What are you planning to grow? I think I would be hesitant to divide a bale and only use a portion of it in a container. If you are planning to grow in containers, is there a particular reason why you want to use a straw bale instead of a traditional potting mix/compost?

We grew squash in bales last year, but they were on the ground and not in containers.

It seems to be doable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOaJuNYkTL4

But I'd have to believe that you'd want to add some real soil, to provide minerals. Or use some complete fertilizer. Otherwise, it's just planting in compost, which is not a good idea, at least for containers.

Thank you both. I want to grow patio hybrid tomatoes and peas. The video was very interesting. Thanks for the link. I understand your suggestion about adding some real soil.

In real full-blown straw bale gardening, they start off with nitrogen, to kick off the decomposition, but then they add a side dressing of other nutrients.

search for potato tower. in order for it to work, it requires some soil. it can work with 100% straw, but you'd need to use a fertilizer that contains all elements in a water soluble form and you'd need to be watering every few hours (like a drip irrigation) in a hydroponic fashion. some people grow in 100% coco this way. keep in mind that tomato are heavy feeder, so you'd need to water and fertilize often with a water soluble fertilizer when using pots.