My garden this year was pretty much a big flop! But then, we had many things going on and that was okay.

But the biggest issue is that the area that I want my beautiful garden is low and flooded out last year. And then it dried up and made for like rock solid ground, and us without decent heavy machinery, well, it just floundered. Our neighbors tried to help, tilling it up, but it was already middle of June and well, it was just too late to get much going well.

However, this year, I am going to be ready. I want to build up the area with compost, mulch and manure, using a no till method of lasagna gardening! I want to build up my rows and make it just a garden nirvana!

At first I was going to build raised beds. But that is way too expensive. Then I thought about just laying down cardboard, which we have a lot of, and then layering it with compost and manure to rot away over the winter, and then top dress it all with a bit of soil in the spring and plant away. We are rehabing our living room and will have two big pieces of old yucky carpet, so I’m going to cut that into strips to lay between the rows as uber-cheap and effective weed block. I’ve been saving cardboard and Cody and the hens have been working overtime in the poop department to help me out! (They are so thoughtful!)

But, lo and behold! I just found something EVEN cooler!!! Straw Bale gardening!!!! Oh my gosh! How cool… You lay down a row of straw (NOT HAY) bales, stem side up, and then using a broomstick or a heavy trowel, you basically poke a big hole in the bale, add a little compost and rich soil and pop your seedling in there and grow! As the bales breakdown over a season or two, you get raised, rich beds, and it’s super cheap.

Now, as I figure, it’s not going to be good for some stuff, like corn or maybe carrots, etc., but I think most things will enjoy it. And I like the idea of not having to bend over quite as much.

I think I will try two of the lowest area rows with this method and three higher rows with the lasagna/cardboard/mulch layer methods. And see what works nicer. I don’t want to put all the veggies in one basket, so to speak, and have the basket not perform as nicely as I would like. But it seems like a good thing. You do have to keep them watered nicely, but that’s okay, we have a hose over there and all. And I will be using my plastic barrel halves as well… I will have three methods of no-till gardening in my homestead laboratory!!! Can’t wait!

I plan on doing as much as I can now, into the winter to help prep for the springtime and give me some daily or semi-daily outside work. I have all my cardboard for at least a row or two… and I think I’ll try and get a few loads of straw over the next week or two. My rows are about 50 feet long, and a straw bale is about 3 or 3 and half feet long. 14 bales to a row should do it. 7 and 7 sounds good, with a little alley in the middle to walk through. Steve bought a pickup truck last week and is anxious to help us get hay when he visits. Maggie is in love with our new hay and straw guy Dale’s old double barn! I can’t blame her, it’s awesome. And he has cows down below too! And it’s only about 5 miles away, so it’s not a huge trip. They want to see if they can break my record of 8 bales in Blue! Haha… I’m pretty sure they can, he got a big truck! But it’s got a cap on it, so that will limit them a bit… SO maybe they can get me 14 home for one row, one week and then 14 another week! That will be awesome.

Here is the link to the article that I found…. Go take a peek! It looks like a great way to create an easy, cheap and renewable raised bed!!!

Straw Bale Gardening