I have been 'straw bale gardening my vegetables goin' on 5 yrs now and love it ,,,,,,,,,,, I leave enough room between rows to mow and pullin' weeds has never been easier..... I've found my bales for this yr ( finding GOOD straw in my part of the state is tough ( unless, of course, you don't mind payin' 16.00 a bale ! Yikes! I pay about 3.00 for big 4' bales)... I've got some pictures from past gardens

Took some pictures last yr at the 'start' ...... I 'weave' soaker hoses on the bales and use old short pieces to 'bridge' the rows






This is from 2010, didn't like the 's' formation, was forever having to 'circle' around to get to the other side, the pink flagging on top are my 'plant markers' ( married to a forestor, we have LOTS of flagging )

Tracy, I've seen this before, if I had more space I'd do this! Very cool, and the flagging is good too!

$3 per bale ... it must be great to live in the real world!

Our local "farm coo-op" mostly sells cutesy yuppie chatchkas at brain-damaging prices.

If you ask them for the price list of the big bags in the WAREHOUSE, the prices are merely high.

RickCorey said:$3 per bale ... it must be great to live in the real world!

Our local "farm coo-op" mostly sells cutesy yuppie chatchkas at brain-damaging prices.

If you ask them for the price list of the big bags in the WAREHOUSE, the prices are merely high.

Someone posted $3 bales from Whidbey island (sp?) in January on craigslist........ ( does that help?) They had a 20 bale minimum ( but, that would mean the ferry wouldn't it, and, having less than zero 'knowledge' of what THAT entails................... never mind )

I only looked because I'm curious, the different 'normals', even here in Oregon, fascinate me............. Moved here from South central OR, and in some things, it might as well been the moon .............. first time I ever heard of fillin' out an application to see a 'regular' Dr.... Really? wow

When I first REALLY researched straw bale gardening, I ran across a thread in a North Carolina forum of sorts ( really COOL forum thread LOTS of pictures ) Anyway.............. They were talkin' about the 'different' kinds of straw to use and what NOT to use............. One of those was 'pine straw' ............... I joined so I could ask the question.......... "We have pine trees, pine nuts, pine CONES and I have asked many 'old timers' that have looked at me like I'm crazy, what on earth is pine STRAW? LOL...................... Turns out, there is such a 'thing', used for landscaping............. Who'd'a thunk?

Never heard of it! That's funny!

I was also puzzled when I first saw it, even though I raked up a mountain of pine needles as a kid.

But eventually I learned:
pine STRAW = pine needles

I wonder if "rotten" straw bales would work?

I wonder if those huge circular bales would work, and how you would get at plants in the center.

RickCorey said:I was also puzzled when I first saw it, even though I raked up a mountain of pine needles as a kid.

But eventually I learned:
pine STRAW = pine needles

I wonder if "rotten" straw bales would work?

I wonder if those huge circular bales would work, and how you would get at plants in the center.

'Rotten' bales is what you want .... The reason I'm goin' to get my bales now, is to 'cook' 'em before planting time... I have 'eyeballed' those big 'uns myself, BUT, bein' 5' 3/16" (every little bit counts! ) I haven't gone further than that... Do you know if I can post a link to that other thread? He explains it in detail very well (with LOTS of pictures, yay).......... If I can I will.

>> Do you know if I can post a link to that other thread?

Sure, just copy the URL of the other thread from your browser's "go-bar" and paste it into your post. Like this:

The thread "Composting" in Soil and Compost forum

or you can click on the "Post # 360xxxx" link in the bottom of just one post, an d the link will take people to just that one post (not the whole thread).

What forum is this other thread in, and what is its name?