Hay Bale Replacement for Buckets

I went to the stores the other day looking for buckets. I am not going to spend $3-$4 for a bucket. I want them for a dollar that you get at the supermarkets. They didn't have any. I got things to plant. How dare them to run out of buckets (just kidding).

When I was at Wal-Mart I bought another swimming pool for $9.88. I am ready to plant but no cheap buckets could be found.

As I was heading home an inspirational thought came to me. I'll make my own buckets out of hay. I'll use my PVC pipe and make the smallest bale with my bale compressor attachment.  I have the equipment so why not use it.

This is a experiment. How will the bale hold up being drenched in water from the pool. Will it collapse in time? I do not know. My hay bale is not one of those conditioned straw bales you find in most straw bale gardens. My hay bales I do not want to become decompose or mushy. 

I added my usual soil mixture containing rabbit manure, peat moss, biochar, and soil from my trenches. That's right, I grow in trenches. I make a bale and bury it in a trench. Watering is like irrigating and next year left overs (decomposed hay/leaves that become rich mulch) becomes this year soil medium.

Make sure your remove the PVC pipe. You are not growing in the pipe. It is only used for making a hole in your hay bale.

Scooping from the trenches is easy. The rich mulch is light and easy to dig. I fill my bucket and add it to my wheelbarrow containing my other ingredients.

For some reason I think it is going to work. Straw bale gardeners grow above ground all the time with no problems other then shrinkage at the end of the year. Their bales do look more like mush at the end of the year, but then they cook their bales with urine, fertilizer, bone meal and other ingredients.

Here is my final picture of my bales in the pool with strawberry plants. I should be able to get five plants to a pool. They are a little bigger than a bucket but I'm pleased. By the way, I sheared off some of the hay like giving it a hair cut. You could probably make them smaller by shearing off some more hay.

One last thing. Don't leave your growing hole without a bottom. You can either use hay, plastic sheet with holes or cardboard with holes. You do not want your soil falling out of your bale. Also make sure you compact the soil with your fist.