Joel Karsten

Straw-Bale Gardening

Ever thought it would be nice to find a gardening technique that would eliminate the need for weeding, digging, and bending?

Or make it possible to grow vegetables where it is otherwise difficult?

Horticulturist Joel Karsten, a pioneer of the straw-bale gardening technique, talks about the concept of straw-bale gardening. He explains how it works, where it can be used, and how to make it work well.

Karsten, who grows vegetables in a 24-bale garden on his small residential property in Minnesota, grew up on a farm seeing healthy weeds growing in old, broken straw bales. When he bought his first house and decided to make a vegetable garden, he couldn’t—there was too little soil.

That’s when Karsten recalled the bales he had seen growing up on the farm. He began to experiment.