Straw bale gardening

If you're thinking about growing vertically in straw bales but don't know where to get started, this guide can help you with some simple tips.

Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, straw bale planting is easy and fun for the whole family. From tomatoes to spinach, plenty of vegetables can be grown in these unique planters.

How to get started with straw bale gardening for beginners who want to grow vegetables and other annuals.

Hay bales provide an excellent venue for growing produce, even (especially!) for beginning gardeners. Horticulturist Joel Karsten began growing bumper crops in straw bales after college. Today, this bestselling author’s method has proven successful in nearly every global environment. He even teaches people in impoverished nations how to grow their own produce in straw. Karsten’s bale technique can help gardeners raise tantalizing tomatoes earlier than others who follow a more conventional…

Straw Bale Gardening provides many advantages over traditional soil gardening, some of which have already been alluded to: no weed seeds, no disease or insect carry over, and a neutral pH which allow you to grow essentially anything with roots.

Unlock the secrets of growing potatoes in straw bales. Our step-by-step guide makes it easy. Cultivate a bountiful harvest with straw bale gardening!

This article is contributed by Loraine who lives in the Kansas City, Missouri metro area (we always like to know what bio-region a contributor is from). Loraine tried using straw bales to grow in, and reports on her less than spectacular results. Have you got any suggestions for Lorraine? I am intrigued by the idea... View Article

We arranged and rearranged our straw bales. Once we got them in the configuration we wanted, we began conditioning. We followed the organic guide for conditioning in Joel Karsten’s book, R…

Straw bale garden

Straw bale gardening is a wonderful way to grow a few plants in a tiny space and have a fully-compostable garden at your disposal. While easy, there are a few common mistakes that happen in straw bale gardening. Let's take a look at some of them here. Starting Too Soon or Too Late Remember that