I know the basic concepts of lasagna gardening, and I know the 'score' of bagged leaves from my neighbours.

Its 'green week' here. So everyone has bags and bags on their curbs. And I have this lovely little book on butterfly gardens.

Any of you done this sort of thing? Im thinking cardboard, or thick layers of newspaper first to smother the grass, leaves, and then coffee grinds. More leaves? And then hope it snows soon?

Any suggestions?

(And, if you want a weed-free garden, put your newspaper on the top of your bed, not the bottom.)

The soil under that bed no longer looks like clay. It is lighter in weight and darker in appearance. And it grows plants.

So I believe in lasagna beds, though I understand that they don't help all soils. If you are asking if you should make a lasagna bed, I would have to answer that you won't know if it will work on your soil unless you try it. If you are looking for suggestions, I would suggest that you also look for some manure to add to your bed. Of course this forum has also convinced me of the benifits of using manures in my gardens, and I have found they do help my soil. The more diverse organic products that you put into the soil, the nutrientents you are adding to the soil. So don't limit yourself to just leaves and coffee grounds.

I'm not a gardener but last spring DW talked me into putting down a couple yards of compost then covering that with cardboard and then covering that with straw. I now have a nice weed free area of straw covering the ground. The only way I can see to seed it would be to pull all the straw back to get at the soil area. Unless I went with seedlings.

Lloyd

Here it takes about 6 months - 1 year for the sod/weeds underneath to completely die, and for the bed to become reasonably workable. If you plant in the bed before the soil is workable, I would mix some soil in the planting hole to ensure good contact for the roots of your transplants.

My largest lasagne bed was 2 years old this past season, and the plants grew to gargantuan proportions (between the rain and the rich soil). The Joe Pye weed was 10 feet tall. The Monarda wants to take over the countryside. All I've done so far is add a little leaf mulch to the bed.

Here's a pic that gives you an idea how large the plants grew in that bed -

I am baffled by the idea of letting it sit for 6 months to a year. If I am organized enough in the fall to pile up all the layers, fine, but I have often built them in the spring and used them within a week. You just need to sprinkle compost or some type of soil on the top if you want to sow seeds. Otherwise just put little pockets of compost or soil around your plant roots. Generally you can plant instantly in a lasagna bed. But so many leaves with just coffee grounds, that just doesn't sound like enough stuff to me.

If you are just putting down cardboard and some leaves over it, and hoping to loosen up the soil underneath to grow in, that really isn't a lasagna bed. In a lasagna bed the roots may eventually go down into the underlying soil, but the bed should be deep enough to contain most of the roots right there. The main ingredients for my beds are leaves, horse manure, and large quantities of old produce (peaches, bananas, grapes, etc.), plus some weeds and wood ash.

Marcia

I am baffled by the idea of letting it sit for 6 months to a year

I am usually creating garden beds where there are thick weeds, Vinca minor, woody invasives, and tree roots and find the easiest way to deal with this is to chop it down as much as possible and sheet compost. It is easier to plant when the vegetation and roots underneath have died back and the organic matter in the bed has broken down to more even consistency (thus easier to mix). It would be difficult for new plantings or seedlings to compete with thick weeds and roots prior to that.

If I want to plant in a bed right away, I seem to end up digging most of the bed anyway, because I plant closely and tend to fuss a bit over the placement of the plants.

I have done lasagna gardening for 2 years now with great results, each time creating the bed and then planting within a week (moved the winter after I started the first lasagna beds).

I have had good luck with this method and plant right away, but I add compost and worm castings along with coir so there is a soil like consistency. I cover with a layer of mulch and just pull back the mulch to plant in the top layer of castings/coir. Next time, I'm going to leave my things like lettuce uncovered by mulch until they germinate for a little easier germination. Didn't think of that until after mulching this year.

I put down cardboard or newspaper first and then thin layers of coir, straw, soaked alfalfa pellets, compost and castings. I've had bad luck with grass clippings so I no longer add them - my first year there was a lot of grass happily growing among my veggies. My beds that I created in late April/early May are very nicely broken down and look like really rich soil, still very fluffy and loose. The plants roots stay mainly above the bed but mine are mounded up at least 12 inches to start so it's much like a raised bed.

I just 2 days ago added another bed to my yard - being organized enough to do this in fall instead of spring for the first time ever! I used composted horse manure, leaves, straw, soaked alfalfa pellets, worm castings, coir and my own compost pile from the last 10 months. I also topped off the existing bed. The new bed is about 18 inches.

I'm planning on adding worm castings and compost again in the spring before planting, but I'm excited about everything getting a little broken down in advance this time. This is also the first time I've had leaves available to put in the beds because before I was always doing this in spring.

Almost forgot, I supplement my beds with Epsoma products - Garden Tone and Tomato Tone.

To the original poster, I would suggest adding some compost or castings to your layers of UCG and leaves. I think you'll be fine with what you've got but I find the straw also helps break up the mass of leaves so they don't clump so much.

Good luck!

I used cardboard - wet it down first - then layers of UCGs, shredded leaves, seaweed, a bit of soil, a wet bale of hay/straw which had been out for a year, more UCGs, etc. I placed 2 feet of material, covered with burlap for the winter, and then planted in the spring. The worm population in this area was zilcho when I made the lasagna bed, but in the spring I kept apologizing at every move to the newcomers of which there was so many it made me smile at every turn. The above photo was taken year two.

This bed is constantly used for new-to-me plants and seedlings.

Below is another photo of a lasagna bed which was established on the front of our property.

(Shame Im stuck on hospital bedrest.. Somehow I don't think hubby boy would be as keen as I to go out and start piling things up...)

When I get home, I might manage to do a hack job on the area I want. I need to empty out one of my composters anyway.. so I'll add that to the ingredients list, and see if there's some way to sweet talk the one and only person I know who owns horses. *Grins*

You gave a bored hospital bound gardener something to smile about. Thankyou!

My latest fall-made bed, planted with kohlrabi transplants that had no where else to go, is not growing well, despite a warm fall. Lettuce planted in 1" of soil on top of a new section of bed is growing slowly compared to the lettuce in the second year lasagna soil right next to it. It seems to me it depends on what kind of plants you are trying to grow in the new beds. In spring, I plan to try peas in most of the new beds I made this fall. I'm assuming they will do well like the beans, because of not needing nitrogen from the soil. Lettuce needs a lot of nitrogen. Kohlrabi may be having trouble with the pH of the new beds, probably a bit on the acidic side.

I am encouraged by kimmsr's comment that we are building good soil for the long term future. I look forward to years down the line. I have been gardening in clay with top-dressed amendments for years with moderate success, and plenty of disappointments--weak plants, just generally not lush, rampant growth like I see in gardens with really super soil. I think the lasagna method may really improve the productivity of my garden.

hepatica

I have been doing serious vegie gardening the past 17 years and mostly raised beds the past 5. I find that the very first year I get fabulous results, and as long as I top off each bed each year I continue to get good results.

Terrene: "It is easier to plant when the vegetation and roots underneath have died back and the organic matter in the bed has broken down to more even consistency (thus easier to mix). It would be difficult for new plantings or seedlings to compete with thick weeds and roots prior to that."

I have serious perennial weeds in my yard, quack grass and wildflowers and assorted weeds. But what is under the cardboard is not relevant to what is in my raised lasagna beds. They range from 8 to 15 inches tall, and their roots are completely above the cardboard layer, at least in the first year. So I see no reason to wait for anything to happen underneath. I use my raised beds mostly for vegies, perhaps if you have something else in mind like large shrubs then it would make a difference. Also, if you are doing perennials as you show in your photo (nice garden - I love monarda) it is good to wait for the layers to break down first since you can't top up the bed each year very well because it has all the plants still in it.

Marcia