Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 10 Comments
We prefer to have the cut side of the bale facing up.  The open stem ends allow easier penetration of the granular fertilizer and the water is better able to carry the fertilizer into the bale...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 2 Comments
No, mold is simply one of the tools mother nature uses to decompose organic substrates.  Mold growing inside a confined space, where we breath in the concentrated spores, is very potentially h...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 3 Comments
You started conditioning your bales, but were interrupted by Mother Nature.  Snow, rain, cold, whatever has thrown a twist in your progress and you are now concerned that the bales will not be...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 1 Comment
One of the biggest misconceptions about the entire concept of Straw Bale Gardening, is that we plant and grow vegetables in straw.  Let me explain what is really happening.  We do start w...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 2 Comments
“Slow Release” has become a marketing gimmick for fertilizer sellers.  They will all try to tell you that there product is “slow release” because in most consumers mind...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 1 Comment
Dry straw would provide a lovely home for a mouse or nest for a snake, but once the straw is saturated with water and begins to break down and heat up inside the bales, the bale is not at all hospi...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 41 Comments
Potato harvest from bales is easy, with no fork or shovel, simply cut the strings and kick over the bales, and pick up the potatoes. No marks on the potatoes from the forks or shovels, so they will...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 2 Comments
When I bought my first home twenty some years ago it was a beautiful day in May when we signed the paperwork and were handed the keys. We worked quickly to unload the rental van, mainly so I could ...
Joel Karsten Vegetable gardening 7 Comments
Poly tent covers help to hold in the heat early in the season when the bales are “conditioning” they give off tons of heat like a natural furnace underneath. It is the bacteria that are...