Joshua Pittiglio

Ashley,

Thanks for taking the time to share. I watched the video on strawbale gardening and man that’s fascinating!! It has me wanting to try it out and also has me thinking of the custom bales I could make.

hugelkultur is also new to me and is another awesome method I plan to read more about here and try out in the future.

I don’t have a ton of straw on hand and since I already have my supplies to make my raised bed I am going to stick with trying out the core gardening method this season and see how it goes.

Thanks again  

Peace

Core gardening sounds to me like a great idea and like everyone should be using the method, but I have never tried it. Please share with any advice or personal experiences.... this is my scenario

Structure: Small raised bed 4ft by 4ft by 12in

Soil: mels mix from square foot gardening. 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 multiple varieties of compost

Plan to grow: sweet corn. Pole beans on the perimeter and use the corn stalks as trellis.

Core plan: dig 1ft deep trench in center of the bed along the entire length and fill with 4 or 5 inches of fresh straw and cover with soil mix. The idea is that the straw will absorb water like a sponge and distribute to plants up to 2 ft across on each side of the trench.

Concerns- is this for certain pants only? When do I know to water? Will this rot my roots? Is it necessary? Etc...  I am in zone 6a

Any advice/feedback is very much appreciated

Peace