Lasagne Gardening
From Allotments4All
A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding,
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This method of gardening was first shown in a television program with a lady showing her home which had once been an old church house and also had a rich growing vegetable garden was an inspiration. She had turned the old church building into a cafe. With the method she called "lasagne" gardening the middle aged woman provided meals for a healthy group of people from what she grew.
To make a long story short the very easy looking garden was achieved by having one row of newspaper directly on the ground with a layer of peat moss over that. Next came a layer of manure. The next layer was another one of peat moss. Then there was a layer of potting soil on top. Into the potting soil she planted her seeds.
This woman was so convincing as to the wealth of her garden, of course, we had to try it, and so far, it looks really gorgeous. There are cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower standing straight and growing rapidly.
We had to wet the place where the plants were to go after we finished our lasagne garden and then we took a small heavy metal wrecking bar to punch the holes through the paper in order to plant. This was an easy enough task, since my nephew did it for me. The strength of youth is wonderful isn't it.
He has a real love for gardening and is always looking for better ways to do things also. This makes for even more pleasant projects.
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By Lynda Guydon Taylor, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Browsing the shelves of Citizens Library one day last year, Joanna Mungai's eyes fixed on the title "Lasagna Gardening."
On the cover, an artist's drawing showed a gloved hand lifting a layered square of organic materials topped by veggies.
Perhaps, she mused, it was a book about raising herbs and tomatoes that make up the Italian dish she enjoys. A closer read, however, revealed "Lasagna Gardening ... A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!"
"Then, when I read it, I thought 'Wow,' " Mungai said.
Author Patricia Lanza advocates building a garden from the ground up by layering mulch and organic materials on top of the soil instead of digging the traditional 12 to 18 inches into the earth before planting. It cuts down on a lot of the grunt work many, if not most, gardeners abhor.
That sounded like a winning recipe for Mungai, a master gardener who, with two young daughters, is time-challenged. She figured anything reducing labor-intensive chores was worth a look.
Today, she's hooked on the method and lectures on the topic but credits Lanza, who acknowledged it is something that's been around for awhile. She just brought it to the forefront, Mungai said.
Among those Mungai first had to persuade of its merits was her husband, Evan, who was convinced it would not work. The Canton couple waged a marital "contest" of sorts, with Joanna building a lasagna garden and Evan doing the traditional tilling. As the season progressed, neither had the time to weed. In the end, while Joanna's plot thrived relatively weed free, Evan's did not.
"He was very skeptical you could grow without dirt," she said.
One lesson learned: less weeding and watering compared to a regular garden. By laying newspaper first on top of the grass, a gardener eliminates the possibility of any dormant weed seeds growing. The only weeds that grow are airborne, but they are easily pulled because the soil is so loose.
"The reason I started this is because we have a well, and last summer, during the drought, we didn't have water at all, and I couldn't water my vegetables," Mungai said.
The moisture is held in by the newspaper and organic materials compared to a regular garden, where rain water easily dissipates.
Mungai tried the idea last year and was so pleased that she persuaded neighbors Alvin and Linda Dinsmore to give it a try. Challenged by poor clay soil, the enemy of so many gardeners in this area, the Dinsmores of Canton had had little luck raising vegetables the traditional way.
Talking about his wife, Dinsmore said, "she's never had a garden. She's just been tickled to death, especially with all the cucumbers we've had."
Pulling a steroid-sized carrot from the ground, Dinsmore laughed at a visitor's response.
"Not very pretty," he acknowledged. "They weren't all that big, but a good many of them had size to them."
"It's because the soil is so loose that you can grow carrots in here so easily. Well, if you grow carrots in a regular garden, they'd be like golf balls sometimes if your soil is not loose enough," Mungai said.
Using the method Lanza explains in her book, Dinsmore first laid down cardboard, followed by peat moss, then hay and decayed hay on top. The only thing he had to buy was the peat moss. The various layers serve as a mulch to prohibit weeds from growing and protect the soil from the ill effects of sun, wind and rain.
Newspaper, except the glossy paper, also could be used for the bottom layer and should be wet so that it does not blow away. Mungai fills a wheelbarrow with water and submerges the papers, allowing them to absorb the water.
Other layers, in no particular order, could include: shredded leaves, compost, aged animal manure because it does not contain weed seeds, grass cuttings, chopped up corn cobs, sawdust, wood ashes and seaweed or kelp. The beauty of it is that a gardener need not plow up the sod first.
Lasagna gardening also served as an opportunity for Mungai to interest her two young daughters, McKenzie, 5, and Jessica, 2, who planted carrots, pumpkins, melons and zucchini. They both eat their vegetables every night because they grew them.
This year, Mungai also put in a flower bed using the lasagna method with the same good results.
The experiment left Dinsmore amazed at the amount of stuff he got out of his garden, and with plans to expand next year. This summer, he built two raised beds enclosed by slats of wood.
A lasagna garden need not be enclosed if done in a flat area, Mungai said. With a slope, however, the border prevents the layers from washing away and makes it easier to cut the grass.
If started in the fall, Mungai said, the "lasagna" cooks under plastic, allowing the organic materials to decompose over the winter so the garden is ready for planting in spring.
"It's great. I highly recommend this technique to anyone, because it's not nearly as labor intensive as a traditional garden. You can grow herbs and flowers and vegetables."
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