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| I have a small area in my backyard which has a steep slope, that I want to use for growing veggies/flowers. I filled the area somewhat with wheat straw bales - I was able to get 12 for $25. I have also been able to collect about 80 bags of Fall leaves. I intend to dump these as well in that sloped area.
Will the straw and leaves decompose enough by April/May to be ready for planting stuff over it? I was thinking of adding some bagged garden soil along with any plants I put in there. I have read about Straw Bale gardening and how you need to feed it with NH4NO3 and water over 10 days, but as I understand, that is if you want to plant into it soon. Do I still need to do that if I am letting it rot over the winter? The leaves in the bags are not shredded/mulched. And I dont intend to shred/mulch them. I am not expecting it to be converted into compost by summer, but am using it to fill the slope as much as I can. I would rather not spend a couple hundred bucks to get fill dirt in there. The leaves are free and easy to haul. The straw bales at 12 for $25 (including delivery) were too cheap to pass. I guess I will know what the straw and leaves become by summer, but I'd like to know what to expect. Thanks for any advice/opinion/suggestion. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| "...make compost in 14 days" Rodale Press. 1)Nitrogen is essential to fast composting.Dried manure,cottonseed meal,bone meal... (I would add grass clipping or comfrey leaves.) 2)SHREDDING of the material is essential. Compost shredder or lawnmower. 3) Sufficient moisture in the heap is needed if the composting is to take place quickly.If your heap is made of predominantly dry materials, it is good to water it liberally when it is first made. then again as needed, about every two weeks. Turn the heap every 4 days to help the bacteria thrive in the heap. I have just pile up material & let it rot over 18-24 months. But you want to plant it in spring. |
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| In the spring, you will have in that area 12 bales of wet straw, and 80 bags of wet leaves...and a lot of work to do. Throwing an amount of ammonium nitrate in there will help speed things up....and something good might come around about September, October. In the spring of '12, you might have something useable for improving what soil you intend to place with them. Here it is December, in your zone 7, its cold and getting colder. Decompostion is slowing down, soon stopping. Unfortunately, I believe you have a misconcception of just what composting is all about. It doesn't happen overnight....no matter how much you try to speed things up by adding what you believe will do it....nitrogen. |
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| Whether this will have been digested enough to plant in depends on many things, size of the particles and amount of Nitrogen available to feed the bacteria that will digest those leaves and straw, as well as your weather. However, if the layer of material is not terribly thick, 12 to 24 inches, you can easily plant through that mulch, although Ruth Stout did. |
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| Plant? Plant what! In the spring it will still be a pile of rotting leaves and straw since no action will take place over the winter months. And planting through such mess will only assist the plant to be killed by the decomposing matter. There are ample articles on "using unfinished compost" and why gardeners should avoid the practise. |
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| I have read about Straw Bale gardening where in after 10 days to treating a straw bale with Ammonium Nitrate and water, it is ready for growing vegetables. What I was thinking of doing was to cover the mass of straw bales and Fall leaves with a few inches of bagged garden soil (may be Miracle Grow or Scotts or the cheap generic brands) and then plant in it. The Fall leaves and straw bales are to kind of level up the slope. So it will be more like a raised bed over the Fall leaves and straw bales. |
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| BALES: Worked for us to grow right on top of rocky, root filled soil. We planted tomato starts and nasturtium seeds using older bales. Still they heated up when we wet them, so we waited 2 weeks & added compost to planting holes. The soil under the bales has improved enough now after 2 gardening seasons that garden space is usable for vegetables and though still rocky soil we remove as we encounter them. For your slope it depends on what you want to plant. If you add finished compost and/or soil to your planting holes it might work fine. LEAVES: In my climate we have a lot of large maple leaves that are super slow to decompose without shredding or adding greens. I use them to make leaf mold and/or as mulch. We recently gathered about 30 bags from an apartment complex, emptied bags on lawn & mowed over them with mulch mower. Used in garden as mulch and bagged up about 10 bags to use in spring for composting projects or as mulch again. I like fewer bags to store, but didn't like the amount of work we created for ourselves once we dumped ALL those leaves. I don't think I'd do it again, so your plan to just them rot is much easier! |
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| I haven't checked on some facts mentioned and, as I read further about using such pile for vegetables, I suggesdt to the writer that some research be done about 'how vegetables prefer their soil"... Amonium nitrate in such amount cannot possibly be used up in the manner suggested....such intense degree of nitrogen next to some vegetables is a death warrant. Tomatoes, for example, too high of nitrogen, no flowers result. Nasturtiums and other flowering annuals, same result. If the writer were to research the individual vegetables she is planning, she would be immeasurably better informed about how her soil should be improved. Its nice to think that what she is trying to compose will result in collossal vegetable sizes and goodness but the truth is they have to live in the soil given them and if its not what they like, they wont give out what we like. |
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| What a bargain 12 bales for $25 delivered! I don't think it will be ready this spring, but you have a start on your slope. I haven't found a bagged garden soil that I like and I don't think that is a cheap option. Get the person who sold you the straw to bring you some barn dirt. I agree with the Ruth Stout option, dig down to the soil below. Rotted organic matter just makes a layer on top and it shrinks lots. I think you are trying to rush it, but don't agree with the negative views. You are on the right track but you may need some real soil from somewhere to mix with your leaves and it may take longer than you hoped. I would be afraid of the strong fertilizer. |
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| The guy who brought me the bales just wanted to get rid of his excess bales (which he had bought for reseeding his lawn)! So.. no chance of getting any barn dirt from him :( Anyways, I think I am going to get some Starbucks UCGs and throw it onto the leaves. And I will also throw kitchen scraps into it. In Spring/Summer I will start throwing lawn grass clippings into it. As a matter of fact, I already have a lot of lawn clippings also dumped in the same area.. Maybe I will mix it with the leaves along with some milorganite that I already have, this weekend. |
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| I have rocks here. I think my yard is an old stream bed. I haul in leaves, grass clippings, city compost. When fully rotted, it makes a really light layer on top of the rocks that looks good but drys out. If I can keep it watered it grows things but I have to dig down a bit and mix the soil with the organic stuff to make a good soil that holds water. I have a place to put the rocks but it is time consuming and good exercise. Your project will also take time and be good exercise. |
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| What the hay! Plant in it anyway. It beats staring at it waiting for compost to happen. I have done lasagna type areas, putting a shovel full of soil in a depression in the hay/manure/whatever, and let 'er rip. It is fun to observe what happens. It is a little better than planting in a flower pot. I would go for it. Some things will live and produce, but it will only get better and better, as you add stuff. All that hay will compost down to nearly nothing, so you will be trucking stuff in for the rest of your life: a wonderful hobby. |
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