We’re getting a little cray cray up in here! Officially planted round no. 1 in the main garden over the weekend with the help of my sis, Liz. Stuff that went in the ground: snap peas, snow peas, sweet peas, two kinds of carrots, romaine lettuce, butter lettuce and arugula. Phew.She also joined me in my trek out to Burien to pick up three straw bales for my attempt at straw bale gardening. I’ve got about two weeks of conditioning with these bad boys then they’ll also be ready to plant. For those of you who think I’m nuts…..straw bale gardening is a way to garden if you have crappy or no soil. My plan was to build a nice stone walled bed in this location, but other things took precedent this year. My plan is to build that bed next year then transplant my raspberries there so they’ll be nice and contained.

In the meantime, I’m doing my own little garden experiment with these. From what I’ve read you 1) need straw NOT hay bales 2) they need to be “conditioned” ie. hit with lots of water and fertilizer to get them to start composting 3) sprinkled with some good soil 4) and then planted directly into. Seems easy enough. Stay tuned to see how this works out for me!