Kitchen Garden

Out on bales

Last year I had a lot of fun involving straw bales. No – not rolling about a barn in the midst of an illicit tryst, fun as that idea might be – but using them as a growing medium to produce a tasty range of crops. I wasn’t sure it would work; I mean, really… straw? But you know what, it did!

Straw bale gardening has a pretty big following overseas, especially in America. The concept is simple enough. Standard straw bales are laid out to create instant raised beds. After a short period of conditioning they are ready to plant. Then, as the bales continue to decay, all the nutrients locked up within them are made available to the plants’ roots.

SOURCING STRAW BALES

After genning up on the topic my first task was to find some bales. Living in

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