The bales finished their conditioning course but still weren't the "squishy/spongy" mass that I read about. It was time to plant my potatoes anyway and I planned to split my seed potatoes between the traditional in-ground hills and the straw bales so I could make a real comparison.
Since I ordered my seed potatoes while laying in the beach in Hawaii in January, not much thought was put into what my life would be like in April when faced with over a hundred pounds of potatoes to plant. I do this to myself over and over again!!!
I dug many, many, many holes on Good Friday, like my wise grandfather taught me, and set aside those going in the bales. When I finished in the ground, I was disappointed to find that I still had to use a pitchfork to PRY apart the bale enough to get the potatoes to the bottom. The bigger potatoes were like a stubborn child and NOT going down more than halfway. I assumed it would go in like a hot knife through butter.
We assumed it must be that the outside temperatures hadn't allowed the bales to compost enough. They certainly were softer than when I placed them there, but not nearly what I was expecting.
I decided to cover them with plastic and form a sort of "greenhouse" warmth to see if it helped. This was a two-person job.....
"Hey, Mary Kate, I bet you aren't smart enough to figure out how to make a greenhouse out of plastic".
Works every time.
Mission accomplished!
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