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Years ago, when the guy with the bulldozer showed up to clear a spot in the forest for our building site, not only did he level the ground, he subsequently removed all the topsoil leaving us with a practically sterile, gravelly wasteland around the barn area.
Since then, I’ve tried various methods to replenish the soil and make it productive again.  So when my husband Ray and I visited the State Fair last year, we saw a demonstration of straw bale gardening and were intrigued.
The method, described in Minnesotan Joel Karsten’s book Straw Bale Gardens, uses the addition of fertilizer and water to cause the bales to decompose rapidly, creating a perfect growing medium.  Once the harvest is over, the bales can be kicked apart in place, and they add lovely rich compost to the soil.
This year I’m growing heirloom tomatoes to save seed.  I selected about a hundred of the best seedlings (three of each variety) from those I’d started, and sold the rest.
Then I found out the first thing about straw bales – when you need a lot of them, they’re expensive!  Up to $15.00 a bale!  $6.00 each was the best deal I could find, and I had to drive a long way to get them.  Apparently, they’ve become a hot commodity with all the straw bale gardeners out there now.
Ray, ever the pragmatist, asked, “How much money did make from your seedling sales?”
My reply was about $300.
“Then I guess you’ll be getting fifty bales,” he said.
We laid them out in five rows of ten with the bales positioned so the twine wrapped around the sides, and the side where the stems had been cut was on top.  That orientation holds each bale together, and allows fertilizer to better work its way down inside.  Next, we pounded in steel fence posts at the end of each row to keep the bales in place.   We then strung four rows of wire between the posts.  As the tomato vines grow, they can be tied to the wires for support.  Also, in cold weather, plastic can be draped over the wire to create a mini-greenhouse.
The next step was applying fertilizer and watering it in.  The instructions said to use fertilizer that’s high in nitrogen.  When you look at the bag, it will say something like 10-10-10 or 20-0-6.  The first number is the nitrogen content.  You can choose between organic fertilizer or the less expensive plain old garden fertilizer as long as it says it’s okay for vegetables.  I prefer to use organic methods.  But I suspected that having a high nitrogen content wouldn’t be critical to the process, and used a balanced blend instead because it’s easier to find.  For the first two weeks I sprinkled about two cups of fertilizer on each bale and watered it in with the hose nozzle set on “jet” to force the granules down between and inside the hollow stems of the wheat straw.  It took two hours to do all fifty bales!  But it gave me plenty of time to meditate on the gorgeous tomatoes I’d soon harvest.   Every other day, I’d add more fertilizer and stand around for hours blasting it into the straw.  It’s a good thing we have a well and don’t have to pay for city utilities!  On the off days, I just watered the bales enough to keep them moist inside.
After the first week, I started seeing a color change in the straw.  Where there was once a light golden tan, the layers were becoming dark brown.
At the end of two weeks, I sprinkled the bales with bone meal and wood ashes to add some extra phosphorus and potassium, and watered that in.  Finally it was time to plant the seedlings.
The instructions for straw bale gardening say to dig a sort of hole in the bale with a handheld spade.  I found this to be impossible.  The straw is just too tightly packed.  So I got a kitchen knife with a serrated blade and sawed square holes big enough to insert the seedlings.  As I pulled out chunks of straw, it was clear that the composting process was at work.  The straw was decaying, and it was nice and warm down inside the bales.   Planting took the better part of two days and lots of duct tape wrapped around my fingers to stave off blisters.
One morning after a night of rain, I was greeted with a forest of little mushrooms that had sprung up from the bales along with wheat sprouts that were left behind in the harvest.  Both of these were signs that the little ecosystem was healthy and working its magic.
Now it’s just a matter of keeping the tomato plants watered, and treating them weekly with a supplemental dose of liquid fertilizer.  Soon I’ll be harvesting the seeds of Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Arkansas Traveler, and Black from Tula.  And, of course, canning lots of tomato sauce.