7/18 Workshop – Additional Notes
Workshop by: Jeremy Browning, co-founder of Baled It
Baled It is a partner of Help A Brother Out Foundation, and helped set up the bale garden at David’s Garden of Life.
Comments:
A green thumb is not required for this.
Before I heard about hay bale gardening, I didn’t do much gardening at all and I barely kept houseplants alive. I have back problems and I don’t have an income that allows for all the expenses that come with growing a successful garden. But this method is low cost and low effort, so it’s easy on the bank and the back.
If it is your first garden, start small. Maybe no more than 2 or 3 bales. You’re going to screw something up. But guess what? It will most likely still work. I’ve only been doing this in my spare time for 3 years now, and I’ve grown, helped people grow, or via social media talked them through growing, all in all about a dozen or so haybale gardens. Mistakes were made every single time, and we are learning something new and interesting every time.
I think the greatest challenge is to learn the specific conditions surrounding where you place the garden and which plants you choose to grow. Whatever puzzling problem you encounter, we encourage you to learn from it and do better next time.
Being low cost, low effort, with little need of a green thumb, can be placed virtually anywhere, this is a great candidate for all kinds of projects.
Cost for Value
- If 1 bale = 5.25 cubic feet = 157 qts
- And, if 1 bale costs $9 (over-estimated cost compared to last time I bought bale).
- You have: 1 bale = 157 qts = $9
Then at your local farm supply or chain store…
If one 50qt bag of potting soil costs around $15, and you need 3 bags to equal the same volume as 1 bale, then you have to spend $45 to get the same volume of planting medium as one bale at $9. That’s five times the savings.
Of course the numbers are either estimated or scrubbed from the internet, but you get the idea.
Baled It! 