Hey Duncan Carver here,
If you’ve been getting my recent emails, you would’ve noticed I’ve been sending you some really cool information about straw bale gardening lately.
Well there’s a bit of a personal story behind that…
You see my dad and I have a “friendly” growing competition each year to see who can grow the best crops in our small gardens. It’s usually self-judged and based on Tomato quality & yield, so as you might imagine, there often tends to be two winners ;-0
He went down the local farm supply store, brought a couple of straw bales, dumped them on the lawn, and threw some vegetable seedlings in the top of them.
There were a couple of zucchini, a few basil plants, an eggplant, a tomato plant and some other things too. There was a real variety – essentially the left over seedlings that we couldn’t fit in the traditional garden beds the week before.
That was literally all he did.
(Or at least that’s what he told me at the time)
From what I could see, there was no soil.
The seedlings were literally just pushed into the top of the straw bales.
Good luck with that Dad.
And then he pretty much left them alone.
But sure enough, as the months went by, literally everything he had planted was doing just as well (if not better) than the vegetables growing in the traditional garden beds we had setup alongside them.
(There were even a few surprise brown mushrooms that had started growing out of nowhere too!)
As far as the straw bale garden went…
He didn’t have to muck around with digging & tilling any soil over. We all know how back breaking that can be (I sure do – I mostly helped him setup and work his traditional beds – hey, he’s my Dad).
He didn’t have to condition the soil with a whole ton of compost and work it right in there with a shovel. There was also no hoeing or raking required before he started planting.
There was practically no weeding required the entire time – with the exception of a couple of sprouts of who knows what here & there. Certainly nothing in comparison to the traditional bed which needed constant weeding every week before things got out of control.
He didn’t have to continually bend down or break his back to plant the seedlings or even manage the plants as they grew – they were planted inside the top of the straw bales – so the plants themselves were growing at around knee / chest height & were easily manageable.
And even though he had put these on the lawn next to the traditional garden bed, he could’ve just as easily plonked these straw bales on the concrete, pavers, patio, or anywhere really, and they would’ve done just as well.
At the end of the season?
…we’ll we just broke up the straw bales a bit with a garden fork & threw them straight into the compost bins, where by now they’ve become amazingly rich compost for the growing season that’s about to start.
I’m sure you like the idea of “keeping things as easy as possible” just as much as I do.
That’s certainly no different when it comes to growing your own organic food.
So picture this in your mind…
As I’m standing there, dripping with sweat in the hot sun, catching my breath, having just worked over one of the traditional beds – staring at the straw bales – it became pretty bloody obvious what the easiest, most sensible, least labor intensive, and overall “cleaner” gardening technique was.
It was without a doubt the “off the cuff” attempt at using straw bales.
Just doing the numbers, it was taking an hour or two each week to manage the traditional beds, and yet only a couple of minutes to check over the straw bales and pull the odd weed out here & there.
It meant we could spend a lot more time, sitting by them bales, having a cold beer in the sun, with me explaining to Dad how much better MY Tomatoes looked back in MY garden (of course) ;-0
Not that we told mum that of course. As far as she was concerned when we got home we had been hard at work in the garden all day and have earned ourselves (another) beer.
So anyhow, last season we simply “winged it” and it did work pretty well.
But obviously I knew there had to be a proper more optimized way to approach this.
(I’m a little bit OCD when it comes to such things – when I go in, I go all in).
We had made a few mistakes and we certainly could’ve optimized things better to increase the yield & more importantly grow even more food in less space.
For example, we would’ve arranged things a lot better to make things even easier.
And one of the coolest aspects of planting in straw bales is the fact that you can also plant in the vertical sides of the bales – not just the top. If Dad or I had known that at the time, we could’ve planted 3 times as much as we initially did in a single straw bale.
And on that note, keep in mind – that actually means you have 3 times more growing space available when straw bale gardening, in comparison to the same squarefoot space in a traditional flat garden bed.
It gives you the full advantage (and the benefits) of vertical growing as well.
No soil required.
So with father’s day soon approaching & with spring right around the corner, I decided I would get out there and spend all my free time for a month researching the heck out of everything there is to know about straw bale gardening.
I read every book, studied every website, & watched hours upon hours of all the videos that I could get my hands on.
It was really interesting process – comparing what we had done, finding out and what we should’ve done from the start, and the amazing things that can be done with straw bale gardening.
And I’ve gone put all of that information into a clear step by step guide that I’m going to give to my Dad on father’s day as a gift. That way when he gets back from holiday, we can ditch the traditional garden beds altogether, and just go 100% straw bale.
Now look. I’m sure you’re just like me – I’m always one for helping out whenever I can too.
I’m usually the first one to stick his hand up when any of my family, friends or neighbors need help with anything at all. And I didn’t mind breaking my back in the hot sun all day helping dad setup & work his traditional garden beds.
BUT if there’s an easier way that I can help do that AND achieve the exact same end goal spending WAY LESS TIME effort and energy, then we both know it just makes perfect sense to adopt it.
But the funny thing is, like most guys, Dad’s not really one to follow instructions…
…and least of all it seems (that he would admit too anyway) advice from his son ;-0
So I don’t know whether he’s going to follow it or not – BUT if he doesn’t… you can be assured that I will be, in the garden that I kept at my grandfather’s place.
I’m going to outgrow the living daylights out of Dad & take away this seasons Tomato competition.
And I figured, regardless of whether Dad uses it or not – all this research and the step by step instructions I’ve laid out here, would definitely be highly useful to you too, if you’re looking for an easier, more productive, stress free method of growing more organic food for your family in less space.
So you too can spend more time having a cold beer in the sun, next to your almost hands free garden, and do more of whatever it is you enjoy doing with your family.
So if that sounds like you (and if you’re still reading this story I’m almost certain it does – I’m pretty sure you can relate to a lot of it) I’ve called this new guide…
…it contains the combined knowledge of the first season of Dad & I’s straw bale gardening adventure, and I would say more than 40 hours of scrupulous research into literally everything I could find on the gardening method.
So when you setup your own straw bale gardening operation (even if it’s just a single straw bale on your patio, or an entire acres worth) – I’ve just saved YOU at least a months’ worth of research, and definitely a couple of growing seasons of “trial and error”.
You can spend that time doing something way more fun & still get the pleasures & rewards.
Right now I’m just putting finishing touches on the guide (Dad’s not back from his holiday for another week) so it’s going to be ready in around 10 days time so I can hand it to him when he gets off the plane.
And when I officially put it up for sale to spread the knowledge & help make a lot of gardener’s lives way easier, I’m going to price it at $37. I’m sure you’ll agree that’s a very fair price given the amount of time it’s taken me to put this together.
It’s become a short cut to straw bale gardening success and is EXACTLY the knowledge I would’ve loved to have had before Dad & I started.
Not to mention, most gardeners I know would throw $37 on a couple of bags of compost for their garden at the drop of a hat (not that you’ll need to go buying additional compost when you go straw bale, you’ll have plenty of that on hand for every growing season).
And maybe more importantly still, when you’ve setup your own straw bales, you can kick back & feel good knowing it’s meant I can buy a box of beers for me and my Dad to share together when we next hit our own garden, doing exactly what it is I’ve taught you to do as well.
However, given the guide still needs a little polishing to make it the best of the best… if you would like to order your copy now, I want to let you have it at the pre-introductory discounted price of just $20.
All that I ask for in return is that you send me your honest feedback after studying it.
That’s all. Just send me a quick email.
(And optionally, and only if you want to and can, you could also send me some photos of your own straw bale gardening operation that you’ve setup after applying the knowledge so I can see how you’re going too)…
Sound good?
Cool…
So if you’re looking for a WAY EASIER more sensible method to grow your own food, simply click the button below to pre-order your copy now…
O yeah, and as always, if you don’t think I’ve put together the best resources there is on straw bale gardening, (or for any reason whatsoever), just drop me an email within 30 days of receiving the book, and I’ll send you your $20 back. So you’ve got nothing to lose, and a heck of a lot of awesome gardening knowledge to gain!
Wishing you all the best as always,
Duncan Carver
http://www.strawbalegardeningbook.com
PS: Did you know that you can grow pretty much exactly the same fruits & vegetables that you would grow in a traditional garden. Even root vegetables like carrots and potatoes too, and when they’re ready for harvest, they won’t be covered in soil ;-0