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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, ...

Water the straw bales deeply every day during the conditioning process, and apply another ½ cup of high-nitrogen fertilizer ...

Slouching like a gardener on a hot summer afternoon, my straw bales are sagging under the weight of their growing load. Four humongous squash plants form a green umbrella with their large leaves, ...

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 ...

Local gardeners are experimenting with straw bales, taking advantage of the internal composting to help their garden grow. As a little boy growing up on a Minnesota farm, Joel Karsten wondered why the ...

FARGO - If you want a garden, but hate the work that comes with it, or if you love gardening but are no longer physically able to do it, a different method could solve your problems. Joel Karsten, who ...

Peppers, tomatoes and cabbage getting started, soon after being planted in straw bales. Growing vegetables out of straw bales is a hot topic lately after a web-site and Facebook frenzy led to a book ...

Would you like to grow your own vegetables this year but simply don’t have a good garden spot? Or perhaps you want to start small and wish to avoid all the digging, weeding, and backbreaking work.

This year's growing season is not exactly off to an early start. But a local gardener has a suggestion: Plant your vegetables in a bale of straw instead of in the ground. It's a humble method with old ...

Using T-posts and wire to support climbing plants such as tomatoes or cucumbers makes a straw bale garden more productive, says Joel Karsten, author of Straw Bale Gardens Complete. Much of the produce ...