Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition

I appreciate the opportunity from NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition in exchange for my honest review.

I am so excited for this book to be released in March! I have always struggled to grow a garden due to clay-heavy soil, but want to eat fresh, non-GMO foods. This book provides the answers to my problem. Karsten shows not only how to create a functional, weed-free garden made of straw bales, but also an aesthetically pleasing garden as well. The book contains detailed chapters from preparation of bales to harvesting and beyond. I will definitely be pre-ordering this one!

I’ve been doing straw bale gardens for several years now, having seen this on the local news station. This really does work. I live in an area with poor soil so this allows me to have a garden with much less work involved. I get very few weeds and the rabbits have a harder time getting to the plants, although they can get on top of the bales. I have one of the earlier books so it was nice to see the updated version with ideas for organic gardening and how to create greenhouses over the bales which would be helpful in colder climates like mine. Look forward to trying some of the improved methods this year.

We've been experimenting with gardening processes to find what is best for us. I'd read a magazine article about growing in straw bales but did not think about using it to expand and improve our traditional garden. The book gave us many ideas and easy guidelines to insure quality results from our efforts. That's all any gardener hopes for after putting so much time and effort into their garden. We're definitely putting this into our garden plans for this season.

Straw Bale Gardens is a how to guide and manual for using straw bales to make temporary raised beds for vegetable and flower gardening. The first edition was published in 2015 and this updated re-release from Quarto on their Cool Springs imprint is due out 26th March 2019, it's 208 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. This edition is updated with further info on growing non-mainstream crops such as mushroom as well as some improvements. The fundamental techniques are unchanged.

The book progresses more or less over a growing season. The introduction covers the fundamental techniques and an overview of what SBG is, and the theory behind the philosophy. The following chapters cover planning and execution, watering, planting, growing, harvesting, and using the compost from the broken down bales. There's also a chapter of plant profiles with ideas for planting and growing individual herbs and vegetables.

The index section includes a short resource list (slanted toward North American readers, but not a problem since readers in other areas can easily source the same or comparable materials online), an English/metric converter (including °F - °C), photo credits list, and a short author bio.

The photography is clear and illustrates and supports the text very well. There is a lot of good information here. I am looking forward to incorporating some of these ideas into my vegetable and herb garden this year.

Five stars.

Joel Karsten is the world's best expert on Straw Bale gardening, and his updated book is a must-have resource for anyone who wants to try this technique. The cool thing about this technique is that you can garden regardless of your soil quality. The book is written in a conversational style that's easy to read, and it's lavishly illustrated with photos and diagrams (including plans for all sizes of gardens). Directions are easy to follow, and there are also instructions for making accessory structures such as trellises and row covers. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who's struggling with traditional gardening!