The Lasagna Garden Brigade # 3

We came From Here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1037637/



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. :)

-cue

Good morning everyone..

gooood afternoon.

couldnt close the previous thread for some reason.. wasnt an option

Found It! Hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day!

Thank you so much for including us in your gardening. I will try it. It sounds too good to be true. My gardening does need some help.

Welcome behill.. you will swear by lasagna bed gardening once you have done it and experienced the results.. trust us!

Ok Ladies and Gents.. it's time for a L-Bed report!

How did yours do? Are you growing something it it already? Whats your experience if it was the first time trying this?

I had a blast building mine! This Spring, I encircled mine with flagstone and planted an herb garden intermixed with Marigolds. I gotta tell ya, those herbs are growing by leaps and bounds. They are sooo happy!!

Mine are everywhere, as our dirt (if that's what you can call it) is so awful, had to do something just so I could dig! Gotta tell you, I need to keep adding layers, tho, as over the winter it just kept shrinking of course, and now I want it much deeper, lol! Just starting to plant mine, and this weekend one of them actually grew bird houses! Sure made it much easier digging to put in the petunias, tho!

Oh WOW!!! I want some of those there Bird House seeds when ya harvest ROTFL.

Very cool tho!

Thanks Cue! Amazing the kind of stuff I have just laying around, and that I pick up free from people here. Did you notice all our wonderful clay and rocks that you can see from digging the post holes? Thank God I learned about L-beds or I would still have weeds out front, lol! Apparently, all the people that have owned this place before us had never heard of topsoil either, lol! And I'll save you some seeds if I notice any seed pods ;-) (wink)

yeah, my yard is nothing but sand. Dig down about a foot and you hit pure white sand...not exactly the best growing medium...LOL. Topsoil is a Godsend.

and I'll keep my eye out for that envy of 'bird house' seed ;)

LOL - bird house seed...

We have nothing but caliche here and very alkaline soil. My small LB has been planted since December with annual and perennial wildflowers. I have 4' tall bachelor buttons there - lol...

Another one is in process - it's probably 2' x 20'. Not sure what I will plant there yet. It is on the north side of a south facing wall. Gets mostly shade in the winter and a whole lotta Arizona blazing summer sun...

Sunflowers baby!

Yup - figured those would work. I'm also gonna pick the peeps brains here. There are actually a few vines and such that will probably thrive in that full sun...

Mandevilla would work

Thanks sis - I'll check that one out...

My husband and I started lasagna gardening last fall after I read about it somewhere. I think he thought I was a bit crazy at first but when I explained the concept and the fact that earthworms LOVE newspaper and help in the process he built a compost bin and we started covering our yard. He liked the fact he didn't have to till and his mowing would be greatly decreased. We weren't able to grow grass anyway, just weeds, because of our clay soil and too many trees. So we cut a couple of trees down and started layering. We use all the leaves from our trees and we're spreading some chicken manure over all of the beds this weekend. This is a picture of just one of them, they will eventually all join with paths between and cover most of our front yard. I'm not satisfied with the number of layers yet and found some spots with grass growing where our "helpers" aka grandsons didn't put the newspaper down properly so I'm holding off until the fall. They should be good and ready by then. Also bought some "super red wigglers" and put a couple of colonies down in each bed to help the process. Did some wintersowing and had good results from hollyhocks, dianthus, tomatoes and pink malvas. The process is so fun and it's so interesting to learn from all of you. Didn't know we weren't supposed to put citrus in the compost until I read it here...can you explain why not? I will post another picture when we plant in the beds. Thank you all for sharing your experiences!

I think because of the fungus and disease citrus is known to carry, it's generally discouraged. However, there are as many sites that claim that you can compost citrus peels as there are sites that say don't. I say use your own judgment in this case :)

The reaso you don't want to add citrus or onions is because the worms don't like the acids that citrus and onion produces and it will keep them away. I read that in a worm garden forum. You will be so pleased with the soil Dirt Lover. I started several LB starting last summer and you just won't believe how wonderful it is. You will get some weeds unfortunately but the good thing is that they are super easy to pull because the soil ends up being so soft and loose. Keep us posted on your progress!

Didn't know about the worms MechelleT, thqanks for the info! I just make it a practice never to put citrus or Onin in the garden anyway... but everything else is all good...lol

Thank you so much for your replies cue_chik and Mechelle T. I will definately stop putting them in and will use them to get the slugs!! I already use crushed eggs shells, especially around my Dahlias. Drat those slugs!!

Yeah, I was checking into how to build a worm farm and read it there. Makes sense and you sure don't want to scare the worms away! They do all the work for you, don 't they? I have been experimenting with my veggie garden. I did a few rows where there was a lot of pine needles mixed with the manure. The soil is taking longer to break down and the veggies I have aren't growing really fast. I have to constantly water to keep it moist too. So I won't use pine needles anymore. The pine needles do a good job of acting as a mulch and blocking the weeds though. It would probably be okay for other flower beds but I don't like them in my veggie garden.

I've read on several sites that when using pine needles, you should sprinkle lime on them.

if they arent breaking down fast enough, try breaking or chopping them into smaller pieces. Whole pine needles in a thick layer will mat together and actually keep water from reaching the plants roots.

We had a pasture that we cleaned last year that had a lot of pine needles and they got raked in with the manure. I heard some people pile them up and run them over with the lawn mower to break them up! Whatever works I guess! I want to make big bins where I can keep all my "ingredients" seperated. Manure in one, leaves in another, grass clippings, etc. I was thinking like a 4' x 10' cinder wall .. One day I will do it, lol..

Great idea Mechelle! I would love to have enough room for that. Ahhh, someday, I will own several hundred acres! Just think of the L-beds, lol!

Have you done any lasagna beds Sandi? I am more and more impressed with the soil every time I work in a different bed. I did my veggie garden lasagna bed style. The soil is good this year but will be really awesome next year.

I have lasagna beds so far. Started them all last year, and are adding to them this year, of course. I am so happy that I found out about them, because with our rocky clay, there would be no way to get things growing without them! And the existing beds that were here when we bought the place are turning into L beds too, as I keep adding to them also. I just keep adding to each one of them. Next year the dirt will be real dirt, lol! I could use about 4 more pick up loads of aged manure right now! Gonna have to go visit DS again, lol!

you are sooo lucky to have an unlimited supply of.. doo doo...LOL

doo doo gets the job did did, LOL

Bump...
Just to make this thread easier to find after the new forum arrangement.

I would like to hear from anyone who set up a garden using this system. Most of these posts are from about 5 years ago, plenty of time for these materials to have done their job at soil improvement and weed abatement.

How has it improved the soil over the years?
How long did the weeds stay away? (Which weeds?)

How have you used this area, and how does it compare to doing a similar project without the 'Lasagna' prep?