Straw Bale Gardening Update

Well, I must say, I'm disappointed and unimpressed with this straw/hay bale gardening.  I do like how it elevates the plants so they aren't all over the ground and it's a little easier to pick the veggies, but I think that's the only good thing about it...except that I like how it looks, which is of little value.

In the bale row farthest to the right at the far end are the cucumbers that survived.  They're producting well.  The rest of that row was zucchini.  I planted about ten, but only three survived.  Those three are dead now.  The problem I had with them was, firstly, keeping them watered enough.  The bales dried out very quickly. 

 Secondly, zucchini plants are heavy and the roots couldn't get a good hold in the hay.  When they started putting on zucchini, one of them got so heavy that it just fell out on the ground. 

Lastly, from what I read, having the plants up off of the ground is supposed to help keep the pests off of them, but that was not the case with the squash bugs.  It did help with the moles, but I had to inspect every leaf for squash bugs and their eggs every day. 

Anyway, between the weak root system and the squash bugs, the zucchini didn't make it and I replanted in another area.

The middle row is butternut squash.  I'm fighting the squash bugs with that, but so far, they are making it.  It's easier to keep the vines propped up on the bales so that they don't pull the roots out.

The tomatoes are growing like crazy, but not putting on tomatoes.  Haven't figured out what's going on with that yet, but I have some friends who already are picking their tomatoes. 

I'm really not getting any better at this gardening thing even after, what? five seasons.