Straw Bale Gardening

Straw Bale Gardening is simply a different type of container gardening.  The main difference is that the container is the straw bale itself and is held together with two or three strings.  Once the straw inside the bale begins to decay the straw becomes "conditioned" compost that creates an extroardinary plant rooting environment.  Getting the straw bales conditioned is an essential part of the process, and should be started by the first week in May for MN and WI gardeners.

Who created this website?  Joel Karsten is a certified Nursery and Landscape Professional through the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association.  He also holds a BS from the University of Minnesota in Horticulture Science; however, his real gardening knowledge has come from 35 years of being in the garden.  He started pulling weeds at four years old in the garden with his Grandma Josephine, who taught him everything a good vegetable gardener needs to know in order to grow an extraordinary garden every year.   Joel's father, Glen Karsten, owner of Karsten's Nursery, has been growing and selling trees and shrubs for many years at his tree farm near Worthington MN.  Joel spent many hours working in the nursery fields, planting and harvesting, until he made his escape to the University of Minnesota, for a four year "vacation" from the farm. 

Why Straw Bale Gardening?  Now living in Roseville, Minnesota, Joel spends much of his time tending his half acre residential lot, and growing mostly annuals, perennials, and ornamental grasses.  Growing a vegetable garden at "the farm" (3.5 hours away) seemed an impossibility because of the distance and obvious lack of attention that could be given to a garden with only a weekend now and then to do the work involved.  That impossiblity became a reality when Joel discovered Straw Bale Gardening.  Minimal maintenance that results in maximum production was a concept that seemed like a perfect gardening solution.