Lasagna questions - September 8th, 2005 at 04:35 AM
Help! Some questions about my lasagna beds.
For those of you that don't know what a lasagna bed is, to make it really short & sweet it's a bed that's layered with compostable stuff. Green/brown/green/brown, etc. Some of the compost heroes have said to put down cardboard first, to kill any grass or annual weeds below. There's no turning involved in this method. The worms do the work for you, by coming up to munch and going back down into the depths (digging for you) and pooping (leaving 'castings') in the process. It takes longer than 'hot composting', but is easier, since you can just let the stuff sit and let the worms do the work.
Okay, so my questions.
1. How long from laying cardboard to planting? I laid cardboard in like June for 2 beds. It's gone (yes, I've peeked). Is it 'done' and 'plantable' now?
2. I have one lasagna bed that's fairly large (long). I just don't have enough greens or browns at once to layer it. Can I just use my finished compost instead, and then leave it sit over the winter and plant in spring? Do I need to cover the compost with straw or can I leave it bare?
I think that's it for now. Thanks
For those of you that don't know what a lasagna bed is, to make it really short & sweet it's a bed that's layered with compostable stuff. Green/brown/green/brown, etc. Some of the compost heroes have said to put down cardboard first, to kill any grass or annual weeds below. There's no turning involved in this method. The worms do the work for you, by coming up to munch and going back down into the depths (digging for you) and pooping (leaving 'castings') in the process. It takes longer than 'hot composting', but is easier, since you can just let the stuff sit and let the worms do the work.
Okay, so my questions.
1. How long from laying cardboard to planting? I laid cardboard in like June for 2 beds. It's gone (yes, I've peeked). Is it 'done' and 'plantable' now?
2. I have one lasagna bed that's fairly large (long). I just don't have enough greens or browns at once to layer it. Can I just use my finished compost instead, and then leave it sit over the winter and plant in spring? Do I need to cover the compost with straw or can I leave it bare?
I think that's it for now. Thanks