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Lasagna Garden Question
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Posted by a2zmom NJ - Z6 (My Page) on Sat, Jul 4, 09 at 21:03
| How thick does my initial layer of newspapers need to be? I've seen anything from 2 sheets to 24 (which seems excessive). I was thinking 10 but if that's too many, I'd be happy to go with less. I won't be planing until next spring. |
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RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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I've always heard and done about 7 layers. I keep my sections folded like the way the newspaper comes, not all the way opened up. I take my wheelbarrow full of water, and put the newspaper in there. Easier than wetting it afterwards. Then I lay the paper a couple sections thick, leaving it folded, about 1 square foot, overlapping the sections. Just finished a raised bed putting all the newspapers down, and adding compost, earthworms and all. But got too tired of shoveling the compost, so had to stop for the day.
Happy gardening! |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| When I did mine, I used refrigerator boxes. Got them for free from the local appliance dealer. My garden was over 60' by 15', so newspaper was out of the question!! The worms love the cardboard though! |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| The number of sheets you use depends, to some extent, on the plants you are trying to kill but most often I have found that 4 to 6 sheets is ample. There is no good reason, I can think of, to use 10 to 24 sheets in one spot because that would be overkill. |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| None. You need absolutely no newspaper on the bottom of a lasagna bed. It's mind boggling to me that Lanza thinks that newspaper is necessary to kill sod upon which you intend to layer 18 inches of feedstock. It doesn't matter what you put underneath a foot of mulch. Grass needs light. Deprive it of light (however you choose) and the sod will die. The absolute best use of your newspaper is on the top, not the bottom, of your new bed. Newspaper is a fabulous weed suppressant, when used on the top---where the weeds grow. It does absolutely nothing when used the way Lanza advises. An inch of applesauce would work just as well as her newspaper layer does. |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| annpat, does that hold true for weeds? I'm not planting over grass, I'm planting over an area that contained bushes and weeds, including creeping charlie. The creeping charlie has been pulled to the best of my ability, but that stuff is pretty notorious. |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| annpat - It doesn't matter what you put underneath a foot of mulch. Grass needs light. Deprive it of light (however you choose) and the sod will die. It's obvious that annpat has never experienced the horror that is Bermuda grass. Newspaper will not stop Bermuda grass ... neither will landscape fabric or burlap or 3 feet of fill. |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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Bahia or Bermuda grass can grow up through anything especially in warmer zones .
Cardboard is a must down here ! |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| I've heard moldy bread works pretty well for the bottom layer.... |
RE: Lasagna Garden Question
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| melonhedd, now we're all so nauseated, none of us can respond to lazygardens!! |
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