Trench Gardening

This year I tried something different. Instead of filling the whole trench up with hay bales I grew in small leaf bales. Some of the areas in my trenches were not filled with  bales and the trench water became stagnant with mosquito larva. I soon rectified the situation by adding hay or hay bales between my plants.

This is how your trench should look:

The bales will soak up the moisture and shed it off easier and faster than sun evaporation on open trench water.

It's kind of hard to see my tomato plant in the leaf bale. I grow my own weeds of alfalfa and clover on the outer edges.

My alfalfa is in bloom and doesn't compete for nutrients with my tomato plants. Why? My plants are isolated in leaf bales. 

I made a photo closeup of my tomato plant.

There are few weeds in my leaf bale plants. If the outer weeds gets out of control, I'll trim them back and make mulch out of them.

Growing in buckets with soil and hay does not become stagnant. That is why I usually put drainage holes in the bottom of my buckets. 

There are situations where I do not use drainage holes. Remember my wheatgrass bucket? The hay and plant readily absorbs the added moisture (rain). 

I filled the bucket up to the top with dried hay. I then added a few inches of soil. I'll have nutritious wheatgrass to juice and compost on the bottom. 

My first yellow marigold grown in a leaf bale.

Asylum royal carpet grown in a leaf bale.