Daily Improvisations

  • Inside the Homestead
    • Sewing
    • crochet and knit
    • Playing House
    • In the Workshop
    • Cooking and Food
    • Helpless Female
  • Out in the Garden
    • In My Greenhouse
    • Gardening in Southwest Idaho
    • Straw Bale Garden Project
  • Out with Animals
    • Chickens
    • Goats
    • Horses
  • Around the Globe
    • Adventures with Wild Greg
    • Chocolate Shops Around the World
    • Life in Taipei
    • About Town
      • My Blogs
  • The DI Store
    • Custom designs
    • My Books
  • DI Memberships
    • Log In
    • Sign up to be a DI Sewing Room Insider
    • Dream House Members Area
      • Dream House Eyewitness Login
      • Your Account
      • Dream House Project
    • Become a Dream House Eyewitness!

Straw Bale Gardens Number 2 and 3

April 5, 2011 by Laura Blodgett 5 Comments

20110404-101158.jpg

After barely missing the star role in a slap stick comedy/tradgedy, as the shovel set in flight by the airborne straw bale came close to whacking me, then narrowly avoiding poking out my left eye with the branch of the butterfly bush I was pruning, my front driveway area is looking much nicer. So much for peaceful gardening. It was more like “Momma’s Day Out!”… which is why the kids try to keep close tabs on me.

I’m adding two more straw bale gardens this year, in locations that needed a boost. Since they were filled and covered a with soil dug from the chicken pen, I’m not worrying about letting them compost before I plant. One of them already has potatoes in it. The other will get some flowers or lettuce while it waits for squash.

I also divided and planted some comfrey in the area of straw bale garden 2. My chickens think it is candy, and I think they are nice looking plants. I had a panic moment, however, right after I had transplanted. The chickens’s necks exhibited amazing elasticity and they began to eat the small plants. The plants were going to be ingested within a matter of minutes unless I acted quickly.

The new straw bale garden had some loose, available leaves of straw on the end of the bales. I managed to fit thin sections between the comfrey and the fence. Fortunately, chickens have very small brains. The moment they couldn’t see the comfrey, it didn’t exist. Once the plants are large enough, they will provide a nice snack for the chickens, as well as add softness to the fence lines.

I have also spread straw in between some of the raised beds to help keep down weeds and provide a dry floor for my ripe tomatoes to rest on. I’ll add more later in the season. I find that the ripe tomatoes keep much longer which they aren’t hitting the dirt. I also seems to help keep the pill bugs away. They don’t seem to like to crawl through straw.

20110405-055135.jpg

Filed Under: Gardening in Southwest Idaho, Inside the Homestead

If you want to read a heartwarming story about how a mother deals with a daughter's death, read this book.

If you have ever wanted to cook pizza in a brick oven in your own backyard, this book is for you!

Basic Facts Guides to Gardening in Southwest Idaho

a list of blog articles covering the basics to help you with your garden in southwest Idaho

My Other Blogs

  • Fun Fitness After 50
  • Fun Learning Chinese
  • LauraBlodgett.com
  • The Happy Homeschool

Blogroll

  • Anemone Flynn
  • Fine Gardening
  • Gourmet In The Field
  • Sew 4 Home

About me

 

 

Daily Improvisations is a project by Laura Blodgett

If you want to know more about what I’m up to and where to read about it, here is a summary!

Making sure you know that:

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, including affiliate links to amazon.com. See disclosures here.

Contact Me

Contact Me
First

All pictures and content including the name and logo “Daily Improvisations” are Copyright (c) 2019 by Laura Blodgett, unless otherwise noted. Please contact the author with any questions or comments.

Tags

animals Backyard Oven backyard weeds book reviews Chef Betharoni chickens Cori Lou Costa Rica crochet and knit decorating even I can do dehydrating fabric stores around the world flowers flowers from seed Gardens Around the Globe helpless female homestead injuries insects interview Maui music organizing poems PVC Pipe Projects questioning the establishment recipes restaurant reviews sew sewing southwest Idaho gardening sprinklers stock market diaries Taipei Taiwan technology know-how The Best Little Chocolate Shops tools and equipment underground house unimpeded parenting Wild Greg Adventure

Copyright © 2023 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in