Lasagna gardening

[Agilityscots]

Hi everyone,

This is the first time I've been here from BYC...very nice!!

This is my first year doing a vegetable garden, and I'd been all set to do Square Foot Gardening until two things happened: my expert gardener brother-in-law talked me out of the method for multiple reasons, and the "Mel's Mix" was just too expensive to the point of being cost-prohibitive.

So I ordered the lasagna gardening book and it's not here yet; I've heard only good things about this method. Anyone here use it? If I create a lasagna bed, can I plant right into it this spring? I have many, many veggies planned: carrots, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peas, bush and pole beans, herbs, onions, squash and much more. All my seeds and plants are from Seed Savers Exchange, so they're all heirlooms.

Amy

 

[patandchickens]

Uh, you do not in ANY way shape or form have to use Mel Bartholomew's recommended soil amendments in order to do, basically, square foot gardening.

It is not an all-or-nothing system, it's just a bunch of useful ideas that you can take what you want and leave the rest. Don't want a bunch of 4' square beds? Sow your seeds his way in wide rows instead. Don't want to follow his precise methods of direct seeding things? Don't; do it however you want, his spacing diagrams are still a very efficient way to plant. Etcetera.

Nothing wrong with the 'lasagna gardening' thing, it's mostly just a good promotional effort (and catchy title ) for sheet composting and planting directly into compost <shrug>. It is not the be-all and end-all, but it is one of anumber of useful solutions to certain types of problems. If you have significant vole (or I suppose rat) problems, it may not be the best method (I speak from Vole City here); some crops do better than others in a freshly-layered garden, and it is not the lowest-water-consumption method IME. But, especially if you have really crappy native soil and do not have any replacement for it right now but *do* have quite a lot of varied compostable materials on hand and ready to go, then the lasagna method can be useful.

Try not to think of gardening books as Methods, though, in a fad diet book kind of sense They're not. They're (almost always) collections of ideas, although some books have more different ideas than others, that you can choose from in a personal way to craft your OWN approach to this year's garden. In time you will end up with your own system that does not match *any* book and continues to evolve from year to year anyhow

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Carri]

Pat's right... I've found that my best information comes from many different places: books, other people, online. Do what you think is best and if it doesn't work out, better luck next year!

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

Hi everyone,

This is the first time I've been here from BYC...very nice!!

This is my first year doing a vegetable garden, and I'd been all set to do Square Foot Gardening until two things happened: my expert gardener brother-in-law talked me out of the method for multiple reasons, and the "Mel's Mix" was just too expensive to the point of being cost-prohibitive.

So I ordered the lasagna gardening book and it's not here yet; I've heard only good things about this method. Anyone here use it? If I create a lasagna bed, can I plant right into it this spring? I have many, many veggies planned: carrots, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peas, bush and pole beans, herbs, onions, squash and much more. All my seeds and plants are from Seed Savers Exchange, so they're all heirlooms.

Amy

I got that Lasagna gardening book at Barnes & Nobles for $5.00. And if you need help on those beans and peas, You know I'll always be here!

 

[Agilityscots]

Pat, thanks so much for your response!

I know it probably seems silly to you experienced gardeners, but newbies like me have no direction other than books. I have no point of reference and no experience, so I'm stuck learning from books for my first vegetable garden...and like Carri said, I'll be better next year! Sometimes, though, I feel overwhelmed when reading this stuff. It seems like there's so much to learn, and it also seems like every veggie is just waiting as a delicious meal for some pest or waiting to be struck by some nasty disease. It makes me want to quit before even trying.

I have very thick, dense clay soil, and I'm hoping to avoid tilling it. Lasagna gardening presents an "easy way out" for me, at least according to the book.

I know we've had voles in our perennial beds...does that mean doing a lasagna style bed would be bad?

Amy

 

[patandchickens]

"There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays
And every single one of them is right'

--R. Kipling

(Substitute 'gardens' for 'tribal lays' in this case )

Look at it this way, gardening is not something *we* do, it is a natural process of nature. For some reason we like to give a different name to when we stick our nose in, but the basic processes are just Nature At Work As Usual.

1) Plants are genetically engineered by about 500 million years of evolution to grow and reproduce. (They do need protection sometimes from animals with about 900 million years of evolutionary practice at eating plants, though).

2) If your dirt gets you dirty when you play in it (as opposed to straight sand or solid rock), it can support reasonable growth of most plants.

So 3) as long as you plant reasonable plants in reasonable locations, water 'em regularly, and keep critters from munching on 'em, then SOMETHING will grow and you will get SOME sort of crop. Realio trulio.

So relax

At the same time, things WILL go wrong. They go wrong for beginners, they go wrong for experienced gardeners, I have no doubt they would have gone wrong for God Himself in the garden of Eden ("Aaaargh, the apple tree has grown so tall it's shading out the lotuses, and the doves have eaten all the lily flowers! On the eighth day I shall create the pruning saw and bird netting, for sure!").

So anyone, almost anywhere, can enjoy at least some success in the garden as long as you go into it with flexible expectations. Really, do not drive yourself nuts trying to anticipate and head off every possible problem. There are too many possible problems But fortunately, as per #1 above, plants are pretty good at growing no matter what we do

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Southern Gardener]

Excellent advice Pat!

Although this is my first veggie garden, my parents had a big garden when I was growing up they just tilled a large patch of ground in what is mostly clay soil didnt do anything special and we were eating tomatoes, squash, cuks, and okra for months! (Ahem, would anyone like to borrow a gardening book I have tons!)

 

[Agilityscots]

Thanks Pat. I guess I'll just do my best and hope
I'll get something out of it.

Amy

 

[aquarose]

I like lasagne gardening. I have had several beds, of several combinations of ingredients. My first was a little rectangle of cinderblocks that I just filled with whatever compostables I had on hand mixed with some soil. Hint: potato peelings will grow into potato plants before they decompose. I also killed a old flowerbed hopelessly overgrown with weeds by laying down cardboard, and covering it with compostables and lots of oak leaves. Took a couple of years, but its now nicely sown with grass. I am going to make a raised bed where soil got compacted last summer from heavy machinery. I will probably just do the same again. Fill it up with whatever I have around (except the garlic mustard and wild garlic) and then be patient.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The thing that attracts me most about lasagna gardening is the 'no weeding' factor. I was told that, if done correctly, a lasagna garden would be basically weed free.