In this video, I share a little known gardening method that is better than raised bed gardening! Insect pests and garden diseases often destroy my tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other plants in my hot, humid summer climate, but this year, my vegetable garden is looking better than ever thanks to this incredible vegetable gardening method! If you struggle with pests and diseases in your garden, this could change your life!
Follow my series on straw bale gardening here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gY7BoYBGIHSGzSTntDC8ToTvOBuCCN_
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 The #1 Challenge Most Gardeners Face
2:47 This Gardening Method Is Incredible!
6:13 How Garden Diseases Spread
8:17 How I Stopped Garden Disease Spread
9:43 This Gardening Method Controls Pests Too
13:07 2 Potential Problems To Watch Out For
16:01 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to grow a vegetable garden, have questions about growing fruit trees or want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN (INDIVIDUAL LINKS)*:
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Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide https://amzn.to/2HTCKRd
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6.5 Inch Hand Pruner Pruning Shears https://amzn.to/3jHI1yL
Japanese Pruning Saw with Blade https://amzn.to/3wjpw6o
Double Tomato Hooks with Twine https://amzn.to/3Awptr9
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8A
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© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #vegetablegarden #vegetablegardening
44 Comments
If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 The #1 Challenge Most Gardeners Face
2:47 This Gardening Method Is Incredible!
6:13 How Garden Diseases Spread
8:17 How I Stopped Garden Disease Spread
9:43 This Gardening Method Controls Pests Too
13:07 2 Potential Problems To Watch Out For
16:01 Adventures With Dale
OMG, zone 7b here, this year has been horrible for early blight and blossom end rot! I'm ready to try the straw bales!
Are you going to show how you condition the straw bales before planting in them?
Good 'ol Ruth Stout! I've grown by her methods for many years.
Good time! I've been watching your channel offering about 18 months. Yesterday I got my first beefsteak, the incredibly early TerraCotta.
I didn't want the terracotta, so I sprouted seedlings last, but it set fruit so fast it's the first beefsteak. I hear they live fast and die young, sounds like a good choice for your millennial garden
Have you done a video on how you constructed you straw bale garden?
Since you already had weed barrier, why did you need the white tarp?
The disease has to be from the soil spashing up when watering. Does heavy straw mulch work as well on the rest of your beds? Are you planning to try other mediums? I mulched with lava rocks, sea shells, and shaved cedar this year and had positive results. The one bed I did this with is literally overgrown compared to everything else.
Make absolutely sure that the straw or hay you get has not been sprayed with any herbacides! Hay that has not been sprayed is very hard to come by around here in South Alabama. I also have horses and try to feed them clean hay because I compost their poop for my raised beds. Even with composting their manure, it will still kill tomatoes and other crops if the hay they ate has been sprayed with herbacide.
A very interesting experiment. Looking forward to seeing the results. Thanks for sharing!
If you are going to garden with straw you should really look into farmers lung and pneumonitis. I have both from moldy hay and it sucks.
I have a cherry tomato plant in a container that was huge and looking very good. Now the leaves are getting yellow starting at the bottom. Should i cut the yellow leaves off or the whole stems with yellow on them??? Help!😮😢😮😢
What do you do about Japanese beetles?
Youre always trying new stuff. Mu ch appreesh.
I did a straw bale garden last year after I first moved here and didn't have the budget for anything nicer. The plants did ok, but none of them grew very large nor did the fruit. I think they needed a lot more root room.
Please squeeze that wide part of the cap a little bit to make it a little bit curved. I cant stand it anymore, noone wears a cap wide like that here in europe XD
❤
Everything looks great so far and yes I did do strawbale years ago and it's a fabulous method if you plan ahead and find organic straw bales with no seed heads. I used 1-2 tbs alaskan fish emulsion, 1 part human urine (drug free only) to 10 parts water to innoculate the straw bales 3-4 months before planting in early spring and only had to water the bales once a week if it didn't rain. In a drought you'd have to water 1-2 times a week. I did use a couple of handfuls of compost at each plant transplant (I didn't try growing from seed in them) Downside is mice, chipmunks will get into the bales as they age. My bales lasted 3 years and produced the very best soil. Try to get bales using nylon twine and not wire. I'm glad you posted this because I need another area for some tomatoes and I didn't even think of using the bales 🙂 great idea!
What kind of temperatures do you see this time of year.. Here in central Texas its 100-108 temps and the only garden u had success with all these years was just throwing cardboard down on the ground, putting 1ft thick grass clipping on it,and making holes in the grass to plant tomato plants with a little compost. It appears what you are doing validates what i do.
If you happen to see the comment this time, would you mind saying where you’re sourcing your straw? I live within 20 minutes of you out in Rocky Point, and need a place I can trust.
I used to plant in straw bales and was very successful growing but I began to understand the nasty pesticides that farmers use on the straw/hay and stopped.
what do you do with all the produce harvests?
You OD your plants with weed (organic) and yeyo (synthetic) fertilizers at the same time each feed, so it's just expected they will have more disease. The straw bale prob doesn't allow you to drug your plants as efficiently as you have been so probably why they're healthier.
Do you have a video on how you installed the straw bales, tarp, and weed barriers? Thank you.
Thanks for this incredible information. Guess what I will be doing next year? Tractor Trailer Supply has awesome fresh hay…
Hi, my name is starrla. I joined today after seeing your video on cucumbers. I went and bought sand to make my own soil. I found leveling sand as I didnt want play sand. Is this good ? Plus do you just go buy straw bales from places like Lowes or Tractor Supply. Or is it a special straw bale?
I wonder if putting bail in my grow bags inctead of soil would do fine, what do you think ?
Congratulations! Always enjoy your videos, specially since I live in the same growth zone as you do.
Has anyone had experience growing these plants in-ground or in raised beds, but also using weed barrier? As in, cutting holes in weed barrier and allowing the plants to grow through them. I'm wondering if this could be the best of both methods: it cold keep pest/disease issues to a minimum, while also reducing the need for irrigation and nutrient supplimentation.
I planted burp less cucumbers but they are getting really fat instead long. What,s up
I'm challenged finding organic straw or hay! 😢 I wish he had shown actual planting! Interesting idea!
so what nutrition do your plants have?
I might just add to try to get bales from places where they don't spray with pesticides or herbicides.
Sooo, i havent read all the comments yet, but im curious to know what the "prep" for a bale is. I have some cantaloupe plants I started from seeds and now it's waaaay past time i got them out of the Rubbermaid tote. I dont have room in my raised beds (potatoes i planted last fall suddenly reappeared!! I thought they died!)… bales would be GREAT, I can set the bale next to the raised beds and keep it going. Pointers please!!
Well, so glad I finished building raised beds last month…. <sigh>
Did you test the level of nutrients in these veggies? They look great, but I wonder if you get the nutrients you need from these…
Did you use organic straw?
Thank you so much for all the info. Excelent idea.
Why is there no pollen on my watermelon plant…there are no bees around I wanted to hand pollinate 1:44
I do 'wall to wall' weed barrier and love it. Why not use all weed barrier without the bales? Advantages are the same as bales without the use of extra water and nutrient loss.
I live in north west France where it rains a lot, I grow my tomatoes in a greenhouse so that they're not getting their leaves wet for days and weeks.. They're the plants that I have the least disease and pest problems with.
Thanks that's a good idea and tip.
Now I'm wondering, what would happen if you fill 150 gallon grow bags with straw ? Would it work?
Looking to move up there. 1 acre near coast on river. High and dry. No flood zone.