Questions for those that use the straw bale method | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

Hi there! The bales do compost down by at least half what they start with. I take the left overs and put them in my raised beds and start with new ones at the beginning of each season. Mind you I only grow tomatoes in mine(we have the dreaded southern wilt virus in our soil). I grow everything else in either the raised beds, self watering buckets or in our gutter bucket system. You can leave the composted bales as is and add a new one on top...this works well if you have the bales contained(mine are surrounded by wooden boxes. And eventually you will end of with a box of filled compost in which to plant!