What is a Lasagna Bed

The basic concept of a Lasagna Bed (also called a raised bed for the uninformed) is that it is a layering system for creating the best dirt you can imagine -- there is no digging (more on THAT one), no tilling, and no weeding.

What you want to do is make layers of organic materials. In a perfect world this layers will sit and stew for a while and in spring they will have blended into the perfect growing medium with zero weeds!

It's certainly not a new concept. I was looking at a Perennial book I got from our library (a very good source of garden books that people forget about) and I came across this technique. I looked at the date of the book and it was 1992.

Obviously someone got the idea of naming this technique "Lasagna Beds" wrote a book and became an instant millionaire, as all authors always do (look at JK Rowling for instance).

So after figuring out the shape of your garden you should lay newspaper on the ground and get it good and wet. I used sections of a paper, perhaps 10 pages thick but I don’t think it really matters as long as you cover every square inch and over lap the papers.

This will create a dark place and without photosynthesize nutrients all plants will die! Thus - no weeds! Well - almost. Some plants take this deprivation as a challenge, like quack grass. I'll let you know how this works. I have heard that quack loves the challenge and sooner or later it'll pop through. At that point I'll take some Round Up and KILL IT. Sorry but I have been in battle with Quack and I give it no sympathy. I want it DEAD.

Donn from the Garden Web forum says it best.

" Cover the grass with cardboard (moving boxes are great, as long as you take the tape off), and soak it down thoroughly. Then start piling organic matter on it; almost anything you can lay your hands on, from lawn clippings to fall leaves (shredded, if possible), from used coffee grounds to composted horse manure. Keep layering it on, preferably alternating between greens and browns (nitrogen and carbon). Pile it at least 18" high, and make the top layer a good carbon based mulch of some sort."

Many Lasagna bed gardeners do the above and then "cook" the bed for a while giving the layers of mulch time to breakdown. This is my goal and that is why I'm starting this process in fall. This reduces the height of the beds and produces high-quality workable soil more quickly.

Cooking the beds is optional though, one nice thing about lasagna beds is that you can layer your bed and plant your garden all in the same day.

Note - start collecting newspapers NOW - it takes a lot more then you would think.

So far I have newspaper/a little peat moss, grass clippings and then top soil. Today I picked up 10 pounds of Starbucks used coffee grounds and will dump that on my bed.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

That is basically what a Lasagna Bed is.

I'll start this journey next time with
WOW! This is Quite a Slope! The Story Begins.
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Going back a little to the last blog about getting started in gardening. I was looking at some photos of when we were building the house (well, WE were not building it, we were watching OTHERS build it) and I came across a photo I took from our deck just after they have put in the top soil.

We had had a large storm, a gully buster if you will with another one on the horizon. Here is the photo. Look at where the "river runs threw it" area. If you look at the Aug 27th blog you will see that this is the exact spot where I put in garden #1.
The question is - how can I fix this water drainage problem. A Lasagna bed would have worked but that fix is in the future.

I also have two bonus photos I took this morning. The first is a close up of some Autumn Joy Sedium showing the tiny little flowers. I'm not real familiar with this plant so I'm not sure what to expect. As always clicking on the photo will enlarge it.

The other one is from a Carefree (is it really) Rose bush we planted. This one is cool. If you left click on the photo and then right click to set as background it should fill the screen! If you want!