Straw Bale Gardening is gaining popularity around the country.  When a friend of mine saw my round garden beds made out of mesh, he immediately asked if we can adapt it to straw bale gardening. So, we thought about it for a while and came up with this design that holds 6 bales.  Turns out, we can also fill it with soil and make a generously sized, triple round raised bed, as well.  And, it folds flat for shipping and storage!

One of the challenges with straw bale gardening is that the bales loose integrity throughout the summer, often causing the plants to lean or fall over.  They also start to look pretty messy.  Putting the bales in this frame helps them stay upright and keeps your garden looking good when your plants are at their peak.

You can all use this with soil or a combination of straw or organic in-fill on the bottom half and soil on top. Use what you have.

Easy to install and maintain. Leave up year-round. Highly durable, expect 10+ years.

Garden Circles has developed a folding bed customized to fit the standard school curriculum developed by the Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners Program.  This raised bed frame sets up and is ready for soil in only a couple of minutes.

It is sized to handle 10 students, each one with a 1ft X 3ft grow area.  Our engineering staff had to do some innovative thinking in order to closely approximate the rectangular shape and keep it affordable for school programs all over.  The result is a 2ft wide, 15 ft long garden bed that is a full 24 inches tall. That means that little gardeners-to-be will be able to enjoy all the benefits of raised bed gardening right from the get go, and hopefully, enjoy the most success possible.

Specifications

Folding style that opens into a U shape. This unique shape allows you to stand in the middle of your garden almost totally surrounded by your plants.

"Serious" U-Shaped Foldout Dimensions
Length-11 ft across. Height: 24 inches. Total Grow Area: 75 square feet!

Garden Circles Raised Beds are highly durable and will last 10+ years. They are meant to be left up year-round and will weather over winter quite well, as we make and use them in Minnesota and we know winter.

Recommendation
For all 2 foot tall beds we highly recommend using some kind of organic infill for the first half. Toss in old firewood, grass clippings, leaves, straw, hay, even wood chips. Add soil on top.

Most plants usually need 6-8" of soil for good healthy roots. The material in the bed will settle over the year so add leaves in the fall and and inch or two of fresh soil in the spring to help amend and keep full."
It's that simple! Use what you have and enjoy gardening on a whole new level!