Gardening With Hay Bale
Gardening with hay bale means you use leaves, long stems and seeds which have been cut, dried and baled up instead of soil. Interesting right? It’s a solution for difficult soil or limited space and it’s also low-cost; all you need is a sunny spot and a water supply. Remove any weeds and constantly check for weeds, as hay has many seeds in it.
The bales should be placed together to support one another, in any shape or size you want. Place them on strings which don’t come in contact with the ground (otherwise the hay will rot and spread the disease to your entire garden). Because of this, hay bale gardening is easier for people with back problems.
If you get green hay there are a few steps you need to follow before you start planting; for the first 3 days, the hay should be watered thoroughly twice a day, then, for the next 3 days, you need to add half a cup of ammonium nitrate to each bale and water it well. Do the same for another 3 days, but add only a quarter of a cup of ammonium nitrate, then on the 10th day you can add a cup of any slow releasing 10-10-10 fertilizer.
Otherwise the seeds will be damaged in the watered hay, which may heat up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit because of the chemical reaction with water.
If you get dried hay directly, then you need to break it down by soaking it in water for 5 or 6 days before you plant and do not add any fertilizer. When done, add compost and soil; a 3 inch layer should be enough for seeds, then you proceed normally. Water thoroughly, even twice per day if the weather is hot, because hay cannot retain water.
As far as fertilizers go, both organic and liquid manure do well, once every two weeks.
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