bottom of the planter with rocks to aide in drainage and take up space so you don’t have to use so much soil. I used about nine inches of rock and topped with eight inches of soil. I watered the planted and let the soil settle. I added a little compost to the top of the planter and put in my plants.

I have had no problems with my planter and many comments. It just adds to the comfort of my back yard and solved some of my more difficult landscaping tasks.

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The reasoning for planting in hay was that it was like a raised garden and you could plant earlier with less work and no digging. The No Dig method is considered to be better for soil structure.
photo credit: JBColorado

I read that you needed to start with transplants. They suggested wetting the bale down very well a couple of times a day for several days. When you were ready to plant your transplants you would dig a hole in the bale and put in rich potting soil or compost.

So I decided to add a hay bale wall to my garden area and started dragging in hay bales. Of course the neighborhood was watching and wondering what the eccentric gardener was up to this time. I wet the bales down as suggested and added fish emulsion to the areas I knew I would be planting in.

I planted peppers, tomatoes, flowers and beans in the hay bales in different arrangements that were pleasing to the eye. Several bales I stacked creatively and planted ornamental gourds in those in such a way they would trail down the bales. This made a garden art piece that I could add accent pieces to for fun in the garden.

My accent pieces were old farm pieces, crocks and pottery pieces and later: mums and pumpkins.

My garden plants grew well. I think I had one of the larger tomato crops that year. And the gourds looked great cascading down the bales.

At the end of the year the bales were breaking down and I threw them in the compost pile.

I have used bales since, particularly for gourds, I just like the look and focal growing spot I can make using bales.

Another unique ideas I have heard of for hay bale planting is making a moss planter for plants (It’s a great look!) and a growing flowering plant wall.

One suggestion you may want to consider. Hay brings in more weeds. You will wanter older bales that have brokern down a little or go with straw bales. The straw bales do not have seeds.

Technorati Tags: creative gardening, gardening methods, hay bale gardening, raised bed gardening, straw bale gardening

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Raised garden beds do not have to be a huge construction project or expensive.
photo credit: SDCDeaCerte

I have used cement blocks, bricks, stone, old doorways, and old boxes.  When using any old found materials check for stains and paints that could be harmful to the soil.

Cement blocks warm up quickly so you can plant some of your crops earlier. You can also plant small plants in the holes in the blocks. I have planted herbs or flowers in the holes with much success. It looks nice and if you chose the right plants you can practice organic pest control.

If you take on a bigger project and build wood boxes for the raised beds just make sure you use unstained wood. It will have to be replaced in a few years but weatherized wood leaches chemicals into the soil and may affect your plants!

My one friend used old plates for an artistic garden art look. I have also seen bowling balls used.

One year I tried straw bales. It worked well but I had the expense of the bales.  The advantage was I had great mulching material at the end of the season.

My favorite and most fun raised beds, really container gardening, is the use of bushel baskets. In the fall I collect bushel baskets at sales, farm stands or auctions. It doesn’t matter if they are a little beat up.

When planting time comes around I get the baskets up and fill them with the composted fresh soil I have made during the winter.

What I like about planting in bushel baskets is that I can chose theme baskets, move the baskets around or place them artistically around the yard or by the door as a mini garden.

The other big plus it that as much as I like gardening I do not like digging up root crops. Using the bushel baskets I can harvest root crops by placing a sheet or plastic near the basket and just turning it over and shaking out the comtents. MY crop is harvested in seconds and I haul the used soil back to the compost pile to be re-conditioned!

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photo credit: Living in Monrovia

• It’s easier on your back. Raised beds can be a little as six inches high  to as high as  three to four feet. Beds this high usually are in banks or on tables.
• It’s easier to control larger garden pests such as rabbits, ground hogs and other wild animals that cause crop damage and plant disease.
• You can cover an area in record time to protect crops from cold winds, frosts or from the sun or insects by attaching posts to the sides or leaving areas where pipes or posts can be inserted. Using this method I can cover my garden if need be in a matter of minutes.
• You can lay out interesting garden designs. Try different  patterns or  a circular wheel where the center of the garden has a bench or watering stand.
• Many raised beds use the Square Foot Gardening method or rotating crops for better space usage. By removing crops and covering the area with mulch you can keep the area ready to plant at any time and improve the soil at the same time. I often do this for an early pea crop, lettuce which I plant several times during the season and other short season crops.
• Watering can be simplified and you will use less water by only applying it to the areas that need it.
• The soil warms up faster in a raised bed garden meaning you can plant earlier. By covering an area with black plastic you can further speed the soils temperature. Planting can be moved up by a couple of weeks.
• Mowing around a raised bed garden is easier.
• You can work one small part of a garden at a time and not feel overwhelmed if you have a large garden.
  

Disadvantages to a Raised Bed Garden

• Raised beds dry out faster so will use more water. I have found that by watering well at the beginning of the season and applying a heavy mulch I can remedy the problem. I also use a deep watering method for plants and crops that like a lot of water like cucumbers.
• Planning and building raised beds.

Any disadvantages can be easily overcome. For raised beds you do not have to build a garden frame if you don’t want.

You can also use a variety of found items to use as frames. Bushel baskets, old boxes, wheel barrel, etc.. These item can add fun and become a focal point to your garden and backyard.

Check out Creative Raised Beds

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