Cold, Straw Bales, Greenhouse Planting

Spring is officially here; based on the news, calendar, Farmer’s Almanac, and the temperature on certain days :-)

Today the temperature was 41, with winds and all kinds of rain; now the weatherman states our high will be 54 today.  I had to use my husband’s rubber boots, and a rain/winter jacket to work outside today.  Talk about cold and soaking wet, yep that’s what I was when I came back inside.

Tomorrow……………well that’s another story, low 43 with high at 80 degrees.  

I’ve been prepping straw bales for a straw bale garden experiment. 

The bale conditioning process starts as follows:

Place paper or plastic below straw bales to prevent grass from growing up inside straw bale.

Place bales on side leaving wire in place.

Days 1 – 3: Water new bales thoroughly for three days; this helps with   the decomposing.

Days 4 – 6: Sprinkle the top of each bale with 1 cup of fertilizer; ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) or ½ cup of urea (46-0-0) daily, then water the fertilizer in after each application.  This speeds the decomposition process.

Days 7, 8, & 9 cut the amount of fertilizer per bale in half.  Don’t water excessively, to prevent runoff and leaching of the nitrogen out of the bale.

Day 10 Stop fertilizing, but keep the bales moist.

Day 11 Feel the top of the bale for heat.  If still hot, check every day until the bale cools down to about 99 degrees or lower.  Still keep bales moist with water when needed.

The next step will be the planting step.  When I get to this point with my bale garden, I will do another update to my blog.  Until then, I will post about other interesting (I hope) things for your reading pleasure.

** Straw Bale Gardening Instruction Source: Washington State University Extension FS109E

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Here are a few seeds I’ve planted in my greenhouse, and garden; along with seedlings I purchased at our local Farmers’ Market. 

Seeds/Seedlings Started & In Greenhouse

Celery(4 stalks) purchased from store for salads etc…., I chopped the ends off and placed them in water to root inside my greenhouse.

Farmers’ Market Broccoli (Green Magic, Tasty, Packman, and De Cleen).

Farmers’ Market Tomatoes (Heirloom Pineapple, Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple).

Greenhouse Seeds (Oregano, Chives, Garlic Chives, Hyssop, Borage, Rosemary, Spearmint, Chamomile, Thyme, Parsley, Paprika, & Cilantro).

Greenhouse Seeds (Tomatoes-Pink Brandy Wine, Cherry, Plum Lemon and Beef Steak; Onions, Leeks, Cauliflower, Beets, Peppers Ancho, Green).

Seeds/Seedlings Started & In Garden

Onions

So It Begins............Spring

Thursday and Friday turned out to be beautiful days here in this part of Oklahoma.  Thursday, I picked up all the garbage which blew in on the property, and branches that had fallen.  I was also able to pull out the tractor (aka: the Zen Machine……..the name came from 1^st Man over at Two Men and a Little Farm) and cut the grass and leaves on the property.  The property looks so much better after running the tractor across it.  Granted, there are areas of brown and patches of green, and this will change as we start getting rain. 

It looks to me like spring is starting to grace us with her presence. 

More birds are visiting the bird feeder and bird bath.  I make sure to top off the bird feeder daily.  

My greenhouse has been totally setup inside the house to start my seeds. I’ve planted a variety of tomatoes, peppers, and several different types of herbs.  The new T5 lights have been installed and will be turned on once there are signs of growth. 

Bulldog Man and I picked up several bales of straw, and started conditioning them for planting in the near future.  This will be the first time we’re using straw bales, making for a great experiment.   

Today, we picked up several more T-posts for the end caps of each group of bales, along with wire to run from T-post to T-post.  I’ll need to pick up some plastic in the next several days.  The plastic will be used over the top of the straw bales (to protect the seeds/seedlings from cold weather, making almost a greenhouse effect).  

I’m debating on what seeds/seedling to use on the straw bales as part of the growing experiment.

Stay tuned.  In the next several days and weeks, I will provide updates on the straw bale experiment.

Have you planned out what you’ll be planting in your garden this spring?