Cane Bale Gardening

Can't dig? Don't want to pay for a truckload of soil? 

I have a no dig policy in my garden.

1. I am a renter
2. I have septic, gray & black water systems
3. I have fibromyalgia and get very tired
4. My soil is crappy
5. I might also be a bit lazy but all the above reasons are legitimate so it does not matter 

I started with raised beds and pots along with making my own planter containers as well however they all needed soil, a very pricy commodity when you buy it by the 30Lt bags. In my researching of "raised garden beds the lazy way" I stumbled across "hay bale gardening" so after I decided I would benefit from a load of garden compost/mushroom/soil instead of buying bags every week I splurged and bought  5 sugar cane mulch bales as well.

               

I had to pick the location right as I did not want to block the new septic system however I needed a very sunny spot. I also desired to regrow my lawn after ex cyclone Oswald dumped evey weed seed from up north into my backyard. 

 This picture shows part of my problem, I could not plant anything over the large patch of crackerdust because that is where the septic flows but thankfully the old system was still in place but unused so in Summer the old crackerdust heats up and kills the grass so this was the perfect location. 

I laid down a good layer of news paper to stop weeds growing directly up into the bale. I can readily line trim or run the mower around the bales. I have only chosen a small lot of bales for my starter lot as I figured if it didn't work it would not be a huge loss. 

 

Gardening alone is great, it gives you time to yourself and can stop the negative thoughts from cycling through your brain. You can get so distracted in things like where to place your garden bed, where will the sun be shining during certain parts of the day, what plant will go where and how tall will it be because it might cast a shadow, will you need a trellis???   And these are only touching on the basics, you can really throw yourself into your garden as deeply as you need to!
But is saying that gardening on your own is great it is even better when you have your cat join you. Soxs is always there when I  garden, at times he will be in my face, on top of my work, or just stretched out enjoying the sunshine!

The most important part of making a productive vegetable garden from bales of cane, hay, or other products is conditioning the bales. It is important this is done with a high nitrogen fertilizer.  I chose urea as it was the most cost effective for me and the bag of granuals will last me for many cane bale gardens. 

You can research online for the most convenient products for you and for the best way to condition your bales. This was my method. 

• Decide how you will place your bales. People that have used straw bales like to put the bales so that the cut side is facing up in a vertical position so that water flows down the hollow stems. Sugar cane bales don't have these hollow stems so after some research I decided on placing my bales on the horizontal as I have read how it helped hold the seedings better when planting. Either way I dont think it matters greatly. 
• Wet bales morning and night for two days. I live in a subtropical area and the days are getting hot but no rain yet so they dry out very quick.
• For the next three day spread 1 cup of urea on each bale and water in well.
• Two days of just watering. 
• Three days of 1/2 cup per bale watered in well.
• Two days of watering again without urea. During these two days I actually used some seaweed solution.  
• At about this time I did a little happy dance because I found mushrooms sprouting. This indicates the decomposition had started. 
• The bales should by now be heating up however mine were not so I covered them in tarps to help to process. It did retain some extra heat however when I felt the inside of the bales they were still cool however more mushrooms of several varieties were covering the bales. 
• At about day 18 despite the lack of heat the decomposition had well and truly started so I decided to start planting out. You have to be very careful about the heating up during decomposition because it can get so hot it will burn the roots of your seedlings.