composting

I'm trying lazagna gradening, but have a question. Once I put down the lazagna layers should I cover the area with plasic to help it compost. And if so should I use clear or black plastic.

No plastic, let it breathe. Without air it might become anerobic, foster pathogens. If you want to cover it, use burlap. (this is known as interbay mulch). No cover at all is necessary though.

Karen

Thanks Karen. I guess I'm doing it right. Layering leaves, newspaper, cardboard and leaves on top. I've also started a compost bin.

Good luck. Worked well for me. I was very happy with the results.

Karen

marti, not sure where the idea came from using sheets of cardboard in lasagna gardening, but I tried it in some sunken/raised beds along with composted horse manure, leaves, grass, and shredded news paper. When I completely dug the beds up two seasons later the cardboard was still intact. Last season I used cardboard as a bottom layer to conserve moisture in these dug down raised bed. Thanks to your thread here marti, the thought occured to me to use cardboard to cover a layer of fresh manure for heating purposes in these raised beds. Point being I think cardboard my be useful as a root barier, but harmful in you want your plant roots to reach the various layers of your lasagna garden. Just a thought marti.

Good idea. I'll have to check that out. I'm using cardboard under my tires that I'm going to plant tomatoes and zucchini in. I'm hoping it will keep the weeds from growing up under them.

mraider: As I said above, the idea of covering your basic lasagna with burlap or a breathable fabric is known as "interbay mulch" . You can google the term to learn about it. Works well.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2000081841014638.html

The hump must be moistened as it is built, starting with wet cardboard. My plants never have trouble sinking their roots down through the cardboard. Here's a picture of an area I did . Tiny seedlings planted out into the area in spring. (salvia closest to camera, four o'clock beyond.

Karen

July 4.

Karen

By late fall, they were as tall as my 4 ft. fence. They had no problem sinking their roots through the cardboard. By fall, the cardboard had disappeared.

Karen

I'll echo Karen on the cardboard: soak it prior to use.
I have used cardboard extensively for a variety of things - it breaks down rapidly here, perhaps due to the amount of rain. I've found that it does take longer to break down when I have used it dry - to suppress weeds along paths, as an example.
Another way to use: where I am trying to raise the soil level via Lasagna or layering method is to keep large boxes intact, layer the compostables into the boxes & butt them up next to each other. This way I can cover a larger area, the boxes keep everything contained & I can build up over a period of time when I am short of components to compost. It's sort of dog-proof, too.
When wet, cardboard has paper mache' qualities, and can be used as a reinforcement for the sides of berms, and planting basins. Covered with a couple inches of soil, it generally takes about 3 months to break down, unless it's some heavy duty version. The worms migrate to it, too.

Points taken on using cardboard. Not wetting and possibly the zone may be reasons for the lack of degrading. Based on your comments I have considered several other methods for using cardboard in my raised beds for next season. Typically these beds serve several purposes. Each bed is dug down an additional foot or more and serve as storage for horse manure during the winter months. In the spring the deeper beds are covered and used to harden off tomato and pepper plants. I have been looking for ways to subsurface heat a couple of deepest beds for an early start on several crops. The application of a bottom layer of fresh horse manure covered with cardboard could be helpful. Thanks too Karen for the Interbay Mulch link.

Wow Karen, Just finished reading the link you posted on using wet burlap. A number of great tips there which I had not seen elsewhere. Good Job! TYVM

When I was starting my first interbay mulch I found that types of burlap can vary a lot. Home Depot sold rolls of the stuff in the garden center which are a very open weave that doesn't accomplish the goals (provide darkness and retain moisture) very well. Burlap from a fabric store was much tighter weave and worked much better (I thought) to achieve those goals. After my husband tossed it out I didn't want to invest in purchasing new burlap the next year.

I have a large bag of old sheets and lightweight blankets that I keep strictly for garden use, like covering plants to protect from frost. I tried those for covering my new interbay mulch beds and they work pretty well and are free. I use those now. I currently have a couple of those old bedsheets covering my new raised tomato beds, built last fall, for the winter.

Karen

Recycled burlap, like the Star Bucks coffee bean sacks mentioned in the article, are difficult to come by. I had used burlap from a fabric shop in a worm composting project once and you're correct Karen, the weave is much tighter than most burlap sacks. And your undoubtly correct Karen that the expense is probably much greater now than the benefits achieved. I recall this article mentioned using two layers of burlap vs one. I am taking a tour around town next week to check on several of the 'free' resouces mentioned in this article. It will be interesting to see the results. Glad marti started this thread...It has opened up a number of new ideas worth looking into. TYVM marti001

Your Welcome! I've learned alot about composting also from this thread. Thanks for all the information. Keep it coming as I have alot to learn.

This idea was conceived at Seattle's p-patch project sites. So in Seattle I imagine coffee bean sacks are easy to come by. Not so here in Ohio though. That's why I now use old bedsheets and the like. It seems to work well for me and I've done it several times.

Karen