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| Nasturtium seedling |
Every morning I have been checking on the bales and watering, but I kept forgetting to bring my phone/camera with me to take some pictures. Then today I was so excited I had to go back inside to get my phone in order to document the first seedlings to emerge from the bales.
In my last post I mentioned that I pushed some nasturtium seeds into the front sides of the bales. Well they have germinated! I didn't prep the seeds or anything, and I didn't think they would be able to emerge so quickly but they did. Since I bought the soaker hose, the bales remain very moist all the time, which may have something to do with it.
This past weekend I finally was able to plant the rest of my plants in the straw bale garden. In April I had started tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and peppers from seed. I also purchased some plants from the NIU Communiversity gardens student group.
My seedlings are still small but they seem to be doing well these past few days.
To plant the seedlings I stuck a spade into the straw and moved it around in a circle to make a hole, then I put a little potting soil in the hole, and stuck in the plant. Then I put potting soil around the plant to help keep it upright.
I also sowed (shoved) some seed directly into the bales. I planted some bush beans called Dolloff and some purple green beans, summer squash, and some corn! Hey, I live in DeKalb.
I hope that next week I will be reporting that some more seedlings have emerged, we shall see.
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| Three tomato plants from Communiversity Garden Sale |
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| Bale in the foreground: seeds planted directly in straw |
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| Kale and cilantro |
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| Cucumbers (and hostas holding up the bales on the hill) |
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| So far so good. |
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| Top: tiny tomato seedlings, Mid right: cilantro, Lower front: basil and cilantro |
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