So, I've gotta be totally honest with you...I just about threw in the towel on our garden. Again.
I was totally thinking that this straw bale gardening (let's just call it "SBG" shall we?) was the be all and end all of our gardening woes. Cut worms, sandy soil, pocket gophers, sandy soil, dog chasing (i.e. "digging") after aforementioned pocket gophers, and sandy soil have done us in in previous years.
I was totally stoked to try SBG this year. Like, totally, dude. We got a bit of a late start...and we used "pellet" type fertilizer (note to self, don't do what we did...liquid or powder would've been better) and went to town...
Next mistake (count them, this is #3 already)...not enough topsoil. D-oh!!
Then...attack of the (what we thought were) killer mushrooms. Gobs. Tons. Heaps of mushrooms bloomed out of our bales like crazy. Had we been going for a bountiful crop of mushrooms, we'd've been happy as clams.
But we weren't. (Going for mushrooms OR happy as clams.)
I was ready to throw in the towel on this stupid, blasted, ninny muggin brained idea of SBG. Then one day, I checked on the garden, and LOW AND BEHOLD the mushrooms were receding and in their place plants were bursting forth!
Beans and peas and onions and carrots and lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and cauliflower and broccoli...it was all growing! Oh, and all sorts of viney plants are sprouting out from where we planted them in the sides of our bales!
It was...it was...like a MIRACLE occurred! Just when I though we were doomed, yet again, it appears as tho we may just succeed at this! (I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched tho..."harvest" is still a LOOOOOOOOONG way off!)
And all was right in the world again.
Coming soon, to a blog near you (psssst...it's this blog!)...photos, of said proliferating vegetable plants. Stay tuned!
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I have absolutely no idea what a straw bale garden is, but you have definitely piqued my interested! :)
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What a new concept! Our basil was overrun with mushrooms until the basil kicked their butts to the curb...mushrooms are weak and go away quickly no matter where they are! Good job!
ReplyDeleteOur garden was attacked by rabbits, I am scared to even look after all the money we spent on dirt and plants
ReplyDeleteFun!! I'm doing SBG, too and I was a little worried but I will see how things progress.
ReplyDeleteOurs is not quite going the way I had planned. Our green beans did not take off like they normally do. I think out of 4 rows we planted, we have a total of 5 plants. :/ I'm not quite sure what's up with that. On the other hand, we already have green tomatoes!!! HOpefully the peppers and eggplant will show the same growth.
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