James Paris - Growing Vegetables In Straw-How To Grow Quality Vegetables With Minimum Effort And Fuss

Growing Vegetables

In Straw!

How To Grow Quality Vegetables

With Minimum Effort & Fuss

James Paris

Blog: www.planterpost.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/planterspost

Copyright:

Copyright 2017, James Paris

All rights reserved. Copyright protected. Duplicating, reprinting, or distributing any of the material contained in this work in any form, without the express written consent of the author is prohibited.

While reasonable attempts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained within this publication, the author does not assume any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of this information, and any damages incurred by that.

The author does not assume any responsibility or liability whatsoever, for what you choose to do with this information.

1st Published Feb 2017

Table of Contents

Introduction To Growing In Straw

T here is no doubt about it, gardening can be hard work! Thats the bad news. The good news is that it does not have to be hard work and there are many different ways to grow excellent vegetables with the minimum of effort.

However I will not lie to you minimal effort is still effort! And like most things in life the more you put in to it, then the greater will be your reward.

This book is all about one of the fastest growing (pun intended!) gardening methods making the headlines at the moment, and the reasons for this are plentiful as we shall see.

A Brief History:

Growing vegetables in straw of hay is not a new idea. In fact many ancient civilizations including the Aztecs and the Egyptians are recorded as using this concept. The Picts and Celts of early Scotland also grew vegetables in their middens which typically consisted of piles of straw bedding from the animal pens.

After the invention of the baling machine in the 1940s (this produces the small rectangular bales), the opportunity arose for the modern concept of growing in straw that we see today.

This technique was used to grow vegetables commercially in the USA in the 1950s. The idea was taught in Europe throughout the 20th century. And more specifically by a Polish professor Tadeusz Pudelski (19262012), who published details off, and taught this at Poznan University of Life Sciences in and around 1971.

In effect the idea behind Growing in straw is not new. What we have now I would call a modern slant on a very old and established idea and it works!

With that said, I believe the idea behind growing vegetables in straw (or indeed hay) bundles has come of age at this time for a number of different and very relevant reasons not the least of which being environmental considerations.

Growing in straw:

The concept of growing vegetables in straw may seem a little strange if you have never come across the idea before, but it has many advantages over traditional row gardening, and indeed several advantages over the popular Square Foot, and Raised Bed gardening techniques.

So why should you consider growing your vegetables in straw? Here are just some of the top advantages that growing in straw bundles enjoys..

1 - Cheapest Way To Grow:

O ne of the biggest expenses involved in setting up a Raised Bed garden or Square Foot garden for instance, is the cost of the growing medium.

This involves creating a suitable soil by mixing compost, peat and vermiculite (depending on your preferences). All of these materials especially the vermiculite can be quite expensive.

On top of this you will have the expense required to build the structures whether they be built from timber or concrete block or whatever it all has to be paid for.

Container gardening also requires a good compost mix, plus the cost of the containers themselves, unless of course you are recycling tires, pots, or broken pails to act as growing containers.

Am I dissing Raised Bed or Square Foot gardening methods? Definitely not just check out my author page and you will see I have plenty material promoting them!

H owever it pays to look at all the options available including straw gardening - if you are to get the best out of your gardening efforts, and indeed choose the technique that best suits your particular circumstances.

You may well argue that dirt is cheap and that growing vegetables in the ground is even cheaper than using a straw bundle? The fact is that ground suitable to grow excellent crops does not just happen, unless you are one of the fortunate few to occupy land that is exceptionally productive for whatever reason usually because it has been well looked after by previous owners!

The vast majority of the time, the soil has to be worked and nurtured if it is to produce good crops. This means the addition of nutrients through either organic means (the best) or through chemical fertilisers (not recommended).

On a side note here ...Chemical fertilisers feed the plants, while organic fertilisers feed the soil which then feeds the plants over a prolonged period. This is the more natural and preferred method for growing healthy vegetables.

Back to cost ...The reason that the growing in straw method does not require much in the way of compost or soil (more on this later), is that as the bale decomposes it produces its own compost.

This means that over the growing season it is continually feeding your vegetables as it decomposes into mulch. Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies... Ok, maybe a little out of context but it nevertheless could be conceived as a form of sacrificial giving on the part of the straw bundle!

All in all, the only cost apart from a few handfuls of compost and your seeds or plants is the bales themselves. Which at around $2.00 per bale depending on your local supply, is definitely not expensive compared to the methods just described.