Straw bale gardening plus Gardening when it counts giveaway!

Here's the deal, last spring me and my husband dug up/turned 450 sq ft of grass...which we should have done the previous fall...lesson learned. Which doesn't matter now that we are back in New Mexico and we don't have to worry about our garden being over taken by crab grass...cause grass doesn't grow here like it does in Tulsa.

 

Here are my reasons for trying straw bale gardening:

1) We have lots of plans for the 5 acres we are living on assuming things go as we hope they will. We just don't want to put in the work of digging up a spot only to want to move it somewhere the next year or two.

2) Not having to bend over and weed a garden in the heat sounds lovely! It won't be as big a problem here but in Tulsa it was since it could be crazy humid and HOT at 5am.

3) I don't like square foot gardening after reading Gardening when it counts Steve Solomon explains in depth how hard it can be on plants and limit their growth. I understand the appeal and I am sure there are many that are shaking there heads in disagreement with me but Steve Solomon was just too convincing. Straw bale gardening seems like a cousin to square foot gardening but the roots are able to go a lot deeper.

4) It just seems absurdly easy! I don't know if it will be work but if it works like I hope it will then it will be awesome!

wenatcheeworld.com 

Here is a good link to a video explaining straw bale gardening. There    
doesn't seem to be much literature as far as books go, all I have seen is this e-book. His site also includes other info about Straw bale gardening not just the e-book. I also couldn't find any books on Straw bale gardening on Amazon, my go to for books. I think the reason for the lack of literature is because it's so simple. You simply lay some chicken wire down if you are worried about gofers and such, get straw bales NOT hay bales since hay includes seeds. Put about a bag of compost on each bale and plant your garden. Put a souker (plus you don't bury the hose = a lot less work) hose if you want and boom! I would also like to put some kind of trellis behind the straw bales for squash, beans, bell pepper and such...grow up not out!


Here's the rest of the deal...I am no master gardener! We learned a lot about how little we know about gardening with the garden we had in Tulsa. Every state has it's advantages and disadvantages. There is a huge learning curve if you have never had a garden or have only been gardening for a few years and I would rather learn now then when in a time of great need. I'm not an extremist when it comes to preparedness but I don't know the future holds...my crystal ball isn't working at the moment. Gas prices are going up which means food prices will continue to rise and I would like to be able to provide a significant portion of my families produce from our garden.

I don't know if this helps you or not, or where you are as far as gardening ability goes but I would just encourage you to keep going, keep learning. For instance does the lunar cycle really effect when you should plant?

One other thing I WILL be doing this year with our garden is keeping a garden journal because as much as you think you will remember things you won't...at least I won't.

I will do a follow up post when I get my straw bale garden going!

This is the first give away on our blog but I love this book and want to share it with you :)


Here's how to enter:


1) You must like our FB page and leave a comment so we know you stopped by and "liked" us.


2) If you really like us you should just commit and follow us :) But you don't have to, I only want people to follow our blog if they want to.


The giveaway ends on the Thursday the 29th, winner will be announced at 6pm. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me via paynelessphoto@gmail.com or by leaving a comment with contact info or a new winner will be drawn.