What Happens if You Bury A Whole Straw Bale in The Garden?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ย. 2019
- In the spring we set up our raised beds with cores for core gardening. The beds have had plants growing in them for about 7 months and we finally decided to dig them up to see what happened after that period of time. Check out our new clothing line! http:www.freshpickedapparel.com
At the side of our house, it was hard packed clay soil, and couldn't grow anything! So, I did something similar; instead of using the straw bale, I uses grass clippings and leaves. In the early Fall, I dig a nice hole in the area where I want to grow something and buried it. By Spring, I planted some Hosta and other Perennial plants, and the plants went wild, crazy, and HUGE. The best success in years.
People if you are worried about contaminated straw bales - Bag your grass clippings from mowing your *non sprayed* lawn and use those instead of commercially available strawbales- the worms love it! as well as they love Fall Leaf Litter :) Aloha Luke thanks for the video on Hugelkultur
I use shredded leaves to mulch my raised bed.
I would just like to say that your videos have helped my wife and I tremendously when it comes to having a productive garden. This is our third year of planting and harvesting and we have made a lot of mistakes. We still have a lot to learn too! When we started the garden three years ago; we just thought that you could plant seeds and wait for things to grow, lol. Some plants do well with that method but others need much more attention and specific methods which; we did not know, and we're still learning. We appreciate that you share your knowledge. Otherwise we may never figure things out, lol.
Just keep going, it takes time, growing plants is great for your health and it is therapeutic also.
You can tell he is a Michigander because he is digging with a sharp shovel in flip flops. LOVE IT!
The layers in a bale are called flakes!
Cool! I didn't know this!
@@MIgardener OMG! I just started, and I am in Cleveland, and now I know all kinds of farm stiff.
It didn’t occur to me anyone didn’t know the “sheets” are called flakes. Luke has obviously never fed hay to livestock.
Never heard them called flakes. We've always called them pads
@@briancardoza9720 Always fed the cows flakes of hay from hundred lb bales.
I absolutely love your channel I'm so glad I found it! And I love all these little experiments that you're doing with those 6,000 seeds and now with this little hay bale.
Because of mobility issues I have raised my beds to 36" high. I have one that is 4'x24' and one that is 4'x16'. I used straw bales to fill them up when I built them with about 10" of top soil/compost mix on top. I do have to add new soil each year as they continue to break down. but I will end up having a great soil that is a no till bed. best method that I have ever seen
I have done “compost” from Bunnings in bags & surgaecane (as a substitute for the straw) here in Australia-and it nourished my veggies all summer+ made beautiful soil by the end of autumn!! Can’t recommend it enough for Aussies!!
Wow! Core gardening is important! 💦 I heard people using dry twigs before but straws makes sense 👌 So many benefits 🥬
You are so kind to share with others. Thank you for your gardening wisdom. I enjoy your teachings from experience ❣🙏 I pray blessing upon you!!!
Says "this thing is huge!"
Holds up the cutest straw bale EVER! 🤣
Great video Luke. Your creativity is astounding. Don’t forget to remind your viewers to get straw free of seed!
Good to know! I just prepped a no dig bed with a layer of straw. Should be ready by spring!
😀 🌱🌸
As someone who uses the core gardening technique it makes me wonder how much it's actually helping to keep the beds from drying out near the end of the season
Thank you for this video. We are getting ready to build raised beds and my husband suggested putting straw into them and covering with compost. This proves his idea may work. Thanks again.
@ron stetz My husband is afraid that will attract termites. Have you had problems with termites?
these are the videos i absolutely love, showing proof of what happens! so amazing, I just started to prepare my first bed, gonna see how it does, we have clay here in north GA, so I put bags of compost/manure down then a bale of hay then I may repeat it God Bless
I'm so glad to hear this as I filled the bottom half of each of my new 4x4x2 beds with one fluffed straw bale! :)
I plant directly into straw bales, using Joel Karsten‘s method. Purchase straw that hasn’t been sprayed. Doesn’t work well for root crops so I simply add a couple inches of soil/compost on top for those vegetables.
I am pretty sure that the sheets of straw are frequently called flakes. Same as hay bale sections. Thank you for sharing! So amazing what the soil microbes and earthworms can do!
It tickled me to see how shocked you were by how quickly the bale of straw broke down! It breaks down pretty quickly in a horse barn due to the hot manure or even just humid season when stored in the loft. It never occurred to me that other people wouldn't know this so I'm glad you did a video on it!
Definitely a cool medium to use in core gardening due to that quality and the absolute cheapness of it. I encourage everyone to try it out!
In other parts of the U.S., the normal, natural divisions a bale of hay just naturally loosens up into when the string (twine, wire, etc.) holding it together is taken away is called "bats" of hay. Different names in different regions of the country. Interesting!!!
Since the center of the bale is the moistest part, it would decompose from the center out, so you wouldn't find the core of the bale. Because it is surrounded by moist soil, it would be uniformly moist, so it would probably decompose uniformly. It seems to me that it would be wasteful to bury a whole bale in one spot. I would cut the bale and distribute the straw along the entire length of the bed. Several years ago, the landlord here bought several bales to cover some grass seed. They had one bale left, so they simply left it laying behind the garden shed. The straw on the outside, being dry, remained intact, but the inside, where rainwater kept it moist, decomposed and there were weeds growing in it after about a year. I don't know what would have happened after that, because the maintenance crew realized that they had created an eyesore and removed it. From this I would say that, if you had a bale of straw left from your Halloween or thanksgiving decorations, just add it to your compost pile.
Most straw has herbicide residues unless it is organic.
The point being?
This is my question too! I’ve been hearing a lot about straw being contaminated by herbicides which could destroy the soil for a year or two. I’ve visited several nurseries in my area asking if they have herbicide-free bales, but none of them knew. Even getting used straw from stables could be contaminated. How to circumvent this problem?
sheraleethomas , I have the same question. Straw will have roundup and other pesticides, can regular straw be used in my veggie patch. I do not put any pesticides or other synthetic fertilizers in my garden.
Most of the herbicides will have been used up or washed away as straw generally sits in the fields for a couple weeks after initial grain harvest, herbicides are mainly for the "pest" weeds, its pesticides that need to be kept in check, they will kill off some of those beautiful microorganisms in your soil, anything intended for animals feed/bedding your garden will love.
Ten seconds into the video and I already smashed that like button
That is the darkest soil I've seen so far! Good work! Im going to try this this October :) thanks for the video.
Those mini bales are likely hit heavy with insect spray and chemicals to prevent seeding since they're intended to be ornamental and are usually shipped for inside displays. I would recommend using straw intended for animal bedding.
I’m so happy! Someone dropped an entire green bail of hay off the highway. I had to wait until a time when the traffic slowed down until I could safely run out and get it, but I was so excited! I saw one of your videos a while back, and read a few things on Core Gardening, so I’ve been wanting to try it. Not to mention, my dad grows hay and has a big garden, but he throws away the hay when it gets moldy. Ugh!! I wish he’d let me get my hands on that farm and bury all that hay!!
Anyway, I thought I missed my chance to use the bail of hay I got off the highway this year. But you said you get them in the fall, then use them the next season! That’s awesome! Not only did I score but I didn’t miss my chance to use it. It’s a FULL SIZE bail (bale?) too! Woo hoo!
Now... how to use it in pots?
I’ve been putting hay on top of my potted garden & all is well. My plants don’t dry out as fast & im sure, as the hay breaks down, my plants are getting more nutrients. But we’ll see what next year brings.
So... what do you do with the hay all winter?
Ruth Stout Method of gardening - covering the garden with straw, planting in straw, cuts back on weeds, tilling, and need of large amount of fertilizer...creates that nice, rich soil. Her books are a joy to read, filled with lots of knowledge like you!
Much love from Chilliwack, BC!! 🇨🇦❤️
Great video thanks for all your input, really enjoy your help. I have a half of a bale so Im going to try burying it.☺
Digging holes with sandles and a flat edge shovel🤷♂️👌😏
Yeah can't get away with that in Northern pert of the U.K:)
I do that all the time,very hot natured (southern US)
His soil is so light he can easily use that type of shovel. Sandals obviously works with the soil being fluffy.
Interesting. I'm going to have to try this in my raised bed next year!
I love the video...I have been doing this for years, my garden loves the straw...
Great video Luke, really interesting, thanks for sharing the results of your experiment :-)
Deercreek homesteading loves this channel thanks for all the great information
I call your store to check my order. Awesome customer service. Can’t wait to get the seeds.
Suggestion- only use compost that is from you - there is no way to know what is in anyones plants.
Just FYI,, "Thin sheets of straw" = "Flakes" of straw (also applicable to hay).
Thank you for this awesome video!
I’ve tried your core gardening method and it’s FIRE!! Especially here in Australia, during our summer, installing a core makes the WORLD of difference in our summer heat!!!! It looks like the zucchini LOVED IT!!! JUST BEAUTIFUL BLACK NUTRIENT SOIL!!!
Ooh, good to know! This is the first time I've heard of core gardening and to know it works well here in Australia makes me want to try it even more :)
Rogue Fox Absolutely u should try-I don’t know where u are, I’m a bit north of Sydney-once I “charged” the core-(Luke has vids on that-u have to saturate ur core), I watered my veg at least half as much as previous seasons!
@@xombiekitty there's a TH-camr from Australia that uses this method also. His channel is called Self Sufficient Me. He uses a pile of sticks and wood as apposed to hay for his cores.
elines acevedo oh, thanks, I watch Mark as well :) I thought the sticks were for hugelkultur though, not core gardening.
rachael james I’m in country Victoria. Anything that will help the plants water wise, especially in a heatwave, is a bonus.
I’ve done this with a few of my container gardens and it works well
How did you use it in containers? I was thinking about doing this as well, but I was unsure how i should proceed. I was going to put a bit in the bottom of the pot. How did you utilize it?
S Olley I put the old hay and straw bedding from our goats and chickens.
I filled a container about 1/4 to 1/2 depending on the container, then add my soils on top and then plant.
Every plant I did this with is doing very well.
Rennells Suburban Homestead Prepping for Survival awesome!!!! Thanks
@@rennells I saw a video where a guy just put brown leaves and pine needles in the bottom of his containers, then potting soil. He said it worked great. So I tried that with some of my five gallon buckets but I am nervous about it.
Thanks! I even started saving the leaves that fall off of my houseplants to bury in my roof garden.
We compost the waste from our duck house with kitchen scraps and it only take about 2 months in the summer to completely break down a whole duck house worth of straw which for us is about 150lbs of straw.
I love how rich the soil is with the added duck compost.
The straw mixed with the horse and donkey manure in our large animal manure pile breaks down much slower.
I came across this video by accident & decided to watch because ironically, I'm currently doing this! 😆 I used organic compost and dried out lawn clippings (which looks a lot like hay) and am about to purchase some earthworms to add to the soil. Where I live, we have sandy, rocky soil which is hard to grow in. I want to grow vegetables but am having to start at square one which is creating a miniature ecosystem better for sustaining life 🙌🌱
OMG I am stoked! Thank you! Song
That is the smallest straw bale I've ever seen. Thanks for the content
Live on a farm ares are 70 lbs
Those are decorator bales just for a porch to stage pumpkins and chrysanthemums on and around. They are sold for "city slickers" LOL I have seen them in Walmart for $4ish.
@@brodyvanbeek5793 YEP, same here
Enjoyed the video, straw is awesome if one can get it in their area. We have to use straw, I mean hay bales that create a lot of weeds so we use it sparingly. The grasses that come with it ended up being too much and overtook sections of the garden that we then had to cover with tarps to reclaim garden soil. I see that it might help if the bales were planted under soil with a few inches on top as you have done, will give it a try!
For the last 6 months, I have been digging foot deep holes in my raised beds and putting all my vegetable kitchen scraps into them and crushed eggshells about once every two weeks (I just keep them in glad bags in the freezer until I bury them) I work my way around so I'm back to my original hole in about 2 months and by the time I get back to it, there is nothing but black, beautiful soil with worms and rolly pollies everywhere. I also empty my lawn clippings and leaves on top as a mulch and I do this weekly, but the thickness of the mulch never gets above 4 or so inches because it composts so quick into beautiful soil. I've also gone to my local feed and tack store and pick up bail of spoiled alfalfa hay for like five bucks and throw that on top as mulch also. I'm not growing much in the raised bed right now as I'm trying to condition the soil for this next upcoming spring. The only thing I'm gonna do to the soil before I plant anything is mix in some pete moss and coco coir and some perlite to help airiate the soil better. There is no reason to add any compost or nutrients because it should be more fertile the way I'm doing it. The secret to gardening success starts with your soil being a living, breathing entity and the rest is pretty much straight forward.
Thank for the video
God bless
Dont let those cute rolly pollies fool you!!
@@wolco003 ..... Could they be detrimental to some veggie plants? I've always just let them be and haven't had any problems yet. Let me know what you are thinking if you don't mind.
Thanks
skyym3 they are voracious consumers of decomposing matter...you have created great soil with lots of their normal food...HOWEVER! (And don’t let some old timer or the ah extension tell you differently!) they PREFER to eat tender green stuff...seedlings mainly. They love beans and “girdled” half my bush beans at the soil line. I have a Carolina reaper plant that I planted 2 years ago that has finally grown foliage and produced fruits. But all last year it was a 1 foot tall stick with several rolly pollies chewing on the top. They are not a problem for established plants...except for Strawberries...they like them as much as the dozen spinach plants I planted 3 years ago with no clue who made a salad. They disappeared almost over night. I will be trying red beer cups with the bottoms cut out (after using for seeds I don’t direct sow) stuck in the ground to hopefully let beans get enough of a start...they still munch on about everything but just need to be flicked off. Prior to the expansion of the garden, I had lots of them as they also dig dog 💩. When I expanded the garden, I put down wood chips between the beds. Basically their natural food. Long story short, hope you don’t have very many, and with your awesome soil, if kept organic, you eventually will...if you live near zone 10a.
Also, those big green shinny bugs that seem to fly around blindly...fig Beatles...if you look them up you will find that they are good a building soil as their grub/larvae eat detritus...don’t listen to them and kill them if you can...or that handful of worms and rolly pollies with soon be large root chewing grubs in every handful that will hatch into an entire fleet of flyers. I sprayed nematodes last year but they were not the freshest and were only partially effective. Sorry for the book! Happy gardening!
@@wolco003 .... Thank you for explaining that to me. I live in the Sonoran desert at the base of a mountain range and I will have to look into the rolly pollies in my area and research it a little more. I've never had problems in the past with them taking out my plants, but a little preventative measure goes a long way.
Thx again for sharing your knowledge and God bless.
This is awesome! I love your channel, especially your last video on the zone . Anyway, can we use hay for the core gardening as well?
Hi - Thanks for all your informative videos. You may have covered this, and I missed it but do you clean out your beds after the fall crops in preparation for Spring?
Thanks
Renata
Excellent video.
I put a ton of straw on top of my garden as mulch this year. I think will just add some compost if I can find some, or some dairy do and top soil on top of the straw after I pull my plants this fall.
Love your videos.
Bought a giant round bale. Going to try your method. 😃
Wow this is absolutely amazing that the entire bale decomposed in just one season. I took your advice and buried a trench of straw in my raised beds about 3 years ago although I have never dug it up. How often do you recommend adding new straw and how many inches of soil mix minimum do you recommend having on top of the straw?
If you want to get really really technical, the wire does break down. It corrodes, into rust the plants, and by extension you, can't use as nutrients. and then the soil looks weird and gets fucked up.
In East Texas it would be a fire ant hotel :)
🔥
If the hay is kept wer the ants won't move in. If it dries out some then ants will take over. I'm in east TX also amd have gardened in bales a couple times. Great for tomatoes and squash.
Hey, Luke....like the new cattle panel arch. I plan to try core garden and found some straw bales for $6.00 at countrymax. I will see if they have some surplus for discount price, good idea for Core Gardening.
Flakes, the sections are known as flakes.
Excellent content
I've been worm farming for some time now and I noticed that those castings are magic for seed germination. Now I'm thinking why don't I just make a raised bed that's all worm farm!
Ray Maritz As ong as you don’t have raccoons, possums, armadillos around that LOVE worms!
Real question - if it is breaking down this fast in one season how well is it as a water Reservoir this late in the season when it's dryer outside in Michigan?
I dig potato clamps in the fall (a hole lined with straw to store potatoes over winter). Then in the spring that straw goes back to the soil.
Ever thought of doing permaculture it's easier police work no digging and you create in a forest just like nature does but with Food Forest I do it at home my whole section is like that
I use hay because it is used for animal feed so it doesn’t get sprayed and it becomes just worm castings.
me too
Straw is the bottom of the plant, oats are the top. Oats are used for people and food for animals. Hay is sprayed at times. My neighbors are dairy farmers and spray the hay fields next to me for broadleaf weeds every so often.
Pasture hay can absolutely be sprayed. Don't trust hay, straw or manure.
In Florida they spray a nasty chemical that kills broadleaf plants and must be removed manually. It even makes it through animal digestion so manure can carry it. Compost just concentrates the chemical. Don't trust anything these days.
@@andrewsmith1735 A few years ago, at least in our area, we dealt with the chemical being used, especially in lawn care services. Generally there was a rush to blame xyz chemical.
So, when the research-based entities got it researched, some issues turned out to be the chemicals being passed on via the various ways the animals digest their food and those by-products being used in various gardening practices.
Regional Extension Agronomist should be helpful.
Hope this helps.
.
What is your thoughts on putting straw bales down in the fall and not disturbing the soil in the spring. Seems that it would not disturb the fungi and microbes when planting.
Definately gonna try this next spring! Thanks Luke
Similiar to Hugelkultur, providing nutrients steadily over time.
I find, digging with a pointed shovel is a little easier than a flat shovel...🙄 love your channel.
English is my second language but I'm pretty good at it. Aren't you basically referring to a shovel and a spade?
Yes, exactly.
Fantastic information......my question is how was the actual crop that was in that bed and did you feel you watered less than your other beds?
Cool experiment
@MIgardener
I have been wanting to implement this core gardening method. However I have watched several videos warning about herbicides. Can you do a video on the difference between straw bales and hay bales? How to identify them visually. And how you verify that the bales you use don’t have herbicides.
Use leaf debris it is safer. In Florida they spray fields with a broadleaf chemical that is not degraded. concentrates in compost and survives digestive system. Be careful of manure also for the same reason know where all inputs come from start to finish.
What you did was make a bird's nest garden. Similar to a Lasagna method.
Allows for more air in the soil, moisture control, and slow release of amendments plus better tilth..
Avoid hay though. Too many weed seeds in it.
About straw - be careful as some may be contaminated by herbicides depending on the source.
You can look up straw bale gardening too.
I'll be asking my neighbors for some straw after Fall!
Cool! Thanks for showing the results. I use straw in my compost and as a mulch. My only concern is what chemicals were used when the straw was planted.
Try and find organic. If its not organic I can almost guarantee they used round up on it to kill it.
Oh and weed seed free.
Been watching back videos & thanks for the great tutorials! Can you do any soil prep video's using manure? Firmly fixed income here. Bad sandy, oakie soil and free horse manure as much as I can get. Not enough compost to do what I need, I just started the pile. Going to try the core gardening as well but know soil needs more. Maybe at the cabins garden? In MI where pinky and ring finger meet next to national Forest if you know the soil type.
What do you think about core gardening versus no-dig? I put straw in the bottom of my beds this year when I made them but I'm now thinking I'll need to recharge them next year!
That is awesome
Have you ever heard of straw bale gardening. Its works great.
It is amazing that the whole bale is gone in one year. So to have the water retention you have to be willing to put the straw in every year. 🤷🏻♀️
Can you also just bury the left over plants from this year into the soil and let them their over winter ?
Would the straw bales produce the same if used in an elevated planter box / bed? They are made of pallet types of wood, having hardware cloth on bottom, and all covered with garden cloth even up the sides to the top and all across the bottom. Will straw bales have unwanted weed plants? I have elevated planting boxes due to septic drainage, but easier to manage without bending over. Sizes are 4, or 5 ft long, 6, 8, & 10” deep, and 24” thru 31” wide. 7-1-2020
I have been using either straw or decomposed wood chips and have been getting awesome results. Especially from the wood chips. See Back to Eden with Paul Gauchi and a practitioner James Prigioni (more relatable a pizazzi)
I'm really interested in core gardening because I live in Northern California and we're perpetually in drought. Four of my beds are 12-inch tall planter boxes on concrete because that is the sunniest part of our yard. How would I core garden in them? Do I need to add some more height to my boxes? Or do I just do the core gardening in the bed that is on the sunny end of the former lawn and mulch like crazy in the boxes?
I have a question with some backround following. If your compost bin is full of super worms (meal worms) will they do the same as earth worms and red wigglers? That is will it be of the same quality or worse quality?
Backround: My compost pile had no red wigglers although my yard is full of them. The pile has been around for a few months in the woods behind my house in S.E. North Carolina. Last month I noticed this type of worm in the pile, looked it up on line and it looked just like super worms (google search). Two weeks later there were thousands of them, I had a lot of scrap vegetable, whole carots, dead plants, etc., just a lot of stuff. This week when I went to turn the huge pile, all the worms were gone and everything had been eaten, leaving me with black compost. There wasnt one trace of any decomposing vegetables, even a huge amount of unshelled peanuts were gone, with No trace of any animals rumaging through the pile. I checked a few other starter piles and it was the same, everything eaten and black soil left. The piles are grass triming, dead fall leaves, old potting soil, and anyother trimmings, as well as alot of vegetable scraps. One last thing, I cover my piles with hay to keep the flies away and smell, and the hay works for the later two. Any advise or recommendations would be appreciated.
Grass is slow to break down . I'm talking about non mowed field grass. This video is good evidence that by burying such grass , straw or HAY. That it breaks down much quicker when the hay bale just sit out in the weather. Hay bales are so tightly compacted that even after three years of full exposure to weather its interior is still yellow or beige in color . With no worm infestation and no visible breakdown.
I put a layer of straw on my raised bed as mulch. One week later I has alot of straw growing. Any suggestions?
Magic.
This answered a basic question for me - "how much material do I use to modify the bed?" 😆
If you bury bales each season, does not the raised bed eventually fill to the point that you must remove soil, or do you remove the soil at the time of burial to maintain bed height?
What did you fill your raised beds with when you first started them.
Astounding
The "sheets" are actually called "flakes". At least that's what we called them and hay was one of the crops we raised on our farm.
I use old hay, about 7 to 9 years old. Covered the area I want to garden, without digging, than cover the area with compost.. Leave over winter, place the hay and compost down in the fall. By spring it will be broken down and ready for planting. This method works best without tilling..
I'm surprised that tree there were no worms. So far anyway
He shows them, starting at around 9:14. Smaller in diameter and less acrobatic than I'm used to, perhaps that's why neither of us noticed them during the straw hunt? I think we have a different set of worms down here, the MI version probably don't need to be able to punch through heavy things as much.
I live in Southeast Tennessee and there is no way you can lift a straw bake with one hand down here. In the South a straw bake is the same size as a square hat bale. It weighs a lot and takes both hands. When I saw you lifting with one hand, I thought wow Like is stronger than he looks. Then I saw the mini bale. I thought that was funny. Luke , I have found your channel full of useful information.
Luke did the plants in the bed with the hay buried in it grow better?
That was fun..
Where do you get rotted straw?
What do you do for your beds during the winter? Do you plant a cover crop?
Interesting about the straw. I worked at a horse rescue and was told hay breaks down but straw doesn't. Hmmm.
It would be interesting to know how the make-up of the soil changed pre and post breakdown of the straw. Did it change? Do you need to add nitrogen now?
I use straw as the base of my raised beds and I still have a lot of it left after one season. Could that be a sign that my soil is less than optimal? I added compost as part of the top layer but maybe it wasn't enough?