Straw mulch is great for gardens. It locks in moisture, smothers weeds, and feeds plants. But it might also cause one of the ...

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 ...

Turn those straw bales from your fall decor into a budget-friendly raised garden bed with this simple method. Straw bale gardens work well for veggies, herbs, and flowers but not perennials or larger ...

For about $5 to $10 you can pick up a bale of straw at your local hardware store or nursery. That means you can have a lot of fun without threshing your wallet. Once your bale has served its purpose, ...

In this publicity photo provided by Cool Springs Press, Minnesota author and gardener, Joel Karsten, picks tomatoes from his straw bale garden. Karsten is the leading evangelist of a straw-bale ...

Do you want to grow your own vegetables, but have minimal garden space, poor or heavy clay soil, or limited financial resources? Do you manage or want to begin a school or community garden, but need ...

When I moved into my new Philadelphia rowhouse, I was determined to grow the vegetable garden that had eluded me all those years in a cramped Manhattan apartment. But reality struck with the first ...

Did the thought of the work involved in starting a vegetable garden keep you from having one this year? Did time for all that rototilling or digging in of compost never materialized? Or maybe you ...

Would you build a house of straw? Contrary to the childhood story of the big, bad wolf that huffed and puffed and easily blew down the little pig's house, straw can be an excellent building material.

SAN JOSE -- Straw-bale construction suddenly seems new and savvy again as the California energy crunch grinds on. The age-old building material is being used in many structures, from homes and offices ...

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, ...