In this publicity photo provided by Cool Springs Press, Minnesota author and gardener, Joel Karsten, picks tomatoes from his straw bale garden. Karsten is the leading evangelist of a straw-bale ...

In a telephone interview from his home in Roseville, Minn., Karsten explained how he came to share his love and knowledge of straw-bale gardening with the public. He was born and raised on a tree ...

Straw bale gardening? What will they think of next? Actually, straw bale/mortar home construction is a big industry. In the garden, straw bales are big, too. Straw (not hay) bale gardening is a ...

For about $5 to $10 you can pick up a bale of straw at your local hardware store or nursery. That means you can have a lot of fun without threshing your wallet. Once your bale has served its purpose, ...

I was at meeting last night, and someone mentioned an article from the New York Times about straw bale gardening. I've never heard of such an approach. Apparently you add a little soil, plant the ...

If you’d like to install a raised bed but don’t have the resources to build one, you can achieve the same effect by growing your plants in straw bales. It’s also a great option for those with poor ...

Do you want to grow your own vegetables, but have minimal garden space, poor or heavy clay soil, or limited financial resources? Do you manage or want to begin a school or community garden, but need ...

CORVALLIS – A lack of space needn’t keep you from a bounty of fresh produce if you turn to straw bales for planting edible gardens. Straw bales take up little space and produce almost anything you can ...

Gardening in straw bales is a flexible, waterwise way to plant a garden. Photo courtesy of strawbalegardens.com Is there any gardener who hasn’t fallen for a marketing claim that sounds too good to be ...

Bad soil? Not enough soil? Maybe even no soil? Skip the ground and try planting fruits and vegetables in straw bales instead, suggests Joel Karsten, author of "Straw Bale Gardens" (Cool Springs Press, ...

When I moved into my new Philadelphia rowhouse, I was determined to grow the vegetable garden that had eluded me all those years in a cramped Manhattan apartment. But reality struck with the first ...