Straw Bales & Landscaping

Building

• If your property's landscape would benefit from a low decorative wall around a garden or to hide an eyesore, stacking straw bales works well. Coating the straw bales with a water-resistant material like stucco ensures that the bales resist rot. You'll need to add a footer of a well-draining material like gravel to keep the base of the wall strong. Constructing temporary walls for a party or event by simply stacking bales is also possible, but the straw bales will break down within a few weeks or months.

Garden Beds

• Many vegetable and other garden plants grow slowly or poorly in soil with a high clay or sand content. Building raised beds gives you control over the soil, but compost and topsoil to fill them is expensive. Using whole straw bales for raised beds saves money and works well for root crops that need a light medium to expand. Straw bales need to be watered and fertilized for a few days to prepare them for planting, according to Carolina Country.

Mulching

• Straw works well for mulch around delicate plants that might be harmed by the pH changes caused by some wood chips, such as freshly seeded lawns, says the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension System. Breaking up a straw bale into a light cover of mulch takes time, but the bale will naturally break down if you let it. For large projects that require plenty of coverage, like a circular bed around a tree, place the whole bales and cut off the ties or wire holding them together. Rain and wind will split the bale, and you can spread it much easier with a rake after a few weeks.

Erosion Control

• Clearing a part of your yard or a hill allows you to control exactly what plants grow in that area. However, it also creates bare soil that is susceptible to erosion where water and wind move the topsoil. Stacking straw bales over the area keeps the soil in place while allowing water to run off naturally according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Water Management Department. Add a line of bales along the bottom of a small hill to catch moving soil while you build a permanent retaining wall or replant with erosion-controlling vegetation.