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Marlenea La Shomb

Container gardening takeson a whole new approachwhen you think of using a

bale of straw for your container.That’s what Joel Karsten hasdreamed up—and taken all theguesswork out for you—with hisbook, Straw Bale GardensComplete. I read the bookstraight through, cover-to-cover;I just couldn’t put it down! Youcan find it at your local library or bookstore.

Joel, a farmboy, grew uptending a soil garden, like othergardeners have for centuries,until he shook up the gardeningworld with his new concepts andbook. This type of vegetable garden is great for urban andsmall spaces; it can be set up ona patio or balcony with just onebale or on a driveway with tenbales. A chef in the Netherlandseven got excited about plantinghis herbs for cooking on hisrooftop. Think community gardens! Yes, the possibilities areendless. If you have a huge treeor trees in your yard and can’teven dig because of all the roots,no problem—just set the bales on top of the ground, above allthose roots. No digging will berequired and you’ll feed yourtrees at the same time. This system is also great for retiredgardeners. Because the beds areelevated there’s less bending overfor those bad backs, even forthose in wheelchairs. Joelincludes a chapter on water

saving; one lady even used hergrey water from the kitchen sinkto water her whole garden. Youwill be amazed at how many vegetables and herbs you cangrow in one bale of straw and it’s weed-free! That’s right, there’sno weeding, it produces highyields and extends your growingseason, and it can be used foreither conventional or 100%organic gardening—your choice.

Here Are the Basics:1. Get straw bales (not hay),

or make your own bales, withor without straw, from gardenand lawn scraps. (A wholechapter is devoted to thisprocess.)

2. Condition and fertilize yourbales. This takes 2 weeks. Atthis point, you choose to goeither organic (costs more) orconventional. They both willgrow the same. Inexpensivelawn fertilizer from any gar-den or hardware store willwork for conditioning yourbales. You will need approxi-mately one pound for eachbale you plan to plant on, sofive pounds for five bales willsuffice.

3. Get the nitrogen right. Thethree numbers on the side ofevery fertilizer bag are itscontents analysis. Example:29-0-4 would be 29% nitro-gen (N), 0% phosphorous(P), and 4% potassium (K).Look for a lawn fertilizerwith at least 20% nitrogen as it will ensure that the

bacteria in the bales are acti-vated quickly. Make certainthe nitrogen in the fertilizeryou select is NOT the slow-release type. Also, do NOTuse anything with herbicide,weed killers or crab grass preventer. A few of the morecommon organic fertilizersinclude bloodmeal, bonemeal,and fishmeal. All of these willwork, plus many others.Bloodmeal has 12% to 15%nitrogen content, so shoparound. I went to GreenThumb in Livingston orPlanet Natural in Bozemanand found even higheramounts of nitrogen inseabird guano. This cooks thebales and gets it compostinginternally.

4. Get the other minerals right.Next, you will need a smallbag of fertilizer that containssome phosphorous andpotassium for balancing andgrowing the plants. I foundthe seabird guano had all Ineeded in one, but the bone-meal and fishmeal give youthe (P), while your woodashes or kelp meal are greatsources of (K). Mix halfwood ashes together with

Straw Bale GardensBREAKTHROUGH VEGETABLE

GARDENING METHOD

another phosphorous sourceto make a balanced, organicfertilizer that plants need forgetting started.

5. Set up your watering system. You can either handwater, or use soaker hoses, or get a drip system with regularly spaced emitters thatwill last many years. A hosewith a timer on the end letsyou water while at work oron vacation.

6. Set up an optional trellis forclimbing varieties and plas-tic for the greenhouse effect.Since the bales produce heatyou can cover your bales andextend the growing season.

7. Plant! Set your seedlings indirectly or plant seeds in twoinches of weed-free, baggedsoil—that’s where the no-weeding comes in! I willcontinue to use my otherfavorite gardening book,Carrots Love Tomatoes:Secrets of CompanionPlanting for SuccessfulGardening, by LouiseRiotte, to get the most

out of my straw bale garden.

Discover more about Karstenand his revolutionary meth-

ods at StawBaleGardens.com,where you’ll find a ton informa-tion and answers to all of yourquestions.

I have 12 bales in my backyard—that says I’m game! And after the growing season,they will still be used for theiroriginal purpose of mulching

and “lasagna gardening” for nextyear. (For those new to this term,“lasagna gardening” has nothingto do with the Italian pasta treat!It’s a no-dig, no-till, organic gar-dening method that results inrich, fluffy soil with very littlework from the gardener. It refersto a method of building the gar-den by adding layers of organicmaterials that will “cook down”over time, resulting in rich, fluffysoil.)

So kick back and enjoy thisgardening season with straw balegardening—this easy and bounti-ful approach that has inspiredcreativity and made the idea ofgrowing food in straw a realityfor so many. �

Marlenea La Shomb is a free-lance writer on natural-healthtopics and the originator of theBrain Gym Circuit. She lives inEmigrant, MT. She is a massagetherapist and a holistic-healthpractitioner. Would you like toshare your gardening ideas withMarlenea? Feel free to call her at (406) 224-5425.

13May–June 2015

Cross-section of a 5-Bale, Straw-Bale Garden