A Straw Bale Gardena quick and easy starter gardenA straw bale garden is an inexpensive, flexible, and easy way to create a raised bed. Arrange the bales to form the perimeter of the garden. Fill with a great soil mix and voila, instant garden. Additionally, you can plant in the bales creating even more garden space. At the end of a season or two, the bales can be worked back into the soil to fill another raised bed. Waste not want not. 
Bale Garden Design PlanningHow Big Is a Straw Bale?The standard 3 string straw bale is approximately:14" x 18" x 36"So that's approximately: 1+ ft tall x 1-1/2 ft wide x 3 ft long. If you put your bales on end, that makes them 1-1/2 ft tall and 1 ft wide. Putting Bales Together as a Raised BedSince straw bales are rectangular, they lend themselves to rectangular design. Go as big or as small as you like. Just remember, anything wider than 2 bales will be difficult to tend to, as you must reach into the gardening space.I prefer having multiple, smaller beds. They're just easier to work with, and I like thematic beds. That is, I put all my squash in 1 bed and let it go wild. What about a hexagonal bed? or an octagon? I've put together a couple of design pages to help you plan out a straw bale raised bed. 
Related topics:How to prepare bales for plantingMaking a Great Soil Mix return from straw bale garden to straw bale planting
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