Lasagna Gardening
Written by biscuit on May 21, 2008 – 4:06 pm -Picture it: a barren landscape littered with baling wire, abandoned axes and halters, mountains of river rock and perhaps a quarter inch of soil covering the boulders beneath the surface, surrounded by the contradiction of lush forest, wild flowers and native fruits.
Then, two - three years later, this:
And all thanks to the magic of Lasagna Gardening
And it’s so incredibly simple - and sustainable. Lasagna gardening, aka no-till gardening, consists of building up layers on top of the existing soil. You begin by laying down something to basically block the ground beneath. I usually use cardboard boxes, but I’ve heard of people using newspapers, old sheets — even mattresses?
Okay, so that last suggestion came from The Psychotic Farmers’ Forum, but hey! Whatever floats your boat, I suppose - although it hardly seems sustainable and I certainly wouldn’t suggest it.
Then, once you plot out your future garden with the cardboard boxes or whatever, start dumping stuff on it. There’s all kinds of scientific descriptions of exactly what you’re supposed to do and the dire consequences if you don’t, but I’m not a terribly methodical person and the absence of method to my madness hasn’t failed me yet.
My general procedure, however, is to lay down the cardboard, secure it around the edges with something (cinder blocks, rocks and boulders, logs), then lay down compost, lay down peat, toss in the dirt from old flower pots and failed seed plantings, run into the pastures and get some manure if I forgot to put it in the compost earlier in the year, throw on some more compost, maybe add some nutrients (I’m a big fan of epsom salts), add more peat, then cover the whole thing with 5″ - 6″ - +” of straw, water well and go do something else for a month.
Or a few months.
Then, when I feel it’s percolated a bit, I pull out the trusty pitchfork, pull back the straw (anxiously watching for chipmunk or bunny babies, tiny baby rat snakes, skinks, or other critters), and I stir the mix, recover with straw, then ruminate for a while.
If the signs are right and the soil looks good, I start planting.
If not, I wait a while longer.
And that’s all there is to that. The easiest process of gardening ever - and cheaper than renting a roto-tiller or depending on someone else to bring their tractor around.
Now I need to go mow. I’ll be back later for any questions.
Posted in Diaries, Environment, Farming and Homesteading, Gardening, Urban Gardening |
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Speaking of chipmunks, I drove across the old bridge home today and saw one throw himself off the side of the bridge.
?????
Oh, and apologies for the quality of the photo. The sun is so bright here in summer, I have to wait til dusk to take photos outside. But it gives you an idea …
Thanks, Biscuit, I do Square Foot Gardening myself in self defense as I have NO backyard. It worked out last year, but with the composting pile, we have bunnies and raccoons and squirrels visiting all the time, much less the deer snacking on the salad greens. I’ll be glad to get to a fenced yard someday.
Lasagna gardening is “made” for landscapes like yours!
For those who have never heard of it, lasagna gardening speeds up nature’s way of making fertile soil - layers of compostable stuff becoming gardening dirt. But, rather than taking years, lasagna gardening takes weeks! I have planted on a lasagna patch as early as two weeks after laying things down. I grew shallow-rooted plants at first - lettuces and greens, interspersed with legumes that I did not harvest, but dug under - and by the next growing season, I had a very fertile patch of land!
It’s extraordinary! My neighbors can’t believe it. Most of them plant fairly traditionally, although a few of them still plant by “the signs” (and someday, I’m going to get one of them to teach me just what those signs are, too) (they witch for water, too) and have some *very* interesting gardens.
Another thing, and something which will help explain my obsession with mowing - mowing builds soil. I always “knew” that, but I know it for fact now. I began with almost all rock and no soil here - I now have several inches in my unplanted areas. I’m also getting quite a nice collection of wild flowers going, thanks to that and my crazy mowing patterns (I mow around potential wild flowers and clover).
I’m at home so can’t see the pic but this is a good idea for folks to start thinking about growing stuff: there’s an inherent farmer in all of us!
Fantastic idea, biscuit. Never occurred to me before..I have a strip of grassy field which I have been meaning to turn into something useful, and I’ll give this a try. Had to laugh at your chipmunk (lemming?)!!
This is marvelous, Biscuit! It’s exactly the information I need to give me courage for the next step of my urban farming adventure. I am bookmarking the linked article for frequent reference.
I’ve actually done lasagne gardening without realizing it: I reclaimed some lawn areas for ornamental plantings in this way, and they’ve been very successful. Now for the food crops!
Biscuit, would you consider substituting this link for the one in your diary?
http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm
It contains pretty much all the same info on a single, easy-to-load page. It’s great!