Straw Bale Gardening is essentially container gardening, without the cost of a container or the planting mix to fill it. Just buy a bale of straw, go through the "conditioning" process and plant, then water, then harvest, it is about that simple. Get the full details at
www.strawbalegardens.com
I even planted sugar snap peas and herbs and tomatoes in one row.
When you are planting seeds you need to add soil so that the seeds don't slip down through the straw. Not a lot, just enough to hold the seeds till they begin to root and attach themselves to the straw,