ok call me nuts (I'm sure the nieghbors will) but to cut down on mowng I'm going to "try" to turn my side yard into a sort of "court yard" by starting a lasagna bed ---- from what I've read it may take a while for it to break down into a nice loam but after it does I should have a pretty planted long area of green & flowers. I get so many leaves dropping in the fall it will actually save me a boat load of bagging time & eventually mowing time will be cut in half! Brown gold!
Lasagna gardening
momof2d~ I to have been making lasagna garden beds. I made one bed for my raspberries and three beds for some corn. I also made one bed for aspagagus. According to the book, it says that you can begin planting right away. As I made mine, I just really tried to have the right amount of browns to greens to help aid in the break down. I cut a lot of mowing time out of my yard too. (BONUS) Now About the leaves, that kills me that you were bagging them. I would have loved to take them off your hands. I LOVE to collect leaves from all my neighbors. I take my mower and shred them up and use them in my compost piles. Start composting them. It is really fun and addicting to. LOL I am constatly looking for stuff to add to my compost pile. Good luck. Your neighbors may look at you kinda funny at first. Mine sure did. After it is done, they won't look at you funny anymore, because it works. I can't beleive my flower gardens in my front yard. Since I started to make my own compost, I get so many complements and questions as to how my yard looks so good. It all begins with the soil!! You will have to show us pics of it when you are done. HAVE FUN!!!
Lissyj - Thanks for the encouragement! What you've written makes me anxious to get started. I did'nt realize I could plant right away. My side yard is a "shady" area so I may move some of the shade plants I have along my chain link fence to help "fill in" the lasagna garden, and the plus of "no mowing" ... thats really exciting - more time to spend enjoying my efforts! I have the book so I'll get it out & re-read some of the details. I'll let you know how it goes, thanks, Jill
I am starting a new perinial bed this year, what is the lasagne method?
Go to the library and get the book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. For those with limited time and or experience it works well for starting new beds. So well that you will be a compost addict after a short while.
Or if you google "lasagna gardening" you will also find a lot of info on the web. Some may call it sheet composting or interbay mulch (same thing, just covered with burlap). Once you get the gist of it, you can use just about any organic materials for the same end result.
Karen
Thanks for the help, I did google and the book used is about 7.00 on Amazon should be here at the end of the week. I will wing it as plants come UPS in three days. Busy weekend even if it does rain!
I'm back (see message 4/11/07) I have 2 lasagne beds that I planted immediately. I with daylilies and herbs as an edging. The daylilies are robust they were slow to start because they bare root and just kept wet for 3 weeks prior to planting but they look very healthy and I am getting huge blooms this year. The second bed was planted with ornimental grasses, beside a pool. They have really taken off. About 3 days before a pool party I decided I needed some color and leaf variety so in 95 degree heat (and going up) I planted very dark larg elephant ears and large, in bloom, yellow callas, I don't have the varieties at my finger tips. They have not missed a beat. 3 weeks later they are larger in the southeast heat wave with new growth.
This morning I started another area. Only did layered 1/5 of the area as it is 20 x 30 ft planning on knock out roses, peonies, and some low maintience things.....
More impressed am I of you lasting in this heat than the plants, wow!!!
When I heard Pat Lanza speak I thought "yeah, right" and never thought that method had a chance in the southeast. I have to hand it to her however, it does work. Congratulations on your success Adonika (and your perserverance in this heat). LOL
Adonika1,
I would love to see pictures of your new beds.
Adonika1 , thats inspiring .... ok , getting my lasagna gardening book out again! The bed I started had too many dry leaves & not much else so now all I have is a bare lawn where the leaves were, its a shady area so I guess thats probably why they did'nt break down - however ... the grass is gone & I can plant! (I pilled the leaves into the compost bins.)
I went to the library today and got the book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza
but before I got the book . after reading all your posts here I started at extending an existing bed by using layers of wet newspaper topped with about 4 inches of my compost ..... that should work don't you think?
Judy
Early last Spring, I purchased both Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! by Patricia Lanza; along with Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich. I'm really glad that I did! With the extreme heat and drought that we've experienced in the Midwest this summer, my garden and plants would not have survived without applying the methods that I learned in these two books. I wouldn't have survived if I'd had to weed in the heat. I'm glad to read that others are also applying the Lasagna Gardening method and still have more beds to build. I'll be keeping a watch for future posts on this topic and am looking forward to sharing ideas. I even have a Lasagna bed rose garden.
Hi all,
I am starting a lasagna bed this fall for my new daylily bed and I am on my way to the library right now to get that book by Patrica Lanza and I wanted to thank you for the information. Can't wait to get started on the bed.
Can I go ahead and plant the daylilies this fall in the lasagna bed or do I wait till it breaks down and plant them in the new bed next spring?
Pat says to plant right away. I wasn't sure I could get a shovel through all those layers of heavy wet newspaper so I actually built my bed around a empty plastic pot . After the first few layers I placed plastic pots where I wanted them and built the rest of the bed around them. When it was done I pulled the pots out and popped in the plants.
Thanks ardesia,
I will do just like you. I just got the book and am going to read it this afternoon.
Betty
Another convert, woo hoo!!!
paagancat,
Yes , once again. I hate to admit it, but I have a compost tumbler--one of the large ones and I have not used it in several years. It makes great compost in just two weeks, but in the past few years I have gotten lazy about using it, because it has to be filled up almost to the top each time. I have to go to the neighbor's yards to get enough freshly cut grass clippings on the day I fill it up. I also use sawdust which I get from the Lumber Yard. And I add blood meal occasionally. I turn it once a day and in two weeks---Black Gold. But like I have said--I have gotten really lazy about filling it the past few years. I may get encouraged to try again next year.
Some people recommend sheet composting, rather than using a composter. That's what the lasagna beds are really about. greens and browns, they turn into humus rich soil.
Hmmm... lemme think. Louisville is a few hours north of me - that's it.
I'll trade you some sheets for your compost bin, 'k?
pagancat, LOL!!!!!!
I am still thinking about what gloria said about the lasagna beds being better than the compost tumblers. I am not certain why , so maybe she can explain that to me.
Quoted from Bill Mollison (founder of Permaculture) Pamphlet IX. Permaculture Techniques. p. 2. http://www.churchofdeepecology.org/permaculture.htm
Now let me tell you about composting
as against mulch. Every time you
compost, you decrease the nutrients,
sometimes to one 20th of the original.
Usually, though, you get about a 12th
of the nutrient out of compost that
you get out of mulch. So what have
you done by composting? You have
worked hard to decrease the nutrients
badly. Most of them go into the air.
Composting consumes them. We want
to get right out of composting. We
want to get back into sheet mulching.
In composting, you are taking a lot of
material, putting it into a small place,
and letting the whole of the decomposition
activity happen under hot conditions
which can be appropriate for
some things. When you mulch, you are
spreading those materials and letting
the process occur much more slowly
on the surface of the soil. Any leach
loss goes into the soil, and the general
level of activity spreads across the
whole of it. By the time the mulch has
reduced to compost, most of the action
has finished. If you want to get
maximum value out of what you have,
sheet mulch it. If you want to increase
your nutrient base, do it
efficiently.
There are some items that are good
to compost, but you need a very,
very small amount of compost, maybe
a cubic yard, a four cubic foot box.
This message was edited Aug 26, 2007 7:12 AM
This message was edited Aug 26, 2007 7:13 AM
gloria,
That was very helpful. And I guess I have been doing the sheet mulching anyway, by putting grass clippings right on my beds and letting that break down? I guess I will take the composter apart and throw it away. I am serious. I thought that the hot way of composting was good because it destroyed the bad stuff like the bad fungus etc. But I understand now it is best to do it the sheet mulching. My flower beds have done pretty well this year and I added Composted Cow manure to all the beds last Spring.
Betty, your beds have done very well indeed. You should be proud.
I'm truly enjoying this thread. I agree that the Lasgna Gardening method is very effective.
However, I prefer to have more than one source for my info. as a comparison. If you ever get a chance to read Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich, he goes into more detail explaining why mulching is so important & what harm is done when we till the soil. He has a PhD in Horticulture from the U of Md & has spent almost a decade in plant and soil research with the USDA and Cornell University. Reich agrees with the practice of "lasgna gardening" which he mentions in his book. Here's the link to his website: http://www.leereich.com Click on "In the Garden Now" for a brief explanation of his views on the benefits of "weedless gardening". Since I practice the square foot gardening techniques from the book by Mel Bartholomew, the lasagna method was perfect for my square foot beds.
Ive also been mulching with grass clippings & leaves for some years now & have added a thick layer of newspaper beneath. In addition, I now put down composted manure. I don't compost because my city has an ordinance against it. That's what lead me to these alternative methods of improving the soil in my garden. Now I don't feel so bad about the "no composting" ordinance after reading gloria125's post. Thanks gloria!
BettyFB, your flowerbed is gorgeous for so many reasons. You definitely have a green thumb & an artistic touch that I envy! Your photo has truly inspired me.
A Betty 2
BettyFB: I wouldn't throw that composter away. You still need compost, you just don't need to try to build your beds out of it. The information I gave you is from 1981. As greenbrain, points out a lot of improvements have been made. A lot of them have been reported in this forum. It is really informative to check back through the threads.
I found you can use Search, then Edit>Find from your browser to scan a page for a specific topic - like "lasagna".
Also, watch for any postings by "Soferdig" and "Al Tapla". They are really the gurus of dirt around here.
I'm about to do a lasagna garden on my front lawn. Have lifted sod just to make an edge for the new garden and am ready to order soil. I'm planning on mowing the law really short quite soon. Have been saving newspapers all summer. Then I will add a generous layer of mushroom compost. I'm thinking about 4-5 inches of the stuff. May also empty out the large composter that has been mostly dormant this summer. We usually screen the compost, but if we layer it we won't have to. The composter we've been using will remain. We have half of the year too cold to get much composting done.
I guess my main question, from what I've been reading is whether 4-5 inches of mushroom compost will be enough. Any ideas?
Ann
Thanks ardesia, I have loved gardening since childhood and it is in my genes. My mom loved gardening too. She helped me start my first marigold garden at the age of 7, and I was hooked .
Thanks greenbrain --I will click on that website now. I am new to this forum and learning so much. So exciting. I want to start my lasagna bed now but have to wait for the leaves to fall. Thanks for the nice reply about my front yard.
Thanks gloria, I am glad to know I can still use the Compost Tumber; it did cost $300. Also I have read the Tapla thread on potting soil and I potted some plants using his formula, which is mainly Pine Bark Fines. I have been very impressed. The pot has continued to do well and there is no sign of decline. I will post a picture of that pot. Also I am going to use the Pine Bark Fines in my Lasagna bed.
I hafta second Gloria's second comment - in my kinda half-donkey way.
I would say that there needs to be a number of ways you can do this composting thang. Lasagna beds (aka sheet composting) are great for starting a new bed, reviving an old bed - but what about the bed that is fully planted that you don't want to disturb? Mulching, of course. And sometimes you have ready material for that - bark chips, etc - but what about when you don't, what about container gardening, and what are you going to do with all of that yard waste?
Throw it away???
oooo Noooo!!!! Any one who has been composting for any amount of time would shudder at the thought!
So there's a number of ways of dealing with the situation, a bunch of plus-and-minus ways, like anything else.
Diversify, diversify, diversify - as well as you can. Not everyone can do all of it, but there's tools to help you do what you can.
ViolaAnn: Re: Lasagna Bed on lawn. You don't need to dig up the lawn, just water well, and lay down the wet newspapers or cardboard. Somepeople recommend putting coffee grounds under the newspapers/cardboard to get everything started. Then you need to layer greens and browns. Lawn clippings, straw and leaves, vegetable waste. weeds. shredded paper. coffee grounds. used tea bags. shredded bark. Anything organic can go in there. Lasagnia gardening is a no-till method. I would say 4 to 5 inches of compost is enough for 4 or 5 beds.
Coffee grounds on top of the law! Good idea. I can get those, I think. I have the newspapers. But it is too late in the year for much actual composting to get done in place. That is why I will use commercial mushroom compost instead of top soil and add it on top of the newspapers. But will also unload our dormant composter and use it as well. (We have two composters in the yard that DH built from pressure treated wood - each about a metre square and maybe 1 1/2 metre high.
We generally do lazy composting - just throw the stuff in and wait - alternating years on which one is active. Then in the fall we unload one into the veggie garden where it generally sits until spring when we screen it. Using it under the mushroom compost will avoid the screening process. I won't have enough lawn clippings left to make much impact because this garden is taking a large chunk of my lawn. I could wait until fall and use the leaves, but they won't break down over the winter here; so they are better in the composter.
Ann
ViolaAnn: My brother lives in Ottawa. Ive visited there a few times. I know that some things don't work the way they do in
Alabama. Sounds like you have it figured out.
gloria
I have a question for ya'll. Do you use blocks or anything as a border to hold all of your layers in so they don't spill sideways instead of piling up?
Thanks!
Hi all,
I am getting ready to start a lasagna bed. Can I use sawdust from the lumber mill and also what about wheat straw or oat straw? Will the straw produce weed seeds and therefore not be a good idea to use ?
Great question homemom---that was my other question.
homemom1, Betty FB:
I found a guy who had a bunch of cement blocks he was selling cheap, and that's what I am using to build my beds. I also found some vinyl siding some one had discarded beside the road. Im using the siding for ends, because I hope to expand later. You don't really need the blocks, but then you have to keep shoveling the edges back into place.
As to the sawdust/straw question, I would be careful of the sawdust. Near me is an old sawdust pile from an old saw mill. I thought I had a real find, but all the plants I put in that saw dust died. It had walnut or creosote or something in it. Sawdust also tends to compact, so there is no air in it. It can go sour.
Straw is great, it has air built into it, and if you keep in in the lower part of the bed, the heat will kill the seeds. An even better way, is to throw the straw into the chicken pen. The chicks will eat the seeds, add some chicken poop, then throw it into the lasagna bed.
Thanks Gloria,
I have vinyl siding in the basement and I will get the straw today. I want to go ahead and start the bed this weekend and there are no leaves yet so I will use the straw instead of the leaves and run them through the mower first.
Gloria,
I am new to this thread. Are there any pictures of a lasagna bed just made that I can see?
I used concrete blocks around my rosebed & wondered if they really took off growing then because the lime leaching helped balance the ph. The blocks were from a previous bed that failed. I believe because the plants were acid lovers. Just a guess.
Has anyone successfully built a lasagna bed over shallow tree roots? My 2 large silver maples have put out huge shallow roots that nothing; not even weeds; will grow near. Some are exposed & look really ugly. I thought of trying to cover them with lasagna beds. I'd like to have at least one tree cut down, but that's not within my budget at this time.
I suspect your tree roots will love the lasagna and move right in.
I have never put anything around beds to hold the material and have never found it to fall out. It is only mounded for a short time, as it decays it settles and since it is covered with a mulch it looks neat.