Has Anyone Done A Haybale Garden Here In The Uk Please?

[kvalidir]

Hi, Has anyone here done a haybale garden in the UK please? We're going to give it a bash this year and have watched endless Youtube videos on straw and haybale gardens ( we hate digging) but they seem to be mostly US based. We've got tons of room so thought we might do quite a big one as we spend an arm and a leg on organic veggies, so any advice or suggestions most welcome :) Thanks.

[rockyracoon]

Off to google, haybale garden.

[tamborine]

Think again as most hay bales we buy in come with ragwort seed. Every year we pull & burn ragwort before flowering but still cant eliminate it.

[woofgang]

I have got a friend in Denmark who swears by it. She says its clean and easy and the crops are amazing. She does hers in polytunnels as well as in the open. The polytunnels give her a longer growing season.

[woofgang]

tambo its called haybale gardening but actually you use straw, I believe its cheaper.

[rockyracoon]

Would you not maximise growing space by using wooden raised beds, instead of the hay? I know you have lots of room, so it might not matter, but if you're growing veggies, you'd probably want to plant as much as you possibly can. Does look lovely and rural though.

I got seduced by the lovely hay bale wedding photo's that I found :)

[tamborine]

Web search is #straw bale. Straw would be a better choice

[Togo]

Not tried it but have read about it. At the end of the growing season you have a bit of clearing up to do, and in the States there have been issues with straw and hay bales being contaminated with pesticides that cause immense damage to established gardens when the bales decompose.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningequipment/11369289/Straw-bale-gardening-is-it-any-good.html

[Chipchopper]

You might like to look into permaculture on google.
Basically, its a no dig method using deep mulch (aka forest gardening).weeds pull upeasily, as they are in a loose growing medium.

[kvalidir]

Thank everyone. I've researched using both hay and straw and decided to go with hay as I can source organic hay literally just up the road and from the pasture it's on we shouldn't have a problem with ragwort or pesticides, so that's all cool . I'll have a look at mulch gardens as well. did think about pallet gardens but not too sure what they treat the wood with, although they do seem pretty popular. We've got about 2 acres of woodland at the bottom of the gardens, trying to find something sensible to do with that as well .x