This spring when we were setting up our garden plots we experimented with straw bale gardens on two of the beds.
We built the first straw bale bed because it sounded like a cool idea. We planted watermelon, a pepper, basil and a tomato plant here with sweet potatoes in the middle.
We built the second straw bale bed when we added an additional plot late in the spring and didn’t want to spend time tilling or removing sod. We ended up putting squash and cucumbers over here as well as flowers. Sunflowers and more sweet potatoes went in the deep dirt of the middle of the beds.
And we waited. The squash sprouted and then they sat there. The watermelon sent out vines and we had one baseball-sized watermelon which later cracked and rotted. The Green Zebra tomato and bell pepper languished, the basil tootled along, the cucumbers started to turn yellow. (click for bigger)
We 
were keeping the bales watered and throwing a little fertilizer on the plants but nothing was thriving.
Curious. Frustrating. The garden looked so lush in the magazine.
So I went back to the article that started all this and read it again. My intent was to e-mail the editors at Fine Gardening and say what’s up?
Until I read the article again.
Oh.
It pays to read the whole sentence, including the part after the comma.
What I missed: adding liquid fertilizer every time you water for the first 10 days.
Bummer. The poor plants were starving, desperately searching for nutrients in the straw that weren’t there because decomposition was too slow and all the little microbe thingies were still sleeping.
Rather than admit defeat, I came out swinging. I started fertilizing with fish emulsion every day to see if we could recover. I talked to the plants, threatened, pleaded, eyeballed them to see if they were responding. I did that for almost two weeks and then backed off the fishies. 
I see some progress. The cucumber greened up and set fruit, the squash tripled in size and started flowering. Except for the squash that I planted in the shadow of the sunflowers. Doh.
The watermelon put out new vines and lo! produced another baby watermelon. The Green Zebra tomato has doubled/tripled in size and is flowering.
The pepper plant sits there, mocking me (“Yo bitch, you think you can grow me in straw? Bite me”).
The basil just goes its’ merry way, loving the extra attention.
The flowers are singing their happy little zombie songs (um, wait, never mind, I’m having a flashback).
And the sweet potatoes? Honey, if you want to feel like a gardener, plant yourself some sweet potatoes. Pretty blossoms and the vines have delusions of world domination. These have been trimmed back twice and they still want to take over the garden.
Straw bales on beds 2 and 3
The question is, is it all too late? It’s the first of August and our plants are way behind schedule. Surely we’ll get tomatoes, but the melon and squash? Will they deliver? Will the pepper get up close and personal with the compost heap? Will an early frost have us scrambling to protect everything? Will I adopt the happy basil?
Stay tuned for more updates. Film at 11…..
Sunday Supper
Grilled pork tenderloin, corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes with basil. I should go look up how to grill corn and then I wouldn’t have to heat up the kitchen at all.
Speaking of heating up the kitchen, if you’ve never slow roasted tomatoes, OMG, are they ever good. I did a pan of cherry tomatoes and one of regular size yesterday. Melt in your mouth and the tomato flavor has so many more levels. We’ll eat these up but I plan to do more and freeze them for this winter. No recipe yet because I’m cobbling together several sources and haven’t come up with one that’s just right for us. I want enough olive oil so the tomatoes don’t stick but not so much that they drown. Some herbs and garlic for flavor, but I don’t want them to overcook/burn. So it’s still a work in progress.
Love the way your plants talk to you: “Yo, bitch…”!
We cook corn on the cob in the microwave. Smokey wraps it in saran (ew); I put it in a glass dish with a cover and a spoonful of water. Either way, 2 minutes for one ear, 4 minutes for 2. Easy peasy.
Really enjoyed the post! Love those garden pictures. I’m so envious because I’m so bad at that. BTW corn on the cob on the BBQ. Piece of cake and right up my alley. I soak my corn, in their husks in water about 5-10 minutes before I toss them on the grill, indirect heat. They steam beautifully in their husks and retain all their sweet moisture. I put them on at the same time I toss the meat on. Enjoy! I’m off to Colorado to enjoy the 64 degree weather. Sigh. Can’t wait!!
I’m glad much of your straw bale garden is responding to your efforts, and hope it produces much for you.
If you think oven-roasted tomatoes are good, you should try roasting peppers! Red or yellow are best. I make tons when they are in season, freeze them flat on baking trays, then store in Ziploc bags. I love them on top of bread spread with soft goat’s cheese– mmm!
Oh, I think you have plenty of time before frost to get all kinds of stuff from those straw bales. Of course, as hot as it has been this summer I could be wayyyyyyyyy off base. I’m very very happy to see that your garden is as lush as everything over here.
Maybe if you told them they would be fighting zombies when they grow up. ;^)
If you think that pepper plant could use an “tude” adjustment I have a woodchuck, will travel.
Give those plants a good talking-to and they’ll shape right up. Show ‘em who’s boss.
I make a roasted tomato salsa that’s too fabulous for words.
RTFM. Yeah, I miss a lot of that stuff too. I killed a rose this year because I didn’t RTFM.
Hoping your yields make it before the frosts.
Thanks for the update! I’ve wondered how it was going. I’ve seen the roasted tomatoes recipes too and am DYING to make some, but the thought of turning on the oven for 4-6 hours is horrifying.
[...] the squash are beginning to grow, the green zebra is finally producing tomato babies and the smart-ass pepper has actually started flowering, even though it’s only about 8 inches high. In the summer [...]