straw bale growing?

Has anyone done this?

Back in the autumn I got hold of a bale, intended to use it for protection of my bananas, anyway, for one reason or another it never happened, and the nanas are taking their chances.
So I was thinking of putting the bale of straw to some use this summer, might even get a couple more if it seems a good idea.

Never tried it before, but thought it might be good for outdoor peppers, bush toms etc.

Be interested on anyones experience of growing summer crops this way, and what grows well in this kind of medium, also hows best to get the straw soaked, was thinking of setting it outside in the next few weeks, so that its really wet for when planting time comes.
Not keen on using them in the greenhouse.

 

Have seen straw being used before, was tempted myself, but decided not to bother as it seems a lot of faffing about.
You`ll need to constantly water and feed the crop as the bale will dry out fast and will offer very little to the crop.
What do you do with all the old wet straw when finshed growing etc.

To soak it I would sit it in a tray and let it soak up water or bung a hose on it and soak it slowly.

 

And you may find that you get wheat,barley or oats growing, if the combine driver was going to fast when combining the crop

 

Or use it for this

 

Thanks for the comments.
Just thought it might be worth a go, cant be any more difficult than using a grow bag, surely?

Was thinking of standing the bales on some polythene or similar to help hold moisture, and adding some sulphate of ammonia to get the rotting down process going.

Also thought it might generate some heat in the process, but was expecting to feed most of the summer, as you would with a growbag.

I was going to set them up at the weekend on the allotment to start the wetting process, I tend to think straw will hold a fair amount of water once it starts to break down, if the stuff I put on my compost heap last year is anything to go by.

 

Straw will hold water,you may want to soak it over night, i think wheat straw will be better as it's not as waxy as barley and oats is a soft straw and rape straw, well give that a miss

 

I think its probably wheat straw, but dont know how you tell the difference.
Maybe I could try a wetting agent if it becomes a problem.

 

Barley is alot softer and brighter colour than wheat, wheat has a rough feel to it and dull colour and if you want, a good nose can tell them apart

 

Is wheat cheaper than barley, only I got them off a bloke that uses them on his small holding, he's grows pigs and turkeys, assume he uses it for bedding.

 

Hi Pete, my parents used also straw (among other system) as a frost protector and it works well for that, if it rains only occasionally, so it has chance to dry out. I imagine though in periods when rains are more frequent, it would soak a lot of water and then yes it will become heavy and maybe it would also rot the plants underneath.