Friday, June 3, 2011

straw bale gardening

I am not a gardener. I have never grown any fruit or vegetables. At least none that I can remember. I have always been intrigued with the idea of growing my own food, but never taken the time to research how to do it.

But then I was inspired and thrilled to learn about straw bale gardening from MckMama last spring. Watching her as she began sharing the process with her readers from the very start to the harvesting and then the eating! It was fun and awesome and educational.

I knew that I wanted our family to try straw bale gardening. What a great way to teach my children first hand where our food comes from. They can be a part of the process from start to finish! So, when the weather was right for planting, I went to the co-op and bought these two straw bales.


 These are straw, not hay. In case you were wondering. 


I actually started later in the season that I should have. Being that we live in the deep south I could have started planting sooner. But since I am new to all this I was not aware. So I only chose a few veggies. Plus I have no idea what I am actually doing! Total trial and error.


I planted red and green peppers, tomatoes, banana peppers, lavender and cantelope and watermelon in the sides of the bales. I think I planted cucumber as well. Yes, I forgot to label everything.   


These pictures were taken the first day I planted. I planted marigolds in the sides to keep critters at bay and for some added color.
 




So this was the beginning.
 I am so very pleased with the way all our veggies are growing and how easy it has been to care for our garden.
I will post recent pictures soon.
I already have ideas for next year's garden and making it bigger and better.
But for now I will tend to our garden and look forward to reaping it's benefits.


1 comment:

Gina said...

Looking forward to watching it progress!