The Lasagna Garden Brigade

ROTFL... Ice is not an issue here in Sunny Central FL! However, I mow everything thast flat.. my landscape lady (who edges and weedeats) runs the weed eater around the areas that are too steep for a mower.. thank goodness. Cuz Id be the joke of the neighborhood if I attempted it..and likely scalp my lawn in the process.

Great idea Mindy!

Loca... a patch of grass is nice and handy for kids and pets... so long as ther arent acres of it ...lol. Lawn serves its purpose, I am sure.. but darn, its a pain.. and also boring..LOL

But Cue those things for the ice aren't that high so it doesn't matter if you get ice there or not LOL The idea is to put them on so they sink into the ground and keep your feet steady. Plus you aerate the lawn while you are walking on it.

ahhh! I understand now...duh!...LOL

but but.. aeration.. isnt that what MOLES are for ??? ROFL just kiding

northerners fight those pesky little moles.. we welcome them.. they eat the grubs in our lawns and then move on...LOL

I was just letting you know what else those things would do for you LOL OK ya'll I'm off of here to sand some more. Going to think on making a teranium while I sand (might not be a good idea to do that I told DH if I tore his sander up I would buy him a new one)

Hi everyone,
I am working on a sticky for the newbies directions to get your seeds. Any suggestions where it should go now? It follows a forum regardless of how many post there are. The directions get lost in the shuffle now that we dont chat on it...

Why don't you see if the management would send directions when a new one joins at the same time they send the d-mail to confirm they paid? it could all be done in the same step. Let them copy and paste it on each new d-mail.

Oh the link to the directions...Meeekos, Jan...I think you have something there.......My goodness you are the bomb...If I could think of another word that would describe how incredibly great that idea was I would use it...but
we all know how Robin looses not only time but her vocabulary on any given day.....

Good idea, but Dave et al may not want the extra work. Put your sticky in the Seed Trading Forum - it will stay at the top.

Wouldn't be any extra work if they copy and past the directions to arejay at the same time they confirm membership. They send one anyway when you pay the fees. I got one when I joined but didn't find out about the free seeds to newbie until someone d-mailed me. By then, I had seeds already started so just told arejay not to worry about sending me any because she was getting ready to go to Florida on a trip. BUT the point was if the d-mail hed come at the same time as the membership confirmation it would save time and get 2 jobs done at the same time. They could add this to the d-mail they ALREADY will send to the new person.

Hi just wanted to tell everyone I started a lasagna veggie garden this past late Feb. in MI. I have had absolutely fabulous results!! More tomatos, peppers, peas, beans, carrotts, pumpkins, watermelons, squash, (and my favorite morning glorys), than ever before.
Heres how I did mine by layer
cardboard and newspaper VERY thick
peat
old spoiled hay and horse manure (OLD)
peat
green compost
dryed leaves and leaf mulch.
newspaper
OLD (not hot)chicken manure
Veggie compost (kitchen scraps), followed by ash from the fireplaces. And topped off with peat like dirt from the woods.
I wet the layers, and finished around the 1st of april. Planted my peas IMEDIATELY.
and then progressed after the last frost. Everything decomposed while growing the vegetables. The soil is gorgeous and filled with earthworms.
Goodluck everyone!!
Birdie

Thanks a bunch Birdie!!! Always nice to hear from someone who has some history with the process.

It sounds like you had no trouble with the kitchen scraps. Ash would probably discourage scavengers like cats etc. Always have plenty of veggie stuff but was still debating whether to use them or not as a green layer. I compost them but needed more green in the lasagna bed than I could find. I do have ash. :)

Can always use encouragement and pictures. Pictures are good. LOL Have you started more since your first one?

Uh huh, if you have cats, they will definitely get right in the middle of your lasagna bed, lol. I laid down a piece of cardboard and as soon as I put the leaves on, the cats came and laid on it, lol. The horses were even interested too. I guess cause I was using the wheelbarrow I feed them with.. Gotta love it.. But the ash is a good idea. We have burn barrels, so I'm gonna add that to my beds today..

This is a wonderful, interesting, insightful thread, that I will lurking on, and learning!
Thanks cue_chik!

If your soil is alkaline like we have in Phoenix, do not use ash or lime as that will increase the alkalinity of the soil. Soil sulfur would be an amendment of choice for alkaline soil.

This message was edited Aug 25, 2009 8:11 AM

arejay if your here come over to the caht thread , don't want ti tie this one up with chit chat about some thing different.

Thanks for the heads up Loca. So used to dealing with acid soil forgot there was anything else. LOL

That's the first thing people told me when I moved here - forget about what you did and what worked everywhere else cuz you're in the desert now baby!!

Good Poitn, Loca! We wouldnt use it here in Central FL, as out soil is very alkaline.. but some in the Northern states may very well need to increase the alkaline

we add pine needles here... no lime added.. and we DONT add wood ash!

OK, I'm working on getting mine down, have compost bin for months and it got full, so now I'm layering mine. Need a little help here on how to put where again since you guys fill the threads and MOVE the them. I put down first a layer of cardboadr and newspapers. Then put in the huge pile of compost from my bin and spread it out, the added grass and weeds to that and then added a big bucket of food scraps-veggies and tea bags and egg shells-lots. I'm in zone 7 red hard clay so what do I need now?

Go back to something brown. Shredded paper, leaves, etc.

Just a thought - Cue ;o) maybe? - have you thought about taking a poll to see if anyone would like to start a whole new lasagna foruem...everyone is talking about it all over - tomatoes, peppers, orgainc, soil, heirlooms, veggie gardening...maybe time to see if there's enough interest for a whole foruem on this kind of gardening alone like straw bale or self sustained gardening...just a thought...notice I'm not running to do it...lol...not a leader here...just an idea man...lol...NAPTIME!!!!!

The compost from my bin was a mixture of leaves and food scraps weeds and eggshells and shreaded paper and cardboard pieces,( all combined.) I put that on top of my fresh row of cardboard and newspapers then grass and weeds then more scraps of food and eggshells and tea bags and such. Now I need another layer of brown?

Yes, because until the scraps of food, eggshells and what not break down they are green so you need brown next

Scraps are green unless they've composted down and you can't distinguish between the ingredients. What are yours like?

jamie- they'd just tell me to move it to the composting or 'sustainable alternatives' forum...

just a FYI.. if you use grass clippngs, they are a green layer whether they are new or old :) so even if they have been sitting out for awhile, you would still use them as the 'green layer'

OK, so I'll go put another layer of newspaper and cardboard now. (the only thing you can still see of difference is the egg shells. They havent broken down. They are mixed all through the compost pile I had in the bin. Then I had them mixed in the scrap bucket I just poured on.) When I'm over-run with eggs and my chickens are still laying everyday, I just break them into the compost pile so there are plenty in there. I give eggs away and use some and still have plenty to break up for the compost pile.

mekos... you can crush them finer to help them break down faster.. if ya wanna even be bothered doing that...LOL

Sounds like you got it!!!! Eggs are good. LOL

I did crush on some when I was spreading the bin full on that layer. The newer ones I forgot to crush, but will now as I lay the new layer of papers down. Going out to do that now. Later dudes.

I just started my bed tonight. Put down the news paper & grass clippings. I need to add some brown I think I will add saw dust from my chinchilla cages.
How long do I wait to add another layer or can I do that now?

It's my understanding -from what I've been reading...haven't done it yet- that you can layer away honey. That's part of the beauty of it, it seems. You layer, layer, layer and plant it's that simple. Hope this helps since everyone else is quiet tonight...

Hugs, Jamie

If it helps... I started my bed, layered it AND planted it all in one weekend :)

Somewhere on one of these threads cue put up a link on directions, but I can never find my way around anywhere once they start a new one. I made a few layers today too. I put down cardboard and newspapers, then put down my compost bin full of mixture been there for a while, then added grass clippings and weeds, then put another bucket of scraps in, and another layer of cardboard and papers. Then stopped and will have to resume later this week as more stuff is ready. Hope this helps. I think you should go ahead and layer as much as you have available ,then start again when you can.

I've been layering seems like for months LOL Can't find enough time. I have 4 layers. Have to get the tractor out for the next one. Composted soil. I always go for the BIG beds etc. LOL Maybe I need new glasses everything just looks foreshortened. :)

Cue I've got the basics. Working on the details. Should have them tomorrow. Your box UPS should be there tomorrow. LOL

Yippie!!!

Hollyhock What's up with 'Miranda'

it is at the top of this thread Jan