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. ( Jen Daugherty ...

It almost seems like magic. Lay down a hunk of straw, water it for a week or two, sprinkle in some fertilizer, and watch your plants grow. In many cases, you don’t need any soil, and the bale ...

“Straw-bale or alternative building is an absolutely fantastic experience,” said David Chew. “But it’s not — I would not recommend this to anybody who wasn’t already interested. ...

Seasoning the bales is important before you start. Make sure you space them as recommended them to allow some air movement. If you grow vine or climbing crops make sure to plan for space for them to ...

Not Conditioning the Bales Properly. One of the most critical steps in straw bale gardening is conditioning the bales. This ...

Straw is for gardening, and most of its seeds have been harvested, so there shouldn’t be many (or any) remaining in the bale to sprout into weeds. Straw is also less likely than hay to have been ...

After the 12th day, touch the bale to check for heat. If it is cool to touch, you can plant. To plant, dig small pockets or holes into the straw and set plants into the holes.

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 makes an attractive mulch in the vegetable garden, but I think it looks out of place in landscapes and flower gardens. A normal sized bale of straw will cover about a ten by ten foot area.

L.A. County officials signaled interest in rebuilding in fire zones with natural materials, such as adobe, but advocates say ...