Growing food in containers is a great solution for those without much soil. Another option is simply with a bale of straw.
A major bonus is, after you harvest your crops, you can spread the remaining straw on your garden bed or add it to your compost!
What you’ll need:
- 1-2 bales of straw
- A driveway, paved area or a sunny space that’s going to waste
- Organic fertiliser – pellets and liquid
- Compost (a few handfuls for each seedling you plant)
- Seedlings – Millie uses pak choi, kale and silverbeet
Method:
- Position the bale(s) on their side, so the cut side of the straw is facing up.
- Water the bale or bales well –if you can leave them out for a couple of weeks and water them every day, even better.
- Sprinkle over a couple of handfuls of organic fertiliser.
- Water with liquid fertiliser; fish emulsion is good.
- Ideally leave this to cook this for a couple of weeks.
- Make planting holes in the top of the bale and fill each hole with a few handfuls of compost and/or leaf mould.
- Plant in seedlings. If using pak choi, this will be ready to harvest sooner so can be planted in between the larger, slower-growing plants.
- Water well and keep moist as the seedlings settle in.
- Feed with liquid manure every two weeks to keep the plants growing.
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