Straw Bale Gardens Complete

Provides information about how to use straw bales as planting containers for vegetable gardening.

Millions of gardeners have discovered the magic of straw bale gardening in recent years: Straw Bale Solutions is your guide to getting started yourself.

Straw bale gardening is an inexpensive, low-maintenance way to grow a bounty of food in a small space. All you need is a bale of straw, some fertilizer, and your favorite vegetable seeds! Craig LeHoullier’s step-by-step instructions show you how to do everything from sourcing the straw and setting up your bale to planting, dealing with weeds and pests, and harvesting.

Everyone's in the garden! And there's no better time to grow your own vegetables than now. For gardening success--in any space!--this is the only book you need. Want to grow your own veggies but don't know how? Whatever type of space you have (backyard, front yard, balcony, patio, rooftop, window sill, patch of grass) this book shows you how to grow your own garden-fresh vegetables, starting now. Included inside is everything the beginner gardener needs: • Choosing the Right Garden for You: In-Ground Gardening | Raised Beds | Planter Boxes | Bag Gardens | Straw Bale Gardens | Container Gardens | Vertical Gardens | Window Gardens | Community Gardens • Seeds: When to Start? | Best Seeds to Buy? | Preparing to Seed | How to Plant Seeds | Moving Outdoors • Planting: Planning Primer | What to Plant | Where to Plant | Companion Planting • Step-by-step guides for 20 veggies: Asparagus | Beans | Beets | Broccoli, Cabbages, Cauliflower, and Kale (Brassicas) | Carrots | Cucumbers | Eggplant | Fruit Trees | Garlic | Herbs | Lettuce | Onions | Peas | Peppers | Potatoes | Pumpkins | Radishes | Strawberries | Tomatoes • DIY how-tos for over 15 home garden projects: Planter Box | Raised Bed | Bag Garden | Straw Bale Garden | Growing System | Row Markers | Cleaning Your Tools | Multitasking Tools| Watering System | Garlic Water | Insecticidal Soap | Cucumber Trellis | Potato Planter | Tomato Seed Saving | Tomato Hangers | • Plus expert info on sunlight, soil, water and weeding, and how to care for your plants as they grow • Plus primers on keeping your own backyard chickens and bees • Plus 15 favorite recipes for using garden-fresh produce . . . and much, much more With this bright, bold, accessible and fun gardening book, filled with colorful photography, you are set for self-sufficient veggie success in any space.

For anyone who has ever wanted to tend a little piece of ground but wasn’t sure where to begin, GrowVeg offers simple recipes for gardening projects that are both attainable and beautiful. Benedict Vanheems, editor of the popular website GrowVeg.com, guides aspiring green thumbs to success from the start, no matter what size gardening space you have. Get recommendations for veggie varieties for your first edible garden, plant a miniature orchard, and grow an edible archway, or keep your efforts contained by cultivating a rustic crate of herbs on a sunny balcony, a crop of carrots in a basket, or nutritious and delicious sprouts in a jar on the kitchen counter. The beginner-friendly instructions and step-by-step photography detail more than 30 approachable, small-scale gardening projects that will inspire and empower you to get growing! This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Savor your best tomato harvest ever! Craig LeHoullier provides everything a tomato enthusiast needs to know about growing more than 200 varieties of tomatoes, from planting to cultivating and collecting seeds at the end of the season. He also offers a comprehensive guide to various pests and tomato diseases, explaining how best to avoid them. With beautiful photographs and intriguing tomato profiles throughout, Epic Tomatoes celebrates one of the most versatile and delicious crops in your garden.

A lush, productive vegetable, herb, and flower garden doesn’t have to require endless hours of time and unlimited energy. No-dig gardening methods let you keep the rototiller in the shed and focus on what you like best—planting and harvesting! With the step-by-step instructions in The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening, you’ll discover how to build healthy, easy-to-plant garden soil by adding layers of organic matter using one of several different no-dig techniques. Whether you garden in a small, urban backyard or on several acres in the country, this simple approach lets you grow more food and blooms than ever before, and leave the gas-guzzling tiller behind forever. Plus, when you don't disturb the soil, weed seeds stay buried deep where they can't germinate and carbon is kept sequestered in the ground. No-dig gardening techniques also lead to reduced watering needs and a healthy population of beneficial soil microbes that help feed your plants by breaking down organic matter and releasing nutrients. In addition to extolling the endless benefits of no-dig growing, author and veggie-growing expert Charlie Nardozzi hands you the tools you need to: Create a new no-dig garden from scratch Transition an existing garden to the no-dig method Build the most productive, nutrient-rich soil possible Recycle yard waste by building a Hugelkultur planting mound Discover more about some great variations of no-dig gardening, including raised beds and containers Bring your no-dig garden indoors for a continuous harvest Welcome oodles of fresh, homegrown veggies, herbs, and flowers into your life—with no back-breaking work required!

This new 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 to help you enjoy your straw bale experience even more. 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. Among the new subjects: Cultivating mushrooms in straw and straw bales How to grow plants in hay bales (and how to tell the difference between hay and straw) 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 inventor of the method.