Home › Edible & Medicinal › Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition: Breakthrough Method for Growing Vegetables Anywhere, Earlier and with No Weeding

Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition: Breakthrough Method for Growing Vegetables Anywhere, Earlier and with No Weeding

by Joel Karsten

A practical guide to vegetable gardening with straw bales

Regular price $20.79 USD
Regular price $34.65 USD Sale price $20.79 USD
Save 40%

Paperback New English

Delivery to your door
In stock·Dispatches in 1–2 business days
Standard shipping* from $4.35
Standard shipping transit* 5–8 business days after dispatch

Faster options are available.

Rates and delivery estimates depend on your destination and item quantity. Estimates are informational only; the final shipping method and rate are selected at checkout.

Secure checkout
American Express Apple Pay DiscoverGoogle Pay Mastercard PayPalVisa
30-day eligible returns Returns & refunds policy

AlbakiReads Editorial

A practical guide to vegetable gardening with straw bales

Joel Karsten’s updated guide lays out straw-bale gardening as an alternative to conventional in-ground beds, with start-to-finish instruction for raising vegetables in straw. It addresses space and soil constraints directly, including urban, rooftop, balcony, and contaminated-soil situations, while emphasizing the elevated and portable nature of bale beds. New material expands the method beyond planting: a low-cost six-week seed-starting greenhouse warmed by decomposing bales, cold frames, vertical trellising, mushroom cultivation, and ways to make a bale garden more visually considered. The book also presents composting and organic-growing possibilities within the approach.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Gardeners working with limited, unconventional, or contaminated growing spaces
  • Vegetable growers interested in raised, no-weeding garden setups
  • Home gardeners seeking projects for seed starting, cold frames, or vertical growing

Themes

Straw-bale gardeningVegetable growingUrban and small-space gardeningSeason extensionComposting and organic methods

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

This updated edition of Straw Bale Gardens Complete is the only book you need to get started with the revolutionary gardening method that has taken the world by storm.

Written by Joel Karsten, the originator of Straw Bale Gardening, this exciting update contains detailed, start-to-finish instructions for growing vegetables in straw anywhere, plus many new ideas and projects, including how to set up a greenhouse for less than $100 that allows you to start seeds on top of heat-generating straw bale benches.

Whatever your gardening challenge, Straw Bale Gardening holds the solution. Have a small or unusual space? Straw Bale Gardening is perfect for urban, rooftop, and balcony gardens. Contaminated soil? Planting in straw bales eliminates the problem. Are you inundated by weeds? With straw bales, there is no weeding. The advantages of growing a Straw Bale Garden go on and on: they require 75 percent less labor, their raised height makes planting easier, they extend the growing season, prevent disease and insect issues, are portable, hold water well but are impossible to overwater, they create excellent compost, and can be grown 100 percent organically.

Imagine building a simple shoulder season seed-starter greenhouse for under $100 and then heating it with six bales of straw. In this all-new section, Karsten explains how you can build his six-week greenhouse, and set all of your seed trays on the nice warm benches inside, made from straw bales. The heat generated during their early decomposition is the entire heat source for the tiny greenhouse.

Among the new subjects:
  • Building and heating the six-week greenhouse for less than $100
  • Cultivating mushrooms in straw bales
  • Tips and ideas for making your straw bale garden more attractive
  • How to make a cold frame with straw bales
  • Trellising projects for growing vertically
  • And much more

Assure your success with Straw Bale Gardening with instructions and advice direct from the pioneer of the method.
Shipping & returnsShipping options, delivery timing, and our return policy.

In-stock items normally dispatch within 1–2 business days. The ZIP-code estimator on this page is informational only; the final shipping method, price, and availability are confirmed at checkout for your full order.

For the initial delivery estimate we use these transit windows after dispatch: Standard 5–8 business days, Expedited 2–4 business days, and Priority 1–2 business days. Holiday delays are not included.

Eligible items can be returned within 30 days in accordance with our return policy.

Customer reviews