The Lasagna Garden Brigade #2 (Continued)

To keep the peace, this thread has been moved from its original forum
we came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1030412/

Hello all! Welcome to the Lasagna Bed Brigade!

A few of us on the Seed Trading Forum have gotten together and are attempting to build Lasagna Garden beds this fall. They can be used to grow anything from Annuals to Bulbs to veggies.. is all up to you, but its a simple till free, less weeding way to start a garden bed.

newbies feel free to garden along with us and we'll do our best to answer any questions you may have!

here is a simple list of things you will need to get started on your Lasagna bed. You can go as fast or slow as you wish. You can accomplish this all in one day and plant immediately, or you can build it over time and plant in Spring.. it's entirely up to you!

be sure to check out the links I have provided as all are good resources of information on Lasagna gardening!

List of items:

Cardboard or several layers of Sheet newspaper
Layers of 'Greens" (see list below)
Layers of 'Browns' (see list below)

GREENS

Grass clippings
Tea bags
Vegetable and fruit Scraps (No Onion)
Coffee grounds and Paper Filters
Old bedding annuals
manure from herbivores (no meat eaters poo in the lasagna bed)
Pond Algae
Pine needles (sprinkle lime on this layer)
Seaweed
Peat moss
Fresh leaves and fresh hedge trimmings

BROWNS

Finely crushed eggshells
Cereal Boxes - shredded
Composted manure
Corrugated cardboard packaging - shredded
Toilet tissue and paper towel roll tubes - shredded
Dried leaves and hedge clippings
Straw and hay
Ashes from wood, paper, lumpwood charcoal
Cotton threads
Cotton string
Dryer lint (from natural fibers only like cotton or wool)
Shredded Newsprint ( no shiny inserts)

What NOT To Put In Your Lasagna Bed

Meat or meat by-products ( cheese, eggs, etc)
Grease
Salty Cooked Food
Pet Waste
Citrus or citrus peels
Onion (this seems to be a matter of preference, use your own judgment)
Any grass or hedge clippings that have recently been treated with insecticides or fungicides (if using bed to grow veggies)


Once you have gathered some or all of your materials you can begin building your beds.

here is what to do:

Decide the location and area of your lasagna bed. Lay your cardboard or several layers of newspaper down in the shape and size you want your bed to be, yup, right on top of the grass!. be sure to overlap edges. This is your initial weed barrier.

Now, wet your cardboard or newspaper with water to hold it in place. if its breezy, place rocks at edges to keep it from blowing away.

Now start layering your 'greens' and 'browns' in thick 1-3 inch layers. Alternate your greens and browns until your bed is 12 - 18 inches high. Top off your bed with a nice 3 - 4 inch layer of Topsoil mixed with composted manure. be sure to wet your bed in between each layer. Dont saturate it, but it should be moist like a wet sponge.

You may choose to edge your garden bed, but i left mine as is and it is holding up nicely.

You can plant right away. as the materials break down, they feed your plants, this makes closer plantings possible as your plants wont be competing for nutrients. This close planting makes for less weeding as well.

if you chose to wait until spring, then keep your beds covered and moist. this aides in the breakdown of the materials and by Spring, you will have a nice rich planting bed to start with!


here are a few links to help you get started!

Websites:

How To Build A Lasagna Garden - About.com
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden...

Lasagna Gardening 101
http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

An Introduction To Lasagna Gardening - thriftyfun.com
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf582744.tip.html

Videos:

Lasagna Gardening; Part 1 - Youtube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpfB6lkbSwc

Sheet Mulch Garden (lasagna gardening) - Youtube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfYmazZ2L_Q

Happy Gardening!


*** once a the thread is closed, please refrain from continuing to post in it, just carry your convo over to the new thread.. This ensures that our fellow gardeners with dial up will not miss posts due to long threads and wait times. :)


This message was edited Sep 12, 2009 4:24 PM

Thank You Seray.

Cue did this one Arejay! Fusing ain't it. LOL

Oh sorry of course she did its Lasagna gardening Duh!!!

Ok now where are we having Mojitos! LOL Here and there. Sounds like a block party to me. Just think now we can have mojitos (margaritas for some) on this forum. What ever this forum is. And the Brug forum. Then the Beginner forum. Before you know it Newbies will be everywhere with Newbie mojitos. Wonder which forum Gilda will call home? It's a newbie take over I tell ya!

Back to stripping leaves from brush. My place is sure looking better. :)

Hi Seray ,
I think I will break my own habit and have a mojito with you tonight!!

A double don't ya think? LOL

Ok !!!

Maybe even 2 doubles! Apparentlly we as newbies have offended some of the old timers. That's the only thing I can figure. It almost sounds like they (whoever "they" are) do not want to have anything to do with "newbies" and we are in their way. But I could be reading it all wrong.

Hi Skellogg

When I first came on there was only Robin's thread. Then we got to know each other a little by chatting on the free seed for newbies, then we went for the lasagna bed, then we did the Brug sprout, then we did the junkie chit chat. All in about 4 months or so. Kind took over the trading thread with our enthusiasm. No harm really. I've talked with many of the girls and they are awesome resources. They like us. We're kinda like puppies. You can only take so much. LOL

I think Skell,
The problem is we have grown as a group by leaps and bounds. If you look back at the newbie thread prior to us inhabiting it. It was not as it is now. We have more than doubles in size I would say. What happens is with all of our extra threads.Which are great and we love them. The trade threads get overcome with our stuff. We get going sometimes we can run a thread up in less than a day. I have to go ask someone where we are sometimes and I started as the thread monitor....so when all of that happens. Serious seed searchers and savers cant find the threads to swap their seed. Look at it this way. The "old timers" swapping their seed must be done to keep getting seed for the newbies!! There seed fills our envies...so it is great to help them wade through the lasagna beds we make by the truckload....Buy the way ( I don't think I can be a newbie anymore it is almost a year:(

OHHH Seray ...Puppies...Lol that was a good one have you already had two Mojos?

Arejay! You're the Newbie momma. Perpetual Newbie. Sorry. Youth forever for you. :)

Not yet waiting for the party. Where's the chit chat? Cue says she'll close the old one. Open her up and let's get these boxes moved.

I guess I won't put in my 2 cents worth cause it would make somebody mad and I don't want that again.

Happy Days Girls. It's got to get better. LOL

How do you feel about Garden Talk?

We jsut wont be able to change the post every 200 we will have to let it go just a bit longer so as not to take the top thread all the time? How is that?

This is what it looks like
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/gardentalk/all/

Perfecto Arejay! We had a home and didn't know it. LOL

Yeay!!! ok Ill go post.

I understand all that. I just don't get why it's a problem reading the titles, I guess. Don't mind moving where ever, just don't get why they are so upset. When I first joined, (way back in April LOL!) I posted a thread on something, don't even remember what, and Dave sent me an email telling me they moved my thread to the correct place. Guess I just assumed that if we were in the wrong place, we would have been informed of that and been moved to the right place. I just hope that I haven't offended anyone or made anyone mad, just the way I was looking at it, right or wrong. ;-)

I like moving this way! No boxes to pack, no furniture to move, no pickups and trailers to load! LOL!

Nope no one mad! Just some reorganization. Arejay is posting a new thread for the Seed Junkie Chit Chat. In (of all places) garden talk forum. LOL She'll post the link here and we'll have a mojito to celebrate our ritzy new home.

I am looking for the link to the latest Auction anyone have it?

I think I have lost out on some of it and will have to sort thru and find every one again. OH it happens.

The new Seed Junkie Chit Chat thread is here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1037667/

Bring your drinks. LOL

What's the difference between using straw or hay in the lasagna beds? Is one preferable to another? I see ads on Craigslist for straw, hay, timothy grass, wheat hay, etc. for about $2.50 bale. I have no clue what the differences are or which I should use.

I think straw and hay are both brown and acceptable LollyJ. Pine straw here is $3 a bale. Any would work for a brown layer. I don't think it matters if you just keep adding brown and green brown and green.

can someone please pass the Parmesan cheese and White Zin to go with our lasagna?? Or maybe a Mojitooooo

I used old straw because that is what is available for me for free. I could have used hay, but with animals we need all the hay we can get for feed. Straw for me is more expendable for such things as gardening, and hay is just to valuable here, LOL! Besides the deer won't bother the straw, and I don't want to encourage them hanging around picking hay out of my lasagna beds!

re: straw - I think one big benefit is that straw won't sprout roots like some of the hay does. I'm having a terrible time in my lasagna bed with bermuda grass coming through or sprouting up. That stuff is THE WORST.

But with all the rain we're getting here this weekend, my lasagna bed may just wash off down the hill before it is over. LOL.
Been raining since Friday afternoon and still pouring down. But we need it and whatever damage it does will be so worth it.

I used pine straw on mine DNP. I have tomato sprouts coming through from some of the old potting soil I used. LOL I think straw would've kept them buried. What's a few tomatoes in your iris bed huh! Just kidding. They've started my next layer of green.

Glad you're getting some rain.

For the last couple of days I have been cleaning up hay soaked from rain and horsey doo and putting it in my beds. The horses waste a bunch when they pull from the roll and the mares dirty it up. I pick it up because 1) I don't want them eating it, and 2) it attracts all the bad bugs. It's common Bermuda which isn't as hardy and invasive as regular Bermuda. It had rained so it was completely soaked.. took us about 25 wheelbarrows full to pick it all up. I'm feeling it today, but it's good exercise. With a constant supply of everything I need, I might have lasagna beds everywhere! I have enough room to start my own nursery.. lol

We'll expect pics of course! :) If that aged it would make good top dressing next spring wouldn't it? Aren't we supposed to keep adding to the beds once they're planted?

I keep adding!! I cant wait to see Mechelle grow into a full blown nursery how about all of you?

Worth a trip to TN. LOL

Wouldn't be to much of a drive for me. LOL

There has to be a Moose Lodge nearby we could all pile up there and visit Mechelle's nursery. LOL Ride her horses. Swim in the lake. You know make ourselves at home. LOL

Oh yes!! Dont go without me!! I wanna go!! Spring how about spring? You ready for us Mechelle?

Beautiful up there (being in GA an all) in spring. Sounds like a plan. Gilda can go too.