Annie Wortham and Neil Webre of Cobbs Creek love to garden and they’re always ready for something new, so after reading the book "Learn to Grow a Straw Bale Garden" by Joel Karsten, trying the ancient method used by the Egyptians and the Aztecs was a natural choice for them.

Walking through the rows of straw bales topped with flourishing plants that will soon yield tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and other summer crops, Annie Wortham explained that straw bales make gardening easier and that preparing the garden is simple.

With straw bales, she said, there are no weeds to pull from around the plants, and the plants are raised off the ground so there’s less bending and squatting required when planting and picking. If the bales are placed far enough apart, a person in a wheelchair can easily tend the garden, said Wortham. She cautioned anyone trying the method to make sure they buy straw and not hay, since hay contains its own seeds.

To create the garden, bales are laid on...