Lasagna Gardening

Mmmm, sounds tasty, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I'm not here to tell you how to successfully grow a lasagna plant. What I am writing about today is almost as good though- really! The result of proper lasagna gardening is supposed to be a weed free, no dig, no till organic garden. Wow!

The basic idea is to make layers. Layer grass clippings, leaves, fruit and vegetable scraps, shredded newspaper, cardboard, peat moss, or almost anything else that you would put in a compost bin. One article I read suggested starting with a 'brown' substance (cardboard, peat, shredded newspapers, dead leaves) and to alternate with 'green' layers (grass clippings, garden trimmings, vegetable scraps). The suggested depth ratio between brown and green layers is two to one. Don't stress over this though, as many other websites don't mention it.

You can start preparing the soil any time of the year, but it's often easier to find the brown layer material in the fall. Select the area you want to make your new garden and start layering. You don't even have to weed it or kill the grass first. Once you start adding layers, make sure to wet it all down thoroughly! This is important here in NE Texas, especially during summers like this one. Just add layers all year as the material becomes available. The material will decompose, leaving you with a lovely planting medium when the time comes. The soil should be rich in nutrients and soft and easy to plant in. Earthworms will love it! The cardboard, newspapers and other brown substances will help keep the weeds out.

I can see that one of the things I will be tempted to do is to pick an area that's too big for the material that I have available (or foresee becoming available throughout the year). I don't think this is a problem that can't be overcome, but the results the first year wouldn't be as grand as I imagine they could be. My goal will be to start small and expand.

There is a lot of material on the internet about this and even whole books available on the subject. If I didn't provide a lot of detail, maybe I at least piqued your interest enough to find out more.

Stay cool and keep those gardens happy!