When my friend Paul posted this idea on his Facebook page last week and I thought it was pretty brilliant.
Lasagna gardening isn’t growing ingredients for lasagna but an easy growing technique that Paul’s wife Lorena has successfully implemented. (Those thick noodles are tough to grow! Ha!)
As someone who screwed up her Chia herb garden this winter (seriously), I’m all for easy gardening that works!
The interesting thing about lasagna gardening is while you can do it in a lasagna pan, you can pretty much do it in any container or bed that you want to grow things in. What results is a super productive garden.
I called up Lorena on the phone and by the end of our conversation I was a convert. She started doing this last year, not even digging any beds but sticking her first layer right on the ground.
Basic Concept
Layer 1- Newspaper or cardboard
According to Lorena, this is great to do on a rainy day, as the wet newspapers conform to the shape of the ground.
Layer 2- Something brown- hay or peat moss
Lorena recommends hay. Peat moss can be problematic; it blows around, doesn’t mix well, it’s not a sustainable resource and, you have to hand mix it. Embrace the relative laziness of lasagna gardening and try hay.
Layer 3- Something green- Grass clippings and/or seaweed
Lorena gets free stuff from her neighbor.
Layer 4- Kitchen compost waste
Layer 5- The plants you want to grow and some premixed compost
Lorena puts seeds in ground with organic compost that she gets at a local feed store. She says it works so much better then the regular stuff and worth the extra cash.
Layer 6- Mulch*
You probably don’t have to do this but Lorena mulched everything with grass clippings.
Her initial bed last year was about eight inches high and she’s said now it’s compacted to ground level. She’ll be adding more layers this year to thicken it. Lasagna gardening provides “a nice, aerated canvas to work with” and is “really fun and productive”. This sentiment is won me over “Emptying bags is all I did!”
(An aside: A ten minute conversation with Lorena and I got a process, tips, and good quotes. All interviews should be so easy!)
So despite my small space, I’m going to give lasagna gardening a shot in a couple containers. It sounds like this will be more fun (and ultimately more successful) then my previous attempts.
More about lasagna gardening at ThriftyFun…
Image from ThriftyFun