Well here it is. Drum roll please :-) ................ My 2012 Patchwork Prairie Straw Bale garden design. Click on the picture for a better view.
I'm quite please with myself as I worked it out with Excel inserting shapes to get the bales, whiskey barrels, work bench plus decking for chairs and a table. What a cool program for designing gardens! The garden entrance gate is on the west side near the whiskey barrels, the beans are on the north and so on. With all my excitement in designing this garden I totally forgot to consider companion planting, shesh, LOL! My garden book that features this subject is tucked away in a box somewhere so I Binged "companion planting for gardens" and found a good site that explains it in a no nonsense way. Wohoo! After consulting this information I see that I don't need to change a thing! All I need to do is add are some pest deterring flowers and herbs which I can do when I begin planting. By the way, I chose to use straw bales due to the poor quality clay soil here and the unbelievably high cost of having top soil hauled in. Straw bales are also cheaper than lumber for raised beds and the straw will compost and improve the soil for future gardens.
What you can't see in the picture is the watering system I will have. One or two long soaker hoses connected to a timer so I can water while I'm at work and then off the timer so I can water when I get home from work. We still have some drip irrigation hose left from a previous garden and we may use them, but for now I'm going with the soaker hoses as we already have those too. Additionally, we fenced in my garden spot and will complete it with electric wire on top and rabbit fence on the bottom to keep 'said' critters out. My first and last garden here was a disaster as the deer and rabbits ate everything down to nubs on the ground! I believe I'll have the advantage this time. And who knows, I may have enough excess produce to can! That would be just too Cool!!!
I'm quite please with myself as I worked it out with Excel inserting shapes to get the bales, whiskey barrels, work bench plus decking for chairs and a table. What a cool program for designing gardens! The garden entrance gate is on the west side near the whiskey barrels, the beans are on the north and so on. With all my excitement in designing this garden I totally forgot to consider companion planting, shesh, LOL! My garden book that features this subject is tucked away in a box somewhere so I Binged "companion planting for gardens" and found a good site that explains it in a no nonsense way. Wohoo! After consulting this information I see that I don't need to change a thing! All I need to do is add are some pest deterring flowers and herbs which I can do when I begin planting. By the way, I chose to use straw bales due to the poor quality clay soil here and the unbelievably high cost of having top soil hauled in. Straw bales are also cheaper than lumber for raised beds and the straw will compost and improve the soil for future gardens.
What you can't see in the picture is the watering system I will have. One or two long soaker hoses connected to a timer so I can water while I'm at work and then off the timer so I can water when I get home from work. We still have some drip irrigation hose left from a previous garden and we may use them, but for now I'm going with the soaker hoses as we already have those too. Additionally, we fenced in my garden spot and will complete it with electric wire on top and rabbit fence on the bottom to keep 'said' critters out. My first and last garden here was a disaster as the deer and rabbits ate everything down to nubs on the ground! I believe I'll have the advantage this time. And who knows, I may have enough excess produce to can! That would be just too Cool!!!
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