Seeds Galore...and Time to Plan

After starting the 10-day process of cooking the bales -- conditioning them with Dad's "pure gold" urine, organic blood meal, and traditional garden fertilizer, I moved on to getting seeds planted.  When I would go to the grocery store or hardware store, I'd check out their seed selection, and I began collecting a few packages of veggies and herbs I thought would do well from seed.  About the only things I'm not starting from seed are tomatoes, bell peppers, and strawberries.

Here's our seed list:

• summer (yellow) squash
• acorn squash
• zucchini
• cucumber
• banana peppers
• pole beans
• eggplant (variety mix)
• green onions
• peas
• kale
• basil
• dill
• thyme
• cilantro

I have four "greenhouse" seed starting trays -- two with peat pellets, and two that have peat pots that need to be filled with soil first.  I bought the ones with peat pellets first (at the hardware store), but when I went back a week later to get more, they were out, so I had to get the other type.  Both work well.  The pellets just seem to be a novel, quick and non-messy way to go.  You just soak them, and place a seed or two in the pea-sized hole that is in the middle of the pellet.  

Peat Pellet Greenhouse Tray -- 50 pellets per tray

Peat Pot Greenhouse Tray -- 50 pots per tray

Covered Greenhouse -- moisture stays inside

I keep all the greenhouse trays on the dining room table and an adjacent cabinet, so they can get south sun exposure.  What I planted when was based on the time to start indoors before planting outside -- after last frost.  I'm a little ahead of schedule, in that I began cooking the straw bales two weeks ago, and it's still three weeks until Mother's Day weekend -- northeast Indiana's "safe" time to plant.  But I'd rather get an early start than to be late having them ready for the straw bales.  While they're still growing in the greenhouse trays, I mist them a couple of times each day to ensure they have plenty of water.

My pole beans, summer squash, and peas germinated and grew quickly under their protective cover, so two days ago I started to transplant them into bigger, biodegradable fiber pots.  And WOW!!!  They have alreay doubled in size!  Today I moved them outside -- it's a warm (50's) sunny day, and I am starting the "hardening" process...getting the young seedlings acclimated to outdoor conditions.  As long as it stays above freezing at night, I'll leave them outside...move them to the front porch and cover them with a box to keep them protected overnight.  This is a very important step when starting plants from seed to make sure that direct sunlight and the temperature changes that occur overnight don't shock them.

Transplanted seedlings -- their first day outside

The straw bales are starting to show the early stages of decomposition at this point too.  They are beginning to darken on top.  The straw bales shown below are in my front flower bed, behind some low shrubs.  Three of the bales were twine-wrapped with the full length of the straw on its side; one bale wrapped with the cut ends of the straw up (top of the bale looks like big cluster of drinking straws).  With my twelve bales, I have about half of each.  My reading suggests that side-stacked (full length of straw) bales condition slower, but hold water better.  The upright-stacked (cut ends of straw on top) bales condition more quickly, but don't hold water as well -- the water runs more quickly through the straw -- DUH!!! -- just like drinking straws!  I wonder if there is a connection there.  You can see in the photo below that the bale closest to the sidewalk is darker than the other three.  It is the one with cut-side up.

After two weeks of conditioning with water and fertilizer,
the first bale (straw's cut side up), shows darkening
which indicates first stages of decomposition.

Even if the bales don't show it, they're decomposing inside, and after two weeks, they're ready for plants.  So don't be discouraged if you think nothing's going on.  Something's going on.  You're creating an ideal growing environment for your garden vegetables and herbs!

Dad and I are at the point now where we're just watering the bales each day, to make sure they stay wet and keep the decomposition going.  We've been fortunate to have recent rain, so that's been helpful.  We don't need any more "pure gold" or traditional fertilizer until we get into the growing season.

I did a layout of what to plant where, so I'd know how many seedlings to have ready for the first planting.  Quite a few vegetables can have more than one planting per season -- after harvesting and a plant is "done," another plant can be put in its spot.

Joel Karsten's Straw Bale Gardening book is a terrific guide for how far apart the plants should be, how many of a specific vegetable should be planted per bale (if the entire bale is devoted to one vegetable), and how many crops (re-planting opportunities) are available for various vegetables.

My planting layout (from top to bottom):  Back yard; front - behind shrubs; (left) front/next to garage; (right) front/next to porch.