Joel Karsten of straw bale gardening fame just stopped by to leave me a few choice words on this post:

I responded:

“Hi Joel.

I don’t have any money tied up in the straw bale gardening concept. You shouldn’t have attacked me like a rabid dog over at The Grow Network – that’s not the way to win people over. Heck, I would have been happy to interview you and learn more. I’ve learned from plenty of people in the past.

I also notice you have no problem plugging your book with The Grow Network even after you slammed them as clickbait, etc.

You owe me an apology. I originally wrote this article based on my own experience and that of other gardeners. You somehow took it as an attack on you, and slammed me. I won’t stop until you apologize – and any time someone looks up straw bale gardening or Joel Karsten, they’ll see in your own words just what a spiteful person you are.”

As for the “copyright protected images,” he’s talking about a screencap I took from a Google Image Search, not any pics I stole from his site. I took that jpg down and replaced it with his comment instead as its much more entertaining.

I don’t understand this guy. If he’d not attacked me, I would have happily followed my original article by interviewing him. We all have plenty we can learn.

However, it’s become obvious that he’d rather fling mud in the comments section of my posts.

It’s also become apparent that he’s a terrible writer. He’s slamming me for not having any background in this, that and the other thing – yet it’s obvious he’s lacking solid background in the English language.

If that didn’t stop him from writing a book, what’s to stop me from observing the fact that hay or straw can sometimes destroy gardens?

He’d do better to quit trashing his critics and instead settle down with a glass of lemonade and a copy of Dale Carnegie.