I think we have figured out the watering of the bales.

A couple of days ago I planted some more tomatoes where the bolted spinach had been.When I pulled the spinach and dug down into the bales to make holes for the tomatoes TA DA it was wet even though the top 1/2 inch of soil was dry.The water was at the plant roots where it should be.
We have changed how we were watering the bales.First of all we are using a different sprinkler head that is not a fine mist.Looking back the finer mist was useful when we had seeds in the bales and were waiting for them to come up.The fine mist kept the soil and seeds from washing away.But I think by changing the sprinkler setting now that things are up we will be ok.
The new setting on the sprinkler is a heavier spray that dose not fly away with the wind ; now more water is getting where we want it.We have also been watering for a little longer about 20 minutes every few days.When I planted the tomatoes the bales we nice and damp still.I had chosen to plant just before I watered so the plants would get a good drink at planting.
In a nutshell I think it boils down to this 5 more minutes of water using an effective setting on the sprinkler works.If I had thought things through it would have been slapping me in the face sooner.This set up has allowed the bales to get soaked and stay that way.Not soggy soaked just nice and damp.At the roots where the plants want the water.
When I thought it through I was saying "Ah hello? Of course I knew this.The water needed to be built up so the bales could do their job.Kind of simple science here" Oh well I/we learned something.
Everything we planted is up and growing.By tomorrow afternoon we should each have one ripe strawberry to enjoy. I checked on the apples today and most of them are the size of a walnut.The second round of radishes are ready to pull and the second round of lettuces are up.Some where under a pile of straw the potatoes are doing their thing.The grass is growing as fast as the rest of it which motivates us to get rid of ALL of it and plant more garden.Maybe not this summer but by next spring our lawn will be a memory of the old days.
I have pulled out my canning books and have started my planning.First thing of the season Frog Free Strawberry jam,you see I still have strawberry fever and I wont be free of it until I see jars of jam cooling in the kitchen.Follow that with fruit,pickled all kinds of things, kraut and more jams.Hmmm winter goodness.
Rois