A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 hay laurelann! whats a lasagna garden???????

i dont know what a lasagna garden is, & now its killing me <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" /> can ya tell me what one is??????

Lasagna gardening is a method of constructing a garden in layers that help to avoid the chores of weeding & tilling etc. Here is a link to full information: Lasagna Gardening

Do you guys mulch your vegetable garden? I've never done that. I always have grass and weeds and have to hoe.

I don't mulch my veggie garden either, but I do put fresh compost down around my plants pretty regularly & it sort of works like a mulch. I don't lasagna garden, I just garden the old fashion way...I still have to weed & hoe too:)After reading the info on lasagna gardening I think I may try a small bed like that this season & see how effortless it actually is. If it works well I may start all of my gardens out that way next season.

Sybil, sorry I didn't respond earlier to your question about lasagna gardening. Lasagna gardens are built by layering organic materials over a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard. I started by thickly layering the newspaper right over the grass and wetting it down to keep it from flying away. Newspaper will break down in a short time and also promotes worm action. Then start layering the organic matter, such as, grass clippings, leaf mulch, compost, a bit of wood ash, triple mix, and intersperse each layer with peat moss. You can plant it right away, and it will do well, but I have also built it in the fall and let it cook down for the winter and planted it in the spring. I have also built it in March and planted it in May, giving it just a few weeks to cook down.

Note, there is absolutely no digging involved! Every year I get out my garden fork, turn the soil (easily) and pull any weeds (easily)and plant. The garden should be no more than 3' wide so that you can reach the middle from both sides, and approximately 10' long. My husband framed all my beds in 2x10 boards so they are neat and easy to mow and whippersnip around. Because you don't need to step into the garden, you can mass plant it. In a 10 foot garden, you can have 2-3 feet of each vegetable, enough to get you through the who summer.

Goodness, I do get verbose! I hope this helps you. Good luck with your gardening!

Laurelann

THANKS! for all your answers, its kinda like how ive done raised beds, but i used plywood for the bottom.{ newspaper sounds cheaper & better }
thanks sibyl

When using newspaper, make sure it's at least 12 pages or so thick or the weeds will still grow through it. Cardboard works better but you can use anything you have on hand and doing something good with all those darn flyers we get is great. (they actually are good for something) Lasagna gardening works especially well in clay type soils as it promotes worms coming up, eating the decaying matter then taking it back down leaving worm casings behind. It takes no time to turn a rock hard clay area into a wonderful gardening plot and it's so darn easy to do. Try it, you'll be surprised how easy and effortless it is.

i herd newspapers also good for mulching? or putting under the mulch?
sibyl