Anyone do Lasagna Gardening?

[CLHCO]

I'm thinking about trying that this year. I'm a gardening failure more often than not and I hoped this would improve my soil and make spring planting easier.

 

I have 3 boxes about the size needed for square foot gardening and I thought I could combine the methods. Things haven't been growing well, which is probably partly due to a failure to get a good watering system/routine going. It's dry here and I haven't learned how to plant and water appropriately.

 

So, those that are great at gardening, I'd love any advice, pros/cons of the lasagna idea, what I may need to prepare the beds before winter so they're great in the spring and maybe just some encouragement. This is something I seem to have some sort of mental block at accomplishing well and instead of getting a better garden each year, it seems to be getting worse. In fact, when I moved to the beds they got worse, not better. Perhaps the soil mix was poor or perhaps it's not holding the moisture? Perhaps my secret dislike of being outside much in the heat is what is sabotaging it!

 

Any advice on anything gardening would be great.

[Zelda]

I'm thinking about trying that this year. I'm a gardening failure more often than not and I hoped this would improve my soil and make spring planting easier.

 

I have 3 boxes about the size needed for square foot gardening and I thought I could combine the methods. Things haven't been growing well, which is probably partly due to a failure to get a good watering system/routine going. It's dry here and I haven't learned how to plant and water appropriately.

 

So, those that are great at gardening, I'd love any advice, pros/cons of the lasagna idea, what I may need to prepare the beds before winter so they're great in the spring and maybe just some encouragement. This is something I seem to have some sort of mental block at accomplishing well and instead of getting a better garden each year, it seems to be getting worse. In fact, when I moved to the beds they got worse, not better. Perhaps the soil mix was poor or perhaps it's not holding the moisture? Perhaps my secret dislike of being outside much in the heat is what is sabotaging it!

 

Any advice on anything gardening would be great.

 

Its not enough that you taunt me with your stories of fresh baked lasagna? Now you're going to just grow it in the garden? :glare:

[Nicole M]

I've had good luck starting beds this way. But rectangles did not work for me. I've pretty much converted my whole front yard to garden beds. I hope the attached photo works. This is a view from the sidewalk taken early last spring. The strawberries have taken over the vegetable beds, but I will be reclaiming that area this year.

 

The arbor is now covered with grapes. In the foreground is a plum tree, behind that is a cherry -- these are on the west side of the property. I have artichokes and lots of parsley that has seeded freely, just in front of the arbor. On the other side, that you can't really see, are two apple trees, and between the apples and the grapes is another small "keyhole" bed. Today I pulled up hubbard squash (which, honestly, I don't remember planting), beans and a tomato plant that were in that area.

 

I used cardboard with compost and wood chips that I got free from the power company. My mom lives in Colorado, and yes, very dry! This is the perfect time for you, though, to get your beds in order.

 

Are you happy with your current location? I like to have my food close to the door, so I don't have to get my slippers wet when I need a snip of something. Also, I love my rain barrels. My husband installed my second only yesterday.

 

Does this help?

[NevadaRabbit]

So, those that are great at gardening, I'd love any advice, pros/cons of the lasagna idea, what I may need to prepare the beds before winter so they're great in the spring and maybe just some encouragement.

 

I'd love to offer encouragement ... but ... lasagna doesn't grow in a garden...

[CLHCO]

I'd love to offer encouragement ... but ... lasagna doesn't grow in a garden...

No, this article only proves that spaghetti doesn't grow in a garden. Lasagna is a totally different dish. ;)

[CLHCO]

I've had good luck starting beds this way. But rectangles did not work for me. I've pretty much converted my whole front yard to garden beds. I hope the attached photo works. This is a view from the sidewalk taken early last spring. The strawberries have taken over the vegetable beds, but I will be reclaiming that area this year.

 

The arbor is now covered with grapes. In the foreground is a plum tree, behind that is a cherry -- these are on the west side of the property. I have artichokes and lots of parsley that has seeded freely, just in front of the arbor. On the other side, that you can't really see, are two apple trees, and between the apples and the grapes is another small "keyhole" bed. Today I pulled up hubbard squash (which, honestly, I don't remember planting), beans and a tomato plant that were in that area.

 

I used cardboard with compost and wood chips that I got free from the power company. My mom lives in Colorado, and yes, very dry! This is the perfect time for you, though, to get your beds in order.

 

Are you happy with your current location? I like to have my food close to the door, so I don't have to get my slippers wet when I need a snip of something. Also, I love my rain barrels. My husband installed my second only yesterday.

 

Does this help?

 

Wow, I wish you lived next door so I could pick your brain in far more detail. I don't like my location much. I would like to do it in the front yard but I don't know how I could manage that this year. There is a lot of room up there for that but it doesn't really match the "standard yard look" for the neighborhood. However, if I can make it part of a landscape in the future, it would be the perfect location.

 

I have only a few spots in the back yard that get decent light. The garden area has reduced some of its production in the last year and part of that could be from reduced light as the trees back there got much bigger. I am planning to put a couple garden beds in a slightly better place and hopefully use both areas, expanding the size. What plants, in your opinion, handle a little less light and which need it the most to flourish?

 

I have some aspens I would like to trim down in hopes of helping this. They're beautiful trees though so I just have to figure out how to trim them down a bit without ruining their appeal.

[CLHCO]

Its not enough that you taunt me with your stories of fresh baked lasagna? Now you're going to just grow it in the garden? :glare:

That's okay, I'll give you a bushel from whatever we don't eat.

[Nicole M]

 

I have only a few spots in the back yard that get decent light. The garden area has reduced some of its production in the last year and part of that could be from reduced light as the trees back there got much bigger. I am planning to put a couple garden beds in a slightly better place and hopefully use both areas, expanding the size. What plants, in your opinion, handle a little less light and which need it the most to flourish?

 

I have some aspens I would like to trim down in hopes of helping this. They're beautiful trees though so I just have to figure out how to trim them down a bit without ruining their appeal.

 

We had more light in the front, too, which is why I did a combo landscape / veg thing. We used to have enormous elms in the back, that shaded the whole yard. It was wonderful, but the Dutch Elm disease finally made it west of the Cascades and wiped them out.

 

Peas and lettuce seem to tolerate a little shade, because they don't like to be super hot. My blueberries like a little shade as well, mainly because they hate to dry out.

 

You might want to check out Patrick Whitefield's book, How to make a Forest Garden:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Forest-Garden-Patrick-Whitefield/dp/1856230082/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224597208&sr=8-2

 

Or, Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Guide-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1890132527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224597265&sr=1-1

 

I don't go whole hog with the permaculture thing, but many of the ideas for placement and choosing crops that will be happy in their locations -- these are very helpful.

 

I haven't looked at the book Food Not Lawns yet, but what I would love to see are more photographs of real people's front yard gardens, how they've managed to not have yards that are an eyesore. My front yard garden, when I first laid out the cardboard... oh, my! You'd think I was burning the flag on my property, there was such a uproar. Now it's become a stopping point for folks on walks (though many do pick my plums and strawberries and I find that rude beyond belief).

 

Have you looked at your library for books about gardening that are specific to your area? (My mom is in the Springs, and successfully grows tomatoes, but that's about all she tries. I think she got frustrated, too.)

[KS_]

I started out with lasagna beds in the house we're in. We have very heavy clay soil (I hear there used to be an adobe brick factory here), and when we moved here, there was just no way I could have dug (or double-dug, like I had in previous houses) raised beds. So I went with the lasagna method. It did work well, but since the first year, I practice more of a sheet composting and such in the garden beds, and adding compost or bagged manure in the spring.

[Saille]

I used this in my backyard garden when I lived in the burbs, and had good success with it.

 

My "garden" is about an acre, now, and I have trouble getting enough material to truly "lasagna garden", but I am really persistent about mulching with leaves, straw, clippings, newspapers, and cover crops.

[CLHCO]

Okay, 2 of the 3 books you mentioned are at the library. I put them on hold and I'll take a look when they are in!

[Jill]

hmmmmm, what is this "Lasagne Gardening"? We have hard, clay soil on our property. I started using the Ruth Stout method of mulch, mulch, mulching and that gave me great tomatoes, fine carrots (even in clay!), peas, mustard and herbs. (there was a little sheep and horse manure compost in it) Squash and corn, not so much, but squash doesn't get pollinated on our hill I think, the bees get blown away. So, is lasagne gardening just planting in thick layers of compost and mulch?

You may also wish to find some Ruth Stout books. They are not only a w00t to read but sensible. Weeds spring up? throw more mulch on 'em and smother them. One title is "How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back" that sums it up. - Jill

[clwcain]

I looked into it, but we decided to go with Square Foot Gardening. Good luck on your gardening adventure.

[CLHCO]

So, is lasagne gardening just planting in thick layers of compost and mulch?

 

 

Pretty much. You prepare them in the fall so they sit through the winter so planting in the spring is easy. You don't have to till or do much of anything come spring.

 

There is a book out on the method. My library has it.

[Peela]

Is Lasagna gardening another name for no-dig gardening? I just made one of those. Layers of different materials- in my case, mostly green lucerne hay, sheep manure and good quality bought organic compost. Also blood and bone and a mineral supplement. So far, so good, everything is growing well.

[Happy]

I've converted all my new bed endeavors to the lasagna method. I have thick, nasty, black clay. Last spring we layered thick pads of newspaper in one garden area and sheets of cardboard in another. Covered both with a heavy layer of mulch, added a decorative pot or two, and waited. We made sure the areas never dried out too much in the heat of the summer. Worms will go elsewhere if the clay dries out and we need worms to make this work.

 

A week ago, I dipped my shovel into these beds to plant pansies. It was great... still thick clay, but softer, moister, and more wormy than the neighboring non-lasagna areas. Much easier than tilling. Over the next few years, I predict I'll see more improvement in the soil texture if we keep adding compost and mulch, mulch, mulch.

 

As for my veggie garden, I'm not seeing as much improvement as I want. (It's an awkward drainage area.) We will be building more raised beds and trying a form of square foot gardening next summer.

 

Happy gardening!

[Jill]

Pretty much. You prepare them in the fall so they sit through the winter so planting in the spring is easy. You don't have to till or do much of anything come spring.

There is a book out on the method. My library has it.

Thanks. Sounds like the Ruth Stout method which is also no-till. I'll look for the book. - Jill :001_smile: