# Planting Tomatoes In Hay Bales



## crewsk (Jun 15, 2005)

My grandma taught me how to do this & it's the only way I have ever planted tomatoes.


Take a rectangular bale of hay & leave the strings around it, if you take them off it will fall apart & your tomato plants will fall out. Make 2 holes in the top of the hay & fill each hole with a good potting soil mix. Place a small tomato plant in each soil filled hole just like you would place them in the ground, making sure to fill in around plants with enough soil to cover roots. Water well & fertilize as necassary. As the plants grow, tie them up or place a tomato cage around each plant. Planting tomatoes this way reduces how often you have to water them & when the growing season is over, you just remove the tomato plants & place the hay in your compost pile or use it to protect plants for the winter.


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## GB (Jun 15, 2005)

What a cool idea! I bet it looks pretty cool too. How deep of a hole do you make?


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## jkath (Jun 15, 2005)

How many can you plant in a bale?


Thanks so much for posting this!


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## crewsk (Jun 15, 2005)

I try to make my holes the same depth as the container that the plants came in. Does that make sense?

I normally get 2 plants per bale. I tried 3 one year & it was a big mess.


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## GB (Jun 15, 2005)

The containers I get mine in are usually only an inch or so deep. I am guessing yours are a bit deeper. Maybe 6 inches or so might do it? What do you think?


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## crewsk (Jun 15, 2005)

Yeah, 6 inches sounds about right.


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## GB (Jun 15, 2005)

Thanks Crewsk. I am going to try this next year


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## crewsk (Jun 15, 2005)

I hope it works for you GB! I had one tomato plant year before last that I didn't tie up or anything & it got huge. You couldn't even see the bale of hay the plant was so big. It produced some wonderful tomatoes also.


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## middie (Jun 15, 2005)

wow crewsk what a neat idea ! i just brought my tomato plant back to life... got to see if i can find a bale of hay now


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## Andy M. (Jun 15, 2005)

I live in a condo.  I'm lucky enough to have a cultivated area behind me so S. O. can plant some flowers along with veggies and herbs. 

We are very rules and regulations bound here and the chairman of the Board of Trustees and I disagree on whether or not vegetable gardens are allowed.  I say they are and plant tomatos, peppers, rosemary, thyme and basil.  She doesn't complain because I'm also on the board (and because the property manager agrees with me).

I can imagine what her reaction would be if I bought a bunch of hay bales and stuck my tomato plants in them!  She'd probably go into cardiac arrest or have a stroke!


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## jkath (Jun 19, 2005)

Crewsk, I'm buying my bales this week! I can't wait to get started!


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## Constance (Jun 19, 2005)

Thank you so much for those directions! I have heard of doing this, and been curious as to just exactly how it was done.


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## crewsk (Jun 20, 2005)

Andy, that would stink! I think just about anything that grows in the ground & produces flowers can be put in a flower garden(except wedds of course).


Let me know how it goes for you jkath! I'm planning on getting a bale or 2 after we move so I can at least have a few fresh tomatoes this year.

You're welcome Constance!


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## ronjohn55 (Jun 20, 2005)

Sheesh! I feel like such an outcast!!

Sheila and I planted all six of our tomato plants in the ground!! What were we THINKING?!?!?!?!?

 

John


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## jkath (Jun 20, 2005)

One more question - when you buy your plants, what size/height do you get? (I'm wondering if I can use my baby plants for this, or if I should wait till they're more mature)


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## GB (Jun 20, 2005)

ronjohn55 said:
			
		

> Sheesh! I feel like such an outcast!!
> 
> Sheila and I planted all six of our tomato plants in the ground!! What were we THINKING?!?!?!?!?
> 
> ...


In the ground??? But it is all dirty there


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## crewsk (Jun 20, 2005)

jkath said:
			
		

> One more question - when you buy your plants, what size/height do you get? (I'm wondering if I can use my baby plants for this, or if I should wait till they're more mature)


 

Your babies should be fine. Mine are normally about 5 or 6 inches tall when I get them but my grandma would plant some of hers when they were only 2 or 3 inches tall because she grew them from her own seeds.


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## middie (Jun 20, 2005)

ronjohn55 said:
			
		

> Sheesh! I feel like such an outcast!!
> 
> Sheila and I planted all six of our tomato plants in the ground!! What were we THINKING?!?!?!?!?
> 
> ...


 
ronjohn did this not teach you anything ????????


let this be a lesson to you from now on !!! lol


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## thumpershere2 (Jun 21, 2005)

You can also use a bale of straw. Planting the tomatoes deeper then the container is better. Your tomato plant will get roots up to the covered part of stem and be a better plant.


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## cats (Jun 22, 2005)

My husband is the expert gardener around here and I told him about this idea. He said he has heard of doing this with potatoes as well. He only wonders whether the flavor would be the same, as the plants do not get the same nutrients as when planted in the ground. Last year, we had moved into our new home a bit too late to plant a full vegetable garden and so just put some tomato plants in pots and they had like "store bought" flavor, i.e., none.


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## ronjohn55 (Jun 22, 2005)

middie said:
			
		

> ronjohn did this not teach you anything ????????
> 
> 
> let this be a lesson to you from now on !!! lol


 
It's ok, soon I will unleash my secret weapon upon my garden, and it's growth will be unstoppable!  Muhwahahahahha.....


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## jkath (Jun 22, 2005)

by secret weapon, do you mean the extra foam from your homebrews? I hear it's great for lawns.

(PS - just bought a case of the Mandarin Hef - did you ever find any?)


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## ronjohn55 (Jun 22, 2005)

Close! Very Close!

It's the spent grains from my brewing. I either compost them, or during the summer, wait till they're cooled down and dump them in the garden. We get HUGE tomato plants that make really sweet tomatoes. Perfect for cooking!

Haven't found the mandarin hefe yet, but I haven't been to the big beer store to check for it, either. 

John


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## buckytom (Jun 22, 2005)

ronjohn, do you lime your garden in the fall? i would imagine you soil's ph drops if you add to much organics, unless you compost it first. i cold compost every year. the worms i get for fishing are a nice extra with it.

jkath, have you ever heard of jerry baker? he's the guy who uses beer, dish detergent, hot peppers, cigarette butts and urine to fertilize and get rid of bugs in his yard.


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## ronjohn55 (Jun 22, 2005)

buckytom said:
			
		

> ronjohn, do you lime your garden in the fall? i would imagine you soil's ph drops if you add to much organics, unless you compost it first. i cold compost every year. the worms i get for fishing are a nice extra with it.


 
Nope, never had to add anything to it. I compost most of it, so it hasn't been an issue. Plus, when you're brewing, the ideal ph is usually about 5.2, and even though you'll probably get a bit of a drop from lactic acid production in the spent grains, it's not enough to really impact the soil. (There's just not enough sugar left in the grain for it to drop too far). 

Plus, I do compost the majority ofthe grains, which go into the garden in the fall, after we tear out the plants. So it gets to sit over the winter as well. 

John


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## buckytom (Jun 22, 2005)

oh, hey ronjohn, mind if i pick your brain about beginning brewing? dw asked what i wanted for papa's day, so i asked for my usual (a train set, a horse, an aquarium with bottlenose dolphins, monkeys, a motorcycle, and a home brewing kit.)

she finally agreed to let me try my hand at beer. i am going to this store: www.corradosmarket.com  to buy my kit. what would i need to get started, and could eventually expand the system. (i think i should start small, but i don't want one of those bags you hang on the back of a door). also, does glass work better than plastic?


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## ronjohn55 (Jun 22, 2005)

buckytom said:
			
		

> oh, hey ronjohn, mind if i pick your brain about beginning brewing? dw asked what i wanted for papa's day, so i asked for my usual (a train set, a horse, an aquarium with bottlenose dolphins, monkeys, a motorcycle, and a home brewing kit.)
> 
> she finally agreed to let me try my hand at beer. i am going to this store: www.corradosmarket.com to buy my kit. what would i need to get started, and could eventually expand the system. (i think i should start small, but i don't want one of those bags you hang on the back of a door). also, does glass work better than plastic?


 
Cool! All those choices, and she let you have the most expensive one!  

I checked out the Brewing kit that they have on their website, looks like it needs everything to get you started. The book it comes with is considered a MUST READ in the homebrewing world. While not 100% technically correct, it does a great job of not making things seem so technical and worrysome that you're afraid to try it. (This is not rocket science, it's just beer)

As for plastic vs glass, that debate still rages among advanced brewers. I use both. For basic beers I find it doesn't really make a difference. 

The only thing that the kit doesn't list is a big pot. I'd reccomend skipping the stovetop altogether, and grabbing a big kettle and a propane burner (think fried turkey setups). 

If you want more info just give me a shout. We now return you to your regularly scheduled growing tomatos in hay bales tread...

John


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## buckytom (Jun 22, 2005)

thanks ronjohn. i will pm you with some more questions, if that's ok. now i need to find someone who knows how to build a giant fish tank...


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## buckytom (Jun 22, 2005)

to get back on the topic (sorry crewsk  )

the bail of hay is just acting like a combination of a terra cotta pot and a sponge. absorbs some water but also allows oxygen to get to the roots as well. i guess it works well if you add enough soil around the roots. tomatoes do not need to grow a huge root ball to be able to produce fruit.

cats, it sounds like the ground you put your tomatoes in last year was missing the proper balance of nutrients, or were over watered. i hope you (or your hubby) turned in some potting soil, or well rotted compost (with worm castings), or at least peat moss and a good 5 - 10 - 10 fertilizer this year. and watch out for too much nitrogen. you'll get big plants and no or little flavorless fruit. grow corn in that spot the next year to reduce the nitrogen level in the soil. 
 i've seen tomatoes that grew up in the cracks of a sidewalk in the city, and produced tasty fruit.
http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library/article/eb441.html


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## jkath (Jun 22, 2005)

Buckytom, I have heard of Jerry Baker - actually my Grandma gave me some info about his stuff. Quite interesting, but I really like that guy they had on hgtv (is he still around?) that was the Alton Brown of gardening. He had grey hair and a mustache and did the crazy camera angles and silly stuff but also taught a lot about gardening. I remember him saying that if you have sore feet, to walk around outside in your rubber flip flops after laying down a layer of sliced tomatoes on them first. See, Crewsk, I'm on subject!


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## buckytom (Jun 22, 2005)

i like to put balogna in my shoes.


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## jkath (Jun 22, 2005)

I'm leaving that one alone.
Oh, I can't:
"Oh my flip flops have a first name....
it's O-S-C-A-R......"


I think I remember grey-hair man as "the gardening guy", but I may be wrong....


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## amber (Jun 23, 2005)

While we're on the topic of tomatoes, one year I didnt stake my tomatoes and they put out lots of tomatoes even though the plant was laying on the ground.  This year I've put the baskets around the tomatoes.  Do you think I'll get as many or should I just let them lay on the ground? The plants put out alot of sucker growth which I pinched off and only left shoots with flowers on them.  Hmmm, may I should just let them lay on the ground.


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## buckytom (Jun 23, 2005)

i thought we were talking about balogna? or was it shoes? only kidding...

the only reason to stake tomatoes is to make them easier to prune, and to harvest. it also keeps them away from some pests.  in other words, it's just to keep things neater. 
tomatoes come in both kinds (like music  ), determinate and indeterminate.
indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow all season, like on a vine. in the wild, they would grow along the ground, so i don't see a problem with your growing that way amber. it may not look neat, but so long as they produce, and you can harvest them, it would be ok. the same goes for other vining plants like cucumbers.


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## amber (Jun 23, 2005)

Thanks buckytom, guess I'll take the cages off.  I had a really great crop of tomatoes when I let them lay on the ground.


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## Constance (Jun 23, 2005)

I like to cage my tomatoes...keeping them off the ground helps them ripen better with less rot, and they are easier to pick. But I used to let them sprawl, back when I put out 100 every year. It's sure a lot less trouble, and if you straw them well, you won't have any problems (except your back, from picking them).
I straw mine anyway...in fact, I use 4-6" straw on my whole garden, once it gets going good. It keeps the moisture in and the weeds out, then rots over the winter, gets tilled in, and improves the soil every year. 
Another hint on growing tomatoes...don't overfeed them, or you will get all vine and few tomatoes. They do make special tomato food, but I just give them one or two shots of Miracle Grow when they are getting started, then leave them alone except for watering. A tomato is 90% water, so it's essential that they get plenty of H2O.
One shot of feed is enough for peppers, just to get them out of the shock from being in those little containters. They thrive on heat and poor soil, and the hot and banana peppers will withstand a lot of drought. But the big sweet red, golden and yellow ones that I love need a fair amount of water.
I hope this helps you all with your gardens!


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## Constance (Jun 23, 2005)

*Tomato Cages*

By the way...the little tomato cages you buy at your local discount store are only good for peppers. 
We make our cages out of concrete re-inforcement wire, available at your local lumber yard. They will even cut it for you in the lengths you want. I'll have to measure, but I think mine are in about 4-5' lengths. 
You'll need a good pair of wire cutters and pliars. Just bend it into a circle, cut loose the vertical wire on one end, and wrap  the horizontal wires to the other end to join. Cut the horizontal wires off of the bottom, and push the free vertical wires into the ground to stablize the cage. 
The wire I get is about 6' wide, and I leave it the full width (which I use as height) for indeterminate tomatoes, cucumbers or pole beans. (It's lots easier to pick beans standing or sitting on a stool.)
These are inexpensive to make and will last forever.


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## Michael in FtW (Jun 26, 2005)

Thanks Crewsk! I had forgotten about this technique. I've seen it done before but couldn't remember when or where until tonight when I was talking to my "baby boy", who is the "farmer" in the family ... and as we talked we remembered it was something we saw on a PBS program several years ago, "The Victory Garden".


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## licia (Jun 26, 2005)

I saw Paula Deen talk about planting tomato plants in hay bales and planned to use it only to let time get away from me. We had several tomato plants come up around the compost pile so I just left them there. The tomatoes have been wonderful. One year we harvested over 40 lbs of very good sweet potatoes from our compost pile. We also have cucumbers and canteloupes this year and a plant that looks like a zuchinni plant that covers most of the pile.  I have a pecan tree from my first compost pile from years ago. I don't have any pecans from it yet, so don't know if it will bear or not, but is a beautiful tree anyway. I've been working on my family reunion that takes place in 4 weeks and haven't been able to do much outside this spring.  We have a total of 97 people coming for the weekend and this has taken lots of planning (especialy for one person). I probably won't do it again. I certainly enjoy the posts here although I've not been able to contribute much and have gathered some good recipes to try when I have time. Thanks to you all!!


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