Lasagna Garden

While cleaning up email folders I came across some “new” techniques about creating a lasagna garden. I had moved it to my “read later” file thinking it might be interesting to see what plants were recommended for this type of garden. I had heard of spaghetti gardens where tomato varieties, onions, basils, oregano, parsley, and peppers were recommended to create the perfect pasta sauce. I expected this to be much of the same.

Reading the article intrigued me. I discovered Lasagna Gardening to be a gardening system that works so you don’t have to. Sometimes called sheet composting, the best time to start this type of gardening is fall because there are plenty of yard wastes that can be added. Anything you’d add to a normal compost pile can be added to a lasagna garden.

Using cardboard and newspaper for
the bottom layer will smother any existing
grass and weeds preventing the need for any
prep work. Watering the bottom layer will hold it in place and help it decompose into a dark, moist environment that will attract earthworms needed to loosen the soil.

The success of this type of gardening is using a 2-inch layer of “brown” compost material like chopped leaves, straw, wood chips, or pine needles. Recommended next is a 2 inch “green” layer of material that has moisture such as grass clippings, coffee grounds, garden trimmings, and scraps of food. Keep layering 2-inches of brown followed by 2 inches of green until your bed is 18 to 36 inches deep. The materials will decompose and shrink quite a bit.

Turning the layers into rich soil is determined by how long it takes for the composted debris to decompose. This process is dependent on temperature and moisture plus the size of the composted debris. Soon, all the composted materials will look like nutrient-rich soil, ready to plant and enjoy your beautiful, home-grown herbs and veggies.

From Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for
Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding,
No Kidding! by Patricia Lanza.