Sounds pretty good right? Plant lots of
tomatoes, eggplant, maybe some spinach…. But cheese doesn’t grow! And where does the pasta come from? Well
lasagna gardening is not in fact about growing the ingredients for a tasty
lasagna, but rather, a nontraditional organic gardening method that relies on a
layering method called sheet composting.
One of the greatest benefits of the
lasagna gardening method is that it does not require any digging or tilling.
This makes it an ideal practice for beginning gardeners, elderly gardeners, or
those who simply do not have access to equipment to break ground and work the
soil. Lasagna gardening can also be a relatively low cost method of gardening,
using recycled and found materials.
So how does this lasagna gardening thing work?
you ask, well I will do my best to give you a rundown of the basics of Lasagna
Gardening.
Though it may not seem like it is already
that time of year, fall is just around the corner and soon it will be time to
start putting your garden to bed and preparing for the winter. Fall however is
also a great time to get started with new garden plots for the next season
because there is a bounty of organic material available and the winter months
will allow ample time for your organic material to break down and leave you
with a ready to plant plot by the time spring arrives.
Two garden plots ready to decompose through the winter |
Step
1: Choose your garden area and put down a layer of cardboard over the entire
area, make sure to overlap the cardboard so that no weeds or grass can creep
through the cracks. Then thoroughly wet down the cardboard so that it will stay
in place. You do not need to till/dig up the garden space at all because the
cardboard will kill all grass and weeds and slowly break down the dense top
layer of soil.
Step
2: Put down your first “lasagna” layer on top of the cardboard. This layer
should be 2-3 inches thick and made up of water absorbent material such as dead
leaves, straw, peat moss etc.
Step
3: Add a second layer made up of greener material, such as grass clippings, veggie
scraps, garden trimmings, etc.
Step
4: continue to add layers alternating between green and brown until your garden
spot is covered with layers that are about 2 feet in height. Layers can be made
up of just about any organic material such as leaves, grass clippings, manure,
compost, coffee grounds, shredded paper, pine needles, etc. Just make sure that
you are not adding any diseased garden plants to your piles or you will have
future problems. You can also add necessary soil amendments such as lime and
wood ash to the layers to get a head start on a healthy garden.
Layers of a lasagna garden |
Step
5: leave it all to decompose over the winter months. By the time you are ready
to plant in the spring the layers will have reduced in height to just several
inches of loose rich soil.
Step
6: Planting! When you are ready to plant simply dig down as deep as necessary
in the soil and plant to your heart’s desire.
Step
7: Once you have planted it is very helpful to apply a layer of mulch to the
entire garden. This will keep weeds to a minimum and help the soil retain
water. Mulch can be made from straw, grass clippings, leaves, shredded paper,
etc.
Benefits
of Lasagna Gardening/Sheet Composting
•
No tilling, digging, or large equipment necessary
•Few
weeds will grow if you properly mulch
•Low
cost
•
Nutrient rich soil
Patricia
Lanza is the gardener who conceived of the lasagna gardening system as I have
described, here is her first book on the topic and an article written by her
that you can access online:
Lasagna
Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens, No Digging, No Tilling,
No Weeding, No Kidding! By Patricia Lanza
Score!! Kathleen you have done it again. Thanks for the wonderful idea. I hahve two women who live on strip mine property who are great candidates for this method. Thanks. Sr. KC
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